Turbine Tractor

mickeyd

Active member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
2014 L3200 DT w/LA524 FEL, 2019 Kubota Z121S w/ 48" Pro Dec, TG1860G w/RCK54TG
Mar 21, 2014
1,192
18
38
Guin, AL
That is really different, or strange, or something. :D

Can always count on you to find something exciting.
 

Holleyman

New member

Equipment
Kubota B6001, Caterpillar 252B, AM General M813A1, Ford 8N, Komatsu PC30
Sep 25, 2013
70
0
0
80 acres in Athabasca AB
Very good looking tractor. I imagine the neighbours would know when you were taking crop off the field, would sound like a 737-200 crackling across the quarter.
 

NoJacketRequired

Active member

Equipment
B7510 & LA302 FEL & B2782 blower, B7510 & B2781 blower, B2410 & B2550 blower
May 25, 2016
432
68
28
Ottawa, Ontario
Turbines are interesting engines, but their fuel consumption will never get close to diesels at low altitude and with variable power requirements.

Still, I'd love to go to a tractor pull with a turboshaft-powered tractor. Just imagine the looks on the faces of folks when you hit the start button!

That turbine engine company is still making gas turbines - here's an example of one from the same manufacturer. Yeah, just imagine THOSE sounds when starting your tractor!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ5IinzbauY
 

JackJ

Member

Equipment
BX1870-1
Mar 14, 2016
264
9
18
Indiana
With the turbine at 57,000 rpm, I imagine the HST whine wouldn't get a lot of complaints!
 

sagor

Active member

Equipment
BX25, BX2750D, BX2760A, 5' back blade
Jan 9, 2017
286
63
28
Sudbury, ON, Canada
Hm, some turbines will run on diesel fuel, so why not put those into a tractor for some real "noise"?
A few weeks ago, I saw a home-built helicopter (in progress), where the engine was a small diesel turbine. Engine was light weight, hence selected for the two man, homemade chopper... I had never seen that before, nor heard of a diesel engine (any type) for a small home made chopper.
PS: Chopper looked a lot like the Konner K1 kit, but not sure...

Next thing you know, they will be landing at grocery stores to stock up on vegetable oil....
 
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CaveCreekRay

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
L3800 HST, KingKutter box scraper, KingKutter 66" rake, County Pride Subsoiler
Jul 11, 2014
2,631
100
48
Cave Creek, AZ
That replica was badass!

Wonder how he made the HST for it? Maybe he modified a similar unit, which is probably what the manufacturer did.

Hats off to guys like that that have the time and talent!
 
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John T

Well-known member

Equipment
2017 BX23S
May 5, 2017
825
303
63
under a rock
You would go deaf in a week operating that tractor

Reminds me of an old Kenworth I use to drive

Dual air cleaners... if you had the windows down you would have to wear earplugs


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 

lugbolt

Well-known member

Equipment
ZG127S-54
Oct 15, 2015
5,214
1,901
113
Mid, South, USA
Unless dedicated for a tractor application-turbine's are not a good choice for something that's got to be asked to make a lot of shaft speed changes. Turbines excel in applications that need a constant load and constant shaft speed, such as generators, pumps, and aircraft.

Also, most of the time, turbines don't do well as far as throttle "response". They don't increase speed nearly as fast as piston engines do when the throttle is applied, hence most of the reason that they're really better used for constant speed/load applications.

I have ridden a project bike that had a little heli engine, Allison as I recall (been about 15 years ago or so), and while it was cool, silky smooth, it was gutless for a motorcycle. Yes it would probably go really fast if I'd allowed it to continue to accelerate, but it was so slow in accelerating-in comparison to a 4 cylinder piston engine of approx 100hp, that it was honestly a slug. But it sure sounded cool, and I still want one.
 

NoJacketRequired

Active member

Equipment
B7510 & LA302 FEL & B2782 blower, B7510 & B2781 blower, B2410 & B2550 blower
May 25, 2016
432
68
28
Ottawa, Ontario
With turboshaft engines, one does not vary the engine speed, so "throttle response" is not an issue in the normal sense.

Start the engine, run it at ground idle (normally mid-50's% RPM), then once warm, bring up to full speed. That's how turbines are operated. That's also why an HST would be the right transmission to couple to them. Constant speed input, continuously variable speed output.

Turbines are governed so the governor keeps RPM constant across a broad range of load conditions. As an example, one helicopter I used to work with had a prescribed power assurance test that took the engine from flight idle to 100% torque in 3 seconds and could not have more than 3% droop in N1 speed. Pretty amazing kick in the pants to pull full collective and watch it do its thing.
 

CaveCreekRay

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
L3800 HST, KingKutter box scraper, KingKutter 66" rake, County Pride Subsoiler
Jul 11, 2014
2,631
100
48
Cave Creek, AZ
Yeah, turboprops run at constant speed and simply vary the pitch of the prop, forward or reverse thrust, while the engine keeps the prop turning at the same RPM. (Just like the Kubota motor feeding the HST with power and the HST deciding FWD or REV based upon the pedal position.) If you load up the engine and the RPMs start to lag, the fuel controller dumps in more gas to keep the RPM in the zone. As NJR mentioned, you could drop the engines into low ground speed idle when driving around on the ground to save gas and make less noise. A flick of a switch and they'd be back at full RPM.

The Four-Fanned-Trash-Can (C-130H) would really haul ass from a standing start. It also stopped pretty quick by changing the prop pitch into reverse on landing. Plus, reverse meant you could back the plane up pretty easily.

That was my only prop experience. Props are for boats. Jets are for kids. I wanna stay young forever.