The Power of a 154

[JayIH]

So I was re-routing a chain link fence this past weekend, and part of it had a tree near it, which sort of tried to eat the fence. Well, my efforts to physically pull it out failed. So I got my New Holland S-14 with the hydrostatic (I prefer those trans to manuals when doing something like pulling something out of something else) and backed it up. I hooked the chains and such up to the fence, hopped on, and started putting it forward. The chains went taught, I pushed a little harder, chains on the tires dug into the dry dirt, and the engine started bogging. I hit the throttle to max, it roared, but wouldn't move, and continued to bog when I didn't let up. The S-14 is rated at 14hp.

So I went over to my Cub Lo-boy 154 and fired it up. Drove it over, hooked up the chains, and got on. Inched forward until the chains were tight, and let out the clutch, in first gear. By the time I could put the clutch back in, I was 5 feet further away from the tree than when I started. The engine did not bog, I felt no resistance at all, and didn't lurch when the fence broke free. I thought I broke free of the chain somehow, but looked down and sure enough, there was the fence laying behind me. The 154, naturally, is 15hp.

Now, you cannot possibly tell me the difference of one horsepower made all that. There's just no way. My only possible explanation is that 4 cylinders vs. 1, you get a signficantly larger amount of torque, and that's what did it, but I'm not sure. Any input on this one?

[Bigdog]

I'd say you're right on the money. Torque did it.

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

I'd say you're right on the money. Torque did it.

The TORQUE made me do it!!!

[Eugene]

We will have to cut and paste the original of this topic in future arguments over which is better horsepower or torque.

[Mr E]

What is that famous saying on this forum? Horsepower gets you do the field, but torque mows the grass.

[BigBill]

I fabricated a sub soiler(single ripper tooth) for the 3pt on my int154. The little rocks sticking up in the lawn turned out to be iceberg like. The little part i saw was just the tip of the rock that came out of the ground. The 154 was turning out small bolders with the sub soiler. Some were so big they jammed between the sub soiler and the tractor. I had to go to the fcub with dual wheels for the larger rocks.(drawbar) Both tractors were very successful in there tasks.

Were talking about two different horse power ratings here.

The int154 and most other tractors are rated for horsepower at the drawbar so thats 15.4hp at the drawbar.

The single cylinder engines are horsepwoer rated at the engines crankshaft.

Wether its the horsepower or torque that did it you need both. To me the horsepower/torque comes from the engine but the real pulling power comes from the gearing. The dyne tells the truth for sure......

If we look at the antique doodlebugs our old farmers built to pull rock sleds they added another transmission to increase the pulling power. They still used the smaller engines but still had plenty of pulling power thru the gearing. The second tranny was actually a torque multiplyer it gives more bottom end pulling power. But it is a hp/torque to weight match for traction to make it all work together.

[56cub]

It was gear reduction in the final drives that helped also.