MyFarmLife.com

A Family With Pull

After decades of tractor pulls, the Haneys have the sport in their blood. And their tractor is one bad dog.

Preparation for pulling starts with some long nights in Leon Haney’s farm shop, just outside of Athens and not far from the dealership. “This shop just keeps getting bigger, and my house keeps getting smaller,” says Leon’s wife Ann, who is very much a part of the Cujo Pulling Team, along with son Clay and daughter Kimberly. Leon built the original diesel version of Cujo here decades ago, and has for the last two years been tweaking Cujo Unleashed.

Like the original diesel, the alcohol version is an Allis Chalmers D21. “We just liked the look of it,” Leon says. Sure enough, it looks exactly like the old D21 when it’s put together.

But it’s what’s inside that counts. Both versions run in the super stock pulling classes. Leon does all the work himself, which not only gives him an advantage on the track—being a driver and a mechanic—but also allows him to modify Cujo Unleashed to run in both the light super and heavy super pulling classes.

“The steering axle, brakes, calipers and final drives all come from an F Gleaner,” says Leon. “And we get rid of as much of the cast iron as we can to get the tractor lighter.” The economic load is a little lighter, too. Leon doesn’t just provide all the labor; the shelves around his shop and the machinery stored out back are also his best sources for parts. “I’m mostly building from stuff I had. I’m not going out and buying it,” he says.

Louis still pulls with the classic diesel version, but Leon says eventually they will phase it out and run only the alcohol machine. It makes good economic sense, especially when it comes to parts. The fuel system in a diesel tractor can run into the tens of thousands, while an alcohol fuel pump runs around 1,200 bucks. Leon pulls a rod from his stocked shelves. “Feel that,” he says. “These aluminum parts for the alcohol machine are light and cheap,” he says, adding that billet rods and pistons for the diesel engine cost four times as much.

The alcohol machine has its disadvantages, though. Fuel is a trade-off. The Haneys can run the diesel for three weekends on 5 gallons of fuel, while the alcohol version burns 5 or 6 gallons in one 15-second run. “We’ll take two 55-gallon drums of fuel on the road for a weekend with the alcohol version,” he says.

And the alcohol engines can be fickle. “We can be pretty sure the diesel is gonna run,” says Leon. “But we can wag this thing around all summer,” he winces, pointing to the alcohol version, “and you never know …”