Getting started

      Garden tractor pulling is a simple and fun sport to get involved with.  You meet alot og great people and it doesn't cost much.  Im going to tell you how to build a competive pulling tractor at a low cost.
To get started you need a garden tractor.  Look for tractors from made from the early 60's to the early 80's.  These were built to last unlike the crap you buy today and alot of parts are still avalable today.  In my opion it doesn't matter what brand of tractor you use, but it depends on who you ask.  Most people reccomend running Internation Cub Cadets.  Other good brands are Wheel Horse, Sears, Jacobsen, Gravely, and Bolens.  Alot of people will tell you to run with cub cadets because of all the performance parts that are available for them.  But on the other hand I have a montgomery ward tractor I payed $25 for and it has out pulled cubs with a lot of money put into them.
     Once you have a tractor it is time to start making it a puller.  This sounds ridulous but you need to make this tractor as light as possible.  This is so when it comes time to put weights on you can get the weight distrubuted where you want it.  This means remove everything you don't need.  This includes lights, any sheet metal not needed, the PTO lift handle, any brakets and pulleys for the PTO, and anything you can think of.  My montgomery ward doesnt even have a starter, I use a rope and pull start the engine, This got rid of the heavy starter/generator, battery, voltage regulator, and most of the wiring.  Check with the rules of the place you are pulling at and see if you need any of the belt guards in place if not toss them.  If you do need them trim them down every little bit adds up