The Real Thing
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Roy Tallon - 1970 ITPA Points Champ 5000# Stock |
My Grandpa, Roy Tallon, started pulling his John Deere 4010 back in 1967. The 4010 was a
1961 model that came out in late 1960. These models had smaller rearend housings like a
3010, which was lighter weight. The 4010 was on the large side for the 5000# class Grandpa
competed in so he tried to save weight any way he could. Until the rules changed in 1970, Grandpa ran the tractor without sheet metal. After that, most of the covers
and sheet metal he used were either light weight aluminum or fiberglass. The tricycle front
end was the lightest one available. He narrowed the rear axle housing and welded the wheel hubs to the axle to make the rear end lighter. To further reduce
weight, he removed most of the gears in the transmission, leaving just 4,6,7,8 and
reverse. Not all the modifications were focused on weight reduction however. The motor was stroked and bored to 497 cu in.
instead of stock 404. The injector pump was changed to a belt driven Bosch, instead of
the stock distributor like RoosaMaster. Unlike many competitors, Grandpa just ran 1 large
turbo, and no water injection.
In its first year of competition, the tractor was nearly demolished when my grandpa and
dad were hit head on by a drunk driver on their way back from a pull in Monmouth, IL.
The wreck briefly put Dad in the hospital, but it could have been far worse. Grandpa was
soon busy rebuilding the 4010 and was again competing with it in 1969. From 1969 through
1973 Grandpa and the 4010 were a tough act to beat. In 1969 and 1970 Grandpa won the
Illinois Tractor Pulling Association points championship for the 5000# Stock Block class.
Grandpa continually had to make changes to the 4010 to keep up with the rules.
By 1974, changes required by the rules made the 4010 too heavy to compete. Then in 1977 a change
in weight regulations allowed Grandpa to again compete with the 4010. He pulled with the 4010 until 1979, when
he turned the driving chores over to my cousin Tim. In 1980, the rules finally outlawed the single
wheel front end so an aluminum wide front end was added. Eventually, Grandpa's 4010 became less and less competitive
as the competition went to smaller motor tractors with up to 3 turbo chargers and water injection.
Grandpa sold the 4010 at his farm sale in 1986.
1967 - Accident Returning from Monmouth
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1969 - Tractor Rebuilt
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1971 - Augusta, GA
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1971 - Trophies
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1977 - Melvin, IL
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1980 - IL State Fair
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The Model
Around Christmas of 1999, I found an Ertl 4010 NF Replica in the
toy aisle of my local Tractor Supply store. I bought the tractor, turned it into a model of Grandpa's 4010 puller and
gave it to my Dad for Christmas. The model shown at the top of the page is one I completed in 2002 for my own collection. This tractor
also started out as an Ertl 4010 NF that I purchased off of Ebay. I removed the rear fenders and added oversized tires
from Dakotah Toys
. I custom built the single tire front end and weight bracket from brass stock. I used body filler to fill in the
holes in the hood from the stock air cleaner and smoke stack and added aluminum tubing for the custom exhaust.
Original Ertl Tractor
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Dad's 4010 Model
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My 4010 Model
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Copyright 2002
- Tallon Custom Collectables