Why does farming equipment require such low horsepower compared to your average car?
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Farming equipment is designed to do a lot of work but over a long period of time. It’s not racing where time is of the essence. Horsepower is torque over time or how much work you do over time.
Farming equipment needs a lot of torque to move and carry tons of material but it doesn’t need it to be delivered quick. So it’s incredibly strong but slow paced. Which is also good, slow turning engines don’t wear down as fast and are much more reliable.
That’s why you can see most workhorse engines are low revving, low horsepower, but have high torque at the low end and usually are coupled with gearboxes that multiply that torque much higher still.
Farming equipment is designed to do a lot of work but over a long period of time. It’s not racing where time is of the essence. Horsepower is torque over time or how much work you do over time.
Farming equipment needs a lot of torque to move and carry tons of material but it doesn’t need it to be delivered quick. So it’s incredibly strong but slow paced. Which is also good, slow turning engines don’t wear down as fast and are much more reliable.
That’s why you can see most workhorse engines are low revving, low horsepower, but have high torque at the low end and usually are coupled with gearboxes that multiply that torque much higher still.
Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall, torque is how far you take the wall with you. Tractors need torque more than horsepower so they go at slower rpm’s and thus lower HP, but prioritize higher torque to pull big things like a wall.
Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall, torque is how far you take the wall with you. Tractors need torque more than horsepower so they go at slower rpm’s and thus lower HP, but prioritize higher torque to pull big things like a wall.
The other nuance is it’s not just torque it’s a idea called “tractive effort”. Which is a measurement of what it can pull. The same way a trains “power” is measured.
The other nuance is it’s not just torque it’s a idea called “tractive effort”. Which is a measurement of what it can pull. The same way a trains “power” is measured.
Horsepower is a fictional number. It’s an equation using Torque and RPM to determine horsepower. People have said “horsepower is how fast the car hits the wall torque is how far you move the wall” because torque is the actual force you apply to the work you are doing. Since it doesn’t matter how fast you move your goal is the most amount of torque at a low rpm.
Horsepower is a fictional number. It’s an equation using Torque and RPM to determine horsepower. People have said “horsepower is how fast the car hits the wall torque is how far you move the wall” because torque is the actual force you apply to the work you are doing. Since it doesn’t matter how fast you move your goal is the most amount of torque at a low rpm.
You can do a lot with less horsepower if your gearing is low enough.
But
All the gearing in the world won’t make you go faster once air resistance eats up all your power once you start moving over X mph (X being whatever speed all your engine’s power is used up just fighting the air resistance).
You can do a lot with less horsepower if your gearing is low enough.
But
All the gearing in the world won’t make you go faster once air resistance eats up all your power once you start moving over X mph (X being whatever speed all your engine’s power is used up just fighting the air resistance).
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