Armed with an engine, four tires and six pages of rules, the Penn State Pullers are preparing to compete for their second year in the ¼ Scale Tractor Competition, which is sponsored by the American Society of Agricultural Engineers.

The group, which comprises more than 20 students, mostly in the College of Agriculture, has been working since February to design and build a small tractor capable of pulling nearly one ton.

It will compete against other universities nationally.

"We design everything from the ground up," said Brian Oberholzer (senior-agricultural systems management), who leads the activities of the Pullers. "The tractor is designed for maximum pulling power and efficiency."

In addition to the one they are completing now, the Pullers are planning to construct a four-wheel drive tractor that they will bring to the competition scheduled to take place May 31 to June 2 in East Moline, IL.

Oberholzer emphasized that the challenge facing the students goes beyond the design and construction of the tractors.

As part of the competition, the teams also submit a written design report and give a 15-minute presentation to a panel of judges.

"The best thing about this competition is that we are not just building a tractor, but also learning skills," Oberholzer said. He added the social aspects of working in a group were one of the most important parts of the project.

The Puller's faculty adviser, James Hilton, associate professor in agricultural and biological engineering, agreed with Oberholzer.

"The decision-making process is always tough," Hilton said. "Everybody has to make decisions about design."

According to the ASAE Web site (www.asae.org), the competition was intended not only to give students experience in the design and manufacturing process of building a tractor, but also to help them develop leadership and communication skills.

The competition puts students in a real-world situation as engineers for an agricultural machinery company who must design a cost-efficient machine with maximum pulling capabilities, the Web site said.

To address this challenge, the Pullers hold bi-weekly meetings where they discuss business and design issues.

"We have to do a whole cost analysis and try to keep it under $3,500," Oberholzer said.

One of the most important components of being able to compete is getting sponsors to donate money or parts, he said.

Last year the group managed to find 20 sponsors in less than 10 weeks, he added.

"Business skills are 60 percent of this," Oberholzer said. "You have to sell yourself."

There are two weight classes for the competition, during which the tractor runs on a 200-foot hard clay surface with a steel sled attached to the back, Oberholzer said.

The sled is called a progressive weight sled, he said. At the rear end of the sled is a box of weights, which, as the tractor moves, begins sliding forward on the sled, transferring weight towards the front of the sled, increasing the force against the tractor. The distance the tractor is able to move down the track determines its pulling capacity.

"The goal is to build a tractor with the most power to pound," Oberholzer said.

Hilton said the students use what they learn in machinery and engineering classes to deal design problems such as how to apply the power to the engine.

Oberholzer said they try to maximize the skills everyone brings to the group as well as making the competition a learning process.

"Our golden rule is always ask questions," he said.

While working on the tractor students learn skills such as welding and plasma cutting.

"I'm involved because I wanted to learn more about hands-on mechanization," said Eric Pesce (senior-agricultural and biological engineering), who got involved with the Pullers this year.

Eight students attended last year's competition, where the Pullers took 20th place overall.

They competed against 30 other universities. Oberholzer said even though it was supposed to be a competitive environment, he was impressed by how the schools interacted and helped each other out.

"Last year we got out to the competition and had a failure in our right axle," Oberholzer said, adding that members from the University of Kentucky's team helped out by giving the Pullers another axle.

"It was really cool how everyone works together," Oberholzer said.