The Carle Motorsport Team around Marcus and Benjamin Carle from Neuenstein, in Germany have built a completely new John Deere 4840 component super stock tractor during the last 3 years.
The German team started with their new component project in the winter of 2017 and worked until now to get the new John Deere ready for the first run. First, we are looking at the history of the Carle Motorsport Team how everything started. The team started with Garden Pulling in the 350kg Stock class in 2003.
Benjamin Carle was 8 years old at that time when his dad Marcus built his first tractor for the competitions in Germany. The tractor was a John Deere 317 stock tractor only with some little changes like a different exhaust manifold on the engine. The little John Deere tractor made its maiden voyage at the German Championship round in Krumbach-Breitenthal at the beginning of July 2003. Benjamin was at his first event not registered in German Championship and ran out of the official competition on that day. After the first 2 attempts, it was clear the John Deere garden tractor need some major changes
to be competitive in the German Championship for 2004. So after a short decision, the tractor was completely revised during the winter of 2003 / 2004 and received some changes on the chassis, a bigger engine with more horses and a set of new puller tires with new aluminum rims. After those changes, the little John Deere was competitive in the German Championship and Benjamin drove on his first official competition with the tractor on the podium in Füchtorf, Germany 2004. With consistent results during the 2004 season, 4 times runner up position and a couple of 3rd places, the team finished in a great runner up place in the German Championship point standings behind Andrea Heckenberger with her Hursquana tractor called ''Husky 2''.That meant the south German team was qualified for the European Championships in Schleitheim, Switzerland. And again it was a successful event for the young Benjamin and his dad Marcus.
They went back home with a nice runner up place under the 8 best 350kg stock tractors from all over Europe. The 2005 season was even better, Benjamin took his first win with the Cat Dog at the German Championship round in Niederbipp, Switzerland and a second-round victory followed during the summer in Walsheim, Germany. During the year he also finished 5 times in runner up position on the events in Germany, which brought him equal in points with Phillip Schilling with Tiger Duck in the German Championship point standings for the title. But it wasn't enough to win the first title in their second full season. In the end, the most round wins counted in the German Championship for the title, which meant Philip Schilling won the German Championship title because he had more wins on his account. The dream to win a German Championship title finally came true in the following year. With another consistent season and a couple of wins, he won his first German Championship title at the age of 10 years. But the biggest success for the team was the win of the European Championship title in the 350kg stock class in Füchtorf, Germany 2007. With 2 nice passes, the young bloke beat all his rivals on the track by a little bit more than 2m ahead of Melanie Hofer (She's driving the mini mod tractor called ''Catweazle 3'' now) with Hot Cat from Germany and Boog from Denmark. During the next years from 2008 until 2013, they could win only 1 further title in the 350kg stock class, but they were to find always under the first 3 positions (except 2009) in the German Championship point standings. They were runner up in the 350kg stock class in 2008 and 2012 and 3rd in 2007, 2010 and 2011 in the German Championship. The biggest change came during the 2011 season when Benjamin was 16 years old and stepped up into the seat of their pro stock tractor. He handed over his steering wheel of his Cat Dog to his sister Julia Carle. At her maiden voyage on the tractor pull in Bookholzberg 2011, she won her first event with the tractor. She also won the German Championship title in 2013 and almost the European Championship title in Bookholzberg, Germany in the same year. But Cat Dog wasn't the only garden puller tractor which was built by the team. In the winter of 2005 / 2006, Marcus Carle decided to build a new garden puller tractor for the 600kg compact diesel class. The tractor had a homemade steel wedge frame with a homemade 2 bar steel roll cage, a homemade steering, a modified Opel Kadett rearend with a homemade drawbar and a John Deere 955 sheet metal hood. The machine was powered by a 4 cylinder 1.9l VW TDI engine with one turbocharger on diesel fuel. It was the second compact diesel tractor in Germany and the first compact diesel which was built by a German team at that time. The maiden run of the new toy called ''Cat Dog 2'' was on the first weekend of July 2006 in Krumbach-Breitenthal. Marcus was pretty successful with this John Deere tractor in the past. He won many pulls in Germany and 2 times in that class the German Championship title in 2007 and 2009. He also finished 2 times in runner up position in the Championship in 2006 and 2008. At the end of the 2009 season, Marcus sold the John Deere compact diesel tractor to a new team in Switzerland. After
the 2013 season and 10 years in the 350kg stock class, the team decided
to rebuild their successful Cat Dog tractor into a 500kg stock tractor. The garden puller received a new bigger engine and a completely new frame with a newly built front end and a set of new Cepek Garden Puller tires on aluminum rims. Also, the tractor was renamed from ''Cat Dog'' into ''Green Deere''. The first full season for the completely rebuilt tractor was pretty good with a couple of German Championship round victories and a nice runner up position at the European Championships in Bakel the Netherlands.Better was the 2015 season, Julia Carle was again victorious at the German pulls that brought her and the team their first and only German Championship title in the 500kg stock division.
During the spring
of 2017, shortly after the German Championship opener in Füchtorf, the
south German team sold the Green Deere to Andre Stiehl from Kleve in
Germany.His young son Julian currently driving very successful with the John Deere 317 in the German Championship. At the end of 2007, Marcus Carle started with collecting parts for a new project, it wasn't again parts for a new garden puller, this time it was for a new bigger project, a 3.5t / 7700lbs John Deere pro stock. The Carle Motorsport Team started to build the pro stock during the winter of 2008 in his little workshop.
The pro stock got a homemade steel roll cage with a steel wedge frame, a used machined John Deere rear end and gearbox from the super stock tractor called ''Green Muscleman'' from the Netherlands, a John Deere 4440 hood, homemade aluminum fenders and a set of used 24.5x32 Firestone All Traction pro stock tires on old aluminum rims. The pro stock was powered by a 6 cylinder John Deere 6076 engine with 7.6l capacity and a Holset turbocharger on diesel fuel. The pro stock received the name ''Midnight Deere'' because the team worked most of the time on the machine during the night. The new JD pro stock debuted at their home pull in Eschach-Seifertshofen in 2009.
The machine stood in front of the sled but technical problems didn't really let the wheels turn on the 4440 John Deere. The team competed on 2 further events during the season of 2009 and learned more and more about the technic of the pro stock. During the winter of 2009/2010 the Midnight Deere received many changes and was further improved. After all those changes and improvements, the 4440 ran now pretty well and the first positions on the podium were earned. At the end of their first full pro stock season, the team finished on an excellent 2nd place in the German Championship point standings. Also during the next few seasons, the guys were usually to find under the first 3 in the German Championship point standings.
The 2015 season marked their final season in the pro stock division and they, unfortunately, lost the German Championship title by a few points at the finals due to a technical problem with the kill switch. After Krumbach-Breitenthal the pro stock chapter was finished. Because of the high costs to run a pro stock tractor and the constantly growing level brought then the final decision to switch into a other class. After some considerations during the fall of 2015, Marcus and his son Benjamin decided to rebuilt the tractor into a super stock on alcohol. The guys rebuilt the Midnight Deere in around 8 months to a super stock. The rebuilt super stock got a lighter homemade steel wedge frame with a completely new front end and a new homemade 3 bar steel roll cage. The John Deere rear end and the gearbox and the rear wheels stayed the same and were taken over of the old pro stock. The biggest changes were done to the engine. Due to the switch from diesel to alcohol, some important changes had to be made. The engine needed a different fuel system, a different cylinder head with intake and exhaust manifold, bigger turbos, new rods and pistons and a ignition system. The 7.6l 6 cylinder John Deere 6076 engine had a 2 Holset HX 80 turbocharger setup, a JD 6076 crankshaft from GMS (Gene's Machine Shop) with homemade billet aluminum rods and modified Arias pistons, a VSP (Veldhuizen Special Products) fuel injection system and an MSD ignition. The most interesting thing on that engine was the aluminum cylinder head. The Indy cylinder head on the engine was the first alcohol cylinder head of Willem Veldhuizen´s former super stock tractor called ''Magkal Bits N Pieces'' from the 90s. Midnight Deere did its maiden voyage as alky burner with Willem Veldhuizen in the saddle at the German Championship pull in Edewecht 2016. But mechanical problems with the ignition distributor prevented a nice pull in front of the Red Shadow Sled. During the next 2 years, the team made with the little John Deere super stock some nice runs in front of the sled at the pulling events in Germany. During these two full seasons, they achieved some positions on the podium and the runner up position in the 2017 and 2018 German Championship point standings. Unfortunately at the final round for the super stocks in Sonsbeck, the crankshaft of the John Deere engine broke into three pieces. After that broken crankshaft, the team decided to spend the money on their new project, the new component super stock.
After the first full season in 2017 with the rebuilt Midnight Deere, it was clear the team has no chances in the super stock class with the little engine against the super stocks with the much bigger engines. After that season, Marcus, Benjamin and the rest of the team started with collecting parts for a new component super stock with a bigger engine. Already before Christmas 2017, Marcus and Benjamin worked on the new chassis and new ROP for the tractor. During those 3 years, the Team built this new John Deere 4840 pulling tractor mostly in their free time and vacation step by step ready to run.
The new Midnight Deere received a completely new homemade steel wedge frame with a homemade 3 bar steel roll cage, a Kirkey Racing driver seat with a 4 point safety harness, a homemade hydraulic steering, new homemade steel wheelie bars and a modified Rockwell rear end with a completely new constructed CNC-machined drawbar. The driver's position on the new component machine is more forward and
the center of gravity is lower compared to the old Midnight Deere super
stock tractor. The Rockwell rearend was shortened and machined on a CNC-milling machine at a local machining company in south Germany. In the back of the Rockwell housing was a hole milled in and later a bull eye fitted. Through that window, you can see the internal parts and the oil level of the rear axle.
The rear end got a Rockwell stock steel center section with a modified Rockwell diff, a Rockwell ring and pinion gear, custom-built half shafts, ZF planetary carrier housing with original ZF planetaries from a wheel loader, billet aluminum brake calipers with Willwood brake cylinders and CNC-plasma cut steel brake discs. The new component ride received a John Deere 4840 sheet metal hood and homemade aluminum sheet metal fenders. The new homemade fenders base on the 4840 fenders and are much lighter compared to the original John Deere sheet metal fenders. Marcus and Benjamin purchased the John Deere 4840 hood somewhere in the internet from Canada. After the hood finally arrived in their workshop, they started with the sheet metal work on the 4840 hood.
The hood was still in a good shape but it was plenty of work to do before it was ready. They built a new homemade steel cooler grill and new homemade aluminum side shields for the hood. For all that sheet metal work they spent hundreds of hours in their workshop before everything was ready for the paintjob. The hood comes from the John Deere 40 series which was built in the John Deere main plant in Waterloo, Illinois in the USA between 1978 and 1982. The 4840 John Deere was the biggest model in the 40 Series of the company. The 40 series John Deere was available in 5 different versions as 4040, 4240, 4440, 4640 and 4840. The biggest tractor in the series, the 4840 is powered by a turbocharged inline 6 cylinder John Deere 6466AR engine with a displacement of 7.6l on diesel fuel. The engine in the tractor has 181hp with a maximum torque of 770Nm at 1400rpm.
The side shields on the hood can be removed and the hood can be opened electrically for inspections on the engine, turbochargers and clutch.
The paint job work on the new machine were done by the team himself in their workshop and the brand new nice vinyl graphics on the hood and the side shields were designed and foiled by their sponsor DooDis Werbetechnik & Mediendesign from Bietigheim-Bissingen, in Germany. The deere on the side shields like on the old 4440 super stock, was replaced by a new look with a black-white checkered flag on the new 4840 component super stock.
The rear wheels on the Midnight Deere are a set of used cut 30.5x32 Goodyear Harvest Torque tires with steel rims.
Also, newly built in the tractor is the drivetrain. The drivetrain received 3 speed Kippley transmission with a custom-built driveshaft between the transmission and the clutch and an 11 inch Kaiser Performance centrifugal clutch with 4 discs and a billet steel Kaiser Performance flywheel. The Kaiser Performance centrifugal clutch is covered by a proven Crower steel clutch bell housing.
The new Midnight Deere component super stock is powered by a turbocharged 6 cylinder John Deere 6466TL engine with a displacement of 10.4l on alcohol fuel.
The John Deere 6466 engine come out of the John Deere 40 series and 50 series stock tractors which were built between 1977 and 1988. The power plant was used in the John Deere tractors 4240, 4640, 4840, 4650, 4850 etc. The engine with a displacement of 7.6l was built turbocharged and natural aspirated. The natural aspirated version had 128hp with a torque of 470Nm at 1300rpm and was only used in the John Deere 4240 tractors. The other 4 versions were powered by the turbocharged version with a power ratio between 132 and 210hp. 177hp version in the 4640 tractors was a
water-cooled four-stroke 6 cylinder inline turbo engine with direct injection, hanging valves, multi-hole nozzle, three-ring light alloy piston with a seven-bearing crankshaft, distributor injection pump with automatic injection adjustment, piston cooling, replaceable wet cylinder liners, pressure circulation lubrication by means of a gear pump incl. oil cooler and a counterflow cylinder head.
The 40 series was specially designed for the American market. Both rear-wheel drive and 4-wheel drive versions were on offer. The tricycle version popular for the US market was offered for the last time in the 40 series. But from the original 6466 engine under the hood of the new component super stock is not anymore very much leftover. The only thing which is left is the engine block, but it isn't original anymore too, because the block was drilled up from the original displacement of 7,6l to 10.4l. With the higher displacement, the engine will have much more power and much higher torque.
The most of the original parts like the rods, pistons, etc. are no longer designed for those high power at the end.The US American power plant received a machined John Deere 40 series cast iron block with Darton billet steel sleeves, a billet steel crankshaft from the Zeinstra Pulling Team, billet aluminum rods and pistons, a billet aluminum cylinder head with a billet steel camshaft, a aluminum valve cover, a aluminum intake and a steel exhaust manifold, 3 Holset HX82 turbochargers in 2 steps, a homemade aluminum oil pan, an Aviaid oil pump, a homemade stainless steel fuel tank, a VSP alcohol fuel injection system with a Waterman fuel pump, an MSD 8 Plus Dual Coil ignition and an Eliminator data logger.
The JD engine in the component tractor should make around 3000-3500hp with this setup.
The team will receive help from Willem Veldhuizen of Veldhuizen Special Products and the owner of the 3.5t/7700lbs modified tractor called ''Bits N Pieces'' for the first firing up of the newly built power plant.
Their plans with the new John Deere component super stock tractor is to run in the German Championship and on some invitation pulls in Germany.
During the building time of the new tractor, they also built a completely new trailer for the component super stock. All the work on the new trailer was done by the team himself. In the trailer is enough space for the tractor, workshop work, and sleeping possibilities. Also on the Renault semi-truck were made some changes in the living room to have more space. Another important point for them is to have a reliable tractor in which everything is working well and
remains intact. The team also have not a budget like a top team that is competing on the top level in Europe. Most of the building costs on the tractor were paid out of their own pocket.
