Sled pulling has been known to get people hooked for life, so to speak. Once it's in your blood, it's an addiction that never ends. Cory Atley's wild ride to the top of the National Tractor Pullers Association began just four years ago with a head gasket failure on his daily-driven 6.0L Ford. After dropping the truck off at Josh Woodruff's shop, it was soon transformed into a sled puller Cory used to compete in the 3.0-inch-diameter inducer classes. In June of 2007, he purchased Dave Radzierez' Pro-Mod truck How Do You Like Me Now? to get his feet wet in the highest level of competitive pulling classes. However, it was only a temporary fix, as this mammoth of a truck, built from the ground up, soon came to fruition.
When the project began, Cory and his father, Carl, an experienced Pro Stock tractor puller of 13 years, decided that a cast-iron block would never hold up to the kind of cylinder pressures they planned to run with their Cummins. Cory told us that "even though we're getting better parts and technology, the cast-iron blocks can't handle it." So, the decision was made to go with a solid steel billet block.
Supplied by Woodruff Diesel, the billet block began as an 1,800-pound rectangle of steel and, after a lot of machining, the finished weight was 540 pounds. The block itself is dry-sleeved with a one-piece bedplate and four-bolt main bearing caps. The bedplate ties the block into the mains, pan rails, and engine mounts. Woodruff Diesel also supplied a counter-weighted OEM steel crank that spins six 4340 billet connecting rods, and six forged pistons from Ross with Total Seal rings. The camshaft is a custom billet roller with roller lifters, heavy-duty pushrods, and roller tip rocker arms. A 24-valve cylinder head with double valvesprings and a serious porting job accompany the custom stainless steel intake plenum and exhaust manifold.
While typical Pro-Modified rules have been known to only accept factory blocks or close replicas, an NTPA ruling declared Cory's truck would be legal in its four-wheel-drive diesel class.
 This is the initial machining...  This is the initial machining that was done to the steel 5.9L to create the main bearing webs and oil pan rail. Holes were machined first to ease the process of machining cutouts for proper crankshaft clearance. Josh Woodruff told us it took more than 250 man-hours to machine the block. |  This is a photo of the bottom...  This is a photo of the bottom of the steel block with the OEM crankshaft installed. |  In order to keep the bottom...  In order to keep the bottom end as rigid as possible, Woodruff used this one-piece bedplate instead of the traditional seven main bearing caps. |