I haven't seen a CAT tractor in my hood

[Geo-TH,In]

Yesterday I saw a CAT tractor go by my place in the country.
It may not be this tractor. It was a CAT that had rubber tracks and took up both sides of the country road.

This is a first. Most farmers use Red or Green tractors.
Is the CAT going to be the new normal?

Farmers are making a lot of dust by applying fertilizer and working their fields.

Won't be long before they get their planters out.

 

[DoubleO7]

Quite a few non-farmers use those in their dirt moving operations.

 

[Pitalplace]

There were a few here in west central Nebraska several years ago. I don't think they worked out and most of the big operators went back to green and the red ones.

 

[rustred]

there was few around here like 20 years ago or more. the red and green came out. but they are not popular either.

 

[GreenEnvy]

Rubber tracked Cats have been around since the 80s. Googled them up. Here is a link to one.
Cat Challenger 65

 

[Steve in IL]

Cat sold the Challenger brand to AGCO in 2002. Since that time, AGCO has slowly removed the Cat content in the product. Youll notice in your photo the machine is indicated to be Cat power, but is Challenger branded. Today, I dont think this is much or any Cat content left in the Challenger products.

 

[GreenEnvy]

They are actually sold as Fendt now in their color scheme. Red and green.

 

[Steve in IL]

Are they sold as Fendt in the US, or just for Euro consumption? Cat did something similar with Claas back in the day.

 

[db4600]

Challengers were fairly common around Minnesota since
their inception probably due to Ziegler and Butler
providing strong support. The AGCO affiliation gave us
many options where you could buy a Challenger track or
wheel tractor from your CAT dealer and I believe you
could also get those same in FENDT green. The early
Challengers had issues of tensioners collapsing when the
brakes were applied pulling heavy agricultural loads.
Those were corrected as the product line expanded.
After the introduction of rubber track tractors by CAT we
saw other brands jump into that same game. As
mentioned they were thought to be ideal for scraper work
and did well until Challenger and others outpaced them
with high HP scraper specials like Steiger 485,
Challenger MT 9650, and JD 9470.

 

[GreenEnvy]

Yes they are sold as Fendt here in the US. My local Agco dealer had one on display at the local farm show.

 

[J Hamilton]

In south/central IL in the little town of Dix, there is a Fendt dealer.

 

[DR. EVIL]

My Nephew bought a slightly used Challenger 65 about 3-4 years ago, and it shares shed space with a dozen green tractors of various sizes and ages. But the Challenger is about twice the HP of any of the green tractors. I was told by a non-farmer co-worker 20+ yrs ago how great a Challenger rode when chisel plowing in the fall. I've run all three common styles of 4wd tractors, ridgid frame Case 2470 riding on four 28Lx26 tires, an 8440 Deere on eight 23.1x30 tires, and a White 4-150 on eight 18.4x38's. The Case was smoothest riding and had great Traction, but I think the Challenger would ride smoother and pull better than the Case. The White pulled O-K, the Deere was kinda gutless even turned up to 220 hp, you had to have the throttle wide open running over 2000 rpm or it fell on it's face, stalled out. The White was only pulling a 14 ft disk, it was flying stirring up drowned out corn for replanting beans. But I'm sure the Challenger is faster, smoother, and when they stick that 2-shank too big Glenco Soil-Saver in the ground it gets with the program!
Strangely enough, nobody I worked for ever had a 4wd IH, not a 4100 or 4366, anything. I looked the 4300 at FARMALL-LAND over really well, was the ONLY thing I took pictures of, I'd seen it at Red Power Round-up's a couple times. It would have pulled well, but no cab, and noisy!

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

(quoted from post at 06:41:06 04/11/23) This is a first. Most farmers use Red or Green tractors.
Is the CAT going to be the new normal?

CAT has already come and gone as a tractor brand. You are more than 20 years behind the times.

They are now "Challenger" brand, nothing CAT about them. Not even the yellow color is CAT yellow.

 

[the tractor vet]

I got to play with a Cat 45 during a DMI field demo for two days I was impressed , yes it floated across the fields . It handled every piece of equipment we hooked to it Seven shank deep ripper with the tiger points in our ground going 14 inches deep several models of them The Tigermate and crumblier that was 24 and 26 foot wide . Sure was a far cry from what i was use to . But being me i just had to vapor lock the Cat guy when he asked me what i thought about it and with maybe 10-12 other guys standing around listening my comment to him left him speachless i told him that i really did like it BUT can ya get one of these here fancy things with DUALS , Really think it could stand a set of DUAL tracks. . One of my close friends was the DMI block man for our area and put on the field days with some great food . Had a vary good turn out and Our local Cat dealer supplied the HORSE POWER as NOBODY had anything big enough . I found it vary easy to run .

 

[flying belgian]

When I was farming I had a Cat 35. That's the smallest rubber track they made. 210 hp. Driving through a plowed field was just like sitting in your easy chair in house. But Driving down hyway it was terrible. Every seam inthe road or crack in the cement oh boy. Or what's even worse,,pulling out the field drive up onto road. Picture driving up a beaver tail trailer and teetering onto deck. Get the picture?

 

[caterpillar guy]

I don't know those quad tracs on 3 17or so yard scrapers going about 4 mph loading and faster yet in transport while dumping at about the same speed as transport. watch about a dozen of those come in and park in a row. Mighty impressive to look at there.

 

[sourgum]

That Cat Challenger appears fairly new not 20 years old. There is some around in use, not a predominant brand like red or green paint tractors. The high end model, i forget the model number, is considered one of the most powerful agricultural tractors on the market. Some are around in the Corn Belt when a dealer is not to far away.. Things I have heard about farmers like the low compaction footprint they leave if pulling a planter, they power thru wet spots better. Other things i have heard farmers don't like the tracks they leave on end rows when turning around. Tracks leave a mess of rough ground when turning on end rows. Tracks may have higher maintainance cost associated on them than a wheel tractor.