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Big Bud Thread


HeavyGunner

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It's about time, those are nice pictures. I am fascinated by some of the engineering ideas that were thought up and used on Big Buds, Steigers, and the early Versatiles. All of them started by farmers who knew what they wanted in a tractor.

Even though I've been out of farming for 5 years now, I still love working on big tractors. I used to have a book full of pictures with the whole story of the farmer built Buds, Versatiles, and Steigers. Years ago, there used to be a few Steiger Panthers and Cougars around, a Bearcat, but no Tigers. Versatiles were popular here. Lots of 855's 875's all the way to 1150-1156. My uncle had an 895 that ate our Deere up if they were in the same field.

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We still have a lot of versatiles and a fair amount of steigers running around here. Until recently a lot of the professors in the diesel tech and welding and fabrication program at Northern Montana College were guys from Big Bud after it folded.

The problems we face today exist because the people who work for a living are outnumbered by the people who vote for a living.

The government can only "give" someone what they first take from another.

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There are still some old versatiles and one or 2 steigers still running around here too, but so many guys have gone no till and don't use them much except for air drills. The big farmers that still do tillage have newer equipment.

Mostly no till here as well, there's an outfit out of great falls that retrofits later model Allison automatics with pto that can be used while in motion and different newer hydraulic pumps onto older versatiles and buds and other old tractors. We even see an occasional Wagner still being used here as well.

The problems we face today exist because the people who work for a living are outnumbered by the people who vote for a living.

The government can only "give" someone what they first take from another.

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I remember years ago in school going to the BUD factory on a field trip. Quite a monster, those 1 plus inch thick fenders all something to see. And besides the V 12's & V 16's they had KT's 425 to 600. That farm east of Valier has 2 or 3. Have 1 in the fields in the Flathead too.

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How about starting a Big Bud thread. They were ahead of their time offering a 600hp 4 wheel drive tractor in the '70's and they were built in rural Montana. They were heavy duty, fenders were 1"-1 1/8" solid steel, no ballast needed in the tires. They mostly used standard truck transmissions like the 13 speed road ranger. Here's a pic of one I saw today and a link to a video of the worlds biggest tractor. A V16 900hp screamin' demon. Bull husk, jumper and son eat your hearts out. Fwd, you will probably like the video and may even grow fond of this two stroke.

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525 hp 50k axles

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http://www.williamsbigbud.com/about-us/

Good job for an E9

Fun is what they fine you for!

My name is Bob Buckman sir,. . . and I hate truckers.

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image.thumb.jpeg.a80a4878b2647af97ee65e0image.thumb.jpeg.ce5e266563e914959c699f1Saw some more tractors today. This Steiger is used for removing snow at remote leases and pulling stuck trucks. It is powered by a 3406 cat. 

 

 

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The problems we face today exist because the people who work for a living are outnumbered by the people who vote for a living.

The government can only "give" someone what they first take from another.

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I attended a tractor show in Illinois in 2009 and they brought in this Big Bud as the main attraction.  For a sense of size, I am on the left and am 6'4" and can't see over the tire.  They are HUGE machines.  It took thousands of dollars to just move this beast around the country.  I have also attached the transport trailer for the Big Bud.  There were other trailers for just the tires.  A very cool machine to see in person.

 

Drew

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It certainly is an impressive machine. I did a year of college with one of the heirs to that tractor and he brought in a really neat video on that tractor and they pulled at the time the biggest case tractor in front of it and its roof was only about as high as the top of the hood. The same family that owns that big bud built a custom tractor for the tractor pulls and it had 2 allis chalmers v12 or v16 (same engine they said that was in p51 mustangs) mated together with a special gear box supercharged and running on alcohol. I'll see if I can find pics. I think that tractor was named The Randy Canadian but I'm real sure. 

The problems we face today exist because the people who work for a living are outnumbered by the people who vote for a living.

The government can only "give" someone what they first take from another.

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