Any modern compact CRAWLER tractors made?

[TBrown]

Ferrari Tractor makes a compact crawler tractor, designed for orchard use. I think it may be a little too small though, at 16HP.

Ferrari compact crawler

BTW, the Landini crawler tractors are also sold under the McCormick name, as the T series.

 

[frank_f15]

BOB: YOUR POST BRINGS BACK A LOT OF MEMORIES, i grew up driving an old cletrac(late 40's early 50's) can't tell u if it had 3 pt as at theat age idid not know what 3 pt was /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif but i do remember that it would go thro any thing, well almost anything(as i found out) but u are right it was one hell of a small crawler. this past summer comming out of town one day i saw a small crawler in the front yard , for sale, so of course i stopped, and low and behold if it was not an old cletrac. tried to figure out a reason to buy it, but could not justify it, well i could, but the bride gave me THE LOOK. SO I PASSED ON IT but darn it even had a blade on it. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[dbear]

Bob, the only one I know of, besides Magnatrac, is the Collina, but good luck finding a dealer in the States. I contacted them about 3 years ago (it took 3 e-mails over the course of about 6 months to get a response) and at that time, they only mentioned someting about a dealer in Canada someplace. Very difficult to understand due to language issue...

Collina

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Well I guess they are still made, the SAME, LANDINI, New Holland and similar units are what I am talking about. All are bigger than I want. The Ferrari is also the right concept, but it might be too small and too narrow.

But I guess these things are still made.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Frank . . . I didn't grow up with farm machines but I have come to love them over the past decade. Depending on the year and the model, the Cletrac you drove may or may not have had a 3pt hitch. Some did, and many had a 540 rear PTO, but only the later models seem to have had a LIVE PTO. In fact, I've only confirmed one model that had a LIVE PTO and that was their largest model.

Somehow I got bit by the Oliver/Cletrac bug but have yet to aquire my first crawler yet. (My lovely sainted wife has tolerated parts of old Olivers scattered around the garage, she even tolerated it when I was parking the cars outside because my 3 1/2 car garage was filled up with tractors, but so far she has given me THE LOOK when I wax eloquent about how nice it would be to get an Cletrac/Oliver HG or an International T5)

There is something about the little crawler working in the fields that just fascinates me. Most people think crawler tractor and think bulldozer, but crawler tractors are definately not dozers. They are simply tractors with tracks instead of wheels. The 2 major reasons for crawlers is greater stability on slopes, which is why they are commonly found in vinyards, and reduced soil compaction. The added traction seems to be much less of an issue than either of these two features.

I may have to sell an old wheel tractor before she gives in, but somehow I think the lovely MRS will be getting her (ok MY) dream crawler one of these days soon!

Hey, maybe for an anniversary gift? #19 is coming up in May.

 

[RobertN]

I have seen older crawlers like mentioned in the above posts, but nothing new.

What about the newer track loaders like the ASV-RC30? I have used the RC30 and a larger Cat-247. Both were very stable, and incredibly capable. The lineup of attachments is incredible for these machines. Granted, they would be be front attach hydraulic driven attachments instead of 3pt pto driven.
www.asvi.com
www.asvi.com/rc_30.cfm
www.asvi.com/rc_30_attach.cfm

 

[theonlybull]

i see alot of guys who like the old cleatracks, but beware, we have a 56 jd 420 crawler, and they require alot of work, and parts are expensive. tracks are built to wear themselves out, unlike rubber tires. you also will have to rebuild/maintain steering clutches and brakes, which can be very fickle items...

they are also slow, rough, and tend to make a mess of the ground when going in anything but a straight line..

just a word to the wise.

 

[Dozernut]

Robert
ASV made or still makes (unsure) a 3pt. hitch for their smaller machines, not the RC line. That was one of their selling points, simply install the hitch, then turn the seat around. The machine would then become an ag tractor and operated equally well in either direction. In fact I have one of their VHS tapes they used to send upon request, demonstrating the 3pt. hitch and attachments. The tractor had a square receptacle you would plug attachments into. I think the 2810 might still operate that way, I have not been on their site recently.

 

[Dozernut]

I just checked their site (ASV), they still offer the 3pt. hitch in the 2800 series and still have the square attachment point for the hoe, six way blade and 3pt. hitch.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Bull, thanks for the reality check, but I kinda figured the old ones are a mechanical nightmare. The first brush I had with restoring a tractor was an Oliver that was UNDER a barn, that sort of opened my eyes to things. And when I say UNDER, I mean that the barn pretty much fell on the tractor and stayed there for a few years. Nothing like tracking down parts that haven't been made in 50 years! I got to be good friends with a machine shop owner because of that tractor.

Does anyone know of any CLUBS for people who own/restore old crawler tractors? The Hart-Parr Oliver's Collectors Association has information about Cletrac, and there is a separate Cletrac Association, but what about the other brands (Cat, Bristol, JD, International, etc)? Is there a crawler club?