5Bxxx wrenches-

I have come into possesion of a set of wrenches, made by Billings Co. that have a 5B- part # on them-a tool site theorizes that these were made for Caterpillar tool sets, but haven't confirmed it...anybody have these or know of a parts catalog that shows them? The style of the Billings logo indicates an age of 1920's-on.
Thanks for any info...

Those are indeed Cat wrenches that came with the new tractors when new. Billings supplied Cat with the wrench sets from the early to mid 1930's through the 1950's, Armstrong also supplied Cat with wrenches that had the same part numbers on them, but these came much later. The original Billings ones should have the "Triangle B" mark stamped on the end opposite the "5Bxxx" part number. The sizes are as follows-

5B780 - 5/16" x 3/8"
5B781 - 7/16" x 1/2"
5B782 - 9/16" x 5/8"
5B783 - 11/16" x 3/4"
5B784 - 13/16" x 7/8"
5B785 - 15/16" x 1"
5B786 - 1 1/16" x 1 1/8"
5B787 - 1 1/4" x 1 5/16"
5B789 - 1 1/2" x 1 5/8"

*Note: Part number 5B788 was never used.*

The parts manuals for the Cat machines all have a breakdown of the tool sets that came with them, complete with illustrations and part numbers. Not all Cat tractors originally had every size of end wrench included, for example a D2 tool kit stopped at 5B786 because bigger wrenches simply weren't needed, whereas a D7 or D8 would've went all the way to 5B789.

Hi ron,
my D4 6U and D69U parts books show some 5Bxxxx wrenches listed from 5B780 thru to 5B787.
In todays computer speak an "0" needs to be added to the start of the numerals for the computer at The Dealer to recognise the part number as being valid. ie :- 5B780 becomes 5B0780.
These machines were released in the 1947 era.
Found my 3J & 5J D2 parts book has similar wrench listing, these machines were released in 1938.
Cheers,
Eddie B.

5Bxxx is a good number for wrenches, 5B780-786, 5/16"- 1-1/8", are a set of open end wrenches supplied with a U model D2, and other models, and Billings was a common supplier of wrenches.

Cool! I thought they were Cat, but didn't have a parts book to tell for sure...what I have is 5B780-783, 5/16-3/4.
I should say what I will have when they get here, I snagged them on ebay...
I have a thing for old wrenches, as well as other forms of old iron..👍