Anyone know when the last direct drive Caterpillar was available.

hello r w ,the book i have show a d8L 4fb 400 hp special application tractor ,built 1984 to 1987 ,built for farming ,bruce oz

Clickn here will get you to some photos of D8L SA tractors: www.farmphoto.com/FPv2/thread.aspx?mid=628260

hello found 2 more that had dd up till 1997 ,bruce oz

d4h 4nk up till 96
d5h 4kd till 97

For those of us who aren't sure what "direct drive" is, please explain.

Cat also made a D7N SA as seen in my photo.

My relatives had some but sold them in the late 90's and early Y2K to replace them with 95e's which are now junk.

The tractor seen in my photo was used to pull a custom murray V ripper.

I believe they went overseas to Australia.

"gwhdiesel75" wrote:

For those of us who aren't sure what "direct drive" is, please explain.

not power shift just old fashioned clutch
cheers graham

Thanks Graham! GWH

Cat made a D6R LGP Direct Drive and a D5M LGP DD in Japan until 2002. There was also a D6G "Super Rural" made in Brazil until 2001. In the US though, Cat chose to push the Challengers over the DD steel track tractors.

The D6R and D5M had powershift transmissions, but no torque converter. The lack of a converter is the main thing that makes a tractor direct drive; i.e. the engine directly drives the powertrain, with no converter fluid coupling in between.

Dave