I can,t help you on those numbers as I never heard of them but back in about late 1956 & 1957 Cat sent an experimental tractor to the dealer I worked for & it was labeled EX-1 & was a 15A D8 tractor other than the transmission & that,s when they were developing the power shift transmission. When it was all done we had I believe it was 4 Ex tractors with exp. tran. in them & the last one or two were about what the 46A trans.& tractor turned out to be. That first one was a 5 speed with no torque convertor & boy what a fast machine esp. from forward to reverse. Cat sent a factory engineer here & he lived with it till the program was completed with all the EXers. Him & his family lived here in Dallas Pa. near me & for a while after the D8 EX. job was completed.
What about pictures and description of equipment etc the tractor has. Where is it, what was it doing etc.?
What about pictures and description of equipment etc the tractor has. Where is it, what was it doing etc.?
abeaver,
My Cat serial number index lists the 1A series as a 786 wheel tractor?
I did check the list of military model serial numbers, but there is no reference to this number. Does anyone know any different?
A number of 14A tractors were assembled in England, at the Cat Desford factory near Leicester, from components shipped in from the US. These tractors were assigned an S serial number, but no records are know to exist which detail the extent of the production run.
I think you better find another number because that no. is a haul truck and all the experimental machines that Ive seen are labeled EXP-1 ect and nothing to do with model. I know where there are few EXP-1,2,3s all diff machines like a big20 a D2and a 6G30 and its not uncomon to find them in this area because when they were done with tests most went to C L Bests ranch in Woodland Ca and put to work
the 1a1 serie is 8 Ton Goer (MIL)
I think there was a article in a very old cat club newsletter about 1A#'s being test machines. I will look tonight leroy
1A-50 is on 1C-1's engine 1A-51 is on 1C-2's engine both of which were built by the SanLeandro engineers. The one-cylinder diesel test engines also carried the 1A number. 1A was experimental!
1A tractors were pulled from the storage of the factory after they had been run for whatever experiment they were built for and sold during WW2 because of the shortage of machines at that time. Many were mixed numbers like this one.
This machine will have odd features and one of a kind parts also it indicates being a chassis test bed for a multitude of engines. The engine it has now will be the last engine they worked with which could be ten years or more newer making this rather a morphadite of a machine.😮
Just my 2 cents worth .I am not a real “expert"