Combines Sweet deal or not

[Greg]

While cat is just putting paint and engines on Claas combines, their tractors are theirs, Claas put their paint on them in Europe. We get their combines, they get our tractors.

 

[jake]

Yes, but aren't CAT tractors fords.

 

[nucky]

Not sure but i think that caterpillar owns 1_2 of claas. Have you heard of cca caterpillar class america. or cce caterpillar class europe. As far as the tractor being ford the cab is the same and some of the outer housings are the same on the older ones. The new ones I kmow are 100% caterpillar. A caterpillar rep told me at the farm progress show that cat spent more money on this new tractor than any other cat product.

 

[dakota]

As far as I know Ford and CAT used to share parts from the same supplier like the Funk transmission for example. But that's a thing of the past according to my CAT rep. The new Challenger tractors have a CAT transmission and a CAT cab. If you look into the combines a little closer you will find differences between the european and american versions. CAT spends a lot of research on adapting the lexion to american conditions. A friend of ours has an experimental CAT along every year together with a CAT service man. Sometimes I get to hear from him what they're all working on. Since August the combine factory in Omaha,NE is running, too. As far as I know the lexion 470 was introduced a year earlier in America than Europe. The CCA (Caterpillar-Claas America llC) is a 50-50 joint venture between CAT and Claas.

 

[nucky]

As far as the new tractors go they are all cat except the rops. They said that they didnt want the libality on the rops. I dont blame them. I know this because I was at the introduction in st charles Ill. These tractors will far surpass any track tractor on the market. The most impressive is the new undercarriage and the marshmellow suspension. The sterable 3 pt hitch is also a plus. We will be ording 3 mt765 this year but not sure if they will make it before planting. We will have to plant with the 55 one last time. Until you run a track machine you wont appreciate some of the features the new cat has to offer. If you have a chance to demo one make sure it is laoded. you will go withe most of them.

 

[kp]

To be honest, I do not care who invented or markets it, all I care about is how the machine works. You guys have too much time on your hands to spend time yapping back and forth...PS-who invented those round things your vehicle rolls onIJ

 

[catmechanic]

ok here it is,cat and claas have (had) a joint venture. cat got a combine line, and claas got challengers.They were painted class colors, looked pretty cool to. The tillage tractors, 65 to 95e are built by cat.The early row crop tractors 35 45 55 with serial numbers with a number, followed by two letters and then the rest of the number(1dr0000) are actually ford genesis tractors with tracks and cat engine.these were built in canada at rhe ford factory. they say every third genesis tractor on the line was a challenger. the later row crop tractors (ones with three letters,followed by the serial number(aen0000) are built by cat at the cat factory in delkab,illinois. Now the new mt700 series tractors are all cat. Why did cat get into bed with ford and claasIJ probably to get into these product lines quicker.who do you think makes the new tillage toolsIJ Krause does. whats in the futureIJ look for cat to introduce a wheel tractor soon. Who will they look at for help and needs help distributing a wheel tractor in north americaIJ there are two manufacures they are looking at, one is in germany the other a lower priced one in finland, any guessesIJ .One last thing, the 2002 models of combines are now being made in omaha. in a few years they will be 100% cat. Hope this answers all your questions, bottom line is....caterpillar wants to be a leader in the ag world, as fast as possible, and with a superier product than the competition.