drawing of a belted tractor prototype

How engineers invented the rubber-belted ag tractor

Part two: We finish the story by revealing how two research engineers at Caterpillar teamed up to merge ag crawlers with rubber belts

In the late 1970s, Caterpillar had been selling a limited number of SA (Special Application) crawlers to farmers. But the high-horsepower, articulated, four-wheel drive ag tractors that were pouring onto the market were eating into demand for those machines. For that and other reasons Caterpillar executives eventually decided to develop and market their own four-wheel […] Read more

Claas Xerion tractor

Claas Xerion tractor’s turning cab turns heads

Farmers at the Farm Progress Show in Iowa gathered to watch Claas 
show off the spinning cab on its Xerion tractor

While many Canadians have only recently seen Claas’ Xerion tractor for the first time, Drew Fletcher, Claas’ product manager, tractors, says it’s not a new machine. Claas has been manufacturing Xerion tractors at its headquarters at Harsewinkel, Germany for quite a while. “We’ve had it about 10 years in a full-line manufacturing system.” In the […] Read more


Synthetic engine oils in cold weather

Do synthetic engine oils perform better in cold weather? We passed that reader question on to Suncor’s lubricants team

One Grainews reader contacted us and asked if we could help provide some insight onto what, if any, real advantages synthetic engine oils offer over the regular, mineral-based types that have been on the market for over a century. In particular, he wanted to know if they really perform better in cold winter weather and […] Read more

Photo of book author, Bill Cockshutt.

Cockshutt — a familiar company name

The name Cockshutt is a familiar one on the Prairies. In the late 1800s, this company brand could be found on horse-drawn carts, plows and discers. By the mid-1900s, the name was on combines, warplanes, truck bodies and the groundbreaking Cockshutt 30 tractor. William H. Cockshutt (Bill) witnessed much of it. As a boy living […] Read more