There’s dedication and then there is DEDICATION. It took Kory Anderson and a load of talented fabricators, craftsmen, and mechanics a decade to rebuild/recreate this 150hp Case steam tractor, the most powerful ever built. We say rebuild/recreate because Anderson and crew started with like a boiler and a wheel from an original unit and went from there. As you will hear at the start of this video before Anderon puts the full might of the machine to work, Case built eight or nine of these things in the early 1900s and all of them have disappeared, like the great wooly mammoth from the face of the Earth. It is a massive machine and with its size comes great power.
There’s videos of this tractor doing all kinds of neat stuff like pulling a stuck, loaded semi out of the dirt, dragging a monstrous 24-bottom plow at an agricultural show, and in this one, recreating one of the early publicity stunts that the Case company used to entice people to buy what was then a tractor of unmatched size and capability. Think of the dead weight this monster is moving up the grade with nary a sweat. Each of the tractors behind the big boy is 10s of thousands of pounds and has rolling resistance for days. Nothing about these things moves easy and after the announcer gives the history lesson and Anderson puts his Case to work, there’s a column of soot and the familiar chug that comes from a mighty steamer.
Guys like Anderson should be viewed as almost heroic when it comes to the gearhead populace. Why? Without him and all the work the world would never even know what one of these things looked like in real life, let alone what one sounded like or was capable of doing with its power. No, there isn’t speed or wildness here but rather a show of strength that you have to respect as a person who loves history, machines, and their legacy.
This rules.
150 HP and most likely 2000 or more LBS Torque.Love those old chuggers.
The engine runs at only 200 RPM, so just under 4,000 ft-lbs of torque at the rated HP.
It turned 170+ hp on the belt, and 5000 lb-ft of torque. They had to shut it down because the belt couldn’t take any more. She had a lot left in her!
There’s a town here that has a steam tractor parade on July 4th. That tractor looks like it’s double the size of most of the tractors that show up there.
It would be interesting to know what one of those was worth new, and compare to what a new 500 hp 4wd costs using adjusted figures.