In 1934 Caterpillar began selling the Seventy Tractor, the largest its gas-powered tractors, which were being replaced by the newer diesel machines becoming more popular at the time. This precursor to modern track-type tractors has a classic appearance, and is historically significant for being the last large gas-powered Caterpillar tractor made.
In the years emerging from the Great Depression, many municipalities and private contractors used the Seventy in the construction of roads. It was prized for its ability to multi-task as the wide swinging drawbar could pull a variety of equipment. The Seventy also received use in agricultural applications and helped mechanize America’s farms on a larger scale than the Cat Ten did four years earlier. The Seventy was also a favorite of the timber industry, as it could safely and efficiently pull equipment and logs over rough terrain.
The engines were four-cycle, water-cooled, with four cylinders, capable of running 700 rpm when governed at full load, at maximum drawbar pull it was capable of 420 rpm. The overall length was nearly 12’, height was 7.5’, width was almost 9’, with ground clearance over 10”. Other specs of interest are: a 31,000 pound shipping weight, 90 gallon fuel tank, and the steering was controlled by slow speed, heavy duty, dry multiple disc clutch and contracting brake.
The Depression years of the 1930s were difficult for all industries, and Caterpillar was no exception. Even though the Seventy had been developed from years of tractor-making experience, sales totaled only 266 machines over the four years of its production. Despite being one of the more rare of the track-type tractors, the Seventy lived on in the diesel powered Seventy-five tractor and later innovations that would propel Caterpillar from agricultural products into a leader of earthmoving equipment.
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