[AT] Agritrac dozer

[CEE VILL]

Don,More info.  Cahnged from agricat to agritrac when cat sued them.  Read 
on___

Aricat History
Below is from an email I received from another Agricat owner. If anyone 
knows more, please pass it along. I have recently heard of the existance 
ofthe Agricat Company archives and will continue to track that down

The AgraCat began it's existence in the late 40's as a product of Joost 
Manufacturing with subassemblies built by Western Transmission. Both firms 
were located in the San Francisco Bay Area, Oakland-Berkeley to be specific. 
The layout was to remain the same during it's entire life with the engine 
with belt drive to a transmission (2-F, 1-R), chain drive to the steering 
clutches and pinion and bull gears to the drive sprockets.
Early models had numerous welded components: brackets, gear cases, track 
assemblies. whereas later models made extensive use of castings. This 
indicated higher production as the tooling for castings is more expensive 
but the overall cost per part is less. The welded steel pan that formed the 
chassis remained essentially unchanged as well, although there were several 
different track lengths available over the years.
Early models were very simple: a chassis with a seat and foot rests, 
controls and everything else in the open. Accessories were operated 
mechanically, using compound levers and gravity. They were marketed to 
landscape contractors, although a substantial number were sold to railroads 
for roadbed maintenance. Hydraulic power became necessary when a loader 
model was added, but the semi-mechanical skip loader was only powered up. 
Gravity took it back down and it had to be latched on the ground. By the 
late fifties, the appearance of the AgraCat began to look more like a "big 
Cat". Caterpillar noticed, sued over copyright infringement and the name was 
changed to AgraTrac. More hydraulics meant more accessories: a fully 
hydraulic loader, power dozer blade and rippers, and a backhoe. Reliable 
witnesses have said they spoted AgraTracs working in trenches in San 
Francisco during the construction of BART, our "rapid" transit system.
While all AgraCat/AgraTracs I have seen were powered by single cylinder 
gasoline engines, it has been noted that a very late model was seen in a 
dealer yard with a two cylinder Wisconsin and another with a single cylinder 
diesel. This was around 1965 and they were not to be well publicized. Around 
that time, AgraTrac was bought out by Freuhauf, manufacturer of the rival 
TrackMaster, and all manufacturing was moved to "their new facility in 
Fresno" (quoting a factory bulletin). At that point, AgraTrac simply 
disappeared from the small tractor scene. This was to be expected as the 
versitile Bobcat essentially wiped out the small crawler market.


>From: "bwhdon" <acton at onramp.bz>
>Reply-To: Antique tractor email discussion group 
><at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>Subject: [AT] Agritrac dozer
>Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2004 07:37:18 -0800
>
>Any body know where I can find some info on an Agritrac dozer? Its a tiny 
>garden dozer with a 1 cylinder engine.
>
>Thanks
>
>Don
>_______________________________________________
>AT mailing list
>http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at

_________________________________________________________________
FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar – get it now! 
http://clk.atdmt.com/AVE/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/