Big Bud 747: The World's Biggest Tractor (and the Lawsuit That Sank Its Maker)

In 1977, a small shop in Havre, Montana built the largest farm tractor on Earth. This is the full story of the Big Bud 747: the dealer who lost his product line, the transmission that wouldn't stay in gear, the farm crisis, the tire company that went bankrupt, and the two Montana brothers who brought it home. Heartland Iron tells the full stories of the giant machines that built America. Subscribe for the next one. Chapters 0:00 The tractor that wouldn't fit on the highway 1:27 The dealer with nothing to sell 3:36 Northern Manufacturing 5:02 The horsepower race 6:44 Building the 747 10:36 The transmission that would not stay in gear 13:09 The farm crisis 15:35 The quiet years 16:23 The Williams brothers 18:28 The tire problem 19:48 New shoes 21:14 Fire, and a second life 22:24 What the 747 really is Sources Twin Disc, Inc. v. Big Bud Tractor, Inc., 772 F.2d 1329 (7th Cir. 1985) Peter D. Simpson, Big Bud (Octane Press) Guinness World Records: largest agricultural tractor Havre Daily News (2014, 2018); Big Sandy Mountaineer (2020); Messenger News (2020); Daily Inter Lake (2021) Titan International, 'Behind the scenes: Big Bud' (2022); Gas Engine Magazine; Farm Collector; Diesel World Wikipedia: Big Bud 747, 1980s farm crisis, Steiger Tractor, Versatile Photos from Wikimedia Commons, used under their licenses (cropped and animated; each photo is credited on screen) CC BY 2.0: Bill McChesney; Joel Washing; danzil raines CC BY 3.0: Eric Friedebach; Loco Steve; Shahnoor Habib Munmun CC BY 4.0: G. Edward Johnson; Quintin Soloviev CC BY-SA 2.0: John Edwards; Los Paseos; Myron Reynard CC BY-SA 3.0: Begonia; Dallas Epperson; David J Laporte; DwightMengel; J.B. Chandler; Michael Rivera; Robstutz; Trevor Mork; Visitor7; Yehuda Eisenstark CC BY-SA 4.0: Andy8Kahn; Famartin; Jon Roanhaus; Moonayyy; Roseohioresident; Rwslivka; Spstack; Tmork08; Magicpiano CC0: Brandonrush Public domain: U.S. Department of Defense; U.S. Department of Agriculture / NRCS; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Jarrod Pakosh Maps, charts and graphics: Heartland Iron. Narration is AI-generated. #BigBud747 #TractorHistory #FarmHistory