The first new Big Bud tractor in 40 years received a lot of buzz from farmers, other equipment dealers, and some of the more than 139,000 visitors at the CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2023 in March. The huge construction show is held every three years.
In the exhibit area at the show stood a prototype of the new Big Bud 700, a brand-new tractor with a gleaming white paint job with red stripes geared to both the ag and construction industries.
“I’m really proud of what we have done here with the new Big Bud,” said Ron Harmon, owner of Big Equipment Co. in Havre, Mont. Harmon hauled the prototype of the Big Bud 700 down to the show, unveiling the tractor along with Rome Plow Co. of Cedartown, Ga., their partner. “The big story of the day about the new Big Bud is the customer will have full accessibility to all major drive components and they are not prevented from fixing the tractor or working on replacing parts on the unit.”
Harmon has rented a facility to build the tractors. He has hired the facility owner, who is a fabricator, and his crew, and they will be custom building the Big Bud tractors in Havre, which will be a boost to the northern Montana ag community.
Harmon is proud that he is building a tractor that will be completely owned by the farmer/buyer – and the farmer can service, repair, or upgrade the tractor themselves, or with the help of any mechanic they choose.
The Big Bud 700 has a 1.5-inch-thick frame and a rugged drive train with a CAT TA22 18-speed engine at 640 horsepower, heavy duty power shift transmission, LSW710/65R46 tires or other tire options, and CAT 988 HD axles.
“All of our major drive components are Caterpillar, and farmers don’t have to go all that far in any state to find a Caterpillar dealer,” Harmon said, adding the conceptual design and the frame is theirs (Big Equipment and Rome), but nothing else is. Harmon recently received documentation from Caterpillar Inc., approving the components in the Big Bud, which means the tractor has the green light to be custom built.
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