Can't say I've ever see one come through Dewitt's before, pretty cool!

I know! That thing is a massive chunk of iron, bet it would make that Big Bud talk, bet that disk will bring close to what the tractor does.

That one is a series 4 and is the rarest of all series.  But any Big Bud is rare.  They made just barely over 500 of them total.  And then start breaking it down by Series and model. 

My info comes from Ron Harmon himself.  I don't have the time to list the break down on all the models because there are so many.  And there really aren't any either except for the series 3.   All you can do is averages.  Their first tractor was the HN 250 made from 1969 to 1975.  Made 63 of them.  63 divided by 7 gives you an average of 9 HN 250s a year.  Not really a record setting pace.  And the 250 was the only tractor they had in production until the HN 350 in 1973.  I can tell you most of the Big Buds were built around 1977 to 1981 which consists of the Series 2 and 3.  They didn't make hardly any after going bankrupt in the early 80s.  Only made about 21 of the Series 4. 

Have a look, yes. Bid, no lol! A STX 275 pulls anything I have now so I think she's a little big for me, would be cool though I must say. Says powershift on the side and I didn't know they ever had that, any idea what year range it would be? It looks great in person, gotta check out the cab tomorrow to kill curiosity.

I'll answer as short as I can here...Over 100 homes and countless other structures. Some were very nice Headquarter and homeplaces. Most are not rebuilding, many life long residences of the spillway now own houses closer to town. Of the 110,000 acres I'd say 105,000 got planted, maybe a little more. Worst is the areas that had crevasses due to current, some of that will never be farmed again. Other areas drained off good and a pretty good crop (99.9% beans) was pulled out of there. Very late crop so some is still in the field in places. I farm a few hundred in there and am fortunate that it was a low current area with no land damage, only some older buildings and a single wide trailer that was on that farm. You are able to rebuild if it can be done for under 50% of appraised value before the flood and still have insurance, more than that and it has to be on a 10-12 ft. tall mound of dirt to qualify for coverage.

$100,000 is what Big Equipment would charge.  But you can get them for half that through private deals. 

don't call me shirley..lol

he probably doesn't want his buddies to have bidding competition

Go look up the price of a new 500 hp tractor then get back to us.  I know a guy who bought a nice 525/50 a couple of years ago for $40,000.  Last time I checked, any tractor that big new or early 1980s are basically used for plowing or heavy tillage. 

They are historic marvels...... Built at the peak of an Agriculture bubble.      Only the big boys around here had one back in the day.    500 hp in 1980, shoot man, it took Red and Green 20+ years later to figure out how to make it work......


They may look ugly, archayic, but anyone who says they don't look intimidating doesn't know the history of those big fella's.....


I'd love to have one.    But highly doubt I ever will.....

Many years ago, someone in Montana told me, "You don't buy a Big Bud to farm with, you buy one to brag about it".

They were the most componentized tractor on the market.  Only thing Big Bud made was the frame, cab, and drop box.  And they were built to take most of the engines and trannies from the major suppliers.  There are more then a few Buds running around that don't have the original engine, tranny, or axles.  They can be upgraded pretty easy with newer components.  I can take mine right now and replace the old 855 with a Cummins QSX engine, take the fuller tranny out and install a powershift, install bigger axles, and a newer Bud cab.  All without torching or cutting the frame.  As far as I know, Big Bud is the only tractor I've seen with the radiator, engine, clutch, and tranny built on a skid unit so you could pull the unit out to work on it or change out a component. 

During Bud's heyday years, they talked the strip mine at Coalstrip into trying half dozen of them with the HD pan that Bud was peddling (possibly building??) at that time. They didn't last six months in that environment. CAT motor-scrapers are still being successfully used there to this day.

I don't know. Next time I visit with the engineer that was head of maintenance, I'll ask him.
He specifically mentioned that the scrapers were running through a dip after being loaded and there was more stress on the outfit than they could handle. They don't waste a lot of time at that mine, so I suspect they were running about as fast as the motor could push them.

If he did, it will show up for sale in the paper $164,000.

Here's the few I took, it was NOT the best day for picture taking. I was never able to get up in the cab.









 

Yes, Big G greenline disk.

I am working with the Williams Brothers to produce a series of Big Bud toys. So far we have produced the HN-320 and HN-250 in 1/16 and the 740 in 1/64. We will have Series III in 1/32 and 1/64 in 2012. The first Big Bud was a 1969 HN-250 and the last Big Bud was a 1991 450.

Here is the list we are working from.

Series I 1969-1978: Cummins NT-855 engines


HN-250, HN-320, HN-350 and HN-360.


Series II 1976-1978: Cummins KT-1150 engines

KT-450 and KT-525

Series III Break Down:
Cummins NT-885 Engine Models:

320/10

360/10


Cummins KT-1550 Engine Models:


400/30

450/20

525/50

525/84

600/50


Detroit Diesel 8V92T Engine Models:

8V 400

8V 460

400/20

400/30


Detroit Diesel 12V92T Engine Models:

650/35

650/50

655


Detroit Diesel TD92-2610 Engine Model:

16V 747



Series IV: 1986-1991 Cummins, Caterpillar, Duetz, Komatsu and Detroit Diesel Engines

The Series IV Big Bud 4wds offered new power with a moder design. This generation of Big Buds offered six engine options.


Cummins NT-885 Engine Model:
370

450


Caterpillar 3406B Engine Model:

400

SA6D140 Komatsu Engine Models:


370

440

500


Detroit Diesel 8V92T Engine Model:
450



Deutz BF12L513 Engine Model:

500


Series V : 1986 and 1990 SA6D140 Komatsu Engine

740

Do you have an idea on what model and when is your next one in 1/16th scale going to come out?  1/16th scale is the only ones that interest me.  Would love to see a Series 1 KT 450.