This month we return to Steiger literature. Tractor fans are familiar with the big Steigers in the farm field but we are also starting to see more and more big 4wd tractors on construction sites to more earth. You may see a modern STX tractor moving earth, but Steiger's involvement begins back in the 1970's.

To learn about Steigers and earth moving past and present, we look to literature. Steiger first presented earth moving as an option for the tractor in 1971 with its Steiger Series I tractors. Steiger offered yellow painted Series I as industrial scapper tractors. There is a rare piece of literature from Steiger featuring a yellow Cougar I with a blade pulling a scaper.

In 1979 Steiger began offering its own scaper. The Scraper was painted Steiger green and pictured in the one page sales piece on a Cougar ST 251. The Scraper models could move up to 16 cubic yards and were marketed toward the farmer who wanted to level his land, dig drainage ditches, bury farm debris, clear feed lots and for general light earth moving. Interestingly, the Steiger family still builds Scraper Pans under their family name.

In 1980 Steiger continued to expand its earth moving options for its 4 wd tractors. The company released a new 12 foot dozer blade. This industrial quality blade was built to mount on the front of Steiger 4wd and engineered for dirt leveling, brush clearing, silage pushing, feed lot clearing and snow removal. This blade like the Scraper was painted in Steiger green to match the big tractors.

click images to enlarge

In 1982, Steiger released a new series of 4wd's in industrial yellow. The yellow range of tractors were marketed as industrial strength from Steiger. They were specifically constructed for earth moving, mining and construction. The new range was easily recognized by the model prefix on the hood; Cummins Engines powered CU-280 at 280 HP, the CU- 325 at 325 HP and the CU-360 at 360 HP. Models CA were powered by Caterpillar engines, CA-280, CA-325 and CA-360. These models offered two different engines so that customers could buy the tractor with the engine of their preference. The industrial models offered automatic transmissions, reinforced cab glass, and additional hydraulic flow for pulling large earth moving equipment. The equivalent green models would have been PTA Cougars and Panthers. Yellow models were also available with 5th wheel hitches for mounting Scraper Pans directly to the tractor frame.

In 1984, the yellow models were phased out in favor of the 1000 series models and the declining ag market didn't allow Steiger to focus in the industrial market. By 1986, Steiger had fallen on such hard times that it was acquired by CASE International and soon red paint replaced lime green and the Case IH name plate replaced the Steiger name.

Case IH focused on the ag market for several years, but that all changed in 1997. The Steiger name returned to the red tractors and a new model called the Quadtrac changed all the rules. Case IH marketed the new Quad with the slogan "built from the ground upwards." Little did they know how important that slogan would be. At first Case IH sold the Quad as an ag only tractor, but earth moving contractors couldn't resist trying out the new earth moving machines. Soon 360 HP 9370 and 400 HP 9380 Quadtracs were tearing up ground everywhere with Scraper Pans.

In the year 2000 when the new STX Steigers were introduced by Case IH, Scraper specific models were released. These heavy duty models were marketed with strengthened industrial hitches and towing packages. Both tracked and wheeled STX Steigers were marketed to be used specifically with Reynolds Scraper Pans. Case IH put out an independent piece of literature featuring the STX Scraper tractors and has also included the industrial models in its general brochure on the full STX range.

I hope that you have enjoyed learning about the industrial history of Steiger 4wd's and that you will enjoy some additional video footage from Case IH marketing on the Quadtrac Steigers. Next month I hope to have new copies of literature on the John Deere 8030 series tractors.