"In 1977 the Big Bud 747 tractor was built in Havre, Montana. The tractor was built by Ron Harmon and the crew of the Northern Manufacturing Company. The tractor was built to produce 760 horsepower using a 16-cylinder Detroit Diesel engine. The tractor measures 27 feet long, 20 feet wide, and 14 feet tall. The tires were specially made by United Tire Company of Canada and are 8 feet in diameter. When the 1,000 gallon fuel tank is full the tractor tips the scales at over 100,000 pounds," the official website says.

"It was originally designed for the Rossi Brothers, cotton farmers in Bakersfield, California. The Rossi Brothers used the tractor for deep ripping. They owned and operated the 16-V747 for 11 years. After leaving the cotton farm of the Rossi Brothers the Big Bud found its way to Indlantic, Florida. The second owners, Willowbrook Farms, also used the tractor for deep ripping purposes. Willowbrook Farms retired the Big Bud and left it to rest.

"In 1997 the Big Bud found its way back home to Montana, only 60 miles from where it was built. The Williams Brothers of Big Sandy, Montana purchased the tractor and brought it to their farm in Chouteau County. The Williams Brothers use the tractor for cultivation purposes, pulling an 80 foot cultivator. The tractor can work more than one acre per minute, at speeds up to 8 mph. Except its new paint job, chrome stacks, and a whopping 900 plus horsepower - the Big Bud looks like it did when it rolled out of the Northern Manufacturing Company building back in 1977."

"The Big Bud 747 or 16V-747 Big Bud is a large, custom-made farm tractor built in Havre, Montana, in 1977. It has 1100 horsepower. It is billed by the owners and exhibitors as the "World's Largest Farm Tractor". It is about twice the size of many of the largest production tractors in the world, depending on parameter.

"The first two Big Bud tractors out of the Havre, Montana plant were the 250-series and were purchased by Leonard M. Semenza of Semenza Farms in 1968 located between Fort Benton, Montana, and Chester, Montana on his 35,000 acre farm. The 747 tractor was originally designed by Wilbur Hensler and built by Ron Harmon and the employees of his Northern Manufacturing Company, at a cost of $300,000. It was made for the Rossi Brothers, cotton farmers of Bakersfield or Old River, California. It was used there for eleven years; it was then purchased by Willowbrook Farms of Indialantic, Florida. Both farms used it for deep ripping.

"In 1997, after a period of disuse, it was purchased by Robert and Randy Williams, of Big Sandy, Montana, within 60 miles (97 km) of where it was built. It was used on the Williams Brothers' farm in Chouteau County to pull an 80-foot (24 m) cultivator, covering 1.3 acres (0.53 ha) per minute[5] at a speed up to 8 miles per hour (13 km/h).

"On July 14, 2020, the Big Bud's original eight-foot tall construction tires were replaced with Goodyear LSW1400/30r46 tires (which are slightly under seven feet tall), with new rims provided by the Williams Brothers to fit them. The new tires brought the width of the Big Bud to just over 25 feet.

The Big Bud 747 returned to the Williams Brothers farm near Big Sandy, Montana, in September 2020, where it worked farm ground once again with an 80-foot wide FRIGGSTAD chisel plow." (Wikipedia)

"Claiming to hold the title of the "World's Largest Farm Tractor" for over 40 years, the Big Bud was originally built in Havre, MT at the Northern Manufacturing Company in the late 70's," the KMHK says.

"Offering 760 horsepower from the 16 cylinder diesel motor, the Big Bud was sold to cotton farmers in Bakersfield, CA. It changed hands a couple of times before it made it back to Montana, where it now calls Big Sandy its home.

"The tractor was on display for a number of years at various agriculture museums in Iowa and the Midwest, where it recently got a new set of tires. Very expensive new tires."

"Anyone growing up in the Midwest remembers the legendary tractor made by Ron Harmon and the Northern Manufacturing Co. An estimated 550 tractors were built and sold from the 1970-80s, with the last run in 1991," the Cowboy State Daily says.

The high-horsepower articulated tractors were some of the biggest and baddest in the field, tugging a 35,000-pound cultivator down rows at an acre-a-minute. They were heavy-duty, American-made workaholics designed for megafarms like those in the Canadian wheatbelt and the vast Western plains spreads where farmers could be found plowing not the remote back 40, but the back 400.

"The Big Bud 747, a one-off that rolled out of the factory in 1977, is considered the largest farm tractor in the world. It’s so swole, it makes an International Harvester look like a Mini Cooper. The Big Bud 747 weighs in at 135,000 pounds fully ballasted and its 1,000-gallon fuel tank topped off. At 1,100 horse power, nothing in the American heartland can touch it."

"The 1,100 horsepower Big Bud 16V-747, which holds the record as the world’s most powerful tractor, still works, but it is now a show piece and is parked outside the Big Equipment Co. building in Havre, Montana," the Western Producer says.

"Serviceability of the Big Bud goes beyond the availability of parts; it also has an advantage over modern tractors in terms of the ease of working on it. Harmon said it can take up to 40 hours for mechanics to take a cab off and then replace it on some tractors, which is required to work on some components, including the transmission. Big Bud’s cab can be quickly folded back, so if a transmission does have to be replaced, Harmon said it’s only a four-hour job.



"He said one of Big Bud’s biggest serviceability advantages over other tractors is that it doesn’t have a master computer that controls everything. The 2023 640 Big Bud comes with an Agco cab and any aftermarket navigation or precision ag system can be factory installed. Harmon said the 2023 640 Big Bud comes with 110 gallon per minute hydraulic capacity and it can be outfitted with more capacity if required."

"Big Bud 747 is the world’s largest tractor, a custom-made farm tractor built in the late 1970s in Havre, Montana. The Big Bug 747 is not the only Big Bud tractor built at the manufacturing plant in Montana. The first two tractors were the 250 Series, purchased in 1968 for use on the 35,000 acres at Semenza Farm between Fort Benton and Chester, Montana,"  the Tractor Transport says.

"Initially designed by Wilbur Hensler, built by employees at Northern Manufacturing Company, and made for the Rossi Brothers, Big Bud 747 came later in 1977. The Rossi Brothers were Californian cotton farmers who used the large tractor for over a decade before selling it to a farmer in Indialantic, Florida.

"Both farms used the biggest tractor globally for deep ripping, using the strong tines to loosen hard soil up to 50cm in depth. After falling into disuse, Big Bug 747 headed close to home and found work in Big Sandy, Montana, where it pulled an 80 ft. cultivator that worked 1.3 acres per minute."

"This bad boy is called Big Bud and it’s the world’s largest farm tractor. It’s 27 feet long, 20 feet wide and 14 feet tall. Equipped with custom-built tires, made by United Tire Company of Canada, Big Bud can work more than an acre of land in just one minute. The Williams Brothers made some minor modifications to the engine, and the tractor is now able to produce 900 bhp, instead of the initial 760 bhp," the Oddity Central says.

Big Bud was built in 1977, in Havre, Montana, by Ron Harmonn and the crew of the Northern Manufacturing Company. It was commissioned by the Rossi Brothers, for their cotton farm, in Bakersfield, California. The main purpose of Big Bud was deep ripping, and it did the job for 11 years, until in moved to another farm, in Florida.

In 1997, 20 years after it rolled out of the Northern Manufacturing Company, Big Bud returned to Montana, to serve the farm of the Williams Brothers. Here, the giant tractor is used for cultivation purposes, pulling an 80-foot-wide cultivator. Even if you have no agricultural experience, you can tell that’s a damn big cultivator."

"Big Equipment Company, LLC was started in 1994. It has primarily been a rebuilder of Big Bud tractors and other large construction and agricultural equipment,"  the Havre Chamber Of Commerce says.

"The past two years BEC has expanded into an AG Dealership with several product lines, primarily the Versatile full line dealership and Seed Master Drills. Big Equipment Company, LLC recently received the Exporter of the Year Award."

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