In the beginning, track type tractors/crawlers etc. were made for agricultural purposes. R.G. LeTourneau was a pioneer in developing earthmoving equipment. Much of it was cable controlled or as LeTourneau (LeT for short) LeT Power Control Units (PCU) were used for many applications in cable controlled equipment. Caterpillar for instance, did not offer these kinds of attachments for their tractors in the early years up to and at the end of World War II. LaPlante-Choate, Bucyrus-Erie and others were competitors of LeT, and you'll see this variety on these old tractors, especially other brands besides Caterpillar. There are old photos of staging areas/depots, as well as landings where you'll see mostly Caterpillar, but also Allis Chalmers and some others together. The government bought quite a bit for the war efforts needed to build what was needed to get the job done. It's quite interesting history given the times and the way things were built in those days. Caterpillar recognized the market and right after the war they offered their Cable Control Units with cable operated attachments such as dozer kits for track type tractors. They also operated tow behind scrapers, and LeT had all kinds of other cable controlled equipment in their line up. Track type agriculture tractors had smaller track idlers for more nimble turns. Caterpillar also introduced hydraulic controls as well just after the war, but CCU's were offered well into the 60's, and maybe the 70's as some operators preferred them. You could still get these tractors with starting engines until the 70's as well. Ag tractors were also direct drive and not powershift as the latter was not the best for heavy drawbar work.
CCU/PCU units are winches but with higher speed, these are not suited for winching operations, though you will see photos of them being used that way in the war. There is a specific type of wire rope used for these applications and the operators often carried spare reels on their tractors to rotate the wire rope through to avoid it wearing in the same area on the "sheave blocks" - they're really not pulleys if one wants to be technical about it LOL !
I believe there are some books about RG LeTourneau that you may find very interesting to read. Also another innovator with Caterpillar was Buster Peterson, really something what these guys did in those days.
I have an old LaPlante-Choate manual in my collection that was for their dozer kits on caterpillar tractors, lot of interesting information in it, and instructions for operators on how to use a dozer blade, much of it still applicable today.
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Today's Featured Article - Timing Your Magneto Ignition Tractor - by Chris Pratt. If you have done major engine work or restored your tractor, chances are you removed the magneto and spark plug wires and eventually reached the point where you had to put it all back together and make it run. On our first cosmetic restoration, not having a manual, we carefully marked the wires, taped the magneto in the position it came off, and were careful not to turn the engine over while we had these components off. We thought we could get by with this since the engine ran perfectly and would not need any internal work. After the cleanup and painting was done, we began reassembly and finally came to t
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