Minneapolis-Moline Prototype Crawler X253

[@j81851]

Squarch253 you are a prince among men! As a died in the wool fan of old stuff (cars, watches, tractors, etc, etc) I have a deep and abiding appreciation for what you did with this unit as well as it's continued preservation! Wow today we struggle to make much of anything that lasts the warranty cycle. Think- this tractor is 1 of a kind and 66 still running great (with a LOT of help from a great guy!) They will never be made this way again so saving old unique pieces like this one is an important tie to a time when we used our minds and not the AI minds of computers and phones! Bravo!

[@tmscheum]

Rewatching early videos while Squatch recuperates. Have seen many videos about X253 but I was NOT aware it was vintage 1956, the same year I was born! The “suits “ story NEVER gets old.

[@seniorelectrician6831]

Its great to see that there is some people still out there preserving history

[@bardee1]

This unit was put together by my father at the R&D shop in Hopkins, MN. I got to see him drive it before they took it to the main shop on Lake St. In Minneapolis. They also made several units using the Jet Star 2 tractor. Glad to your unit.

[@dalekrueger1175]

Did your dad know Edward Reddig?

[@j81851]

Oh m gosh Chuck how cool! A wonderful memory!

[@calebmattix391]

Anyone that has ever tried to weld cast would look at those welds and say, 'Not too bad"!! Beautiful tractor, I had never seen an MM crawler

[@mikeobrien2582]

The ugly weld is part of the history, great job preserving it!

[@hymonhowell3900]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder! It's not an ugly weld, it's a beautiful piece of history. Preserve it! You did good!

[@robertrogish1038]

What a great machine you have. Love it and your channel - get well and rest as advised.

[@carthrasher8022]

Great story! Enjoyed this as all your videos. Saved from the scrap heap, scar & all!

[@Happyfacehotwheels]

Still looking good.

[@AviationAutomation]

wow what a beautiful looking machine. Amazing for the year tbh

[@scottwilke3966]

Great story about a great tractor. You have a real treasure thanks for sharing it with us

[@JWHubbers]

Impressive result, it looks brand new :) Thanks for the explanation of the details of the setup and explaining what's prototype and what/how they reused regular production parts, and for sharing the back story.

[@OnlyTheEd]

Congrats on leaving the "ugly weld" part of the story/history..........Thanks for sharing and not melting it down for scrap.

[@clydebalcom8252]

Beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous. You have restored her to live new.

[@gaylonfuller3312]

That’s is an story! Never new they made a crawler. Thanks buddy!

[@mikeschoeffter7420]

Man that is one good lookin rig, you must be proud of that baby !

[@jimsteele7108]

Nice looking little crawler.

[@UnitCrane514]

Man you did a great job restoring that crawler! Hope to see many more videos like this! Amazing that you got the proto type!!!!!!!!!!

[@michaelbaumgardner2530]

Absolutely beautiful machine and hey,we all have scars.!!!

[@ericlakota6512]

Its awsome that its d2 parts great looking dozzer to bad it never took off because i love it and would love to have one looks well put together

[@espeescotty]

That's a neat little tractor. Good story to go along with it as well. Glad you were able to save it.

[@rcfundyer5739]

Wow what a sweet tractor thanks for posting

[@billrey8221]

! Laughing! I have learned more than I have ever wanted to learn about Moline tractors. As I watch now, I can recognize some of the parts , there shape, and design. That top cover on the transmission is a dead give away. (Why is that shift pattern so weird? 1 5, 2 3, 4 R. why not 1 2, 3 4, 5 R?) Thanks for posting!! !laughing!

[@michaelmcclure8673]

That's a museum quality job you did. Thanks for saving a piece of history from the jaws of death . 😎😎😎😎😎

[@bardee1]

I'll have to go thru his old 35 mil slides and see if there is any pics. I have a picture of him setting on the first prototype A4T at Hopkins and him working on the G-1000 Wheatland tractor out in Arizona.

[@tripacer8259]

This one is so cool.... just wow!

[@johnminckler4605]

I just finished up the series. You did an amazing job. I love your channel and your videos. Keep up the good work 🙂

[@notajp]

Born the same year as I was!

[@kerotractor]

Nice tractor. Thanks for sharing. We have a later version of the MM.

[@lewiemcneely9143]

Beautiful rig and I vote to leave the weld. History is history!

[@coldspring624]

kind of a neat piece? friggin fantastic piece

[@ricklaleman6552]

Nice video. Great explanation of the unit.

[@oldridersteve217]

Drive that baby into Antiques Road Show with that vintage 56 picture. See what she's worth. Wonderful piece

[@kennethbailey2616]

I don’t have much experience with MMs except we got a G1000 that I used to disc and sometimes haul hay. Not a bad tractor.

[@darrenblattner2508]

That is a very cool piece of history, scar and all, yes keep the scar

[@RustyCarnahan]

We need some new footage of this beauty on the channel, Squatch 😉

[@farmallchris]

That is really cool man I would like to drive that once

[@maddog2771]

I like it , it's very sleek looking , to bad it never went in to mass production

[@reconmodelsvaughn469]

Amazing job wow i have to get a crawler

[@alvindueck8744]

what a beautiful machine, eh?

[@ricklaleman6552]

Jeff and I are planning to bring the clone to Freeport in August. We hope to see and your crawler there.

[@juanasanelli6831]

Congratulation Nice tractor !

[@curtissommerfeld1513]

I was watching the series on assembling the transmission and I got to 44 where you were Fabricating a new shifter fork and all of a sudden, I can't find anything more on the subject is there someplace else to look for it?

[@ryanwayne7135]

That's so cool!

[@evankibbe590]

That is so cool and incredibly interesting. 😊👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@edspencer7121]

I'm in Minnesota and get to the thrashing shows. Did you ever show this crawler at the white pines show, or there abouts, a few years back? About 10/12 years ago there was a 445 crawler a 'Golden Cat' for sale, I believe in Indiana if I'm not mistaken. It was a advertised in the Antique tractor magazine at the time.

[@wildcatwilly]

Could you do an update video on this with your better camera equipment maybe show us where she sleeps

[@nikleigh456]

anything that pretty going to run.

[@ericcorse]

The only issue I see with this beautiful machine is that I'd hate not to use it but its way too nice.

[@maggs131]

It would be interesting to know if the family that did this "ugly" weld used it and for how long. I like to see it working too but not at the cost of damaging that old wound.

[@leosypher9993]

I'm so sick of machinery companies being obsessed with scrapping prototype machines, there are so many prototypes that where very unique and special machines that are now lost forever due to the scrapping obsession

[@ricklaleman6552]

Did you ever see a tractor resembling the NT which my brother recreated.? We have detailed photos of it (see MM NT Experimental Tractor video on youtube), but have not found evidence of its existence after 1943.

[@marcelpilon5279]

Nice 👍

[@dylanrothwell9338]

Could you give me more info, I really like the tractor and love the story.

[@polo1sam1]

Very cool. Did moline ever do later track tractors or did they desire to not do any?

[@JoeHynes284]

wait...is this the one you are redoing the engine on now?

[@phildonaldson1701]

that weld look sexy lol

[@w.w.2restorations.vehicles698]

SOOOO, if I do some educated extrapolations, the latter half of your KZbin name is actually from this Crawler. And if this is the only one of its' kind and you have it, that means the first half of your KZbin suggests THAT YOU HAVE A SASQUATCH IN ONE OF YOUR SHEDS TOO !! I mean C'mon maaan, look at the avatar you've chosen. A single frame from the Patterson video. 'FESS UP MISTER AND SPILL WHAT EVER IT IS THAT YOU'RE HIDING IN THAT VAT OF YOURS !!!

[@TheDisorderly1]

Wow I really like this crawler. What ever happened to the Minneapolis Moline company?

[@dalekrueger1175]

actually what happened is that MM got taken over by the Redding Bros in the mid to late 1950s, and when they got done cleaning out all the cash (including the retirement pentions) White motor corp snapped it up cheap

[@robertwinton2649]

🤗❤️👍

[@waterloofreak]

very nice! I have also seen your videos on X231 and look forward to the restoration, do you have a regular production 445 to kinda make a set?

[@ethanburns1357]

Where did u get those pads?

[@johnborn1600]

available on Cat equipment

[@wilmamcdermott3065]

Horsepower rateing?

[@mjp5429]

What could have been.............

[@morgansword]

I think with the public opinion, leave the battle scars. You have forgot more than most will learn about that machine.... not that it would do much for the job interview at walmart/LOL! I hope you know I'm joking around. I hated cat as a young guy cause they were proud of the parts and to buy them took a gold card, as I said hated cause if it were yellow then it cost twice what other machine parts cost. I worked on them through the years and got more familiar with them but I wouldn't call me a cat mechanic and I loved their automotive engines as they had real power. The "rattling kitty" is what most were nicknamed where I'm from in alaska

[@wilmamcdermott3065]

Whats it worth

[@jester4886]

Those ugly old welds make it better in my humble opinion

[@reconmodelsvaughn469]

Man da you want to sell it.

[@jimmarshallman6300]

Idiot! 💩

[@erod7508]

I guess you can call it "SCARTEPILAR"

[@mikeymcmikeface5599]

Starter lever... Heretical!!