Steiger family was introduced to the Hall of Honour of the Association of agricultural machinery manufacturers

The authors of innovations in the design of all-wheel drive tractors with articulated frame are recognized for their contribution to the agricultural engineering. And this coincides with the half-century anniversary of the production of Steiger tractors in Fargo.

John, Maurice and Douglas Steiger, father and sons, built the first all-wheel drive tractor with an articulated frame more than 60 years ago and they were inducted into the Honour hall of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) in recognition by this North American organization of their contribution to the development of productive agriculture due to their developments in the field of mechanical engineering.

And this recognition coincided with the solemn celebration of the 50th anniversary of the production of Steiger tractors in Fargo, North Dakota, the United States – in the same city where production remains today. The company became part of Case IH in 1986, and in 1996, in addition to Steiger wheeled models, the Fargo plant also began producing Quadtrac articulated tracked tractors.

Honour hall of the AEM was founded in 2008 and has since honoured pioneers and innovators who build, strengthen, lead and guide the off-road machinery industry. AEM suggests that in this way it tries to raise public awareness and gratitude to those who have been pushing the industry forward for years, to global success, and have made a huge contribution to raising modern living standards.

The innovators included in the Honour hall shall embody five guiding principles: innovation, contribution to the development of the industry, leadership, social/civil conscientiousness and commitment to the principles of sustainable and rational management. The first Steiger tractor was built in the winter of 1957 to 1958, when John Steiger and his sons Maurice and Douglas at their farm in Thief River Falls, Minnesota, sought ways to ensure the timeliness of agricultural operations by increasing productivity of the machinery in the principal field operations. While the most advanced tractors at the time had two-wheel drive and provided less than 100 hp. capacity, the Steiger family decided to create a machine that would produce more than twice as much power and include more reliable components, all-wheel drive including wheels of the same size and articulated frame for better manoeuvrability. The first Steiger tractor which was painted lime green and nicknamed “Barney” provided 238 hp. capacity.

When neighbouring farmers started observing this car at work, they asked the Steiger family to create something similar for them, and after developing another model with 118 hp. the production of a complete line of Steiger tractors with a capacity of 150 to 300 hp. was organized in the converted farm buildings.

Thanks to external funding production was relocated in 1969 to full-fledged factory facilities in Fargo, North Dakota, where production of the famous “cat-named” model Wildcat started. Production volumes soon outgrew these premises, too, so in 1975 construction of a new plant was completed, also in Fargo, and Steiger production is still located there at present.

Since Steiger became part of Case IH in 1986, the legacy of this company’s founders and principles of creating machinery have become an integral part of Steiger and Quadtrac design from Case IH: it is these two brands that have long been synonymous with innovation in the segment of wheeled and tracked tractors equipped with articulated frame. In 1996, Quadtrac became the first high-power chassis-based tractor with four tracked engines on the market, and the Steiger and Quadtrac wheeled and tracked versions were the first in their segments to offer revolutionary benefits of unique handling and high fuel economy with continuous technology of power transmission introduced in the CVXDrive optional transmission.

The current line of Steiger tractors from Case IH includes models up to 628 hp. in the wheel segment from Steiger and in the caterpillar segment from Quadtrac; all these models are equipped with state-of-the-art Powershift transmissions. In addition, Case IH offers the option of installing CVXDrive continuously variable transmission on Steiger wheeled models and Quadtrac tracked models with up to 540 hp. capacity. More than 80,000 Steiger wheeled and tracked tractors were manufactured since the first machines have been built.

“We continue developing Steiger products in the same way as the Steiger family did”, said Dan Stewart, Case IH’s Marketing Director for Europe, Africa and the Middle East. “And we remain committed to providing our customers around the world with the best solutions to meet today’s challenges. Very few tractors can boast that they work on all seven continents, including Antarctica, or exceeded two times the record of arable land, and this is the clearest indication of how closely Steiger pays attention to the reliability of the design and versatility of its machinery”.