By Bruce Derksen, Contributing Editor

As cereal grain and canola farmer Alan Brecka worked his fields bordering a neighbor’s property, he always saw an abandoned Big Bud tractor in a bush. The owners removed the original engine and parked it for over 35 years.

“I thought it was a shame for such an interesting tractor to be deserted like that, so after negotiating back and forth, I bought the tractor along with the untouched engine they still had lying around,” Brecka says. “I aired the tires as best I could, chained up the driveshaft, and pulled it the four miles to my farm.”

Brecka says his hobby is restoring and fixing things, so he and his teenage son, Johnny, got to work in his shop tearing the tractor apart. They rebuilt the 1978 KT 450 Big Bud’s stock Cummins 1,150-cu. in. engine plus the transmission. They removed and gutted the cab, took the planetary gear system apart and cleaned it up, drained the disc oil, checked for filings, added new hoses, lines, and radiator, sandblasted the body, powder-coated what they could, and repainted everything. New radial 800R/32 tires were installed to equip the unit with dual wheels all the way around.

“It’s a restoration, but we also added some nicer touches, like LED lighting in the cab and sound insulation. However, the guts of the Big Bud are all the same as the original,” Brecka says. “We’re just finishing replacing the gauges and switches as they’re pretty brittle at 40 years old. The project’s difficulty was finding parts for the 50-year-old tractor. They only made 551, 32 of which were built during this tractor’s year.”

Brecka estimates he spent about $250,000 CAD on the tractor rebuild, including the purchase price. He plans to use it on his farm this spring to pull a disc, harrow and land roller. He also plans to enter it in local tractor shows and parades.

Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Brecka Farms Ltd., Picture Butte, Alberta, Canada (ph 403-331-5365; breckafarms@gmail.com).