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It is still too wet to get into Tehachapi, so no retrievals this week. It looks like one more storm early next week, so it may dry out enough for us to get into there by the following weekend.

This coming weekend we’ve got a few busy days in the Garlic shop planned. The following projects need to make progress over the three days:

We had hoped to go to Tehachapi and retrieve some of the old iron up there. The weather has been rainy and wet, so looks like that probably won’t happen. The retrieval fun will get postponed until a later weekend.

It is difficult to adequately introduce Cat enthusiast Les Bergsten. His 40 year career at Caterpillar is clearly the source of his “yellow blood”. Incredibly it is just one chapter in a work history that started with driving a Case tractor on his family farm at age 7 and includes a 37 year career in the Air Force, 20 years on the Peoria city council and 20+ years of shareholder activism. He jokes that his combined years of service make him 137 years old. He has undoubtedly fit that much living and then some in his 93 years (and counting!).

Yellow Power recently had an opportunity to sit down with Les and listen to his many varied life experiences. Les started his Caterpillar career in 1952 after graduating from Kansas State with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. After starting at Cat as a College Co-op he was called up to active duty in the US Air Force where he had what can only be summed up as an incredible experience. Caterpillar held a spot for him to return to full-time in 1955, although he continued to serve as an Air Force reservist until 1990.

Les’s first assignment at the Cat Peoria Proving Grounds in 1955 was working on 4-wheel scraper tractors. Those tractors obviously continue to hold a special place in Les’s heart and replicas of those machines are a prominent part of his diecast collection.

Les humbly recounted an early experience as a test engineer on the DW20. He figured the best way to get to know the product was to get some experience running one. The test machine on hand at the Proving Ground was an electric-start model but unfortunately Les found that the batteries were dead. Seeking assistance from one of the more experienced operators, it was suggested that it would be easier to pull start the DW20 than to jump start it. Les sat in the seat on the DW20 as the operator made multiple, unsuccessful attempts to pull start the machine. Les soon noticed oil coming out of the air cleaner and quickly realized that he had the transmission in reverse! He confessed the error to the operator who commented, “You’re new here, aren’t you?”

Les revealed a few other behind-the-scenes details on early scraper tractor development. He recounted how management felt the original DW10 with its curved fenders didn’t look “tough enough” which is why there was a drastic change to the more simplified fenders on later versions. He went on to point out how on one of his scale models the radiator extended significantly higher than the hood. He described how cooling issues required a change to a larger radiator but the hood was left at the original level.

One of the more colorful stories Les recounted was testing on the ill-fated 668 tractor. The 668C was a four-wheel-drive version of the DW20E scraper tractor. The previous generation of DW20 that was sold to the military had a four-wheel-drive configuration that apparently didn’t have any known issues, but when it was adapted for civilian use as the 668 it was fraught with problems. Under certain conditions, a vibration would develop in the front drivetrain with disastrous results. Les recalled a time that the front driveshaft of a test machine was thrown 30 feet!

After several different drive shaft designs and materials, Cat threw in the towel on the 668 and decided to buy back all of the 50 or so units that had been sold. Les recalls that they were successful in buying back all but one unit. “A customer in Canada built an elaborate snow plow onto his tractor and Cat would pay for the tractor but not the snowplow, so the customer refused to sell.”

Following his scraper tractor experience, Les went on to work on Cat gas turbine engines (prior to Cat’s acquisition of SOLAR) and then reduction of noise levels on Cat machines. Les conducted sound testing on Cat machines all over the world. His work undoubtedly helped preserve hearing for countless machine operators. Finally in 1992 after 40 years of service, Les retired from Cat.

In retirement, Les has maintained his connection to Caterpillar. He has been a frequent attendee at antique Caterpillar shows across the US since the early days of the Caterpillar collecting hobby, and although he has downsized, still has an impressive collection of Caterpillar diecasts and memorabilia. He also has a legendary attendance record for annual Cat shareholder meetings. Despite a tendency to put Cat Executives on the spot regarding issues important to customers and employees, he has been recognized by the Cat Board of Directors for his persistence.

Les says his current goal is to be retired from Cat for as long as he worked there. That may seem like an ambitious goal given his lengthy time as an employee, but it is obvious from talking to him that he should not be underestimated. Thank you Les for your service, and your time spent talking to us.

More Stories

To start the year 2023, and after a few months of planning, the Yellow Power Caterpillar Community was officially formed and held its first Director’s meeting. Congratulations to all who helped, participated and worked on this effort.

Well, this is the first edition of the 2024 Yellow Power newsletter! There is much to remember in 2023 as Yellow Power Caterpillar + Community (YPCC) celebrates its start and first year as a new organization. Many thanks to all of you as Founding Members of the organization. It would not exist without the many supporters and contributors. Thanks for a great start as we look forward to continued growth and commitment in 2024. Wishing everyone a happy and prosperous New Year!

By Dave Wintermute

Two significant newsworthy events to communicate.

By Dave Wintermute

Welcome to all Yellow Power members and guests! It seems like the good spring and summer weather is upon us finally and the show/event season is underway also.

36 years ago, marks the first time that Conexpo visited Las Vegas, Nevada. With Conexpo-Con/Agg 2023 kicking off on March 14 and running until March 18, lets look at the first year it was held in Las Vegas.

I own a 1956 Cat D2 5U and have always wanted to get a winch mounted to use for pulling logs. The opportunity to purchase a Hyster D2N came about when I got a phone call from Chad Enyeart saying he knew where a nice one for sale was located. The price was fair but the big question was getting it from California to Georgia. We soon had that arranged and it arrived at my shop shortly afterwards.

Dave Wintermute’s collection of Antique Caterpillar is one of a kind, just like Dave. He started running Caterpillar machines when he was 21 years old, and that was the beginning of a long 52-year career working with Cat – and it was the start of a hobby that continues to this day.

Clewiston Tractor, now Kelly Caterpillar, was contracted by the U.S. Sugar Corporation in Clewiston, FL to build rubber tire tractors to pull sugar cane wagons from the field to factory in the mid 1950s. The Caterpillar D6 9U tractor served as the base unit with a custom wheel conversion added.

From humble beginnings in 1933, to the international organization it is today, one thing has remained consistent: Finning has a reputation for service excellence.

The Half Century of Progress show in Rantoul, Illinois was held August 24 through 27, 2023. Several friends of Yellow Power initiated conversations with the show management to allow the inclusion of track type tractors. Previously, there was virtually no participation from this class of tractors for several reasons. The fact that the Rantoul municipal airport is still an active runway and as such, falls under the jurisdiction of the FAA lends caution to the promoters.

As anyone that has attempted one will confirm, tractor restorations are hard. With any challenging task, one good way to find motivation to continue is to visualize what life after the finish line looks like. Chuck Ehler encountered several obstacles in his quest to find and restore the 20,000th Caterpillar Diesel RD-4, and one idea for after it was done helped him persevere to complete the project.

On February 10, 2023 the Garlic Team rescued a 1947 Peterbilt from the Tehachapi junk yard. The truck was a three axle conventional truck tractor which was connected to a homemade end dump trailer which worked using the truck’s winch.

Yellow Power Caterpillar + Community attended the annual Santa Margarita Memorial Day weekend show this year (May 26th through the 29th). As our first presence at a scheduled event proved, we are a growing club with a strong following. Several of our board and club members manned the Yellow Power tent and enjoyed brisk sales of our merchandise.

Cat has a long history of "special edition" machines for specific promotional purposes. This tradition goes back to at least the 1915 Pan-Pacific Exhibition with the Holt Caterpillar's displayed there, and continues through present day. One recent example of special edition track-type tractors produced by Cat were some D6s produced to commemorate a dozer manufacturing milestone in 2020.

Over the summer, my wife and I purchased an RV with obvious intentions. My ulterior motive was to also use it to visit machinery shows during the season. Although the deal was struck the last week of July, our coach wasn’t available until a few weeks later when the pre-delivery inspection revealed an oil sender leak in the motor.

Garlic Mom and I were lucky enough to be offered a tour of the Tinaja Hills Demonstration Area last February. We came down to visit some of our Caterpillar Friends, who were doing training there.