(first posted 8/10/2017) Anton Schlüter München was a German manufacturer of farm tractors and stationary engines. The company was founded in 1898, the production of farm tractors started in 1937. In 1993 the factory in Freising was closed down.
The Schlüter tractors were famous for their power, strength, longevity and excellent build quality. Some would even say they were too good and too far ahead.
In 1964 the Bavarian manufacturer decided to specialize in the upper power range, peak power was reached in 1978 with a prototype of the Schlüter Profi Trac 5000 TVL with 500 hp.
This superb 1967 Schlüter Super 750 V is a fine example of the small company’s competence. The production of the RWD Super 750 and the AWD Super 750 V started in the summer of 1966.
Long and low, ideal for working on sloped and hilly terrain. Like ploughing in Southern Germany, for example.
It’s powered by a water-cooled, direct-injected, four-stroke Schlüter SD105 W6 inline-six diesel engine with a displacement of 6,494 cc.
Its maximum power output is 75 hp @ 1,800 rpm. Too bad you guys can’t hear this sturdy machine running.
ZF produced both the front drive axle…
…and the complete rear axle and hitch assembly.
Very solid -literally- lower lift arms.
And here’s another ZF product, the T-318 II transmission. Standard with 12 forward gears and 6 reverse gears. This Schlüter also has the optional crawler gears though, which means a total of 16 forward gears and 8 reverse gears.
The vertical lever on the left is the selector for the power take-off rpm, either 540 rpm or 1,000 rpm. And neutral of course, as in the picture.
The tractor is equipped with two 12V batteries; one in front of the radiator, the other next to the right rear wheel. The starter motor is 24V, whereas the rest is 12V. The front battery is the starting aid.
Quite usual back then, everything and everyone had to withstand the elements.
A clean dash policy, with one needle for speed and rpm. The tractor’s top speed is 28 km/h.
The view from the bridge.
A blue and white logo, now where oh where have we seen something like that before? Those are the colors of Bayern of course, aka Bavaria.
Special thanks to Theo Vos, the owner and keeper of this fine piece of industrial and agricultural heritage.
What an interesting article! I had not known of the Schluter. In a word as sain in Bavaria “stark.”
It means sttong
“bärenstark”, strong as a bear, actually.
Even as the son of a John Deere tractor salesman…
That’s a sweet tractor that I’d be proud to own.
Lots of engineering there.
Very nice, love the industrial design, even down to the intake manifold. Would love to hear one at full chat in person. My old AC 190 was a petrol straight six, and really sounded wonderful under load.
Nice article and a great piece of machinery. I have to demonstrate my city-slicker ignorance, however, and ask: what’s the purpose of those chevron-shaped rams on the front? Very sturdy tow bar? Bumper? And why two?
They are add on weights to keep the front end down depending on what it’s being used for.
Correct. The word “tractor” is a contraction of the term “traction engine.” You can have all the power in the world but it’s useless if you can’t put it to the ground.
Ah, that makes sense. Good to find out something new.
Yes, one purpose of the front end weights is to provide extra traction to the front wheels when the tractor is pulling an implement with substantial drag, such as a plow or large harrow. Assuming that that big hitch and pin above the PTO shaft is the tongue for attaching such an implement, or a wagon, that would be the primary purpose on this tractor. I don’t see where an upper, center link for a three point hitch would be placed. On tractors with a 3 point hitch (see previous entries here about Harry Ferguson and his system), a rear mounted implement would be attached very solidly to the three links, and the lower two links would be hydraulically powered and able to lift it into the air for transport or turning at the end of the field. On our farm, when we first got a rear-mounted six row cultivator, we had to add a substantial number of front end weights to the tractor to keep the front wheels on the ground for transport or turning, and even that was rather dicey and you kept your feet close to the individual brake pedals just in case the tractor didn’t turn as quick as you needed it to. Whee!
Really cool tractor, really solidly built, like a John Deere Model R (their first diesel) or an International crawler tractor-everything about it looks made to last two or three lifetimes.
That whole trailer coupling unit, as on the tractor, is detachable. Take it off and then you can attach a plough/plow. I think that’s what you mean.
Click on the first picture below the sentence “ZF produced both the front drive axle…” for a close-up.
Ah, thanks! I am so used to seeing a tongue hitch below the PTO that the high trailer coupling unit on this tractor threw me.
I want to ride on that side seat. Looks lots more secure than the fender of an American tractor of this era. (Note to self: do not wax the fenders when you detail your tractor, it makes them slippery and easy to slide off.)
But I still think it looks like what would happen if you slammed a Massey-Ferguson from the late 50’s. “How low can you go?”
That’s a looks like a very well engineered machine. I’m not a fan of the side saddle passenger seat though. If the plow snags a piece of ledge, the passenger gets thrown in front of the rear wheel.
Side saddle passenger seats on the farm tractors of yore have always been standard in Europe, yet mostly much simpler (more spartan) than the one the Schlüter has. But nobody is sitting there when the tractor is ploughing or is doing another tough field job.
I remember on-road rides in such “seats” on a Hanomag, a Deutz and a Ford (all a long time ago).
These days there’s an extra comfy seat inside the cab, so a passenger can still have a ride.
I’m glad this was asked because I haven’t seen one like it. Much better than having to stand or perch on the mud guard.
When I was growing up on a scraggly Arkansas hill farm, it wasn’t unusual for a kid or two to perch on each rear fender of the family 9N, Massey Ferguson 135, or whatever. I know I’ve done it. Unfortunately, it was also not uncommon to hear of a kid falling off and crushed by the giant rear tire. I don’t think I remember ever seeing an American tractor with any type of auxiliary seating, probably for the reason Hardboiled describes above.
Here’s a picture of a small classic Hermann Lanz tractor with left and right fender seats. The way I remember them, more “hang on tight” than sitting comfortably…
Was the 450 rpm PTO a typo? Is that a European standard? I thought it oddly coincidental that the US standard is 540/1000.
Right, fixed.
I’m not familiar with these, but I am now. What an impressive machine. It just exudes uncompromising strength and engineering. And Schluter made the engine too.
Thanks for the introduction.
…”uncompromising strength and engineering”…
Those are the perfect words to describe it, and the Schlüter brand in general. I first heard of Schlüter when I watched a German TV-documentary about their domestic tractor brands, years ago. Given the country’s size they had an incredible number of tractor manufacturers in the post-war decades.
Other German brands in the same “strength and engineering”-league as Schlüter that come to mind are Lanz (taken over by John Deere), Eicher and Hanomag (both defunct). All highly collectible nowadays, for obvious reasons. Although I also know a few guys who still use their Hanomag and Eicher for their farm jobs.
Eicher (my namesake brand!) is still alive and well, but only in India now: http://www.eicher.in/
What a gorgeous engine. Nice machine, too!
New brand for me but quite an impressive weapon.
What an impressive beast. Purposeful and yet very nicely styled. And that engine…a 6.4L I6? While the 75 HP figure seems quite low I’m betting the torque was tremendous.
Given its transmission with the optional crawler gears it can probably use a loaded 18-wheeler as a plough. It will move very slowly, but it will move…
Wow, what a beauty! Anyone have any idea of what this baby would weigh?
At least 7,500 pounds, from a quick and dirty specifications search.
I looked it up: 3,970 – 4,030 kg for the AWD Super 750 V.
That’s 8,752 – 8,885 lbs.
All specifications in the link below. It’s in German, but the chart at the bottom pretty much speaks for itself:
http://www.fahrzeugseiten.de/Traktoren/Schlueter/Super_750/super_750.html
What a machine! Love the double cardan u-joints in the steering knuckles!
Thanks Johannes, an impressive looking machine; the low centre of gravity is obvious for example.
The “built like a tank” comment brought to mind a tractor manufacturer in rural NSW (Upton), whose first tractors were built using the rear end cut out of a WWII-era Grant tank. Literally the section of hull surrounding the differential and ‘axles’ were torched out. They later used more conventional componentry, but the tractors got bigger; well over 20 ton, 350hp but still 2wd – 90% of the weight was on the massive drive tyres!
I love old farm tractors. Nothing quiet or comfortable about them, just pure machine built to do a hard job for a long time.
Like most US readers, these are new to me. Really, really cool!
Great find, these are massive! That reminds me, I’ve still got a bunch of unpublished photos from a historic tractor meet up in Bavaria from a couple of years back. There’s a couple of nice Eicher tractors in there, I’ll have to upload them to the Cohort.
The famous and indestructable Eicher air cooled diesel engines; distinctive since each cylinder had its own cooling fan. Like below – six in a row. Recognizable from a country mile.
Great looking machine. Lots of cast iron. I see the need for the double cardigan joints in the front axle. A single u-joint would cause a lot of stress on the drive strain.
The farm I worked on had lots of John Deere two cylinders, gas and diesel. All implements where pulled of the drawbar. No three point hitches. I was taught to always have one hand on the clutch level to quickly disengage the clutch. The 730 pulling a 4 bottom plow was prone to lifting the front wheels in some of the heavier soil spots. No trip mechanism on the plow either.
Via the marvel of you tube Ive heard of these, dont fall down a vintage tractor rabbit hole its very hard to climb out, but Schluter was described as the RollsRoyce of tractors and I can see why now, thats since this post first showed.