Saw one of these German built loaders on E bay last week.
I had been trying to obtain more information on it,for the tinwork to be reproduced.Only found a publicity photo with little detail.

Then on a visit to S E Davies last year we saw one.Typical
My mate purchased one two years ago,its now rebuilt to a very high standard.See photo,taken at Carmarthen last year.
I may be adding a large tracked loader to my collection soon.
Martyn

Forgot to add,the steering clutch setup is a little different to your usual Drotts.Will dig out some photos of the strip down so you can see.Photos were taken in Jan 2008 at the start of the stripdown.
I was offered a similar but larger machine a couple of years ago.It was located in Sweden, a little too far to collect it.It was in good condition and ex army.
I love the track loaders but can be pigs to work on.
It still make me laugh today,that I worked on these machines in the 1980's and now collect them.Last photo,the 85 is third one in.
Martyn

The B85 seems very similar to the B100 , what was the sales pitch for them ?

Hello Craig
They are slightly smaller than a 100,there is not a lot of info on them that I can find.
I did find some youtube footage of one at work.Its funny that when you think you have found a fairly rare machine, a few turn up.The one on Ebay had a start price of around £2500.
When this machine was found,it was pretty rough.It took a hell of a lot of work to restore it as it was slightly different in the steering clutch department.
I am still trying to find more about this machine,will be asking John Drott jr about it.He has seen that photo of it and was very impressed by its restoration.My mate was chuffed to bits when I told him.
Martyn

Martyn,
I seem to remember you posting a picture of one on Redpower...I think I kept it,but can't find it today.
I wonder if it was made as a brother to the TD340,shown here.?
The 340s had planetary steering,I think. They were not brought to Australia,but we got a lot of the TD5 & 500 models.
Nice to see a few 85s around.

Jim

Hello Jim
There are a few of these around the UK, but not many.Looks the same size as the 340.
Martyn

Here's that brochure pic,from my files...

Hello Jim
I found the same poster,we needed tinwork detail but found it hard to obtain.Got info off redpower site.
As you can see,the 85 turned out well.
Martyn

Having worked with B85`s & B100`s in the early 70`s I can tell you the B85 could not hold a candle to its big brother. The steering clutches just did not measure up to the rest of the machine

Hello Martyn
I put pistons and sleves in a B85 which belonged to a man from Newport in about 1966 it was the same engine as the Internetional 414 tractor.
I don't remember much about the rest of the machine but I thought it was based on the BTD5 crawler which was made at Doncaster from 1963 to 69 with the same BD154 engine.
The BTD5 had planetary steering (no clutches). Apparently International introduced a simular system for their bigger crawlers in America about 1962/3.
"Does Barrys 85 have slew clutches??"
The BTD5 in the photo has four bottom rollers but they were available with five.
Fred.