Story of the exhibit
A large tractor that originally belonged to Võru EPT (the Võru district association of "Eesti Põllumajandustehnika"). Around 1980 it passed to the former Antsla state farm (later the Antsla collective farm), where it was used mainly for timber haulage (it had a Fiskars-type log loader). In the mid-1980s a slightly newer cab was fitted, and the engine was probably also replaced. The tractor's former driver bought it from the farm in the late 1980s or early 1990s, and a few years later it was acquired by Rein Põder, a farmer near Antsla in Võru County. On the farm the tractor was used mainly for ploughing, disc harrowing and compacting silage. For the last couple of years it stood idle because of a fault in the rear axle engagement coupling, and with newer machinery on the farm there was no longer any real need for the K-700.
In spring 2007 the idle K-700 was spotted by mechanic Jaanus Valdoja, who came to service the owner's newer tractor. A fundraising campaign to buy the K-700 for the Old Tech Park was first launched on the Auto-Moto internet forum. However, after looking at the Järva-Jaani Old Tech Park website and the Auto-Moto forum, the owner agreed to deposit the tractor, and the campaign was stopped. AS Lajos delivered the tractor to the Old Tech Park on 6 July 2007.
At the end of 2010 and beginning of 2011 Mihkel Mändla and Ivar Kärner restored the tractor with friends.
About the model
Production years: 1962–1975
Work on developing a powerful wheeled tractor began at the plant in the late 1950s and early 1960s under the direction of Josef Kotin (1908–1979), the legendary former tank designer who headed the plant's design bureau during and after the Second World War. The new tractor was to be suitable above all for hauling heavy and very heavy loads. The needs of both the Soviet Army and construction were originally in mind, but agriculture also needed a powerful tractor suited above all to tillage, sowing and harvesting on the ever-larger fields of the collective and state farms.
The general-purpose four-wheel-drive K-700 belonged to the 5 t (50 kN) drawbar class under the Soviet classification. It was designed for various farm work with wide implements at increased speeds, but also for construction, road building and transport.
The tractor has an 8-cylinder V-type liquid-cooled turbocharged diesel engine, the JaMZ-238NB, with 220 hp/163 kW. The engine is started with an electric starter. The gearbox has 16 forward gears (speeds 2.82–30.8 km/h) and 8 reverse gears (4.96–27.80 km/h). Both drive axles are of the same design; the front axle is permanently engaged, while the rear can be disengaged when needed (for example for transport work).
All four wheels have air-operated drum brakes; the parking brake is a mechanically operated band brake. The frame consists of front and rear half-frames joined by an articulation. The front axle is attached to the frame by semi-elliptic leaf springs, and the rear axle rigidly. Steering is hydraulic, by turning the front and rear half-frames relative to each other. A horizontal joint between the half-frames also lets them rotate relative to each other by up to 30–35 degrees in the vertical plane to follow uneven ground.
The K-700 weighs 11,000 kg.
As far as is known, the K-700 did not see wide use in the army. According to some sources, however, all tractors of this make were registered with the military and had to be ready to go into army service immediately if needed.
The K-700 was also exported; for example, the then German Democratic Republic bought them from 1968. Some K-700s were in use on Estonian collective and state farms until the end of the collective farm system (late 1980s – early 1990s).
The K-700 was succeeded by the K-700A and K-701, built from the mid-1970s.
