Product Description
The Oliver 77 and 88 series row-crop tractors were built in Charles City, Iowa and Chicago through the late 1940s and 1950s, powered by Oliver’s Waukesha-built and in-house engines and available in gasoline, diesel, and LP-gas variants. According to publicly filed asbestos litigation records, brake linings and dry clutch friction discs on these tractors allegedly contained chrysotile asbestos in a phenolic binder. Both are wear components routinely serviced during the tractor’s working life, and Oliver 77/88 units remain in active use and restoration today.
Workers Exposed
Owner-operators of Oliver 77 and 88 tractors allegedly serviced their own brakes and clutches in the farm shop, disturbing chrysotile-containing friction material with hand tools and compressed air. Farm-equipment mechanics at Oliver dealer service departments and independent shops handled clutch splits and brake overhauls as a routine job. Tractor-restoration hobbyists in the substantial Oliver collector community continue to allegedly encounter original friction material during teardowns.