Farm machinery is typically made for broad-acre fields or rolling green hills, but these tractors are destined for gleaming glaciers and sub-zero temperatures.
Three 26-tonne quad-track tractors are bound for Antarctica to help the Australian Antarctic Division's aviation operations at Wilkins Aerodrome, which is about 70 kilometres from Casey Research Station.
Case I-H high horsepower product manager Jason Wood said each tractor was worth at least $1 million.
"The biggest thing they'll be doing is pulling a 90-tonne roller for the airport runways down there, but it'll also be doing some scraper work and pulling some sleds," Mr Wood said.
"It's major task is to keep the runway operational."
The runway is 700 metres above sea level and is the major terminal for the intercontinental air service.
"The ongoing maintenance for that runway would be pretty heavy-duty, which is why there's three of them going down," Mr Wood said.
From North Dakota to Antarctica
The farm machinery company is based in Fargo, North Dakota, where the three machines started their journey.
"They were then shipped to another company in the US, they modified them, shipped them back to Fargo for more testing, then they get put on a train to wharf and then shipped to us in Melbourne," Mr Wood said.
They were then put on a truck which was ferried across the Bass Strait to Tasmania.
They will undergo a final check before setting off to the icy continent.
At 4 metres high, 8 metres long and weighing in at 26 tonnes, getting them this far has been a logistical feat, but their lengthy transit isn't over yet.
"They've got to be craned onto a ship in Hobart in November," Mr Wood said.
"I've seen photos of the crane and these tractors look small in comparison."
Getting tractors ice-ready
Almost every part of the tractors has had to be modified to get them ready for temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees.
Even the pipes that connected parts of the engine had to be replaced with ones that could tolerate freezing conditions.
Mr Wood said the job had been unique because he had never had to modify a farm vehicle so heavily.
"They've got tracks that are typically used in Arctic conditions, 240-volt heaters on the engines, diesel heaters for when they're not near power sources, the engine is fully enclosed, the fuel tank size has been tripled," he said.
"It's been refitted so only warm air is drawn in, and it'll obviously be operating in a freezing environment.
"Just so many modifications you wouldn't believe."
