Financing Activities (Details 2) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013
Receivables [Abstract]
Period after which unpaid installments are considered as past due	30 days
Period after which collection of future income is considered as not probable	120 days
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
31-60 Days Past Due	$ 245	$ 258
61-90 Days Past Due	123	134
91 Plus Days Past Due	414	353
Total Past Due	782	745
Current	29,018	28,357
Total gross finance receivables	29,800	29,102
91 Plus, Still Accruing	71	25
Investment in loans and finance leases on non-accrual status	385	425
North America
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
Total gross finance receivables	11,515	11,201
Europe
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
Total gross finance receivables	3,943	3,871
Asia/Pacific
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
Total gross finance receivables	4,684	4,508
Mining
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
Total gross finance receivables	2,208	2,148
Latin America
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
Total gross finance receivables	4,331	4,274
Caterpillar Power Finance
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
Total gross finance receivables	3,119	3,100
Customer
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
Total gross finance receivables	21,075	20,756
Customer | North America
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
31-60 Days Past Due	38	37
61-90 Days Past Due	14	12
91 Plus Days Past Due	30	24
Total Past Due	82	73
Current	6,632	6,522
Total gross finance receivables	6,714	6,595
91 Plus, Still Accruing	1	0
Investment in loans and finance leases on non-accrual status	29	26
Customer | Europe
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
31-60 Days Past Due	31	26
61-90 Days Past Due	19	15
91 Plus Days Past Due	35	29
Total Past Due	85	70
Current	2,786	2,805
Total gross finance receivables	2,871	2,875
91 Plus, Still Accruing	6	6
Investment in loans and finance leases on non-accrual status	31	28
Customer | Asia/Pacific
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
31-60 Days Past Due	55	55
61-90 Days Past Due	28	46
91 Plus Days Past Due	91	59
Total Past Due	174	160
Current	3,139	3,174
Total gross finance receivables	3,313	3,334
91 Plus, Still Accruing	35	11
Investment in loans and finance leases on non-accrual status	57	50
Customer | Mining
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
31-60 Days Past Due	0	3
61-90 Days Past Due	0	0
91 Plus Days Past Due	11	12
Total Past Due	11	15
Current	2,193	2,128
Total gross finance receivables	2,204	2,143
91 Plus, Still Accruing	0	0
Investment in loans and finance leases on non-accrual status	21	23
Customer | Latin America
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
31-60 Days Past Due	85	54
61-90 Days Past Due	39	25
91 Plus Days Past Due	143	165
Total Past Due	267	244
Current	2,598	2,474
Total gross finance receivables	2,865	2,718
91 Plus, Still Accruing	4	5
Investment in loans and finance leases on non-accrual status	165	179
Customer | Caterpillar Power Finance
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
31-60 Days Past Due	27	55
61-90 Days Past Due	19	30
91 Plus Days Past Due	102	60
Total Past Due	148	145
Current	2,960	2,946
Total gross finance receivables	3,108	3,091
91 Plus, Still Accruing	24	0
Investment in loans and finance leases on non-accrual status	82	119
Dealer
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
Total gross finance receivables	5,212	5,254
Investment in loans and finance leases on non-accrual status	0	0
Dealer | North America
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
31-60 Days Past Due	0	0
61-90 Days Past Due	0	0
91 Plus Days Past Due	0	0
Total Past Due	0	0
Current	3,057	3,034
Total gross finance receivables	3,057	3,034
91 Plus, Still Accruing	0	0
Dealer | Europe
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
31-60 Days Past Due	0	0
61-90 Days Past Due	0	0
91 Plus Days Past Due	0	0
Total Past Due	0	0
Current	533	569
Total gross finance receivables	533	569
91 Plus, Still Accruing	0	0
Dealer | Asia/Pacific
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
31-60 Days Past Due	0	0
61-90 Days Past Due	0	0
91 Plus Days Past Due	0	0
Total Past Due	0	0
Current	687	706
Total gross finance receivables	687	706
91 Plus, Still Accruing	0	0
Dealer | Mining
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
31-60 Days Past Due	0	0
61-90 Days Past Due	0	0
91 Plus Days Past Due	0	0
Total Past Due	0	0
Current	4	5
Total gross finance receivables	4	5
91 Plus, Still Accruing	0	0
Dealer | Latin America
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
31-60 Days Past Due	0	0
61-90 Days Past Due	0	0
91 Plus Days Past Due	0	0
Total Past Due	0	0
Current	931	940
Total gross finance receivables	931	940
91 Plus, Still Accruing	0	0
Dealer | Caterpillar Power Finance
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
31-60 Days Past Due	0	0
61-90 Days Past Due	0	0
91 Plus Days Past Due	0	0
Total Past Due	0	0
Current	0	0
Total gross finance receivables	0	0
91 Plus, Still Accruing	0	0
Caterpillar Purchased Receivables
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
Total gross finance receivables	3,513	3,092
Investment in loans and finance leases on non-accrual status	0	0
Caterpillar Purchased Receivables | North America
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
31-60 Days Past Due	7	26
61-90 Days Past Due	4	5
91 Plus Days Past Due	2	2
Total Past Due	13	33
Current	1,731	1,539
Total gross finance receivables	1,744	1,572
91 Plus, Still Accruing	1	2
Caterpillar Purchased Receivables | Europe
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
31-60 Days Past Due	2	2
61-90 Days Past Due	0	1
91 Plus Days Past Due	0	1
Total Past Due	2	4
Current	537	423
Total gross finance receivables	539	427
91 Plus, Still Accruing	0	0
Caterpillar Purchased Receivables | Asia/Pacific
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
31-60 Days Past Due	0	0
61-90 Days Past Due	0	0
91 Plus Days Past Due	0	0
Total Past Due	0	0
Current	684	468
Total gross finance receivables	684	468
91 Plus, Still Accruing	0	0
Caterpillar Purchased Receivables | Mining
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
31-60 Days Past Due	0	0
61-90 Days Past Due	0	0
91 Plus Days Past Due	0	0
Total Past Due	0	0
Current	0	0
Total gross finance receivables	0	0
91 Plus, Still Accruing	0	0
Caterpillar Purchased Receivables | Latin America
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
31-60 Days Past Due	0	0
61-90 Days Past Due	0	0
91 Plus Days Past Due	0	0
Total Past Due	0	0
Current	535	616
Total gross finance receivables	535	616
91 Plus, Still Accruing	0	0
Caterpillar Purchased Receivables | Caterpillar Power Finance
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
31-60 Days Past Due	0	0
61-90 Days Past Due	0	0
91 Plus Days Past Due	0	1
Total Past Due	0	1
Current	11	8
Total gross finance receivables	11	9
91 Plus, Still Accruing	$ 0	$ 1