Financing Activities (Details 2) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 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	$ 250	$ 258
61-90 Days Past Due	148	134
91 Plus Days Past Due	515	384
Total Past Due	913	776
Current	28,671	28,290
Total gross finance receivables	29,584	29,066
91 Plus, Still Accruing	49	33
Investment in loans and finance leases on non-accrual status	563	456
North America
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
Total gross finance receivables	12,242	11,186
Europe
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
Total gross finance receivables	3,749	3,871
Asia/Pacific
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
Total gross finance receivables	4,179	4,492
Mining
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
Total gross finance receivables	2,091	2,148
Latin America
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
Total gross finance receivables	4,215	4,269
Caterpillar Power Finance
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
Total gross finance receivables	3,108	3,100
Customer
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
Total gross finance receivables	21,170	20,720
Customer | North America
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
31-60 Days Past Due	47	37
61-90 Days Past Due	8	12
91 Plus Days Past Due	24	24
Total Past Due	79	73
Current	7,078	6,507
Total gross finance receivables	7,157	6,580
91 Plus, Still Accruing	4	6
Investment in loans and finance leases on non-accrual status	23	26
Customer | Europe
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
31-60 Days Past Due	19	26
61-90 Days Past Due	20	15
91 Plus Days Past Due	36	29
Total Past Due	75	70
Current	2,722	2,805
Total gross finance receivables	2,797	2,875
91 Plus, Still Accruing	8	8
Investment in loans and finance leases on non-accrual status	38	28
Customer | Asia/Pacific
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
31-60 Days Past Due	67	55
61-90 Days Past Due	50	46
91 Plus Days Past Due	107	59
Total Past Due	224	160
Current	2,924	3,158
Total gross finance receivables	3,148	3,318
91 Plus, Still Accruing	18	11
Investment in loans and finance leases on non-accrual status	91	50
Customer | Mining
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
31-60 Days Past Due	4	3
61-90 Days Past Due	4	0
91 Plus Days Past Due	11	12
Total Past Due	19	15
Current	2,065	2,128
Total gross finance receivables	2,084	2,143
91 Plus, Still Accruing	0	0
Investment in loans and finance leases on non-accrual status	40	23
Customer | Latin America
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
31-60 Days Past Due	70	54
61-90 Days Past Due	30	25
91 Plus Days Past Due	239	196
Total Past Due	339	275
Current	2,551	2,438
Total gross finance receivables	2,890	2,713
91 Plus, Still Accruing	16	5
Investment in loans and finance leases on non-accrual status	241	210
Customer | Caterpillar Power Finance
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
31-60 Days Past Due	24	55
61-90 Days Past Due	28	30
91 Plus Days Past Due	95	60
Total Past Due	147	145
Current	2,947	2,946
Total gross finance receivables	3,094	3,091
91 Plus, Still Accruing	0	0
Investment in loans and finance leases on non-accrual status	130	119
Dealer
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
Total gross finance receivables	5,418	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	3,390	3,034
Total gross finance receivables	3,390	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	503	569
Total gross finance receivables	503	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	654	706
Total gross finance receivables	654	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	7	5
Total gross finance receivables	7	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	864	940
Total gross finance receivables	864	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	2,996	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	15	26
61-90 Days Past Due	3	5
91 Plus Days Past Due	1	2
Total Past Due	19	33
Current	1,676	1,539
Total gross finance receivables	1,695	1,572
91 Plus, Still Accruing	1	2
Caterpillar Purchased Receivables | Europe
Financing Receivable, Recorded Investment, Past Due
31-60 Days Past Due	4	2
61-90 Days Past Due	5	1
91 Plus Days Past Due	1	1
Total Past Due	10	4
Current	439	423
Total gross finance receivables	449	427
91 Plus, Still Accruing	1	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	377	468
Total gross finance receivables	377	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	461	616
Total gross finance receivables	461	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	1	1
Total Past Due	1	1
Current	13	8
Total gross finance receivables	14	9
91 Plus, Still Accruing	$ 1	$ 1