Allis Chalmers B

[Buckskin]

Well, my winter project was getting an old B Allis Chalmers tracto which has been in my family since bought new in 1945 running again.  My Aunt had it and gave it to me because she wanted to keep it in the family.  My uncle restored it about 20 years ago and it ran when I got it but not much... 

Even though I got it free, I put more money into that it's likely worth, but it was a fun project!

Tranny and one axle housing was full of water, axle main drive bearings out so had machine shop fix that, thrust bearing out, put new valves in. Head looked good, actually other than thrust bearing engine looked great.  Replaced dry rotted rear tire. Rebuilt the carb, new brake pads, plugs, wires, etc.  And since I had all this into I decided to paint it and decals.  It is not a complete restore as there was a lot of bad bondo jobs on it so I just cleaned up the loose paint and painted.  Runs great, although my lawnmower had more HP than it does!

[Goldie]

Looks great

[orerancher]

Good on You!!

Like to See the Old Iron kept Alive!

[BUGEYE]

That’s a good looking restore.
Kids or grandkids would enjoy driving it around the farm.

[oldandslow]

That's great. I grew up on a farm driving orange. I own an orange tractor but it's a Kubota now instead of an AC.

[northwoodneil]

I had a B some years back. I don't remember what year it was but it crank start, no electric anything and hand brakes. I made up a set of duals for it. Made a nice firewood tractor.

[Doublebass73]

That's a nice family heirloom tractor, it's worth restoring something that's been in the family that long.

[Buckskin]

Thanks.  My wife keeps asking me what I'm going to do with it now. I tell her tractor stuff...  Might get a grader for the driveway so I have some use for it.   Could expand the garden and get a little plow.

My aunt was real excited about it, she wants to come over and take if for a drive, said her parents, my grandparents loved that tractor...

[Bob Riebe]

Sweet, nice usable tractor.

[ironglows]

.
  Nice job on a nice tractor !

[Doublebass73]

You should definitely get an old plow for that and expand the garden. Maybe a disc harrow too.

[Ranger99]

A buddy and me used to buy old
tractors like that and fixed them,
but for using on his place to bale
hay. He's passed for some time
now, and most all the old tractors
in this region have been full on
" restored ", and are way too pricey
and not suitable for real ag use.
I wouldn't consider putting the time
in on any of these that are left needing
repair. Too expensive for what they
are, and most all have the wheels
rotted out from people filling them
with water. I wouldn't even consider
one now that's had water in the wheels.
Too many problems

[ironglows]

.
   Some restored around here, but still plenty of candidates available.  Those vintage models I see are mostly red, followed by green, followed by the two orange makes.  ..But that is just this area.

[Doublebass73]

A buddy and me used to buy old
tractors like that and fixed them,
but for using on his place to bale
hay. He's passed for some time
now, and most all the old tractors
in this region have been full on
" restored ", and are way too pricey
and not suitable for real ag use.
I wouldn't consider putting the time
in on any of these that are left needing
repair. Too expensive for what they
are, and most all have the wheels
rotted out from people filling them
with water. I wouldn't even consider
one now that's had water in the wheels.
Too many problems

I ran into the same thing in my area. The money people want for restored antique tractors is insane. The money people want for unrestored antique tractors is also insane given the amount of work they typically need. I have 700 feet of driveway to maintain and my property is all wooded so a plow truck isn't a good option because there's nowhere to put the snow so I ended up buying a 68" 3 point hitch pull type snowblower and a '39 Ford 9N to pull it. It worked ok but 1st gear was too fast on the 9N so I quickly realized I either needed a more powerful machine or something with a lower 1st gear.

I spent the next couple years trying to find an old tractor either restored or unrestored. Any good deal was gone the day the ad went up and always before I was able to get to it. The rest of the tractors were either insane money restored tractors that typically weren't actually restored, they just had a nice paint job or junk tractors that people bought, worked to death then wanted more money than what they paid once they realized the tractor needed a lot of work. I drove countless amounts of hours to far away locations trying to find a decent deal on something that didn't need thousands of dollars of work or big repair jobs that required splitting the tractor. After a couple years I gave up and bought the cheapest, brand new, bare bones 2WD Kubota with enough horsepower I could find. Even though I had to spend more it wasn't that much more than these idiots were asking for 50+ year old machines for something brand new with a warranty. I used it all last winter, it worked great.

[Ranger99]

I ran into the same thing in my area. The money people want. .


I spent the next couple years trying to find an old tractor either restored or unrestored. Any good deal was gone the day the ad went up and always before I was able to get to it. The rest of the tractors were either insane money restored tractors that typically weren't actually restored, they just had a nice paint job or junk tractors that people bought, worked to death then wanted more money than what they paid once they realized the tractor needed a lot of work.

One of my biggest problems has been
finding decent implements that aren't
worn to a nub or have never been maintained
or serviced. Specifically discs and
shredders. Most every disc I've ever
went and looked at had half the discs
worn down past needing replacement,
and the boxes dry and worn, or the
framework bent/broken.
People must like to use shredders
more so than chain saws, because all
the used ones I looked at had the
sides bashed outward and either the
slip clutch was bad if it had one,
or the shear bolt had been popped
and a regular bolt stuck in it's place.
And worn/broken gear boxes!
Woo-weeee! I can't imagine what is
so hard about checking and topping
off gear oil and greasing PTO ujoints.
I finally caught the coop having a big
sale on NOS implements and bought
a new shredder.

You know, I've looked at a lot
of riding mowers with torn up
decks too. Are people just too
damn lazy anymore to get off
and move rocks and obstacles?

[Doublebass73]

I ran into the same thing in my area. The money people want. .


I spent the next couple years trying to find an old tractor either restored or unrestored. Any good deal was gone the day the ad went up and always before I was able to get to it. The rest of the tractors were either insane money restored tractors that typically weren't actually restored, they just had a nice paint job or junk tractors that people bought, worked to death then wanted more money than what they paid once they realized the tractor needed a lot of work.

One of my biggest problems has been
finding decent implements that aren't
worn to a nub or have never been maintained
or serviced. Specifically discs and
shredders. Most every disc I've ever
went and looked at had half the discs
worn down past needing replacement,
and the boxes dry and worn, or the
framework bent/broken.
People must like to use shredders
more so than chain saws, because all
the used ones I looked at had the
sides bashed outward and either the
slip clutch was bad if it had one,
or the shear bolt had been popped
and a regular bolt stuck in it's place.
And worn/broken gear boxes!
Woo-weeee! I can't imagine what is
so hard about checking and topping
off gear oil and greasing PTO ujoints.
I finally caught the coop having a big
sale on NOS implements and bought
a new shredder.

You know, I've looked at a lot
of riding mowers with torn up
decks too. Are people just too
damn lazy anymore to get off
and move rocks and obstacles?

I never see good deals on used discs or plows either. People want 50 to 75% of what a new one costs even though theirs are unusable without a lot of work. It's rare to find a riding mower that has a usable deck too, it's amazing how delusional people are in their asking prices.

[Ranger99]

I have one riding mower out back
here bought new in the mid 90s

Aside from replacing worn belts
and blades, the deck would probably
be usable for several more decades
and has no bent up spots from
running over things.
Never could figure how folks do that

[Doublebass73]

I think it's the same type of people who somehow manage to put a dent in every single body panel of their pickup truck.

[powderman]

I guess the oldest Alice I ever drove was a WD-40, love old tractors. Wish I still had one. CHARLIE. 

[Buckskin]

Do you mean a WD or a WD45?  I don't think they made a 40. 

We had a D17 when I was a kid on the farm.  Didn't really like that tractor at the time as it was basically just used to pull hay wagons around and that meant throwing hay...   My brother sold it at auction about 10 years ago, I'd love to have it back now.  I think it only went for about $500.

[Argent 88]

Didn't it use a Magneto for ignition? A lot of those old tractors did. And the Lincoln welders running a Continental flat head engine. The older ones were D.C. only, I worked on a few of those.

[Buckskin]

Yes they did, but this one has been converted.

[powderman]

Do you mean a WD or a WD45?  I don't think they made a 40. 

We had a D17 when I was a kid on the farm.  Didn't really like that tractor at the time as it was basically just used to pull hay wagons around and that meant throwing hay...   My brother sold it at auction about 10 years ago, I'd love to have it back now.  I think it only went for about $500.

I stand corrected Sir it was a WD 45. Only other AC I drove were D-15, D - 17, D- 19, I think thats's what they were. I mean it's been well over 50 years. Wish I still had my old dbl lunger JD.CHARLIE.