Custom Allis B

Hello from Wisconsin!

Bought a 1940 Allis B on auction last August and have been working on it pretty much ever since.  Was a bow-axle B in the original configuration when I got it.  Needed something a little more stable for my acreage, needs, and available storage facilities.  Was drawn to the Allis by its classic good looks, simplicity, and useful gearing for my needs.

This is more or less what it looks like now:

Have done a little more painting on it since this photo was taken, and have been working on getting it to run a little better.  Took it out to the woods to document finally getting it running.  Had to have the carburetor off another 2 times after to finally get it to run without choke.  Also adjusted the timing a little at the distributor, but still not running quite right.  

Have it stripped down to paint the back half right now.  Will have a go at leak at the front crank seal before too long here.

This is just a quick post to say hi.

Jim

The steering wheel / shaft is not the original setup. The tube is several inches shorter and has been mounted to a plate and angled more vertical... which makes it a better setup when you move the seat forward, and rotate the rear axles forward.... I assume you know the rear axles were originally mounted  vertical with the oil pan on the bottom.. you can rotate them forward 90 degrees and that lowers the tractor 7 inches.. That was done on the IB tractors.

Rear hubs are deep dish. Almost look like a "C" rear hubs, with the 5 bolt pattern... Most of the "B" were splined to the shaft.. some had the 5 bolt, but not that deep of dish... maybe even the entire rear end is from a C ?..... not close enough to see from here.   Wishbone front end would have made it set kind of HIGH on the front ??

Good looking so far !

Did you eliminate the hydraulic pump / pto shaft and build the new cover.. or was that the way it came ?

Still think the wheels ( deep dish) are off a C ... hard to tell about the final drive WIDTH from the photos... Could have been a B with 5 bolt axles..

Yes, have custom clutch and brake pedals.  Those are just the brake locks in the picture, but they work in place of the pedals as well.

Yes, took the original rear cover w/ PTO, hydraulics, and belt pulley off and replaced with my own cover.  Original had lots of leaks and needed adjustment (bearings?).  I could have made that work for hydraulics, I guess.  Just figured I didn't need the extra aggravation of chasing those leaks.  I'm planning to leave this tractor hooked to my hydraulic dump trailer, so wouldn't have use for PTO or belt.  Have a couple other tractors for those other jobs, anyway.

Jim

Jim

Love that attitude; however, noticing a slight downward trend over time.  Nothing to be too concerned about yet. 

Seems like I'll need some way of getting tractor up to temperature in cold weather.  Have yet to see the temp gauge much, if any, above 120 degrees.  Would like to use the tractor to bring firewood up to the house in the winter time.

Jim

JIm

I won't be doing fieldwork, so would be better if it ran a little hotter, maybe? Would think for my use that a higher temperature thermostat might be better.   

Any thoughts on that?

Ran it around the yard some and then up and down the road in 3rd gear a quarter mile each way including my very steep driveway.  Never got warmer than 120 degrees.

I think I'm gonna look for a 180 degree thermostat.

Haven't had any updates lately, but have run into an issue that I can't seem to get past.  Tractor starts well and runs good but only with choke once I throttle up.  It will run fine at idle without choke.  If I throttle up without choke it sounds like it is may be running on 3 cylinders.  

I have had the carb off 3 times, and I'm pretty sure that I've got it cleaned properly.   Tank is clean as well.  Had been working on painting and hydraulics, but now that I've got that further along have been using the tractor to pull my small dump trailer.  I have some pretty steep hills here, so it works pretty hard when the trailer is loaded good.  I'm pretty happy with the power, but only when choked.

Finally have gotten around to looking at the ignition side of things.  Had distributor apart and checked that the weights inside are free.  Points, rotor, and cap look good (or new), and did replace condenser.  Also replaced spark plug wires.  Spark plugs appear to be new.  Did notice that #4 seems to be running much leaner than then other 3 cylinders.

Any ideas as to how to address the choke problems?

Here's some more pics.  Also have the front axle painted now, but these pictures don't show that.