Later d17 saved from fence row
Printed From: Unofficial Allis
Category: Allis Chalmers
Forum Name: Farm Equipment
Forum Description: everything about Allis-Chalmers farm equipment
URL: https://www.allischalmers.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=208294
Printed Date: 29 Sep 2025 at 4:53am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.10 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Later d17 saved from fence row
Posted By: 55allis
Subject: Later d17 saved from fence row
Date Posted: 23 Sep 2025 at 11:49pm
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I did it again, bought another tractor out of a fence row… Looks to be a series 3 d17 gas with a serial number of 66169, correct me if I’m wrong because I have been before. Haven’t picked it up yet to mess with it but hoping to get it this week before harvest stuff get crazy but I figured I’d post it now to start from the beginning. The front end is only sitting on it due to some one swapping the original narrow front to a wide front and not taking the time to do it properly.  ------------- 1955 AC WD45 diesel with D262 repower, 1949 AC WD45 |
Replies:
Posted By: Hubert (Ga)engine7
Date Posted: 24 Sep 2025 at 5:06am
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Congratulations, nice find. Looks like a good winter project. ------------- Just an old country boy saved by the grace of God. |
Posted By: ACinSC
Date Posted: 24 Sep 2025 at 5:38am
| D series are my favorite. Please post pics of the process if you can. Good luck! |
Posted By: 55allis
Date Posted: 24 Sep 2025 at 9:02am
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The guy who owed it is a John Deere guy so he was really excited to have this one gone, he has another one that’s in better shape he’s trying to get rid of too but it’s a series 1 I think. Don’t think this one will be a throw a battery in and go type…. What size of front tires are the series 3 supposed to have? ------------- 1955 AC WD45 diesel with D262 repower, 1949 AC WD45 |
Posted By: DrAllis
Date Posted: 24 Sep 2025 at 9:53am
| 6:00 or 6:50 x 16's. Some later ones may have had 7:50's but on a wider rim. |
Posted By: Alberta Phil
Date Posted: 24 Sep 2025 at 9:57am
| Standard size was 6.00 X 16 |
Posted By: Dan Hauter
Date Posted: 24 Sep 2025 at 11:32am
| Good luck with the restoration! I love to see AC's saved. |
Posted By: AC7060IL
Date Posted: 24 Sep 2025 at 12:12pm
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55allis, Congrats on rescuing it. Serial number 66169 would make it a 1963. So its got the dry engine air filter. Assuming since its muffler is busted over, engine may be frozen?? One good thing, is that you won't have to remove old tires from rims.... :) |
Posted By: wjohn
Date Posted: 24 Sep 2025 at 10:50pm
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Good save. Yes we are all curious if there is any chance the engine isn't stuck. ------------- 1939 B, 1940 B, 1941 WC, 1951 WD, 1952 CA, 1956 WD-45 |
Posted By: 55allis
Date Posted: 24 Sep 2025 at 11:04pm
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Not sure yet, previous owner was thinking it wasn’t stuck when he got it… but he wasn’t sure how long he had it… Was told the muffler got broke off in the year before storms… Not sure how good the muffler kept the moisture out but it does look like it has a good rain cap. Really hoping it didn’t fill with water and freeze…. I know from experience what that could do… ------------- 1955 AC WD45 diesel with D262 repower, 1949 AC WD45 |
Posted By: Phil48ACWC
Date Posted: 25 Sep 2025 at 5:58am
| Good fixable tractor. Go slow and easy on the bent up sheet metal. |
Posted By: Sugarmaker
Date Posted: 25 Sep 2025 at 6:30am
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55allis, That is a project for sure. Looking forward to seeing your progress. I like our early D17! Regards, Chris and Cheryl ------------- D17 1958 (NFE), WD45 1954 (NFE), WD 1952 (NFE), WD 1950 (WFE), Allis F-40 forklift, Allis CA, Allis D14, Ford Jubilee, Many IH Cub Cadets, 32 Ford Dump, 65 Comet. |
Posted By: 55allis
Date Posted: 27 Sep 2025 at 11:51am
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I got it to its new home!! It’s missing the starter, waterpump and both snap coupler latches. The engine is stuck but I got all the controls to move freely. The gear shifter is stiff but it will shift in all the gears. The gas tank is mostly shiny in the bottom as I can see. ------------- 1955 AC WD45 diesel with D262 repower, 1949 AC WD45 |
Posted By: 55allis
Date Posted: 27 Sep 2025 at 1:53pm
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Ok so the front end is off an early d17 and so the bolts are 1/2” instead of 5/8”… Would it be save to drill the bolster holes out to 5/8”? It looks like there’s enough cast there to handle it but I wanted to make sure… ------------- 1955 AC WD45 diesel with D262 repower, 1949 AC WD45 |
Posted By: dfwallis
Date Posted: 27 Sep 2025 at 3:15pm
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Good save. There's a WD45 near me sitting along the road almost like a lawn ornament. Doesn't look to be in bad shape. Wish I could afford another one :( ------------- 1952 CA13092 |
Posted By: 55allis
Date Posted: 27 Sep 2025 at 11:13pm
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Well I came to the conclusion that I possibly could do some modifications to the front end to make it work… So I could cut the rear pin mount off the axle and weld it on the front side of and drill the 1/2” holes on the bolster to 5/8”… For the engine, it’s still stuck but looking through the spark plug holes it doesn’t seem to look too bad. I think I’m going to pull the head just to check things out to be safe. It’s going to need a water pump and starter due to them missing. What other machines have the same starter? ------------- 1955 AC WD45 diesel with D262 repower, 1949 AC WD45 |
Posted By: DrAllis
Date Posted: 28 Sep 2025 at 3:06am
| That is a legit series 3 tractor. That front axle is from the first gen D-17 series and it ain't quite the same at that rear pivot pin area. |
Posted By: 55allis
Date Posted: 28 Sep 2025 at 10:56am
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Wonder if anyone would want to trade? ------------- 1955 AC WD45 diesel with D262 repower, 1949 AC WD45 |
Posted By: DrAllis
Date Posted: 28 Sep 2025 at 12:48pm
| I'm not saying you can't salvage the axle you have with some welding, torching, and fabrication. You should seek out a tractor with the correct axle and make a plan. Any D-17 from 1960 and up and a first generation One-Seventy are good to look at. This must be the missing info to the story. They bought a D-17 WF axle and it cannot work as-is. So, the tractor was abandoned. |
Posted By: 55allis
Date Posted: 28 Sep 2025 at 2:12pm
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It was swap because someone bought this tractor for the narrow front to put on their picker d17, apparently an earlier d17. So they must had figured out that the original 5/8” bolts wouldn’t go back in due to it having 1/2” and just left it. I posted a trade in the classified in hopes of maybe correcting it. ------------- 1955 AC WD45 diesel with D262 repower, 1949 AC WD45 |
Posted By: DrAllis
Date Posted: 28 Sep 2025 at 5:34pm
| Well, not too hard to drill out the four 1/2" bolts to 5/8" on that bathtub piece. The difficult part is shortening the wishbone 3 inches and making the pivot plate to bolt to the bellhousing adapter. |
Posted By: 55allis
Date Posted: 28 Sep 2025 at 10:54pm
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I got the head off and as I figured the 2 middle pistons are stuck and sleeves are rusted badly, no cracks visible yet and the valves all are free. One valve was a bit sticky but came loose pretty quickly. The two outside pistons and sleeves look fairly good.. would it be worth looking into getting good used sleeves for the two middles? Or is that just a cheap thought… I’d put new rings at least and maybe O-rings on the sleeve. ------------- 1955 AC WD45 diesel with D262 repower, 1949 AC WD45 |