About 5 years ago, I also scored a matching machine that I was going to use for parts - though now I'm 

thinking I might 'hot rod' the 2nd one with a spare 2 cyl (24hp? can't remember) that I have, since the stock engine tossed a rod through the block.

Anyhow...  the stocker was in decent, but very neglected shape (it was bad when I got it!).

 Have the snow blade, mower deck, and roto tiller attachments for it (and would love to get a snow blower too if anyone has one!).

As I've been refurbing it, I've made a few improvements.  Having a reasonable machine shop in my garage helps.  ;)

Didn't like the "tie rod ends", so I made up these greasable ones:

With no actual nut on the front wheel spindles, the was no way to tighten down the tapered roller bears, so swapped them out for roller bearings.

While not an improvement...  the transmission input pulley (the 7" one at the back right) had spun on the shaft (one keyway was about 12 o'clock, the other about 4!).  You wanna talk stuck?!

Took me 3-4 hours of various assault techniques to finally pull it off!  :D

New front tires are on.

New rear tires are on order (yes, that's one of the trashed ones under it).

Tore the engine down and refreshed it (might do more some day).

Blasted all the panels, and anything else that I felt like taking off and repainted it (New Cat yellow or gloss black).

Welded up the holes in the dash, and moved/changed things around. Ditched the ammeter, and switched to voltage, then added a tach.  Since the twin slider controls were pretty much botched, I'm switching them to a pair of pull types (unless someone has a better idea - that ones not finished). Also went from the separate 'ign' and 'start' to a consolidated switch, firing an actual solenoid. This is a work in progress so no pictures.  :)

Anyhow - just thought I'd share!

Good grab without too much tension on the idler, and still releases nicely.

More to come, as it's all going back together.  :)

http://www.clickitandstickit.com/b10-allis-chalmers-kit/" rel="nofollow - http://www.clickitandstickit.com/b10-allis-chalmers-kit/

Thanks on the dash.  That's the stock one (at this moment) cleaned up!.  I'll should be able to post back the updates in the next day or so after I've finished the mods.

That got welded in, and ground flush (material came from cutting out the tach hole!).

Ignition/start key is getting moved to the side.

Second (new) large hole is for the tach.  On that note!  Even if you order up an Equus 6086 tach, make sure it's the right version.  The one they advertise on the website says it works with 1-12 cyl engines, including DIS.

The first TWO I got from my local parts place must have been an older version.  Instructions stated to not use it with DIS, and it only worked with 4-6-8 cyl's!  Same part number though.  :/

mailto:Steve@B&B" rel="nofollow - Steve@B&B

Edit: Oh - are you talking about the Tiny Tach?  Looked at one already.  Thanks.

What's this?

  A shot of rims.  

I wish I'd taken some shots of them when I pulled the rubber off initially.  OMG!!!

There was at least a 1/4" thick layer of rust down the middle. That, and the DPO I guess had developed a rusty air leak - so it looks like he got out the stick welder and put a GIANT blob on that I had to grind down, and smooth out.

I took them into a u-blast shop since he has more air than I do.  By the time I was done (almost an hour later), you could see light through the holes!

Well, not wanting to give up the OE rims, I brazed up the visible holes.  Then put two coats of a rust converter liquid paint on (so I could mush it deep down into the pores).  Let that cure up for a day, then layed down two coats of a spray on rubber sealant (like rocker guard) down the middle (after masking the bead area).  Couple coats of white enamel...  and they look good as new!  

Brand new Kendra Turf Boss rubber is sitting in the front hall ready to go on.

Started to refresh the carb:

Tossed it in my ultrasonic cleaner (after stripping it down!), buffed it up with a wire brush, then hit it with some clear coat (why not!).

Waiting for a carb kit to show up in the mail. Figured using gaskets and stuff would be a good plan.  

This is pretty much what it looks like now:

Obviously still have the spare rims/tires on the back.  No exhaust system (that pipes just shoved in there!).

The hood/cowl is just sitting there - still haven't made the new wiring harness.

Oh, did get a good cross reference for the mid-PTO belt.  4L330 (if anyone's looking!).

After seeing the underside of the hood from before, and how much heat damage there was - not to mention it's a giant echo chamber in there....

... I took some leftover self adhesive backed insulation I had from a hotrod project's firewall, and applied a patch to the underside.  

This stuff can withstand something like 2000* F.  It should be good to go here.  Ha ha.

----------------

Got to work on the wiring harness as well.  Needless to say, there is now not one single bit of ~50 year old wire left.

I'm using a more conventional ignition key (you can just make it out, if you look above the battery) system now. You can see the starter solenoid in the middle, as well as a relay to the right.  

Key comes on, which engages the relay.  This lifts ground off the points, allowing it to run. Key goes off, kills power to the relay which closes it's contacts (the N/C pair of course!), shutting down the engine.

Still using the original regulator (except I replaced the rusty slot head screws with philips!) and starter/generator.

Still need to run one more ground wire from the battery over to the engine (just because!).

Ok - time for lunch.  More later.  :)

Just came back from getting rubber on rims....  Somewhat regretting getting the 8.5's, since the 9.5's just looked so much bigger!

Now to slap 'em on where they belong!  

Now wearing all 4 of it's new shoes:

New lynch pins in the back:

And I wasn't liking how the seat pan whacked into the tab when you lifted the seat up.  So I bent it back a bit (the tab!), then added a hard rubber pad for it to bump up against:

No more chipped paint!

Also changed out the transmission "oil".  And I say "oil", because what came out... didn't look like any oil I've ever seen!

Thick chunky black paste is more like it.  

Castrol 80-90 hypoid went back in, and I'm thinking I'll change it out again after a few weeks of service.

Still waiting for my carb kit in the post.  

Figures...  After I ordered it (off eBay), I looked where it was coming from.  About an hour down the highway (plus a border crossing wait).  

Well, according to the tracking, it made it about 1/2 hour closer to me up the highway (northern Washington state).  Then turned around and went all the way down to Los Angeles!!!  I guess that's the only place US Post ships out of the country from.... Shoulda just drove down and picked it up.  

Anyone have ideas on what I should use as foot pad replacements?  I was thinking stair runner material maybe?  

Other ideas?

mailto:Steve@B&B" rel="nofollow - Steve@B&B

It turns out that SOME things are (supposedly) still available.  It was a huge relief to find out that the bevel gears are still (supposedly) in production.  I was thinking I'd have to mill out a set, or have them made ($$$$$!!!).

I made another post about listing dimensions from still good parts, but it died.

Oh, and FYI, AFAIK, it couldn't be an early 60's Big Ten since it was only a '65/'66 model.

Update!  The guy I've been dealing with at  http://www.clickitandstickit.com/b10-allis-chalmers-kit/" rel="nofollow - http://www.clickitandstickit.com/  has now done the BigTen decals.  Not sure if he's posted it yet (might still only show the B10), but he emailed me a copy of the set.  I just paid for them, and hopefully they'll be on their way in short order.

Too early in the day for the carb kit. 

Was thinking I'd do yet another How-To for YouTube when it gets here.  Worth it?  

That aside...

The decal kit I mentioned up above is now available from clickitandstickit.com!

http://www.clickitandstickit.com/allis-chalmers-big-ten-decal-kit/" rel="nofollow - http://www.clickitandstickit.com/allis-chalmers-big-ten-decal-kit/

Great price, nice guy to deal with. Shipped very fast.

I'll of course post pics of it when it's installed on my machine.

Did you end up getting it?

What attachments?

I've been trying to get a 100% confirmation of this for years now.  

'65 is what I always thought (backed up by the initial brochure having a date code of June 64 on it).  

But the date code on my engine was '66.  Then I got confused.  

Anyone here old enough to actually remember??  My personal date code is from early '66, so I certainly dont!  

But...  Carb kit is in.... it runs!  Again.  

Got so excited I forgot to open the garage door.  Oops!  Smoked the shop and myself out.

I now stink.  Ha ha.

Haloweenie kids will start showing up here any moment though, so I've shut the shop down for the night.  If it doesn't rain on me tomorrow I'll post a quickie video of it going.

(edit: fixed my sig to reflect '65 instead of '66!)

Still trying to resolve a carb leak.  

I'm getting fuel leaking from the bowl into the main air plenum. Then it dribbles out the drain in the bottom.

Needle and seat are doing there job.

Next step is to put some water with food coloring into the bowl, with it on the bench and the top off.  It's either leaking around the conical seal between the bowl and the jet tube, or there's a pinhole in the bowl itself.

It's enough of a leak to make it drip about once every 2-3 seconds.

I was poking around eBay the other day...  yeah, that's dangerous...  and found myself clicking on something. It showed up yesterday in the mail.  

Gotta wear the right hat when 'yer out mowing the lawn, or plowing snow!   Ha ha ha.

Ok!  Back to real stuff...

Mower deck was looking pretty sad parked out back, so in it came. 

Looks like something might have been living in here the last dozen years

Got things stripped down a bit

Looks like one of the center blades bearings seized up, and the lower pulley spun.

Screwed up the shaft in those two places. 

Ground down the nasty area

TIG welded up the area

Then stuck it in the lathe and cut it all back down to 3/4".  And promptly forgot to take a picture of it.  

Stuck it all (the bearing/shaft) back together and gave it a shot of paint.

The actual body of the deck (this is the 42" version BTW) is too big to fit in MY blast cabinet (36" wide), so I'll have to run it out out to U-Blast and use his.  Went this far...  Why not!  

Have to go shopping tomorrow for a new tensioner pulley (totally rusted out, and the non replaceable bearing is shot), and a new lower pulley for the center shaft.  New belt too of course.  Damn that things big!

It's late(ish), and the clocks go back tonight...  so...  I'm done for the night!

Being north of the 49'th like yourself, you know how much of a hassle it is having things shipped up here anyhow!

Just for 'records' sake, the bearings used were:

This is the deck, as it went into the cabinet (with a small test blast down in the corner!)

Then out of the cabinet, and with a shot of rust primer on it

The bail and bits are also done in the same fashion.

Things are drying now, then I'll have another go at it tomorrow when I figure I'll get it all painted, then hopefully put back together.

I'm thinking I should make up a CAD file of it now - while it's still in decent shape.  Then if someone needs one later I can just mill one out.  Mine's even a little flimsy from being thinned out by the rust.  At least it's still straight and seems to have the right profile.

Oh, I think I found some material for the foot pads I was asking about. It's a ribbed back (good glue grip) rubber material that looks about 1/8" thick, and has that expanded metal looking pattern on it.  Cheap too at about $8 for a meter of material (or, enough to do about 10 sets!).

Blades all sharpened, rollers lubed up, new fasteners, etc.

Gotta trim down the ends of the carriage bolts so they don't turn into grass hooks.

Can still see the mottling from the rust on top of the deck - at least it's under the cover(s) so you can't normally see it!

I found an idler pulley from an MTD that is... close... but since I'm a sucker for punishment, and just like making things, I'm going to mill one out from scratch.  If that fails, I'll just break down and order one online.  We'll see how that works out.  :)

On an unrelated note: as of today, I'm once again EMPLOYED!  Yay!  

I start on the 12th.

As of the 21st, it would have been one year I'd been out of work.

Hopefully I can get everything on this project wrapped up by then, as my free time will obviously dwindle.

Started looking at the parts diagram, and realized that at some point in the last ~50 years, someone has messed with things!  The adjuster assemblies had been moved from inside the bail to the outside. Then they moved the rectangular plate (the one with one square and two round holes), and put some weird bends in it!

So, a bit of quality time with a club hammer and anvil...  and now there's two flat plates. Also back where they belong. Things all fit MUCH better now. Though I'm missing the 'ears' or 'wings' that appeared to be at the top of the adjusting bolts. No biggy.

Ah, good call on the bolts!  I'll make sure to flip those around.

So someone actually cut out a chunk of pipe across the front?!  Ugh.  Was it straight?  Bent?  Maybe a picture of what it was supposed to look like?  At least that's something I can fix!   Thanks!

Well, there's another project for today!   :D

Not perfect, but:

The photo is doing funny things with perspective. It's 3.75" at both the widest points!

(also, there's a bearing pressed in on the underside)

From an economy standpoint - this would have been ludicrous.  But, it's a hobby, and I like challenging myself to make stuff.  This started off as a 4*4*1.5" block BTW.

Noticed the pins at the front of it weren't really "right" (since one was an old bolt!).  Off to the store, but they didn't have anything bigger than 5/16.  Needed 1/2".

What EVER shall I do?!  

There...  that's better. Got my lathe fix in too.  ;)

Smacked some 3/4" tubes inside the bail tubes, then slipped a bit of 1" over it.

There's those pins too!

Here's the belt, pulley etc all in place:

Anyhow - enough for the day.

Nah, this is just a hobby. I like making stuff. I like fixing stuff. And it's gotta be good looking when it's done! I can't really draw, or paint a picture, so this is my version of art.

Besides, most of what I've got into this is time.  Bear in mind I've been out of work and job hunting for just short of a year! 

Nearly everything you see is stuff I've had laying around the shop.  Even the paint; was left over from a paying job I did about 3 years ago!  Had to lay out for belts, tires, fluids (some), fasteners I didn't already have...  stuff like that...  but I'm still FAR less than what it would have cost me to go buy some imported POS lawn tractor (that would no doubt fall apart and be unrepairable after a few years). Not to mention there's no attachments available for them like there is these.

I actually took it out today though!  Maiden voyage!  Weather is getting really crappy here, and it's supposed to rain for like a week.  Figured I'd get a cut in before it gets wet.

Not really a planned shot - just happened to drive in the path of one of my security cameras.  :)

Well, ended up having so much fun, I cut it like 3 times!  Ha ha!  First time this machine has seen the lawn in at least a dozen years.  Need to do some mods (I'll make some stand off blocks to get the blades another 1/2 - 3/4" lower) I think, as I've got it cranked as low as the deck will go, and it's still up too high.  Does leave a really nice pattern though!

It's been a fun run to here -- I'll keep using it over the winter with the plow blade.  No more manually shoveling the driveway if/when it snows!

Checked the carb, and there's no fuel in the body!  Either the seating trick worked, or it's all drained out.  ;)

Here's a link to the article I read BTW:  http://www.perr.com/tip9.html" rel="nofollow - http://www.perr.com/tip9.html

(with regard to fixing up these pesky carbs)

So, I was out plowing the driveway, and a bit into the street.. would seem that it's rather hard to see me after the sun goes down!  Nope - no hits - but I could feel the stares from people (though it could be of jealousy, since they all knew they'd be shoveling when THEY got home! )  

Anyhow, went out tonight and hooked up some running lights.

Nice and bright!  Found a running light kit at a "harbour freight" type place for $10, and it gave me about 10 spares to boot.  Only took about an hour.  Totally worth it.

I have an AC 620 for cutting lawn, but I do get out the B-207 every once in a while, just cause its fun to use.  Don't put my 32" snowblower on the 207 cause I have a 60" front blade on the 620.

Didn't mention - I tied the lights into the ignition relay circuit, so as soon as the key goes on, the lights come on (that way I can't forget to turn them on, or off!).

Still haven't done the decals.  Just too damn cold out. Guy who does them recommended it be at least 10C before applying, I've probably got another 2 months to wait.  Or I break out the IR heater!

Well, my float was sinking anyhow.

Went out to cut the lawn today (did it REALLY need it?  Of course not), and had a bit of grief getting her going. Started sputtering and chugging black.  Then died and wouldn't relight. Then saw gas puking out the drain in the bottom of the carb.

Figured I had some gunk in the bowl and it had made the needle/seat stick.  So, popped off the carb (I'm getting FAR too good at doing that!) and yanked it apart.  Needle looked good, but noticed the float felt a bit heavy!  Gave it a shake, and sure enough...  slosh slosh.  Damn.

So, being a Friday night and not wanting to have to go get a new one...  out came the soldering gun etc!  But first, had to get the gas out of the float.  REALLY should have done a video!  Ha ha! Took a butane torch to it to warm it up.  Then tipped it to get the gas flowing a tiny bit out (one of the) holes in it.  Of course it lit right off.  Put it down on the shop floor, and as it heated itself up, the pressure kept building, and the jet of flame kept growing!  Yeah, I started stepping back thinking...  hmmmm..  maybe this wasn't such a great idea!  :D

Anyhow, it burnt itself out after about 20 seconds with no major drama. Made for a cool flame show though.

Plugged up what I could see, then sunk it in a cup, found a few more holes and plugged them too.  All back together, and so far so good.  So, if you ever have a flooding situation, there's another possible fix!  

So, needed to do some tilling.  Have a tiller. It hadn't seen dirt in at least 20 years.

This can't be good.  Nope, wasn't.  Seized up almost everywhere!

Well, after several days of cursing, torching, hammering - then the required remachining of now smashed parts (!)....  I got it all moving.

Didn't have any of the linkage parts though, just a lot of pictures to go from.  Had to guess on a lot of the dimensions.  At least I had the pulleys to go from. So I could take the dimension of the pulley I had, scale the drawings I found, then extrapolate the size of some of the other bits.

Not my prettiest work!  But functional.  

Ditto.  ;)

-----

Needed to move a trailer around, and got tired of hauling it by hand, so I made a trailer hitch attachment.  

(ok, I swear I took pictures, but can't find them now! If anyone cares, I'll take some more next time it actually stops raining)

While not 100% (only 90!), it looks like I'll be moving to a larger place, and have outgrown this guy.  So, it will at that point be going up for sale.

With it how it is (turn key and go!), and having the blade, tiller, mower deck, trailer hitch...  what would be a reasonable price?

We've moved to our larger place, and have picked up something bigger.

Would like to see the whole package go to a good home.

Offers??