Allis-Chalmers Prototypes

I hope this works.  I've scanned a 26 year old Polaroid photo taken in the spring of 1984.  I wanted to call this tractor the 9025, but marketing would have had the last say.  It had a 643 cubic inch Komatsu engine that was derated to 225 PTO hp.  It put out more than that as you pulled the rpms down from 2200.  It had the rear end from an 8070 with mandatory FWD to handle the extra power.  It also had the Power Director transmission from the 4W-305.  The rear tires were the new (at that time) 20.8-42's.

Notice the filler panel between the stock 8000 Series cab and front side panel. 

With the sharp torque rise, it was a stomping, strong tractor in the field.  It would easily outperform a 4W-220, and it was a lot, lot cheaper to build than the 4w-220.

Unfortunately, the banks wanted the cash from selling the Farm Equipment Division to Deutz.  I left Allis in the fall of 1984 as I saw no future with the Krauts.  Selling air-cooled engines to American farmers was going to be an uphill battle, and closing West Allis would likely mean expensive German drivetrains.  The story I got from friends that went to Kansas City with Deutz was that new tractors were designed using Deutz air-cooled engines and drivetrains from ZF.  These would have been assembled in Kansas City.  Prototypes were built and tested, but shortly before production, the accountants added up the costs and killed the tractor.  The rest is history.





I forgot to say, we referred to it as "Big Foot."  The operator standing there was a big guy at 6'-4".


Edited by 427435 - 19 Nov 2010 at 6:01pm

It's a shame they went under. Never will be another. I bet that tractor will out perform any John Deere or IH of the day.

Norm Swinfords 2 books cover a lot of different prototype tractors.

So how did "Big Foot" compare to the 8095 in Norm Swinford's book? Norm talks about that one as being a "Locomotive on Wheels".

Brian Jasper co. Ia wrote: So how did "Big Foot" compare to the 8095 in Norm Swinford's book? Norm talks about that one as being a "Locomotive on Wheels".

That's the same tractor.  I figured that the number should be 9000 Series as it was over 200 hp.  The 8000's were supposed to be 100 to 199 hp.  Considering the 8050 was 150 hp, the 8070 was 170 hp, etc. why would you call a 225 hp tractor an 8095??

It could have been put into production in the fall of 1984 and would have been a very reliable and strong tractor.  It also wouldn't have taken much tooling money, but with Deutz coming in, nobody cared.  At that time there were no conventional tractors over 200 pto hp, and it would have brought some attention and credibility to the rest of our tractors.


Edited by 427435 - 19 Nov 2010 at 10:26pm

Was there any small differences between the 8095 prototypes or were they all the same mechanically? Always wondered why there was more than one built?

In the real world (now 25 years later) it would have needed a heavier duty/larger front FWA axle(gears, king pins, etc) to handle the HP and extra weight. While 8070FWA's are not a problem, they are often times worn out at 5 to 6000 hrs if used heavily.

I dont understand why they would have used a komatsu engine when they had a 516cid and 731cid engine at their disposal. I'm sure somebody as crazy as me somewhere has installed an N7 combine engine in a 8070, that would have been a tractor...TREV

cool lookin machine. always good to hear stories from the workers

Thanks for the post and information Mark. My Dad bought a new 190xt in 1966 the year I was born. We had many Harvey 301's, and 426's until 1996. Never had a problem with any of them,  didnt find them hard on fuel, nor were any of them overworked or undermaintained. I am a purist and an Allis nut, but I understand the economy of scale and the enormous cost of tooling engine production. I realize that is why Cummins is in everything...Was Allis planning any new engines? Thanks, TREV.

DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE THE (PROTOTYPE) TRACTOR IS ? WAS THERE ONLY ONE OR WERE THERE OTHERS?

The One-Sixty industrial prototype is fun to rake with also!

Jim

DougG wrote: I just bought a 1982 ALLIS CHALMERS Annual Report off Ebay and in 82 the Ag Division + Material Division lost  $152 million and the finance expese was 89 mil  [ i hope im reading that right ]!!! They were talking that the AG Division was really holding the Company back and slowly sinking them ; after through the 70,s it was the AG Divsion that made all the money and kept things rolling ; they were really banking on the KILNnGAS project to make a bunch of dough but ended up costing alot ; and AC corpoate was creating new companies, combining small one to create new divisions  and that all cost $$$$ ; The only thing that was making money at that time was the American Air Filter Co that they owned , but it just didnt make enough !!!!

The reason the finance expense was so high was that Corporate would insist that the Tractor Division keep producing tractors even when the field inventory was glutted.  The banks would advance money (loans) against every tractor that left the plant (sent to a nearby storage yard).  That kept the VIP's in bonus money and the company afloat for a few more months.

DSeries4 wrote: What is that last pic?  Is that one of those compressor things that were used at the proving grounds?

Yes.

That whole collection is great to look at..

I believe that compressor thing   was the first D19 diesel prototype then was converted to a compressor?