Doctor Allis Plowing near Central City Ia., spring

Dad bought a WD45 and 3x14 plow in 1964. Had left the farm early in the morning and had plans of bringing home a D17, but when getting to kenyon, the and looked over the 17, and oil pressure dropped, he told the fellows he wasn't buying it. And then left for Nerstrand mn to see what they had. They had a pretty straight WD45 that they were getting ready to clean it up and check it out and do what it needed and then paint it. Well, dad made a deal with them and they hooked the 45 to the dyno and opened the throttle up and they adjust carb and the ignition till it was running more hp than the average 45 would.  It left the mechanics scratching their heads to why that would be. anyways they load the 45 on the truck and the plow and tossed in all the parts and paint that they were going to do to it. Dad came home and I was a little dissappointed  with it not being a D17.  Dad backed the old truck into the ditch and pulled out the white Oak planks and drove it off the truck, sure sounded good.   He talked to the local Allis deal in Falun Wi and he would steam clean it and replace the parts that came with it and paint it. That seemed like a long month but then when we went to get the tractor, it looked AWESOME!!! Had the newer orange paint with Cream center wheels and silver rims... and decaled.  Looked like it was brand new.   

 Anyways, about 9 years ago I took the head off to replace the head gasket and found out why the old 45 had more power than the others, M&W over-bore pistons are in it.

  As for the traction boosters on the WD tractors since they did not have a TB gauge to look at, dad would put his left foot down on the lift arm shaft and feel the amount of vibrations it would have from the hydraulics and dialed it in that way while plowing.

Like the slat moldboard plows, we had a semi-mounted 3x14 till wore the slats out, pulled a lot easier than the solid moldboard.  Our ground can be pretty tough some times since it is between gray and blue clay.   2x14 was all a WD could handle in first gear sometimes... other times could pull 3x14 in second gear... just depended on soil moisture and conditions.