"W" series PTO RPM ?
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=178020
Printed Date: 19 Aug 2025 at 9:12am
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Topic: "W" series PTO RPM ?
Posted By: FREEDGUY
Subject: "W" series PTO RPM ?
Date Posted: 01 Feb 2021 at 5:12pm
| Seems like in the "era" of the WF/WD/'45, seems like there were multiple machines that were towed/powered by these tractors that I "assume" were rated 540 pto rpm's ?? How did an operator know when the "optimum" engine rpm matched the pto speed without a tachometer ? We ran a WD back-in-the-day, but only ran a Mayrath corn elevator off of the PTO. Seems like the throttle quadrant had "hash marks" on it, was this a "gauge" of sorts for the engine/pto speeds ? Thanks |
Replies:
Posted By: WF owner
Date Posted: 01 Feb 2021 at 6:23pm
|
I think most did it by engine sound. I remember when Dad was baling hay and he didn't run the WD45 side open, but he did when he was chopping corn or direct cut hay.
I think all brands were in the same boat. Tachometers weren't common on tractors until the 60's. |
Posted By: Dusty MI
Date Posted: 01 Feb 2021 at 6:24pm
|
I baled a lot of hay & straw with a N.H. bailer pulled with my '53 WD. I knew how many strokes the plunger needed per minute, so I counted the strokes I got per minute and adjusted the throttle, then just remember where the throttle needed to be set. ------------- 917 H, '48 G, '65 D-10 series III "Allis Express" |
Posted By: DrAllis
Date Posted: 01 Feb 2021 at 8:29pm
| All Crop pull type combines had a hand held revolution counter that you placed on the PTO shaft at the rear of the combine. You had to have a watch with a second hand to make the counter useful. Most guys got used to where it needed to run and if there was some weeds coming up the throttle setting was increased. |
Posted By: Bill Long
Date Posted: 01 Feb 2021 at 9:54pm
|
Whenever we delivered a new 60 combine one of our duties was to read the PTO speed. We liked to run the 60 at 540 rpm. That seemed to be the optimum speed. We would work with the operator till we found the correct position on the throttle - with the WC we had notches and with the WD we checked the quadrant position After a while the operator developed a feel for the machine by sound or whatever so he knew when he was at the optimum However, the 60 All Crop was a "forgiving" machine so that it would run - within reason - at a little over or under the correct speed. Good Luck! Bill Long
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Posted By: SteveM C/IL
Date Posted: 01 Feb 2021 at 10:53pm
| Yep! when a wad of green was coming in Dad would snap the hand clutch and yank the throttle open! I remember it killing the WD before M&W's and a 45 carb and manifold...then not so much |
Posted By: DrAllis
Date Posted: 02 Feb 2021 at 6:05am
| Your Dad must have had the slip clutch under the grain bin platform tightened down pretty T-I-G-H-T !!!! |
Posted By: SteveM C/IL
Date Posted: 03 Feb 2021 at 8:16pm
This was on a 90....I don't know if they were alike? Now that you mention it, I do remember that sound across the field. That was a long time ago (50+- yrs) and memory is fading but I do remember his pleasure after the upgrade.
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DrAllis wrote:Posted By: Robert Musgrave
Date Posted: 04 Feb 2021 at 8:48am
| I felt like an important young man as Gramp would hold that little Veeder-Root Tachometer on the counter-sunk center hole on the shaft of one of the pulleys on the combine back; had to have a watch with a second hand and would time for one minute. I also remember that once the throttle was set on the quadrant, there was a little clamp with a thumbscrew that could be installed as a "stop" to keep the right RPM and the governor would do the rest. R. Musgrave |
Posted By: Ed (Ont)
Date Posted: 04 Feb 2021 at 9:02am
| My operators manual says it is 548 pto rpm at 1400 engine and 656 at 1677 engine rpm. So now to figure out the engine rpm. Hook up tach or use timing light with a tach feature. I baled lots of hay as a kid with the WD45 and NH270. We ran it about 1/2 throttle or bit more kind of by ear but never tried to determine the rpm. Later used a MF165 diesel and had to run more throttle to get what I thought was the same speed on the baler. |
Posted By: cpg
Date Posted: 04 Feb 2021 at 2:18pm
Growing up I ran our 9ft haybine with our old WD and now I have a WD that I run my 6 foot snowblower with in the winter. That is the only pto work I have used them for and both jobs are a good enough workout for a WD you just pull the throttle wide open to the stop and leave it there.  Though with running the haybine with any of our old tractors you get used to how fast it should be running based on sound and how it is feeding. |