Hi all,

I have an 1944 Allis B, tractor #71401. We bought it as a project tractor for my son and I to work on. It was non-running, so we winched it up onto the trailer and rolled it off when we got it home in August-no problems. It became a winter project. We just finally put two new front tires on and replaced a flat rear tire. Now that she's mobile again, we were attempting to tow it to cover but it won't move. The engine turns over with the hand crank, with no problem (we had the exhaust covered). Clutch pedal moves and I can see the fingers moving when I look through the inspection hole at the bottom of the bell housing. When I rock the tires, though, it hits against a hard stop. We tried yanking gently with a Ranger and got no movement from the rear tires. When it was up on jacks for the tire change, rotating one tire caused the other to rotate the opposite way, whether the clutch was in or out. I was reading another post about Bs getting stuck in two gears, so I removed the side cover next to the gear selector this afternoon. All looked good inside. The gear selector fork on the bottom rod was reluctant to move but it did. The rods were clean and rust-free. Upon reassembly, I can click into any gear except reverse, so I must have done something wrong. 

1. Does anyone have a picture of how those forks go onto the gears? I aligned them to the grooved collars on the insides of the gears to reassemble. The gears slid back and forth by hand, but tractor would not roll by hand, regardless of gear position, whether clutch was in or out. There would be an audible click after a few inches of tire rotation and movement came to a standstill. 

2. What should I do next? It's been below freezing here for a couple of weeks. I'm throwing that out there in case that can have an effect. Oil inside side panel looked pretty good and there was no visible ice in the gears.

Thank you!

I don't think so. I just went out to try it again. It has a sickle bar mower on it, so I worked from the big pulley mounted to the output shaft in the rear. When I moved the lever up, the pulley locked to the drivetrain and I couldn't rotate it by hand. When the lever is down, the belt pulley turns freely and spins the shaft heading forward to the sickle drive. It doesn't stop or get held up. I rocked the tractor aggressively, by hand, with the PTO lever in both positions and it moves the same few inches of tire rotation before hitting that same something. I think I hear a knocking sound when it stops, coming from up by the clutch, but it's hard to tell if it's the sound of something hitting something else or just all the bracketry and parts of that sickle mower there rattling around.

Thank you!

if you have a fork truck or a small 4 wheel cart that you could stick under the draw bar and get the tires an inch off the ground... you could pull into the shop and let it thaw out there.

It's worth trying! When I had the side cover off today, the oil at the bottom of the cavity with the gear selector was NOT a milk shake and was not frozen. The gears the shift forks move moved easily. But, I suppose water could have infiltrated the cavity behind the gears, the shaft cavity going up front to the clutch, or even the shafts and gears heading to the wheels.

Now the challenge is lifting the thing. I'll try putting it into my brother's heated shop if I can load it onto a trailer safely with my 60s Lull. Thanks!

this is very common when ..."well, it was working until the temp dropped to zero for a week"..

might try removing a couple of the pipe plug drains on the bottom to let things drain as it melts... there are 3 plugs... one under the trans, one under the bevel gear, one under the PTO / hydraulic pump case ... when your in the shop, put blocks under the drawbar frame so tires are an inch off the ground... check rotation every couple days.

CBenedict wrote: ... When I moved the lever up, the pulley locked to the drivetrain and I couldn't rotate it by hand. When the lever is down, the belt pulley turns freely and spins the shaft heading forward to the sickle drive...

Good. That eliminates the PTO

CBenedict wrote: ... I think I hear a knocking sound when it stops, coming from up by the clutch...

CBenedict wrote: ... When it was up on jacks for the tire change, rotating one tire caused the other to rotate the opposite way, whether the clutch was in or out...

That indicates that the brakes and final drives are not locked up, but the pinion gear at the output of the transmission is not rotating for whatever reason.

CBenedict wrote: ... Upon reassembly, I can click into any gear except reverse, so I must have done something wrong.

That was the line of thinking I had. Has someone replaced a bolt, with a longer bolt, that is sticking through and something that rotates is making contact with the too long bolt.