WC ENGINE SWAP
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=49789
Printed Date: 22 Aug 2025 at 5:38pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.10 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: WC ENGINE SWAP
Posted By: hamman01
Subject: WC ENGINE SWAP
Date Posted: 29 Apr 2012 at 4:51pm
| We are in the process of swapping out the original 42 WC engine and repalcing it witha 1950 WD. Today we cleaned the frame rails of all the old grease and dirt. While doing this my wife discoverd some writing on the right frame rail about in the middle of the are fron the front end to the bell housing. After carefully scraping and cleaning we found that it says " ILLINOIS S USA"! Now this is imbosed in the steel but not engraved. If you run your fingers across it you can actually feel the letters. The N in the name has a Long tail on the top that runs to the end of the Illinois name. Anyone heard of Illinois Steel. The Left frame rail has nothing on it. We were very surprised to see this. I took several pictures of it. Wish I could get them to post on here. Power washed the engine to go in and it looks 100% better. Next step is to get the oil in the trans and the tower back on. Then put the motor in. I hope by next week my son can help me figure out the photo bucket thing to get pictures posted. Roger |
Replies:
Posted By: hamman01
Date Posted: 29 Apr 2012 at 5:08pm
| I posted some pictures on the " mytractorforum" under the Allis Chalmers full size forum. Roger. |
Posted By: CAL(KS)
Date Posted: 29 Apr 2012 at 5:59pm
http://www.mytractorforum.com/showthread.php?t=234082" rel="nofollow - http://www.mytractorforum.com/showthread.php?t=234082
 ------------- Me -C,U,UC,WC,WD45,190XT,TL-12,145T,HD6G,HD16,HD20 Dad- WD, D17D, D19D, RT100A, 7020, 7080,7580, 2-8550's, 2-S77, HD15 |
Posted By: hamman01
Date Posted: 29 Apr 2012 at 6:26pm
| Thanks Kal. Roger. |
Posted By: Glockhead SWMI
Date Posted: 29 Apr 2012 at 8:00pm
| fully boxed rail? |
Posted By: hamman01
Date Posted: 29 Apr 2012 at 8:21pm
| No. The writing was embosed on the side of the chanel rail. |
Posted By: Unit3
Date Posted: 29 Apr 2012 at 8:21pm
| I look at it and I have to ask, what is PO1? The top or the inside of the channel? It looks like box frame, but I think it's the picture. I think it's channel. |
Posted By: Glockhead SWMI
Date Posted: 29 Apr 2012 at 8:31pm
| I think its the angle of the picture. never saw that before. |
Posted By: wrightk20
Date Posted: 29 Apr 2012 at 8:46pm
| i have seen something like that on webbing of the rail that they use for railroads. usually followed by a year. |
Posted By: hamman01
Date Posted: 29 Apr 2012 at 9:31pm
| It is the angle of the picture. We have looked for more but haven't found any thing else. I will say that just past the USA on the bottom of the channel it has been ground out. It appears to of been original. I wonder if they had to do this to install the engine? Roger |
Posted By: Boogerowen
Date Posted: 29 Apr 2012 at 9:54pm
| Fellas, somewhere back in the recesses of this old feeble mind, could this be US Steel at Sterling Ill, I hauled a monster boring mill in there one time. A lot of steel mills used to mark their products and they were probably a supplier for Allis ??? |
Posted By: DaveKamp
Date Posted: 29 Apr 2012 at 11:59pm
|
I second Booger's comment. The frame rail was produced by a steel mill, and the mill's roller embossed the steel as it crossed out of the rolling mill. That rail may have been 40' long when it was rolled, and after it was shipped to AC, it was cut to length. It wouldn't be unthinkable for AC to have the rails cut so that the embossed area was chopped off and sent to recycling, so that brand identification remained AC-only... however, if this was wartime production, they may have set that rule aside and used the rail as-is simply due to war material constraints. Illinois Steel was a division of Carnegie US Steel during that timeperiod, and had several plants from Gary up through Chicago... they supplied virtually all of International Harvester, and during the war, probably Allis Chalmers, too. If it were mine, I would leave it just the way you found it... |
Posted By: wjohn
Date Posted: 30 Apr 2012 at 12:14am
That's what I was figuring - they were shipped to AC in whatever length would fit on a rail car. I wonder if AC did attempt to cut out the embossed area? I'll have to remember to look for this in my '41 WC in the future when I refurbish it... neat find! ------------- 1939 B, 1940 B, 1941 WC, 1951 WD, 1952 CA, 1956 WD-45 |
DaveKamp wrote:Posted By: hamman01
Date Posted: 30 Apr 2012 at 5:54am
| All we plan on doing is cleaning and painting the frame. I would really like to take the time to paint the frame and then paint over the writing in black to highlight it. We kind of thought of it as a very "..neat and rare find of an era gone by...". You certainly don't find anything like that now days. My wife was very excited when she found it. |
Posted By: Steve in NJ
Date Posted: 30 Apr 2012 at 6:23am
|
That's gotta' be pretty rare to see somethin' like that. With all the WC's that are out there, and the number of folks that own em' here alone, no one ever came up with somethin' like this. That's pretty slick!! Betcha' not to many of them slid through where the steel co. logo is complete....
mailto:Steve@B&B" rel="nofollow - Steve@B&B
|
Posted By: JayIN
Date Posted: 30 Apr 2012 at 6:54am
|
The cool part that you guys are missing----- his wife found it! She was out there with him and SHE found it! ------------- sometimes I walk out to my shop and look around and think "Who's the idiot that owns this place?" |
Posted By: WC7610
Date Posted: 30 Apr 2012 at 6:58am
|
One of ours has this on the inside of the frame rails too. I think our RC. I remember it when painting. ------------- Thanks Most Bad Government has grown out of Too Much Government- Thomas Jefferson |
Posted By: B26240
Date Posted: 30 Apr 2012 at 7:29am
| I'm with Jay -- the neet thing is his wife found it !! My wife has never helped me cleen any tractor parts then again she has a good job and in reality has bought parts. |
Posted By: CTuckerNWIL
Date Posted: 30 Apr 2012 at 7:37am
|
I have seen those markings before. I don't think it is rare, it's just not too many people get that close and personnel to their tractor. There might be only one in 4 frame rails with it, but they are out there.
------------- http://www.ae-ta.com" rel="nofollow - http://www.ae-ta.com Lena 1935 WC12xxx, Willie 1951 CA6xx Dad bought new, 1954WD45 PS, 1960 D17 NF |
Posted By: hamman01
Date Posted: 30 Apr 2012 at 7:39am
| THe wife has never been one to not get her hands dirty on a project. We have even had 4bl carbs and throttle bodies apart and worked on in the kitchen on the counter top. We process our deer and many other projects in the kitchen and table and counter. I have several Antique garden tractors also that she has helped with. Guess I am pretty lucky in that respect. She very much enjoys the time we spend together and is excited to see the finished project. We very nearly sent this tractor to the scrapyard a couple of years ago. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Really glad I didn't. I have a story on this tractor and will get it on here shortly. I have traced it back to nearly the correct production date. I enjoy all the help the family gives me on this. Our daughter when she was small even wrenched on it a little. Roger |