allis chalmers 185 rear end

Anonymous-0 · Apr 21, 2013

a allis chalmers 185 I found one I was going to go look at are they a pretty good tractor somebody told me one time that the rear ends of them go out easily I didn"t know if that was true or not are they a reliable tractor though or not.

DeltaRed · Apr 21, 2013

Dont know much about the 185....A friend had one several years ago.Said it was a he!! of a good tractor.

JD Seller · Apr 22, 2013

Lot of AC guys think they are great. I owned one for just a few months. The rear end is not much of an issue but the transmission is. Most of them will have the four gear shift collar worn out where they will fly out of gear if you coast them down a hill and try to have the motor hold back. You have a halfA$$ed PTO system. Where you need to use the hand clutch to be able to stop with the PTO running. The motors are not the best starting ones either.

I hated the one I had and love the Oliver 1655 I traded it in on.

cole in mo. · Apr 22, 2013

The rear end won't give you any problems, but like somebody else said, the trans can be trouble. The high low clutch is hyd operated and can be grabby if running higher rpms. You have to use it when running any pto equip, and in rough places using like a disk mower running pto rpms, better have a seat belt on. Nothing wrong with the diesel engine, they have a heating element in the intake, if the battery is good they will start easy.

massey 333 · Apr 22, 2013

My feelings.Dad bought a near new(estate no hrs.)in 1974 and we sold it in 2002.Other then tires-brakes,less then $1000.spent on it.Pulled 8 row planter and like sized equip.all that time.(over loaded)Had Year-Round QT-1 cab(very bad idea-noisy)wts.-fluid,weighted apx.13,000#.Drove nice,run super,good on fuel HOWEVER those trans.were a bear to shift.(very bad)Fellow bought it for hay operation,runs 3 yrs.gear-gears broke in trans(Agco couldn't supply parts.)Look-Look and look some more at that trans.as some of them were like JD seller says.

mb58 · Apr 22, 2013

Funny how some folks have a certain type of tractor and use it for years with no problem and others have the same type tractor and seemed to be jinxed. In the early 80's my uncle was demonstrating an AC 7080. The dealer came out and was talking to us about it. He said that after AC made the 180-185-190-200 series tractors they had so much trouble with them that the AC board of directors actually met to discuss whether to continue to build tractors or just discontinue the AC tractor line.

farmer boy · Apr 22, 2013

The rear end isn't going to give you any trouble. The transmission is strong but the 3rd gear issue is annoying to say the least. The 301 engines aren't great with the cold but are other wise a good engine. Dual batteries will help. If you plug it in for a few hours, it will start right up. Keep the additives in the coolant current. The brakes are weak. The harder you press, the better they work, but an emergency braking situation takes all your strength plus some. You get use to using the Power Director for live PTO. It's actually better to use it all the time, rather than the foot clutch anyways because it saves wear on the dry main clutch. They have a good long wheelbase, so it rides nice. It's #1 downfall is the non-syncronized transmission. PIA. I still don't know what Allis was thinking. How the heck are you supposed to get 15,000lbs going in 4th gear. You can shift them smoothly without the clutch by way of the Power Director, but it takes some practice to get right. Overall a great tractor considering it's 1/2 the money of the John Deere.

oldtanker · Apr 22, 2013

They are not a bad tractor but you should dive it in each gear at 3/4 throttle or better and then chop the throttle. Don't touch the clutch while doing this. You are trying to see if it pops out of gear. I had a 190XT. I learned to hate that "hand" clutch power director. What a POS!

BIL has a 8030 AC. He had it into the AGCO dealer for an engine rebuild about 1 1/2 years ago. They had it for almost 4 months waiting on parts.

Rick

Dick2 · Apr 22, 2013

Re: transmission problems. There was a service bulletin issued in 1969 (?) that the bearing on the transmission shafts should be pre-loaded something beyong the original specifications. When the bearings were pre-loaded at the original specifications, that would allow the shafts to flex and cause gear problems when the tooth area was reduced.

I don't know where you would find that service bulleting - you may have to just guess at the proper pre-load on the bearings.

Jim Phelps · Apr 22, 2013

Got one still use it all the time, used to use it for running a JD 535 round baler. As one guy said mine doesn't like cold weather too much but outside of that never replaced anything. I do know some people like the guy down the road turned his up slapped duals on it and pulls a 20' disc which it is not rated for so I am sure he could run into problems.

JimIA · Apr 23, 2013

I love my 185. Handy as heck and runs on fumes for fuel consumption. The hand clutch is an aquired taste. I have no problems with it but some guys can drive a two cylinder deere with no problems and I dont dare drive one within 50 feet of anything I can hit! I have a hard time driving 40 series Deeres quad ranges as well. Clutch is too jerky for me. Were all different. Keep the oil good, change as needed and dont grind the gears it will work well for you. We have a 190XT that has 9000s on it and the engine and transmission are original and it was used for everything from plowing to spreading manure. Proper care and operation help alot.

allis chalmers 185 rear end

Anonymous-0

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DeltaRed

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JD Seller

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cole in mo.

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massey 333

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mb58

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farmer boy

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oldtanker

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Dick2

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Jim Phelps

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JimIA

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