The C (last post)

Last night i took the front end off my C. The stud is pulled clean out. I'd take a picture but true to my own style the camera doesnt work. Every possible part of that tractor has been nothing but money and aggrivation. It just became a parts tractor. I quit. I dont have the money and im just sick of messing with it. What was supposed to take a weekend has taken 4 months and isnt even done yet.


I've started stripping it down and have it to the block.

Plan is to pull these sleeves and use them in the B's engine. I allready have the O rings although theyre probabally allready lost or something.

How do i pull these sleeves, then set them in the B's block??? Im hoping to get the B running soon. Also, there is allready a minor crack (or gouge) in the top of one of the pistons. How deep can a gouge be without comprimising the piston???

Slow down or the B will be a parts rig, nothing ever takes only a weekend Murphy's Law says different, its a hobby work on when you have the time and patience or both enjoy!

why give up? you can't buy an old tractor and expect to not put any money into it! yeah i've been in your shoes too! put so much money into it and got p-ed off and just plain wanted to scrap it.
don't give up on yourself!
DF in WI

Patience. The biggest problem I can see that you have is that you have 2 tractors that are near completion and you keep changing your mind on which one to work on.

Here"s what I do. Make a list of all the projects you have going on. Then list what needs to be done to each project. Then prioritize everything. Don"t start the next item until the first is finished.

I spent 2 years working on my Case DC before I heard it run. Now I"m itching to get started on my Allis B, but it"s going to be November before I finish the projects that are lined up in front of it. Take your time and good luck.

Lanse, I sure wish you still lived in Doylestown. I'd be glad to give you a hand.

The engine is all the way apart right now, and having learned from my mistakes, i layed out a 4x8 table on sawhorses and covered it with newspaper.

How would i pull the sleeves out??? The sleeves in the B arent as nice and nee to be honed out again.

How do i install the O-rings??

How do i tell when the crank is clean enough to use???

What else is going to break before im done???

Its complicated, but if i still lived there i never woulda got into old iron. Which is worth the trouble. I will say one of my friends from doylestown is down here for a few days and i think he just got the old iron bug

After trying to sell my sickle mower, i decied to knock the gaurds off and try to sell them for $1 each to recover some of my loss on it. It felt good to beat on something with everything from an impact wrench to a sledge hammer.

Thanks John. Thanks alot.

sounds like a good idea.

The C gets parked. Atleast for a while. Should i somehow ever get the modivation to work on it again i have most of the parts for it.

im definatially not scrapping it; and i know that, but this tractor takes it to a new extreme.

lanse, you gotta walk away from em for a bit and get your head cleared up. you're frustrated, and when that happens you make mistakes that are going to cost you extra time and money. you have a couple of tractors that are going to fight you all the way. some projects go easy, others are a constant uphill battle. i have a super m i have been working on on and off for about 2-1/2 years. i think this tractor is possesed, it wants to stay dead i think. i just got the crankshaft back from the machine shop, went to drop it in, they cut the crank journals, but not the thrust bearing. thrust bearing wouldnt fit around the crank, so its back to the machine shop. when i put the sleeves in, after it was hot tanked and new cam bearings, the sleeves sat too high in the bores. went back to the machine shop. this tractor is in the barn, my garage and the body shop!!!!!

I understand. It's just logistics, Doylestown would be about 20 minutes from me, Dayton is about 2 and half hours.

Like these guys said Lance don't let it beat you. With limited income I would only work on one at a time. This way more seems accomplished. The most important thing to remember is that they didn't get all these problems in a day and all the people are rooting for your success Including me. I'm not much of a mechanic as you seem to be but if I was there I could clean parts and hand you wrenches.We would all like to be there for you. But this forum will give you strength and confidence to carry on.

So get back to the drawing board, we want it running!!

Lanse, dont you know once you start something you just gotta finish it to show it whos boss.

I look at it like this, if you give up now all the time and money you have spent so far will be just basically thrown away and for nothing. You might as well have taken the cash and set it on fire in your drive way.

This is your first endeavor at restoring a tractor, its not cheap, its not easy as with the first of anything. You have to realize your new at this, you cant learn everything over night. What may take me a weekend to do, may take you a year, someone else just a saturday morning.

Second point, you need to stop jumping around, working on the c, then the mower, then the b and so forth.

Third point, you need to get your priorities straight on this restore. Work on one thing at a time, dont tear down the engine and then decide oh iam gonna work on the rim, or iam goin to work on the clutch. In my opinion the dumbest thing you did and dont take this the wrong way was literally pi$$ money away on paint when the tractor wasnt even running. Painting should be last. The first thing you do with a restore or old tractor is get the engine working and running first then move on to the next thing. Stop the jumping around on different things.

Now, get that C restored and running.

Lanse, I feel the same way about my M. I put over a grand into new bearings in the whole rear portion of it at the neighbors about a mile from me, driving it home after I got it put together it had a loud gear whine, I set the diff gears to tight I guess, parked it in the yard for a day or so, went out to use it and one of the rear rims had rotted through and flattened the tire. That was in March or April and it hasn't moved since then. I threw a tarp over it and mow around it. Can't afford to fix it right now. To many other things need fixed first. The point being - I don't let it get to me. That tractor has been around for a lot of years and it'll be around for a lot more years. It'll wait for you. Take a break from it like everyone said. It's a long uphill battle learning patience. I'm still learning it. ...Randy

Lanse where you at in ohio? I go to school at wittenberg in springfield. When I have extra time away from school I would be willin to help ya any way I could.

Lanse,I'm pullin for yea to get one of these tractors runnin and enjoy it.But you need to ease up.Remember this is a hobby.
I'll tell ya a little story about me.I have owned a 1970 Chevelle SS for 32 years.One time after hurtin the motor I let her set in the barn for 12 years.Another time 7 years.But I still own her and drive her on a rare occasion.Just glad I didn't do anything drastic to her when I was down.
Hang in there things go to gether better sometimes after you think about em for a while.Mark

On the stud thats pulled out,they make heli coils to fix threads.Yeah it can get frustrating.You cant let the iron beat you.You have to get something running so you can see the other side of what its like.When you get something running thats old like that,it outweighs lots of the problems you have been having.I might not get what it is thats so bad about the C,but it seems a little extreme to tear it all apart over a stud that pulled out?To get sleeves out you need a sleeve puller to do it right.You could make one.See if you can find a picture of a sleeve puller and see what you think about making one,or if you think you can.

A lot of times when you work on something it helps to make a list.Work on the things on that list until you have it where it will run.Problems can come up,but dont let it devastate your project.Jumping from one tractor to the other is a sure way to get even more frustrated as more problems come up.I guess I see your point on this one,no money so to get something running use the best parts on the one the front end stays on.You just want to be real careful and not tear up your good parts.Unless you can borrow a sleeve puller,or you can make a sleeve puller with stuff you have laying around,it will most likely cost more to buy a sleeve puller,or have somebody make you a sleeve puller than what a heli coil would cost.Even then,you might break a sleeve if you arent careful.To put the O rings in everything has to be clean,you take emery cloth or sandpaper and get all of the grit and carbon and whatever out of the sealing area of the o rings first.Then lube them some way,probably with liquid dish soap,after putting them on the sleeves,then push them in.What I do is put the sleeves in the holes first without o rings,turn them until they fit the best,mark the sleeve and block with a majic marker,put the o rings on,lube them with dish soap and push them in to where the marks line up.Thats with big diesels.Havent worked on an Allis motor like yours.

Dont worry about it then. Thanks anyway

Lanse,
Maybe you should approach this in a whole different way;
"Sometimes the journey is as enjoyable as the destination."
I used to want to get the job done and normally screwed things up because I was in a hurry and made shortcuts. Now, I look forward to just tinkering and fix things as I come to them, knowing that the finished product will be the better for it... I'm not putting a deadline on it.

Chuck (CA)

I don't get it, buddy: fixing that stud would be 100x times cheaper and easier than rebuilding the engine on the B.

Have someone cast-weld that stud into place.

I can probly scare you up another block. I have several bare blocks laying around that can be made ready like what the first one. The one thing about my parts is the fact that they are easy on the pocket book. We need to get you one up and running.

If I was you, and I sure aint, I would use the B for my Ag project for all the detailed record keeping. I would use an engine kit and a fresh ground crankshaft for that. I would do this project with your Ag teachers directions. He will be able to show you the little details that seems unimportant to non mechanics who give there opinions as to how they have done it.
(Yesterday I couldnt spell mechanic and today I are one)

I would use this C as a home project along with the fine people on the board that have been amazed with your change from a mouthy brat at the start to a full fledged adult with adult questions and adult statements as of now.

A bunch on YT are proud of your achievements and look for your posts.

I second this advice.

Lance !! you have no choice now . Look at all these posts below.

I think some of these guys may come and whip yer butt if you give up on them. after all they did for you. Waddiya say ?