Allis Chalmers D

[TaylorLambert]

This is our AC D we have at work. Our friend and Master Fabricator made the ROPS cab and added the powersteering unit off a scrapped hyster fork lift. The transmission is a bit noisy and the motor block is cracked to the outside. I hope to fit a small diesel to it. I found a small Herculese and small Cummins. In wet weather she gets hard to start. We use it for access raod grading 3/4's of a mile, and parking lot work at the plant. Its also used for leveling and dress up behind the D5B and 762 JD scraper when we make a cell dormant. My older brother had one that he made a living with on pads subdivsion work and other jobs. Im not a grader man by any means I do like to run it every chance I get.

[Deas Plant]

Hi, TaylorLambert.
That is quite a neat-looking Model D, going on what I can see from that photo. I'd hesitate to call that canopy a ROPS but it would be a fair bit more 'user-friendly' than the original open seat.

If the transmission is a bit noisy, I'd suggest finding out why pretty soon. At least take an oil sample and have it analyzed to see what it can tell you. They were fairly reliable in that department but a 'self-destruct' in there is not pretty and not cheap or easy to find the parts for these days.

I never got to run a 'D', only ever the 'DD' version with the little AC diesel in it. They were a fairly solid, reliable machine and I've seen them do a lot of hours with little trouble.

Thanks for sharing.

[TaylorLambert]

Hey Deas how goes it thanks for the compliments on the little AC D. The Canopy is indeed Rops Certified we had it built to TVA ROPS specs for working on TVA jobs at the lake. Its all .250 walled tubing and the the canopy cover is sheet metal but it has .375 plate under that for the FOPS ruling. The original Canopy never would have passed. THe first gear was run on bad bearings by the previous owner on a farm. We had new bearings installed but the way they had worn they dont run together right. We want new gears for first but CLark wont cut any untill they have a couple more orders. I found one with a good transmission but Ive not got it in me to junk it lol, passed it out to a friends company.

They are very good workers, they are really good in home sites, and subdivisions. My brother is the grader man in the family He does most of our parking lot work where work at while Im still learning. Ive been using it for clean up and ditching along our access road. I like it for pulling sawdust we use on our road into the working face back into the center for the trucks to run on.
I just missed one with a front blade and scarifier for 2000 bucks. Deas did you ever solve the mystery of the tracked swamp machine you showed me pics of several years ago.

[Deas Plant]

Hi, Taylor.
That grader with the front blade and the scarifier would have been a good deal if it was in good condition. Another machine to keep your eye open for is a Fiat-Allis 65B grader. I ran one for a few months with an auto transmission in it - select a gear and apply the 'loud' pedal - and rear rippers. It was a nice little machine to operate and very reliable.

Graders are an interesting and rewarding machine to operate - if you have the patience and the understanding for them. They are more of an instrument than most other earthmoving machines and they can be used in so many ways. The old saying, "If you ever stop learning, you're dead from the neck up", applies even more to graders than it does to other machines.

No, I never did find out any more about that swamp jungle crusher. The closest I have been able to get is that a company named Gregg, Gibson and Gregg from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., may have had something to do with it. Somebody, I can;t even remember who now, told me that he had been working for this company as a youngster back in the late 1960's and some of the older hands mentioned something like that machine a few times. Also, I think it may have been you who told me that a freind had come across some track plates about 10 feet wide in a junk yard in - I think - East Texas. That was a few years ago now.

Here is the photo. Anybody got any ideas about this jigger? It is NOT LeTourneau. There were some photos of a smaller version of this jigger in the Florida State Library under 'Cross-Florida Canal' but I could not find them last time I looked.