New Member

Hi everyone, new member here from Montana, just picked up a new to me, WD 45 Allis Chalmers Tractor, I've been wanting a tractor for quite some time now, and finally got the go ahead from my wife. I've been looking for awhile and found what I thought was a pretty good deal on this WD 45, it has the wide front end, 2 buckets, rear blade, and also a snow blower. I don't know very much about them so I'm hoping you all can help me with some questions that I'm sure are going to be asked, like what are the two clutches for?? But anyway don't want to wear out my welcome before my introduction. I went and looked her over this last Sunday, and was pretty impressed with what I saw, it fired right up, sounded excellent, has new tires, a set of chains, and the above mentioned attachments, also a John Deere front end? Maybe the photos can explain a lot more than I can. I got the WD45 from a fella who's Grandpa owned it but recently passed away, he was a Machinist, and seems like he took very good care of his equipment, his son isn't sure what year it is, and I haven't looked up any numbers yet, actually I'm not even bringing her home until this Friday. I did order a Service/operators manual off Amazon, after reading some of the post on this site, so hopefully this can help me learn how to run her. Thanks everyone for taking the time to help each other out, and hopefully I can be of some assistance to someone also. 

Good looking outfit.

Welcome to the forum !!   WD 45 is a great tractor to have has great power for it's size.  Looks like yours has the four bolt front end which is better for loader application. Good move ordering manuals as they should explain where to check / fill oils etc.  The hand clutch gave the tractor " live PTO " sort of.   Hand clutch runs in oil and will last thousands of hours and lots of slipping, but remember it is also a 64 year old tractor.   You could be right about the former owner taking care of it as it looks like the battery box is all there which is often missing and batt is sometimes held on with a bungy cord. 

Don't fill that bucket full of dirt or rock. Would not like to see a good looking 45 turned over.          MACK

welcome to the forum. You picked up a great tractor. The WD45 helped make the Allis Chalmers one of the tops in the market at the time. Your manuals will be a god send as far as operation and maintenance of your pride and joy. Gret choice for your first and only tractor.

Welcome to the best forum on the internet!  Since you do paint and bodywork, making that green loader Orange shouldn't be a big deal.  I don't know for sure, but there is a chance someone else made that loader for JD anyway.  The had clutch will work well if you use the snow blower, you can inch into a drift and not stall the engine.

Thanks everyone for the comments and suggestions!! I have a small 20 acre piece of property, mostly run a few horses and 4 wheelers now that I have 7 grandkids Don't plan on doing too much heavy lifting with the loader, maybe a motor or small rocks once in awhile, and some snow. I do have a disk, so that will be nice to not have to pull that with my Dodge Diesel.

Thanks 57WD45FarmUse, when I get her home I can get you some dimensions on the two

With body fender bender skills and tools you could easily fabricate a cover for that chain. Nice looking setup with all them extras.

Hi, Joe.  Welcome to the forum and to Allis-Chalmers.  WD45's were produced from 1953 to 1957.  I read your serial number as 18858-14.  According to the Allis-Chalmers Farm Tractors and Crawlers Data Book by Terry Dean, it's a late 1955 model.  Congratulations, I have a 1955 model, too.  Your hydraulic pump seems to be hooked via chain to the belt pully drive.  The pully, of course, has been removed.  Since the factory designed this to be a belt pully there is no original shield so fabricate your own.  LOL!  The book shows that 90,352 WD45's were built.  These are nice old tractors.  I enjoy using mine.  Enjoy!  The foot clutch is the regular clutch used for stopping, starting, and shifting.  The hand clutch on the right side is used to stop the tractor's forward motion while leaving the PTO engaged for baling hay or straw.  The hand clutch is also useful for small statured people or children to use to stop and start the tractor.  You'll find lots of good advice on the Forum.  Vendors who advertise on the Forum can provide lots of parts and pieces.  If you'd like to read a magazine about Allis-Chalmers please look up Old Allis News or The Allis Connection on the web.  Good luck!  Dan Hauter.