1920 Allis Chalmers 6-12

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   Are you ready for another story?

This might turn into a long one as well, so go get a snack first, I'll wait.

It seems as though the tractors find me anymore, and I don't even hardly have to go search for them. Which is nice, don't get me wrong. The lack of tractor collecting funds is the only thing slowing me down. But I digress..... 

Back in the spring of 2018 a fellow AC collector contacted me asking if I was interested in buying his 6-12. Of course I was interested, but scraping up the $ for that kind of purchase was a bit out of the question I thought initially. We talked, and agreed on a price, and I proceeded to scrape together any spare funds I could to make this happen. I even sold a couple of things from my collection, and have offered several more for sale. 

It is not every day one gets the opportunity to buy an Allis 6-12. I have always wanted one. But it is said that there are only Thirty-some of these left in the world. I would love to own one of all the green AC's someday actually. So I knew I wanted to make this happen. 

So a bit of the back story. This tractor came from Texas, which is where many of the 6-12's ended up being sold originally for whatever reason. I have heard they had a good dealer network down in that part of the country at that time for these. I don't know all the back story, but from what I understand it came from an estate auction in the fall of 2003. The guy that got it at the auction started to restore it, but never got very far. Then in January of 2018 it was listed for sale and was bought by the collector I bought it from. He planed to restore it for his personal collection, but when something else came up for sale that he wanted even more, he offered it to me.

So jump ahead to August 2018. Mom, Dad and I loaded up in the truck and trailer to go to a family reunion that just happened to be near were the 6-12 was. Perfect, I scheduled it for us to pick it up after the reunion. And I picked up a Sioux valve grinding machine and cabinet at the family reunion as well, it was a good trip!

Got the tractor home, and unloaded just in time for me to turn around and go on my 18-30 Allis adventure the next day. Check out my other thread for info on that:
http://www.allischalmers.com/forum/1920-1830-allis-chalmers_topic159118.html

The fall of 2018 Dad and I got my 6-12 moved into the new barn. This is not going to be a right away project. I need to finish my '27 20-35 this summer first. Then it will be either one of my lonfender 20-35's or this 6-12. I can tell Dad kinda wants to tackle the 6-12, but we will see. 

I actually have some of the side projects in the works for things needed for the 6-12. As you will see in the pictures, this tractor came literally as a basket case, with all of the front half of the tractor disassembled and in crates. From looking through it all though, the only thing I appear to be missing is the steering box assembly. I had a nice long chat with Norm Meinert this weekend, and even though he is now retired, he sounded like he would be willing to use the steering box from his 6-12 as patterns to get parts cast and fabricate me a completely new box for mine! So that was great news! 

I have also been in contact with a guy about getting new Bennett air cleaners made. I have the original air cleaner, but as you will see from the pics, mine is like swiss cheese and will need to either have parts replaced, or make a completely new one.

I also have a few questions for those who know the 6-12's. First, the serial number is stamped on a brass tag on the side of these tractors, which mine is. But it is also supposed to be stamped on the top of the tractor near where it pivots in the center. In that spot instead of the serial number, mine has T T stamped there. A T shaped stamp with a little cross on the bottom of the T as well, a space where a number or something could have been but there is nothing, then another T. There is a pic of this in the 6-12 album on my Google Photos. Has anyone seen this before?? Best guess so far is that this may have been a replacement casting at some point? But the few people I have asked about this have never seen it before.

Here is the link to my 6-12 Album:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/BQ4LhSHCZG8Mvtuc7

If anyone has anything to add I'd love to hear it. I have much to learn about 6-12's, but I'm in no hurry with this project, so I have time to research the things I need to.

Just in case the pics weren't enough for you, here are three videos. Hopefully the next time you see this roll down the road it will be under its own power.
[TUBE]7wjXr-NZRbk[/TUBE]

[TUBE]O9Dc9TIYlSQ[/TUBE]

[TUBE]aXokzYzBxT0[/TUBE]

Edited by Jacob (WI,ND) - 17 Mar 2019 at 5:54pm

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