New member and first time poster.

Have potentially been presented with a FREE D15.

History is tractor was running when it was parked, and hasn't moved since. Exact time it has sat is unknown, but best guess is 15 years +/-.

Had new tires on it when parked, but fronts are flat and cracked nearly through. Backs are low, and cracked, but may still be usable.

Initial check, throttle and choke are locked up tight and won't move. Have not budged the tractor to see if engine will turn over. I checked the oil and it only had oil on the dipstick.....no water so that was promising.

I am not looking to go into a big restoration project, but would love to have the tractor as a user if I can get it running.

So my question is, what are the steps to get this going?

I am sure I am missing a few things but if it ran when parked, I don't see any reason why it won't turn over and fire up.

Welcome to the forum! 

First, pull and check the plugs for any carbon buildup and clean. 

Squirt a cup or so of ATF fluid into the cylinders to avoid a dry start up. 

You can change the oil either before or after you get it started - up to you. 

Just need to find out if it will fire yet, or not, after these preliminaries. 

Was the oil clean when you checked the dipstick? 

If not, I'd change it and the filter. 

Carefully unscrew the oil pan drain plug just enough to see if you get water run out to verify that there's not any water in the bottom. 

If oil, screw back in, unless it needs changed due to all of the dirt settled in the bottom. 

Check the fluid levels of the tranny and hydraulics - add as needed - after you get the engine running. 

Drain the gas tank and put in new and check for flow at the carb. 

There may be a screen disc above the sediment bowl on the bottom of the gas tank that will probably need cleaned up. 

You will probably have to pull the carb for a new kit in it if it doesn't get gas up to the cylinders.

I'd add a can of Seafoam or Chemtool B12 to the gas to get into the carb to start cleaning it out. You "might" not have to "kit" it yet. 

Pull distributor cap and check for  and/or clean corrosion off the points. Replace with new points and condensor if no fire. 

You may or may not need a new coil, distributor cap, rotor bug, plug wires just from age and any deterioration from sitting so long. 

Check the air filter to see how "plugged" it is. Replace if needed. 

While hood is off, pull the valve cover and pour some ATF over the valves to let it run down the stems to avoid a dry start up. 

Check fluid level in the radiator. Add as needed to just cover the cores, which one finger length and just touch the coolant is about right. 

Otherwise, if these are like other tractors of this era, fill to the neck and it'll overflow when the engine heats up. 

Install battery and bump the starter while watching for valve movement, or not. 

This will get you enough info to see where to go, if it sputters and/or starts, or not. 

Where 'bouts in Mo. are you located? My hometown is Carthage in the sw corner just east of Joplin. 

Again, welcome aboard! 

No sense in getting the engine going until you can control it's speed. 

Thanks for the quick responses and help! I've only been driving tractors for close to 55 years, but that is only driving and maintaining them. I've never tried to bring one like this back from the dead, although my first car was an unused John Deere B. But it had only been parked for a year or so. It only needed clean fuel to start.

Yes, my first instinct was to make no attempt at turning the engine over.....at least by using any force, until I knew if engine was locked up / frozen. Figured I should pull the plugs and squirt something in the cylinders......wasn't sure what. I might have used a bit of diesel fuel. But ATF will work and I can see about pulling the valve cover too.

Is there a way to turn the engine over by hand or is it going to require more force, like the starter? Am resisting temptation to get it rolling and pop the clutch. That would be an easy to to do a lot of damage in a hurry. The PTO is shifting in and out. No belt drive wheel or flywheel I can see.

I don't think it has any fuel in it.....may have all leaked out.  Will check coolant, but I don't think there is any there either. Looked to me like a nest of some type behind the radiator where the fan blades might hit it. Will dig that out before touching anything.

At the least, muffler needs to come off to be cleaned out. Has a mud daubber nest sticking out the top as is.

The other big issue will the the carb, as choke and throttle are currently frozen up. Not much is going to happen with the engine until those are freed up and working again.

PTO and tranny are freed up and shifting in and out, and high / low lever seems to also be working.

Lastly, will and AGCO dealer have parts or where is the best place to get parts like the carb kit, plugs, wires, points, etc?

I'm in Central MO, near Fulton.

Air up the tires, put the tractor in 4th gear Hi(forward) and rock/bump it a little and watch the fan blades. 

I think that I'd let the ATF soak a couple days before bumping it. 

You can add acetone to the ATF 50/50 mix and get somewhat faster(?) results from the reports on this forum .  

Being shedded all this time may be in your favor. 

Vendors on this site can help you with the electrical items,

B&B Custom Circuits is Steve in NJ,    

OKTractor.com is Jim Danforth

If you are looking for someone closer, here is a link to other dealers:

https://www.allischalmers.com/sources/index.aspx" rel="nofollow - https://www.allischalmers.com/sources/index.aspx

So this thing is currently in a barn across the road from me, so I can check on it, play with it there.

Gas tank is empty. Sediment bowl is half full of what looks like varnish, and is stuck and won't come off.

Eased off the choke linkage a bit, and was able to work choke a little, so while it remains very stiff, it's not entire frozen either.

How does the breather cap come off? Right side engine cover can't get past it without it coming off, and this one seems to be stuck in place. Lifts off? Screws off? Hate to apply force if you don't know where or how.

Can't tell if there is any coolant. May dump some antifreeze in and see if it spills out.

Also, cannot see much evidence of oil or other fluids on the ground below. Oil on the dipstick is full, but is black and thick. It will rate a change before trying to turn the engine over.

Found a gallon of fresh 50/50 Prestone antifreeze and was pleased when it only took about 1/2 of it to bring radiator coolant up to visible level and was not leaking any.

Was also relieved to find out our local Ford/New Holland dealer, who used to sell Allis, still stocks many of the common Allis parts, like oil filters, air filters, etc. and can get most others given enough time. They also stock carb kits and will do the rebuild in their shop if I bring it it.

This is looking better all the time, so next step will be for me to air up the tires and drag her home to my shop and get busy on it.

Air cleaner top is just a press fit, if its stuck, just squirt your favorite panther piss, up, and around it, and tap it with a hammer, whilst twisting with a pair of channel locks...

Welcome to the Allis forum!

Regards,

 Chris

I recently bought a D17 that had been sitting 5 to 7 years put some fresh gas in the tank ,got the gas to running to the carb and out out the drain.Filed the points,clean up the rotor button,cleaned up the contacts on the dist cap.Installed new battery cranked it over a few times it fired up and I backed it off the trailer.Get it home before you work on it as the person who gave it to you might decide they need to keep it once it becomes a running

tractor.

There is a pull type JD sickle bar mower parked behind it, and I'm told that when the original owner retired, this tractor and that mower were the only pieces of equipment he kept, and used it to clip pastures, mow pond dams and road banks, etc. Prior to that, tractor was used in his general farm operations. I suspect it has only had one owner. BTW, I'm hoping to revive the mower too.

I also noticed that rod and am not sure what its purpose was. It does not appear to be part of the existing JD mower. It appears to me it is tied to the 3 point hitch on the left side, and projects motion forward. Good news is the original owner is still alive and may be able to tell us what it is.

BTW, 3 point lift, no snap coupler and no center link to be found. One single hose hydraulic service. Fixed up and running, this could be a handy little tractor for a lot of things. Mowing and raking hay both come to mind.

See these tractors are still out there hidden away and just waiting!

Chris

I've lived within 200 yards of this tractor for the past 2 years and didn't know it. Ball got rolling when I was looking for some storage space for square hay bales and some hay equipment. Place is rented, but that tenant isn't using the barn, so I asked and was told ok, but the barn would have to be cleaned out....old hay moved, hole in roof patched, doors fixed up.  No worries.

Then someone mentioned that also included an old broken down tractor, that was half buried in the dirt. Still no worries. First glance and something came out of my mouth that might have went something like "Jesus Christ...that's an Allis D15!"

They thought I was doing them a favor by taking it, so they would not have to find a way to haul it off. One man's treasure and all that. If it pans out and I get it running, I will still give them something for it. I'm still hoping I get to heaven.

About 5 years ago, I ran across a barn full of similar stuff. Two All Crops.....one a 60 and the other a 66. Owners (heirs of an estate) thought they would work, but were not sure about the belts. They also had an an old E combine, with two 10' platform heads and a 2 row picker.

Was offered good deals on all of them, but had no use for them at the time. They eventually sold at an estate auction. Pretty good deals as I recall. Buyer of the E towed it home, but sellers thought they did get it running.

So yes, that stuff is still out there. More than you know. Dwindling, yes, but it still exists.

 

Hmmmm........images have been uploaded, but when I click on the images icon to add them, nothing happens? All other functions appear to be working, but not images?

This is better.....

I suspected the rod may have been for a cultivator. There is a forward projecting bracket mounted to the top of the left side 3 point link. We had something similar on a JD 620, which carried a front mounted cultivator. Except that one used two push/pull rods....one on each side, and they were more like 1.5" pipes. But if this one was used to lift in a pulling motion vs. a push, a single solid rod may have worked.

I was also wondering what those brackets would have been used for and a front mounted cultivator was the only thing I could think of.

My first "car".....was a JD B tractor. I got started on it when I was about 10 or 11. At the time, my interest was in the fact it had an engine and didn't need to be peddled like my bicycle did. It also had a 2 row cultivator and I tried to talk my dad into letting me put it on and use it. He refused, insisting that if I was interested in running a cultivator, I'd get more done with the 4 row, and the 620 had power steering and the B didn't. My guess now is he simply wanted to get out of all the work it would take to mount it up, knowing the glamor of that would wear off in about 10 minutes once I tried to steer the old B by hand. (Known of then as Armstrong Power Steering) Especially with the weight of the cultivator on it.

The D15 was probably big enough to have handled a 4 row cultivator too.

Progress updates:

This is starting to remind me of my first date with a lewd woman. Curiosity running wild as to what I'm likely to discover next.

Hour meter is showing something like 5200 hours. No clue if the tach is working or original.

Oil plug is out. Black as midnight but at least all oil. No water.

1 cup ATF in each cylinder.

Plugs a bit black for my taste. Two blacker than the others.

With plugs out, AFT in, and my curiosity getting the better of me, I rocked her a bit in 4th gear and fan blade twitched about 1/4". That was good enough for today.

Air filter pulled and looked newer than new. Air breather cap and stack tube full to the gills with mud dauber nests. Shop vac to the rescue. (Secondary benefit to this is I'm on my way to gaining 1/2 acre of accretion dirt from all the mud dauber nests).

Battery pulled and first real clue as to how long she may have been sitting. Battery was marked Sep - 7. Too old to be 2017 and not old enough to be 1997, so that leaves 2007 - 2010 as to about when she was running last. So maybe 10 years vs. 15? Battery box has got the cancer, so has a little life left, but not much. I'd put a new on one if I could find one. Battery was much smaller than the box it was sitting on and in true "make due" fashion, was held down with a tarp strap.

Aft of the engine dip stick, found two more dip sticks. Both had clean....bordering on new.....oil in them, although the one under the seat was barely showing anything on the dip stick, and I remember there was some dark dirt below that area where she had been parked. May have a slow leak.

Gas tank smells as bad as you would expect it to from ancient gas, but no rust. Carb is froze up solid. Time for that to come off for a cleaning / rebuild / kit job. Right now, that is looking like my biggest obstacle to a running engine.

Too much fun!

Forgot the pictures........sorry....

DrAllis wrote: The pistons have a bowl top. One cup of oil maybe doesn't quite fill the bowl, so you need another cup to flood the rings/sleeves.

Will do. Good thing I bought 2 quarts!!!

 If you want to sell them cultivator brackets I may be interested in them or if you would like a cultivator for D-15 I would sell the one  I have because I don't have the brackets.

 

Added more ATF to the cylinders.......enough it ran out the plug hole of the aft one and I could hear it sloshing around in the others. Hopefully that should do it.

And while I understand what the purpose of the ATF oil is in there, I remain somewhat fuzzy on what becomes of it. On the other hand, the oil drips coming out the drain plug are now the color of the ATF, so given enough time, it may all seep past the rings and out the bottom?

I think I'm OK on the rings and pistons. With all the oil in, I jogged the fan a bit and it moved about 1/2" and I could hear stuff sloshing around. Sounded wonderful.

But at the least, she is going to sit where she is until the carb is working.

Next big worries are the starter and generator. Fan belt looked OK.

I'm located west of Millersburg, so not far.

BTW, I should also mention something a bit spooky. Two years ago, I was driving down the road and noticed a guy mowing his lawn area with a nice looking old AC tractor. I turned around, stopped in his drive and walked out to visit. A nice looking old D15 that was purring like a kitten. Something about his son in law or someone had bought it an an auction, and had brought it to him to use.

I noticed he kept it in an old barn and every time I drove by, I'd see the nose of it sticking out. Always thought it would be a nice unit to have, but never did or said anything more about it. About a month ago, I also noticed a new looking Kubota sticking out of another door of that barn, and I began to wonder what would become of the D15.

So fast forward a few days, the tractor I'm writing about showed up one evening across the road from my house.  Literally the next morning, the D15 I had been watching showed up on the side of the road with a for sale sign on it. $3,000. And one like it on Craigslist about 50 miles away for $3,500. So those two became my benchmark for what I should be willing to spend on repairs on this one. Scary part is you don't know until you are into it. I think I'm going to get lucky and come in way under that, but until it's running and all is known, it is still a wild card.

But these are pretty rare tractors, and what are the odds that two of them would show up within a mile of each other? Neither owner knowing the other existed, and I found out about both of them within 12 hours of each other?

BTW, as of yesterday, the D15 that was for sale is still there. I've stopped by to look at it to see where some of the working parts are so I know where things are on the one I'm working on.

Ah yes....nothing like the smell of ATF in the morning............That pan was empty last night, so all that came from the cylinders.......plus whatever is still left on top of them.

And the carb is off and is went to town to be cleaned up and rebuilt. Shop said they had an old guy (who turns out to be younger than me) who had done about 1,000 of them.

Throttle valve was stiff but working. Choke was not wanting to budge much at all.

Once free of the carb, choke cable freed up and while stiff, was working some. Throttle linkage remained stiff however. Not sure where to go looking for the trouble there. Don't know if simply working them back and forth some is the answer or if something else should be done.

End of the day and I turned the fan and it was moving an inch or so in either direction. I'm guessing engine is free.

I'll drink to that!!!    

Those asking about the cultivator, not sure if this would have been a part of it or what it was used for. Attaches to the 3 point lift arms, and when the arms are lifted, it would rotate forward.

 

On the rod in question, don't have a better picture of it than the original.

The rod in question is held up in the front by a loop of  baling wire. It runs back under through a loop under the left step, where it simply ends in space. The back end is threaded rod.

Don't know if the three point arm bracket thingy and this rod were supposed to be connected in any way or if both were for some other implements that are long gone.

Another question. She has a single hydraulic coupler for a one way cylinder. The mower she was pulling has a one way lift cylinder as does my 7' New Holland haybine. (If I get her running guess what job she is going to have?)

I assume this is a standard pioneer coupler fitting?

The newer D15 parked on the road has two working fittings? I assume that means a two way cylinder operation? Is that an option for this tractor? 

and you are around jeff city????  if you decide to take this mission let me know

this communication will self destruct in 30 sec.....lol

thanks much

ocharry

You would probably do better to call the number on the ad to address your questions directly to the seller. After that, I'd be happy to go over to take additional photos and post them or send them to you.

If not obvious by now, I don't have much history with these old Allis tractors ( we had all John Deere), so I'm not the person you want to be your eyes and ears. I'm getting up to speed as fast as I can, but I'm still learning.

Join us at the Osage River Antique Power Association (ORAPA) show at the Miller County Fairgrounds in Eldon, MO from August 24-26, 2018. The Missouri Allis Chalmers club's summer meeting will be at 2:00 PM on Saturday, August 25. ORAPA is featuring Allis-Chalmers tractors and equipment in 2018. It's a must see show for me.

Here's the link to the "Missouri Allis Chalmers club" below.

http://www.moacclub.com/" rel="nofollow - http://www.moacclub.com/

Forgot the link to the show grounds web sight below.

http://orapa.org/" rel="nofollow - http://orapa.org/

 

i will have to give them a call and get the skinny on it

ocharry

Thanks for the info on the show. Looks like the perfect chance for me to fondle paint,  kick some tires and learn what I need to know.

Also, I noticed the Wise Bros. plow day? I live 15 minutes from there. I cruise threw his lot now and then. He has an old All Crop 66 I've been ogling, with a few unique things on it, like the duel tires and straw spreader. Does not have the belts and not sure about the condition of the cylinder bars.  I have questions about the All Crops and that probably rates a new thread unto itself.

This appears to be the serial number, but it makes no sense to me. Perhaps someone with better eyes than mine.....one who speaks the language, can interpret?

Peeked up the back end of the generator and can see what looks like mud dauber nests inside the housing.

I assume that is bad and firing it up in that condition could risk fatal damage? (My dad had that happen to him with an air compressor motor that sat unused for a year or so. It fried the motor).

If this needs to be addressed and I slip the generator off, how extensive does one have to get to fix this?

Again, maybe I am looking too much into it;  but I'm seeing what looks like yellow paint peeking through around the serial # suggesting maybe ,at least that half of the tractor, came from an industrial model? Could be just my eyes, could be primer......any signs of yellow elsewhere on the tractor? It does appear to have been repainted and re-decaled in the past......

Not sure about tractors with 3 point, but on my SC D-15(II), the lift mechanism is mounted under the foot rest.  The mechanism that is in the pictures appears to push forward as the arms lift.  The cultivator mechanism (at least on mine), pulls to the rear, as the arms are lifted.  Might be a farmer cobble-up, to adapt a JD mower, to an Allis tractor... 

Asked this before, but it may have gotten lost in the flurry of stuff I posted over the weekend........

Now that I know the engine is freed up, I"m ready to put on new oil filter and dump in new oil so I can bump the starter to try turning her over.

But if my recollections is right, no oil will be flowing to the moving parts until the oil filter has been filled. I could pre-load the filter before putting it on, but putting it on upside down would mean most of that would dump out on the ground. Or just work fast?

But the question is.....is there a way to spin the oil pump to get all the parts lubed up so as to avoid a dry start? Especially for an engine that has sat for so long?

What is this tube and why isn't it connected? Can't tell if it is broken off or simply pulled out.

It runs from a fitting at the base of the distributor to a similar fitting at the throttle linkage at the governor.

OK, I now know what it is, and think I know how that happened (a self inflicted wound).

The oil tube T fitting, (the T fitting with nothing sticking out of it), is stuck to and rotating with the governor control rod lever mounted directly below it. The T fitting is swiveling back and forth with the control rod lever when the throttle lever is moved up and down. Even in the picture you can see the fitting and hole in it are not pointing to the oil tube.

So my guess is that needs to be freed up, so that the T fitting does not rotate with the control rod lever directly below it and remains pointing at the oil tube in a fixed position while everything else is moving. Otherwise, it bends back and forth at the fitting and will keep snapping off?

The self inflicted part came as I was manually working the throttle body back and forth once to free it up once the balky, sticky carb was off. Unknown to me, I was also working that line and it must have snapped.

That is a really small line. Is there a known Bosch number for a tubing kit to fit? The ones I saw online looked to be much larger OD/ID than this line is.

Dave: Thanks for confirming the info on the cultivator. That would have been my guess, but being a pull/lift was different than what was used on our old JD stuff.

But that being the case, once I confirm this thing is mine to have and to hold, and since there is no cultivator to be found, and since I don't want one, I suspect the cultivator stuff will be made available to someone who wants it. I've got an idea on the best way to ration this out, but will share that when the time comes.

On the oil line, I have found it locally, and it is indeed 1/8" OD stuff and is sold for oil pressure gauges. Not sure if the compression fittings they sell with it will work with my existing ends, but we will find out. Does anyone know if the small compression fittings inside the existing ends can come off and be used again, or ??????

Also, I checked the roadside FS D15 and confirmed the T fitting and governor control lever are supposed to work independent of each other. Mine are turning together as a unit and seem determined to continue doing so. Looks like I need pull the stack to get them apart, cleaned up and working as designed. So how does that stack get pulled? Does the T screw out the top or is the entire stack screwed into the base as a unit?