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Barney Oldfield and the Allis Chalmers "999"

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CJohnS MI View Drop Down
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    Posted: 09 Sep 2010 at 9:41pm
"He made the runs in 1933, at the age of 55 and well after he’d raced his last, so the tractor runs were just publicity stunts, complete with the number 999 painted on the hood – a blatant reminder of Oldfield’s past racing glory."


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AllisChalmers37 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote AllisChalmers37 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Sep 2010 at 9:45pm
Tractor racing. Hmmmmmm Can't believe that didn't take off.
 
Someone should dress up a tractor to look like that one. It would be sweet.
1937 WC, 1950 CA, 1959 D14, 1967 190XT, 2006 Ram 3500
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote GBACBFan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Sep 2010 at 9:48pm
Very nice pic. That tractor even looks like it's leaning forward!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote CJohnS MI Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Sep 2010 at 9:52pm
Originally posted by GBACBFan GBACBFan wrote:

Very nice pic. That tractor even looks like it's leaning forward!


If you remember the classic picture of Oldfield on "999", it had that same distortion - ah, the tricks those old photographers had!


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Wes (VA) View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Wes (VA) Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Sep 2010 at 10:01pm
Can you imagine runnin' 60 some MPH on one of those tractors...let alone one of todays tractors??
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote CJohnS MI Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Sep 2010 at 10:10pm
Originally posted by Wes (VA) Wes (VA) wrote:

Can you imagine runnin' 60 some MPH on one of those tractors...let alone one of todays tractors??


No kidding! And remember, these are the first balloon rubber tire tractors - EVER!!!

I mean, he's got a set of B***s this<------------------------------------->big!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote LouSWPA Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Sep 2010 at 10:16pm
Well, actually, the rear tires were probably the safest thing about the whole stunt, if I'm not mistaken, they were aircraft tires. But, still bigger baxx's than I got!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote JC-WI Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Sep 2010 at 1:21am
Was in Barney's contract that he would winner of all the races he ran in. 
Would this one have a chance to beat Barney today?
  VaROOM VAROOM
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Gerald J. View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Gerald J. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Sep 2010 at 1:47am
The lean forward comes from a focal plane slit shutter. Traveled down over the film, or up across the upright image. The high speed slit was only a small fraction of the frame high, probably a Leica 35mm. The tractor traveled that far as the slit moved.

As for tire balance, the fronts would have been a more serious problem because they spun a lot faster, as fast as a car and most cars in that era didn't go 68 mph. Even if they could the roads weren't good for that speed.

I wonder what they did besides stiffen the governor spring to get that speed. A custom set of final drives? And a custom ring and pinion. The farm speed of that tractor probably was 12 or 15 tops in road gear for 1800 rpm at the engine. A balanced enging would double that maybe. Looks to me that the rear tires are about 11-24. I don't see a drop box, so that would take out a lot of the reduction going direct to the rims. Looks like about 125" circumference or 506 revolutions per mile. At 60 that would be 506 rpm at the axle. If road gear in the transmission was straight through that would mean about a 6:1 drive ratio for 3100 rpm engine speed, or 575 rpm,  3450 rpm for 6:1 final dirve ratio. Those tires at 15 mph, would be turning 126 rpm, with an engine speed of 1800 (fast even for that era) giving a total drive ratio of about 14:1. I'm presuming the top gear in the transmission is straight through and that all the reduction is in the ring and pinion and the axle end drop boxes. I don't see getting all that top speed from running the engine speed up to 8200 rpm. Unless it was an Offenhauser conversion to a model A Ford engine or something like that.

Gerald J.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote JC-WI Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Sep 2010 at 2:51am
U Allis with an UM engine was app. 15mph at 1200 rpm. 33.5 hp , app. Weight 4500# on rubber tire. 4th gear was locked out on steel wheel tractors.
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Gerald J. View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Gerald J. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Sep 2010 at 12:30pm
So 4800 rpm at 60 mph, 5440 at 68. Possible with a balanced crankshaft and no governor. Might wish for a bigger bore in the carburetor for better flow.

Gerald J.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote CJohnS MI Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Sep 2010 at 12:38pm
So Gerald, have you got a formula that can calculate whether a 33HP motor can pull 4500 pounds of iron with no streamlining to just under 70 MPH?

I mean, looking at the carb in the AB Jenkins photo I posted - it sure doesn't look like a 950CFM Holley...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Gerald J. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Sep 2010 at 1:33pm
Running at 4.5 times the rpm, the air flow through the carburetor is going to want to be at least that much more than stock. And that "33 hp" engine is going to produce a lot more power than nameplate. There are many variables that we don't know about the engine details that make any computation of actual power a WAG. Things like while building a balanced crank to keep it from flying apart, it would be trivial to make it a stroker crank and to raise the compression ratio to 8 or 10 instead of the stock 4. Then while smoothing and opening up the valve ports, going to bigger valves for better breathing isn't out of the way. Offenhouser made his reputation for racing engines making replacement heads for model A Ford blocks that were both high compression and overhead valve.

The UM engine, last used, was a 318 cubic engine. So the maximum it could inhale per revolution was 159 cubic inches of air or .092 cubic feet. 110 cfm at 1200 rpm. Probably used a carburetor rated at 75 or 80 cfm. That would like about 360 cfm rating at 5440 rpm. Just a little bigger than the carburetor on a D21 gas. But google found a reference book that says the bigger engine from an E would bolt in. More displacement, different gears, more engine speed, too many variables to more than speculate on how it was done.

I expect AC spent a lot more on the tractor than what they paid Barney Oldfield.

Gerald J.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Leon B MO Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Sep 2010 at 5:34pm
I read somewhere that his tractor had special gears in the trany, can't remember where I heard that, probably on this site.
Leon B MO
Uncle always said "Fill the back of the shovel and the front will take care of itself".
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Gerald J. View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Gerald J. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Sep 2010 at 5:39pm
Notice in the picture above that there are no gears at the ends of the axle. Its a straight axle while the U had final drives out there. That alone could be worth a 3 or 4:1 speed increase.

Gerald J.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote GreenOrange Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Sep 2010 at 6:31pm
All the U's had the straight axle, the UC had drop boxes for clearance.  My guess is transmission, pinion, and governor/engine mods. 
-John


Edited by GreenOrange - 10 Sep 2010 at 6:31pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ALinIL Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Sep 2010 at 7:00pm
The U had ring and pinion from a UC with the differencial flipped.
 
AL
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote David Maddux Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 May 2015 at 7:38pm
I have a high speed 4th gear out of an A road grader. I don't know what speed it would be, but when it was in my A, the 4th gear would not engage because hitting the belt pully bevel gear. Around 3/4" diameter bigger.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Alberta Phil Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 May 2015 at 8:06pm
Norm Swinford mentions those high speed 'U's in his book and he states they were equipped with a special 4th gear to get those speeds.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ronnie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 May 2015 at 9:03pm
A d21 gas ?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Allen Dilg Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 May 2015 at 10:25pm
   Hello Guys    Has anyone heard anything about the 8N Ford tractor trying to take the tractor land speed record away from the U Allis.
   
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Calvin Schmidt Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 May 2015 at 10:28am
Looks like Agco just did it  https://www.realagriculture.com/2015/04/get-to-the-field-in-a-hurry-tractor-in-finland-claims-speed-record-of-130-kmh/
A gain of 13 MPH in 82 years.   Barney Oldfield 64.28 mph in Dallas after plowing the infield and Ab Jenkins 67.877 mph on the salt both in Sept 1933.


Edited by Calvin Schmidt - 05 May 2015 at 10:33am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Sheridan-Utah Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 May 2015 at 11:55am
Ab Jenkins from Utah raced him In those races. Ab later ran a U on the great salt lake Salt Flats at 69 miles per hour.
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