Do it Yourself....D21
Printed From: Unofficial Allis
Category: Allis Chalmers
Forum Name: Farm Equipment
Forum Description: everything about Allis-Chalmers farm equipment
URL: https://www.allischalmers.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=41052
Printed Date: 29 Aug 2025 at 2:36am
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Topic: Do it Yourself....D21
Posted By: Eddie(IL)
Subject: Do it Yourself....D21
Date Posted: 24 Nov 2011 at 10:13am
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Hey guys....Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Here's a little project I just completed for a friend, and I thought some of you might want to build one of these for yourself.
I've seen D21 conversions built off of the older Ertl, IH "66" series pedal tractors before, but the older pedals are a little pricey for the conversion to start with, for those of us on a toy budget. ( enforced by Mama! lol) Ertl has some new releases of the IH pedals that are cheaper and have a set back wide front to boot. The hardest part of the swap is modifying the hood. The vents and other details have to be ground smooth and a cut has to be made across the front to square off the front end, and then applying a coat of body filler to smooth everything out. The grille insert is easily modified with a Dremel tool or die grinder, to eliminate the headlights and horizontal bars, before adding the metal inserts. I also made metal templates to modify the engine bay sheeting to match the 21's and fastened them on with #6 machine screws. The rest is easy by repainting everything, and my local sign shop had the decals made and installed the same day for me, for just $30. All total, I was able to finish the conversion for about half of the initial price of a vintage piece. For anyone interested, I'll gladly email more details and pics if needed. Have a great day, Eddie Here's pics....
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Replies:
Posted By: Todd AL
Date Posted: 24 Nov 2011 at 10:17am
| Now that is COOL! What did you use to make the grille? |
Posted By: Josh Day
Date Posted: 24 Nov 2011 at 10:24am
| Thats a good looking IH LOL Very nice |
Posted By: Eddie(IL)
Date Posted: 24 Nov 2011 at 10:29am
Thanks Todd...the grille is the original piece that came with the tractor. You just have to "carefully" grind out the headlights and the horizontal bars. The inserts are cut out of some ornamental metal sheeting I found at Lowe's.
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Posted By: Chris/CT
Date Posted: 24 Nov 2011 at 10:34am
| Eddie, Looks great! |
Posted By: Chad(Ky)
Date Posted: 24 Nov 2011 at 10:54am
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Great job, I want one!!! ------------- Chad(Ky) Galatians 2:20 WD45,D14,D17,D21,190,190XTNF,220,8070,R62 |
Posted By: injpumpEd
Date Posted: 24 Nov 2011 at 10:59am
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once again, a really great job!!
------------- 210 "too hot to farm" puller, part of the "insane pumpkin posse". Owner of Guenther Heritage Diesel, specializing in fuel injection systems on heritage era tractors. stock rebuilds to all out pullers! |
Posted By: Larry(OH)
Date Posted: 24 Nov 2011 at 11:27am
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Real nice!! ------------- '40 WC puller, '65 770 Ollie *ALLIS EXPRESS contact* I can explain it to you, BUT I cannot understand it for you!! |
Posted By: NickT(Ky)
Date Posted: 24 Nov 2011 at 12:38pm
| Send a picture to ERTL and maybe they take the hint! Great looking job. My grandson saw it, bad move. He wants one now. Nick |
Posted By: DougG
Date Posted: 24 Nov 2011 at 2:47pm
| That looks great ; put it on Ebay just to see what it would bring !!! |
Posted By: ILGLEANER
Date Posted: 24 Nov 2011 at 7:13pm
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Eddie, I will take one. How much ? Can you have it done by Christmas?
IG ------------- Education doesn't make you smart, it makes you educated. |
Posted By: Gary in da UP
Date Posted: 24 Nov 2011 at 7:22pm
| That is really sweet ! Good Work. |
Posted By: Tracy Martin TN
Date Posted: 24 Nov 2011 at 8:34pm
| That is a sweet job. Looks better than the IH by far. Tracy Martin |
Posted By: m16ty
Date Posted: 24 Nov 2011 at 9:42pm
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When I first started reading this I thought "Yea right, there's no way you can convert a IH to a D21 and it look right". I was wrong. Great job. |
Posted By: allis6080
Date Posted: 25 Nov 2011 at 8:13am
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if you are thinking of starting production id be very interested in ordering one my self!! lol cant afford the real thing so this would be better than nothing at all.
allis6080 ------------- 6060 s\n 5016 1947 JD B |
Posted By: CTuckerNWIL
Date Posted: 25 Nov 2011 at 8:31am
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Looks great, now you can have an Industrial bareback, Ag bareback and then add the 3 point and PTO for the 3rd model. LOL
------------- http://www.ae-ta.com" rel="nofollow - http://www.ae-ta.com Lena 1935 WC12xxx, Willie 1951 CA6xx Dad bought new, 1954WD45 PS, 1960 D17 NF |
Posted By: Eric[IL]
Date Posted: 25 Nov 2011 at 12:09pm
| Good idea... Thanks for sharing the detailed photos. |
Posted By: Eddie(IL)
Date Posted: 26 Nov 2011 at 9:51am
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Thanks for the compliments everyone...the responses prove just how popular our
beloved D21's are to us, no matter what form they're shown in. Sorry though, I won't
be going into production with these, but Ertl really wouldn't have to rework their tooling
much to start building them. I'm curious to know how many of you have got the bug
to build one too. Who wouldn't want to see the reaction of a youngster...(or Old-ster for that matter! lol) upon receiving one! Thanks again, and I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, Eddie
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Posted By: David Gibson (OH)
Date Posted: 26 Nov 2011 at 4:01pm
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Great job! It looks amazing! ------------- David Gibson http://www.darkecountysteam.com" rel="nofollow - http://www.darkecountysteam.com 1956 WD45 |
Posted By: omahagreg
Date Posted: 26 Nov 2011 at 5:47pm
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Very nice! ------------- Greg Kroeker 1950 WD with wide front and Freeman trip loader |
Posted By: stray
Date Posted: 26 Nov 2011 at 6:52pm
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Where did you get the decals or is that paint? ------------- 1969 190XT series 3 |
Posted By: Dale H. ECIL
Date Posted: 26 Nov 2011 at 9:20pm
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Very good job Eddie. A friend of mine made a D21 for me several years ago out of the IH 66 casting. He even made the flat fenders for it and put a wide front on it from a newer Agco pedal tractor. I hate to admit it but he put a JD seat on it because it has a high back on it. I also had a local sign shop make the decals.
------------- Allis Chalmers Museum, Paris, Il.http:// www.allischalmersmuseum.com 217-275-3428 |
Posted By: Jack(Ky)
Date Posted: 26 Nov 2011 at 10:56pm
| Nice work.JP |