Looking for guidance on my first Allis overhaul!

I come from a mechanical family however, my father didn't think females should even try to learn about engine overhaul so I never did more than hand him tools or hold the flashlight so he could see what he was working on.
He has now passed on to his reward and I have a little Allis Chalmers CA that was his last mower tractor. He put on a Woods Belly mower and mowed both the yard and around the buildings and up and down the driveway and lane.
ANYWAY, the tractor motor is stuck...the exhaust pipe had a crack in it and although there was a cap on the stack, the water ran off the hood, down the pipe and into the engine. We have tried all the traditional methods to get it to break loose and nothing has worked so far.
In the back of my brain is a little thought that I could rebuild this engine myself! I am looking for suggestions on which manual I should purchase and where is the best place to purchase an overhaul kit.
I have wanted to tackle this for some time now and I think I'm ready to get on with the project!

Any guidance you would like to share would be appreciated. Yes, I have the tools, yes, I understand the parts and pieces, having grown up in a junk yard.....and have dismantled hundreds of engines of all types.....Just have never been the "responsible party" in a tractor overhaul!

Hoping someone takes me seriously and is willing to help with guidance through this restoration....Thanks in advance, Jen in Oklahoma

You can do this.
The owners of this website sell overhaul kits, and there are other places as well.
The manual would be a really good idea.
There are lots of youtube videos about dismantling and reassembling an engine.
You will need a machine shop, and it is good to let them do the measuring and sizing in addition to the rough machining.

There are a couple of guys on the Allis Chalmers board and here who have lots of experience with AC's.
Hopefully one or more will mentor you on your first solo overhaul.

Pull the head and pan, gives you some idea of the condition of the engine....that
is if the cylinders or block is cracked from water freezing in it.
Ben

Gal you can do this. It helps if you have a cement floor to work on. Do not try this with an IT book. Find
a Allis Manual for your tractor. If you can jump over to the Unofficial All is Forum, there is a guy goes by
DR Allis that is a pro with everything AC. Everyone on both of these forums is willing to give good advice.

Where are you located?

My advice is, that before you buy any manuals or overhaul kits, to pull the head and see
how back off the cylinder walls are. By the time you get it unstuck, you will know whether
you need pistons, sleeves, etc. Good luck.

We had a CA as our 'only' cultivating tractor for tobacco for many years, about 10-15 acres per year. Of course when we had an extra 5 acres one year it started knocking while plowing. Dad shut it down about 100 feet from the end of the row. Drained the oil, pulled the pan, pulled a rod bearing, sized it up, replaced it and kept on plowing! Several years later we sold it to a family member and it still purred like a kitten. I guarantee you that old iron doesn't care what gender is working on it! Feel free to ask questions and you should be fine. I'm sure your Dad would be proud. Good Luck!

First: Pulling the cylinder head and dropping the oil pan is good advice so that you can determine just what damage is present.
Second: Just because the engine is "stuck" does not necessarily mean that you "NEED" a overhaul. You may be able to "UNSTICK" the engine if you proceed slowly and with caution. If all of the common and easy methods fail, you may be able to remove the
cylinder head, clean out any rust in the cylinders (to include lightly honing the cylinder bores). Then put penetrating oil in each cylinder and let it "soak" for a few days. Add more oil to keep the piston, rings, and cylinder "wet" with oil. Using a piece of 2 x 2
hard wood and s SMALL hammer, Tap the piston on the top of the piston on each side of the top of the piston. (Not on the front and back of the top of the piston.) You want to gently "ROCK or tilt the piston in the cylinder from side to side or rotate it slightly
about the piston pin. Do not want to try to bend the piston pin or bend the connections rod. Work on all the pistons in sequence, a little at a time. Once the pistons will tilt or "rock" a little, you can try to turn the crankshaft "A LITTLE BIT". Keep cleaning all
the cylinder bores to remove any rust or carbon. Once the pistons will move at all, keep oiling them and move them up and down a little at a time until you can get two of the pistons at the top of the stroke. Then clean and hone and clean some more, the
other two cylinders (the ones with the pistons at the bottom of the stroke). Once this is done move the pistons so that the ones in the clean cylinders are at the top of the stroke. Then, hone the other two cylinders (the ones that now have the pistons at the
bottom of the stroke). Clean, clean, and clean everything. You may be able to turn the crankshaft with the "hand crank" or you may have to have to remove the oil pan and "BUMP" the crank shaft with the 2 x2 hardwood block and small hammer to get the
crankshaft to freely turn. Oil bearings (Mains, piston rods, piston pins, camshaft and camshaft gear). Re install the oil pan and refill with motor oil.

Once the crankshaft will turn freely and the pistons will move up and down easily (with the cylinder head still removed), make sure that you have the engine oil is up to the Full level in the crankcase and with the tractor in "Neutral" Spin the engine with the
starter until you can verify that you are getting oil pressure in the engine. Insure that the valves, valve springs, valve guides, camshaft, tappets & push rods move freely and are WELL OILED. install the cylinder head with a new head gasket. Be sure to torque
the cylinder head bolts to the proper torque. Install the manifolds, carburetor & exhaust. Adjust the rocker arms (valve clearance to specs.). Double check everything, add some "chain saw gas mix" to the gas tank and start the engine.

This is just my approach, there are many ways and different details to do this job. This approach has worked well for me in the past. If anything does not "seem right" - STOP - and check and recheck it. It is cheaper and easier to find mistakes before they
cause major problems or destroy parts or cause injuries.

It helps to take a few pictures. I wish I had in the past a few times. Stan

Let me encourage you. I once had a woman and two kids come into the office for a permit for a 2-story, 2-car garage. I wrote the permit, they paid for it, she asked "Now what?" Long pause, they stood there, I realized they were going to build it themselves. No idea what to do. I advised them how to dig the footings, pour concrete, frame walls, hang ceiling joists, roof, wire, hang drywall. They took a long, long time, but they finished it, I see it all the time, They were pretty proud of it, I was REAL proud of her and the kids.

Every few weeks or month, they'd come back into the office and ask "Now what?"

Not that hard to rebuild, we have rebuilt both of ours. Great little tractor with allot of power for the size.

I am located about 45 miles south and west of Tulsa, OK. There is an Antique Tractor club about 50 miles south of me but it has lost some "steam" since some of the members have died over the past few years. One of which was a close friend who was the most wonderful human being as well as being an antique tractor restoration wizard! I appreciate the encouragement and I'm looking forward to the friendship and guidance I'll find here!

THANKS SO MUCH!
Jen

Hello Gordon, Thanks for the guidance on where to start. That was the direction I had intended to take when I finally do get brave enough to dismantle my Dad's old Allis. The suggestions on cleaning and honing the cylinders as I work on freeing them is great! I may or may not have done that without your suggestion...
Guess it's time to find a designated spot for the tractor and start the process.... :lol:

I dissaygree with not having an IT book. Get it as well as the factory book. It may just have one picture or sentance that factory book does not have that will make you understand what is missing in the factory book that is assumed you already know so it is skiped or just worded differntly and one word used differently can mean it makes things clear in your mind. They are not that expencive to have both. I know it is that way on my Fords one book compliments the other and you will find there is differrent versions of same book with stuff added in later versions that is not in earlier versions but there will be things droped in later versions. If you find 2 or 3 versions of same book get them all. If you have 5 different versions of both books you just might find 5 different wordings or pictures of how to do something. Get every version of book you can fine and study fot different ways to say same thing.

First of all, I hadn't even considered that I might be able to get the Allis running without a complete rebuild....so that's my goal at this point, get it cleaned up and broke free so everything moves again. Thankfully we found it was stuck and filled the cylinders with oil BEFORE the water froze and damaged the block. We are in Oklahoma so winters are mild....and DRY(usually)!

I'm starting to get excited to tackle the resurrection of this old beauty......I have had the starter rebuilt already so that's off the "to do" list...Just need to purchase the correct repair manual and find a safe spot where my four legged family doesn't help me(cows, cats, draft horses, dogs, sheep and a couple nosy guard llamas) which may be more of a challenge than the tractor project...
Thanks everyone for the encouragement! I truly do appreciate your input!!!!!

Not sure if I'm reading your post correctly. Did you say that the water in the block did freeze and damaged
the block? Not that it matters now but filling the cylinders with oil wouldn't have much effect one way or
the other on the water freezing and damaging the block. I guess my question is ..... is the block damaged
(like broken out) other than the pistons being frozen up inside the cylinders?

Well, I ordered both the "standard" service manual and the I&T manual for my Allis. Since the I&T manual has 96 pages compared to the 53 of the service manual, I figured there might be some additional information there that would be helpful since I plan to do a complete restoration of this little tractor once I get it running again!

Funny thing is I'm already starting to think differently about the "old iron" in my world! My husband just purchased an ancient Massey Harris simply for it's backhoe attachment. The Massey Harris hasn't run since it's elderly ORIGINAL owner died some years ago......the sheet metal is perfect...there's not a scrap of paint left on it but it was loved and cared for all of it's life....

I haven't even got the Allis running and I'm daydreaming about restoring the Massey Harris! SEE WHAT YOU TRACTOR GUYS HAVE DONE!!!!!!! Now I'm totally messed up! GRIN!! :wink:

The block is NOT damaged! We found the tractor motor was stuck before winter hit......no ice or freeze damage!

I did my first tractor engine rebuild back when I was still in the navy and home on leave. I was around 18 years old then. It was a Allis B with hand start. Long story short when I got out of the Navy I moved to the family farm and now own most if plus some. I have way to many tractors as in 30 or so of them. Every thing I know about engines I learned by the road of hard knocks as in no schooling what so ever

DR. Allis on the allis Chalmers on this site is great.
He is excellent on Allis equipment.

That will make a good project. But be prepared to put more money into the engine for machine work and parts than the tractor is worth.
Another option may also be if you can find another running engine and swap it in. That engine may of been used in lots of different applications ? I'm not real familiar with Allis , but it could of been used on balers, combines , and even some industrial uses ?

Make sure the cylinders have no water in them and if dry fill them with ATF and if it has a vertical exhaust pour as much ATF down it as you can till it starts to leak. Doing that will help free up the engine and an engine that will turn over is far easier to work on then one that will not turn over

Invest in a nice oil can to dose all the rusty nuts and bolts BEFORE you begin to work on the tractor. I keep old ATF in one to help on rusty old stuff.

Don't know about the CA but the on C's mice love to nest in the brake area----mice urine=killer rust on the drum/axle area.

Well, I guess I'm in pretty good shape, the Allis has good tires all around....were brand new when my dad bought it 6 years ago....Once the service manuals get here, I'll do more than just hover over the old girl and wonder what next....

Such great encouragement and wise suggestions.....Thanks to one and all! Gives me courage to tackle this!

Will keep you posted on progress! 8)