Jump to content

Unofficial Home of Old Simplicity & Allis-Chalmers Garden Tractors

my B-12 project


wminmi

Recommended Posts

evening Dave ~ Yeah, she's a fairly clean start to a restoration. Well, not "total" restoration, but a "useable, works everyday" restoration :D Here's the short story on her: Last spring i killed my last Bolens and needed a mower NOW in order to keep up with my lawn and a few others i do on the weekends. After not being able to find the needed parts for the Bolens, i went out and rented a Craftsman rider. Granted, the craftsman is a decent mower (well, not really) and it's under warranty which is nice, but getting different attachments for it is expensive! That and the fact that the "plastic" craftsman has no character led me to start searching for an older tractor. I scoured ebay for over 2 months, checking into Bolens, John Deere, Yazoo and others. Found a few candidates, but they all seemed to be a billion miles away. During one of my weekend searches, the name "Allis Chalmers" was suggested just under the ebay search box. I figured, why not? And up popped this B-12 sitting about 35 miles from me. After talking with the seller i found she was 100% original and turned over, but he didn't know if it ran or how good it would run. Opening bid was i think $50 so i bid $100. Got outbid in the last 30 seconds at $110, and somehow i managed to slide a bid in there for $150. Picked her up, drug her home and started jump starting the dead battery. After a little coaxing with a shot of ether she fired over with just a puff of smoke but no rattles/ticks/knocks! So the "paint it" bug hit me........which will be done this winter when she's not needed quite so badly, but next spring she should be all done and ready to work if everything goes well! Sorry for the long windedness......i'm just loving this tractor and love talking about it! Will try to keep this post updated as i can. currently i have the deck all torn down (with the exception of the spindles/arbors) for clean up, repaint and rebuilt spindles/arbors. next comes tearing the tractor down for paint and anything else she may need.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:
Originally posted by Simpleton7016
Are there 2 idler pulleys on the deck? I have not seen that before!
No, not 2 idler pulleys, the main (center) set of pulleys just look like another idler. Just the angle of the picture is all. Thanx for all the kudos guys, i'll get pix of the torn down deck this weekend. With any luck, i'll have the deck parts all painted too :D
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another of the B-12 herself. Got to ride her today for the 1st time :D After riding her around the yard, i have a few more "help!" questions, but i'll post them in the discussion section.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You won't be sorry. You are much better off with that than any of the other machines you mentioned, except for the yazoo. Even the most "heavy duty" of Craftsman "tractors" are just riding mowers any more.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

William, welcome to the club. It's an addiction that there is no cure for. Wealth of information from these guys, all ya gotta do is ask. Looking forward to more restoration pics in the up and coming months.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

thanx ZV :D I wouldn't really call it a "true" restoration, more of a "get it running, repaint it quickly, and get her to work" style of resto. But who knows, plans change, and it always seems once you dive into something, you end up going farther than you originally planned. That's the joys of projects!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:
Originally posted by Simplicity314
You won't be sorry. You are much better off with that than any of the other machines you mentioned, except for the yazoo. Even the most "heavy duty" of Craftsman "tractors" are just riding mowers any more.
You're right, and "riding lawnmowers" is actually putting it nicely. I guess my desire for things of "character" and things being "well built" i inherited from my grandfather....everything he had was "old" and when he repaired or built something it was always "overkill" He told me once "it's better to go overboard than to redo it half [img]/club2//attach/UCD/censored.gif[/img]ed and have to redo it all over again" and that's pretty much stuck with me my whole life :D
Link to comment
Share on other sites

after painting the deck covers with old cat yellow, and seeing how bad the old paint left "ridges" in the paint job, i decided to tear her completely apart to get sandblasted and repainted. Can barely see the "ridges" in the picture below, but trust me, it looks nasty :(

So, we began tearing her down.....

Geee, look at this mess!!!

Wow, a whole ant colony was living in that crap! [:0]

After evicting the ants, we continued on with the teardown....

That's as far as we got today....got the ever-present "honey-do" list to get accomplished before the wife gets home. Work shall continue later this week :D
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
Little update for those of you following this. Here's the semi-painted deck. Has 3 coats of rustoleum gray primer, and 2 coats of rustoleum "old cat yellow" needs 1 more coat and she should be good to go!

Here's the homemade solid steel wheel weights that came with the tractor. Ran out of "old cat yellow" otherwise they would be done too!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

like the portable 1/2 ton "clothsline" .... the sound of the exhaust out of those straight pipes alone should dry the clothes.. scott
Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:
Originally posted by plastikosmd
like the portable 1/2 ton "clothsline" .... the sound of the exhaust out of those straight pipes alone should dry the clothes.. scott
1-ton :D Actually, i thought about that after i posted the pix: the towel is a shop towel, the other "green" thing is some chainsaw chaps from work that got caught out in the rain the night before
Link to comment
Share on other sites

ya shoulda looked closer at the springs... are the rear wheels offset on the red gokart? for circle track? scott
Link to comment
Share on other sites

yeah, the springs are 8500 gvw camper special 1-tons. also, the axles are 8-lug, not 6-lug :D Nope, the cart wheels aren't off-set.....just the angle of the picture i spose
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Who's Online (See full list)

    • ShaunE
    • B10Dave
    • maxwood
  • Recent Status Updates

    • gwiseman

      gwiseman

      As you know SimpletrACtors.com has changed some recently. Working through this so PM me with questions, suggestions, and/or challenges you have. Appreciate your patience and feedback.
      · 0 replies
    • gwiseman

      gwiseman

      Site programming updates were made 3/23/2024. As a result some things have changed including dues payment options. We will continue maintenance and work with technicians to regain credit card payment option and clear up minor challenges. On positive it appears attaching pictures is now easier. Good day. Gene 
      · 1 reply
  • Adverts

×
×
  • Create New...