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Unofficial Home of Old Simplicity & Allis-Chalmers Garden Tractors

Vented Hoods


skunkhome

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At which point did Simplicity and Allis Chalmers start putting vents in the top front of their tractor hoods. Was it the 900 and 7100 series? Was there a problem with overheating in the earlier machines that prompted such a move?
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7100 and 900 were the first to have the vents, I don't know of an overheating problem on earlier models but its possible.
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Remember also that with the 900/7100 tractors also came the two cylinder engines. Different airflow patterns are needed with the two cylinder engines. This may have had something to do with it. The 3400 and 7000 series tractors were the first ones with the large muffler mounted under the hood. This put a lot of residual heat in that area. At the same time the vents came out on the 7100, a heat shield was also placed between the muffler and the hood. This is just a guess, but I'm betting it had something to do with a burned hand by someone leaning on the hood of a 7000 series tractor. Those hoods can get quite warm from that muffler. I know, I have two of them. Remember also that happened at about the time when were just getting heavily into the age of Political Correctness when nobody was responsible for their own actions anymore, and the manufacturers were forced to protect us from ourselves, or we could sue them. Many changes came about because of this. The cooling vents may have nothing at all to do with engine cooling during operation. They were probably put there because someone burned their finger.
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Rod, I was wandering with the relocation of the headlights to the inside of the hood on later model 700's and 7000's that Simplicity had discovered that the smaller grills did not allow for sufficient air flow out the front of the tractor. I am really interested in the evolution of the Sovereign series from the 700 Wonderboy through the last of the series. About the only thing the 1st and last had in common was the BGB and Transaxle. When I was just a kid my family owned one of the first B-1's, a late model B-10 and finally a 312D. Though it was pretty spartan the B-1 was the best built tractor we had. By the time we purchased the B-10 it was evident that Ralph Nader was hard at work trying to make the machine idiot proof putting shields on the center mounted PTO and foot guards not he mower. The sheet metal sheaves (a cost cutting measure, I'm sure) were no match for the cast steel on the B-1. Though the 312D was a handsome tractor with many creature comforts over the earlier models it was evident to me, even as a teenager, that Allis Chalmers' adaptation of the Simplicity design was going in the wrong direction. The 312d was no longer a simple, little, nimble tractor and it could not be started without a battery or without the clutch depressed or in gear. Worst of all seated position was so much taller than earlier models it was literally a pain to mow under trees with low hanging branches. Lived on a high fiber diet during those years. I guess between EPA, Consumer Protection and Simplicity's desires to make the Tractors more sexy and pedestrian we end up with the final model.
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As Maynard said above, AC and Simplicity were broken apart by the government at the time when the 300 and 400 series tractors were built. Those two series were designed and manufactured by AC, not Simplicity. This is the primary reason why they are so very different. The only similarities are that apparently AC purchased the BGB and tranny from either Simplicity, or the same vendors who supplied them to Simplicity. As far as the true "why?" the vents were put into the tractor hoods, that will likely remain a mystery. Design changes and the reasoning behind them are usually not documented for public distribution. If the reason for change makes a good selling point, then the information will end up in a sales flyer.
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Allis Owned Simplicity at the time But the Gov. said the tractors had to be different and the implements/Attachments could not interchange The Allis tractors were being made in Kentucky. The attachments were the same the hitch points were changed except for the mower decks. (Simplicity left discharge Allis Right discharge) This is also the time that Allis Went to Kohler engines in the 300 and 400 series. There was more to the law and how Allis Chalmers/Simplicity got around it but that is the basics of the storey.
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IMHO one possible reason for the muffler heat shields and vented hood is to reduce the "cooking effect" on the headlights mounted behind the grill and above the muffler. Should also reduce under hood heat build up for a cooler running engine.
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quote:
Originally posted by UCD
Allis Owned Simplicity at the time But the Gov. said the tractors had to be different and the implements/Attachments could not interchange The Allis tractors were being made in Kentucky.
Didn't you mean South Carolina?
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The strangest thing is that during the time Allis Chalmers was building the 300 & 400 series tractor they were also building the The Homelite T10 and T16 in the Lexington Plant which looked more like the Simplicities and had a lower profile than the Allis Chalmers yet the mowers discharged out of the right side also. My Dad worked as a blockman for Allis Chalmers and even though he never spoke of it, I know it was a tough time for A-C with government interference on top of their struggles against hostile takeovers .
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