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dad's Big Ten


brokenwrench

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in 1966 my dad traded a very disappointing 6hp wheel horse that blew up 4 engines in 2 years  for a new Big Ten with 42 inch deck

it was in my family until 2006 when i moved to arkansas from illinois.   . i had to return to illinois to close out 2 storage lockers i had room in my trailer and  tracked down  dad's tractor and my 917h with plow . so on may 19th the big ten  is now home.. it is in fairly good condition..   it has just been sitting outside under a tree  since 11/2006. i rebuilt the mower deck with new bearings  one spindle barrel and one pulley  and a new belt.  i replaced the throttle and choke cables.  the gas tank rusted out i found a new old stock on ebay. i rerung the engine and ground the valves  i cleaned the carb and put in new points.  i will have it running this week.. it is good to have it home. i earned enough money  to buy many models and my first car a 1965 chevy impala SS 327 4dr mowing yards with it

here is the service history i have no idea how many hours is on this tractor the farm yard was 5 acres the city home was 100 x 300 ft  the yard next door was the same size we cut  all this from 66-75 then sold the farm my son cut yards with it and earned enough for a down payment on his first car.

3 engine overhauls original engine is +0.020  piston and a -0.010 reground  crankshaft on second rod   3 carb rebuilds   replaced 1 magneto coil several sets of points and condensers. and rebuilt the starter generator once i replaced    1 mower deck pan 6 spindle assemblies dozens of belts 3 major gear box rebuilds  one complete transaxle replaced when the axle shaft shattered and wrecked the transmission case  2 sets of tires and 1 seat replaced it has original paint. i have the original paperwork that came with it. dad paid $667.00 for this new and $295 for the vacuum attachment i no longer have.

i am a retired ag and lawn and garden tractor mechanic  i have serviced  allis chalmers   john deere  cub cadet  massey ferguason snapper and ariens

 nothing  can match the old allis chalmers and simplicity    lines with the cast iron briggs engines. for power or engine life   it is a shame they are no longer built. to those standards.

 

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Talking about getting your money's worth out of a tractor.   Incredible story when you think about the big box store junk tractors that are used and tossed away like a old soda can.

Would love to have seen an hr meter on that tractor your dad had. It would have been a great PR tractor for Simplicity. 

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pictures are coming   i pulled the engine back out today and painted the engine and generator black. i will repaint   the entire tractor.

i found  decals for it but the one thing i will not paint over is the Willet & Wollin dealership sticker on the front axle.. this tractor is my last connection to my family farm. it is not being retired to show it is going back to work cutting grass..

i mowed down 4 ft horse weeds and foxtail with this unit  a 10hp cub cadet or 110 john deere wont do that without burning up belts. and streaking..as a replacement engine the 10hp briggs was advertised as a 9-13hp depending on how  the governor was set

the great trick we did was use the larger mule drive pulley and  use a different mower drive belt and spin the blades a lot faster. it did a much better job of discharging in tall  grass or weeds..

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Great tip about changing the size on the mule drive pulley to get higher RPM .Did you have to also change the drive belt size.?

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Great stories. Thanks for sharing. Some people have had really good luck using cleaning products to bring faded and rusted original paint back to life. You might look into that before going to the trouble of painting the tractor.  

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on the mule drive pulley yes you have to use a longer belt. . it was said to me by my AC dealer that one pully was for a 36 inche deck and the other was for a 42 or 48 inch deck and also the belly mounted sickle bar mower.. 

 

also if anyone wants to change a kohler k301 k321 k341  out for a 18hp or 20hp  briggs twin you must use a piece of 1/2 inch thick 1 1/2 inch wide bar stock as a shim under the oil pan of the twin briggs then the center of the crankshaft will be the same height

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It is great to hear these tips and tricks of the trade!                                    Somehow though it is eluding me as to how changing the pulley diameter on the mule drive would affect the implement drive speed?  Could very well be that I am not familiar with this particular set up though. 

Edited by equipment guy
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the B series used a 2 step pulley made of cast iron  on the mule drive  one was for the 36 and 42 inch deck and the other was for the 48 inch deck

big ten 003.jpg

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LOVE the implement sticker...A huge part of the tractors history both with the dealer and the family connection.  Pretty awesome stories surrounding this particular tractor. ...I really enjoy hearing about them from the long time owners perspective. 

Very impressive. 

Thanks again for sharing. 

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Great to hear a story like this one...it is nice to know that they can last so long...best of luck with it and many more happy memories.....maybe your grandkids will cut lawns with it and get their down payments for their first cars...would love to see pictures of it....how many batteries you think you went through

Edited by MARK (LI)
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10 hours ago, brokenwrench said:

the B series used a 2 step pulley made of cast iron  on the mule drive  one was for the 36 and 42 inch deck and the other was for the 48 inch deck

big ten 003.jpg

 This is good to know, as I have never actually seen one of these in person. When I think of mule drives, I’m only familiar with the ones I have had on my equipment. Power max series, cub cadet 105, and wheel horse 520. The mule drives on these, only change belt direction.  I never had a mower deck for my T-10.                       Thank you for the follow up!

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Another cool tractor story. As the Pickers would say, the story makes the tractor that much better. 

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Very true!  A tractor without a story,    ( be-it a historical story, or a story just beginning) is just a piece of iron.

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6 hours ago, equipment guy said:

Very true!  A tractor without a story,    ( be-it a historical story, or a story just beginning) is just a piece of iron.

Very much agree, story makes the tractor , just amazing how many are not concerned with the history, sold a few that people could care less about it

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35 minutes ago, 720nut said:

Very much agree, story makes the tractor , just amazing how many are not concerned with the history, sold a few that people could care less about it

I hear ya ...it pains me to sell to someone who could care less. I have actually talked a few people out of buying some of my real nice old tractors because I didn't think they were worthy of preserving the history of the machine. 

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3 hours ago, fishnwiz said:

I hear ya ...it pains me to sell to someone who could care less. I have actually talked a few people out of buying some of my real nice old tractors because I didn't think they were worthy of preserving the history of the machine. 

Hear ya Mark

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3 hours ago, fishnwiz said:

I hear ya ...it pains me to sell to someone who could care less. I have actually talked a few people out of buying some of my real nice old tractors because I didn't think they were worthy of preserving the history of the machine. 

Ya think maybe they just make up there own stories ???

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                                                                     the story of the allis chalmers dealership in  shobonier il

 

willet and wollin allis chalmers dealership i shobonier il was located in the old livery stable and feed store

itt was founded by bill willet and bill towler in the 30s.  bill towler died and earnst wollin the head mechanic and shop foreman  bought out towler's share from his estate in the  early 60s. when bill willet died ernst wollin bought out bill willet' share from his estate.

 

the building was an amish built barn 75 ft wide and 200ft long it was 1 1/2 stories tall built in the mid 1800s  the shobonier livery stable went broke during the depression when most of the population moved away. the upstairs  was used for basket ball games by the high school that was there and barn dances for decades.in 1900 shobonier had a pop of about 19000. now it is unincorporated of about 300.

bill towler and bill willet went into partnership and opened the allis chalmers dealership with gleaner combines as well the first models they stocked was the AC A AC U unstyled WC..my dad did business with them as they were only 1 1/2 miles from our farm . the prices for machinery and labor was great  and had the best service shop in the county.. in 1972 ernst wollin gave me my first mechanic job at $1.65/hour for a 40 hour week and 1 1/2 overtime for 4 hours on Saturday.  in 1973 the shobonier dealership was merged with the ramsey and brownstown dealerships and built a new modern building in vandalia il. in the mid 80s when duetz bought out allis chalmers the dealership  folded.

 

 

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1.65 Hr was good money at the time. 

Great story about the town except for the large population decrease,  which a lot of small towns here in Wisconsin have gone the same route. 

Was Shobonier a farming community at that time? Tobacco or corn ??. Is there any Amish left in the area?

Thanks again for sharing your stories. ...I really enjoy them.

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shobonier was a farming community it had a small hotel next to the railroad tracks and that became the office for the allis dealership

it had an elevator 3 gas stations one general store 3  cafes  a grocery store. and a welding shop and 2 blacksmith shops  and 2 churches a baptist and a methodist. it also had a barber shop and a shop that sold yard goods and sewing supplies.. and a woodwright furniture shop

that made and repaired rocking chairs and re upholstered chairs and couches  

 

 older farmers built homes here to retire from farming. also railroad retirees  did also. it had a community center for the township  a elementary k-8  and a high school. both were closed and absorbed into the vandalia school district  . i remember when the new elementary school was built it even had it's own telephone company. with a live partyline switch board. number please.

the first phone in our farm house  had a hand crank and 2 batteries to make it work. the electric power was very unreliable  just the sound of thunder in the distance would cause the power to go out. in 1964  the phone company was bought out and we got modern rotary phone on the wall then in 69 we got a push button phone. in 71 we got dedicated lines..

in 62 just before harvest dad had a heart attack and 2 bieghbor farmers cam in with their combines filled their fuel tanks fro our tank and harvested our corn and beans and brought the elevator checks and laid then on dad's hospital bed for him to sign. all they asked for was mom cook lunch and supper for them.. that is the kind of people your neighbors were..most farmers had pull type combines and corn pickers. we all helped each other. that is what i miss the most about my farm life was the love the people had for their neighbors

 

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