Clem found his crawler in McGregor, Minn., in 1997. 'The guy I got it from said they were building a road up there in 1936, and he was there working on it. He said the Allis-Chalmers people came out and switched the head out right there on the road. He said, 'After that, we could use it.' The crawlers were owned by the government, so after the road was finished, the equipment was sold so it wouldn't have to be moved. He ended up buying two of them. Of course, I ended up buying both of them to make one that runs.'
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Clem has about five dozen gasoline engines, all of them different. His collection includes a Jacobsen, a Detroit, and an IH air-cooled 1-cylinder upright engine, along with some Listers and rare sideshaft models, like an IH Mogul.
And then there are the tractors, of course. 'All of our models are different,' he says. 'I've never collected anything the same. If I had a duplicate, I sold it or traded it off for something we didn't have. I've always liked variety. It's more of a challenge that way.'
Aultman & Taylor: one-of-a-kind sound
In 1989, Clem spotted the 1916 Aultman & Taylor 30-60 at Glenwood, Minn., and bought it. 'It was available, and a large tractor, and that's how I ended up with it,' he says. 'It stands 11 feet tall, and was the biggest tractor I would ever be able to buy. It required a lot of cleaning, with new bearings and work on the cooling tower and tanks.' The fuel tanks were removed and cleaned out, 'like normal,' and after that work was finished, it was painted by Clem's son, Curt, who does all of his painting.
Clem likes the A&T because the firing order from the 4-cylinder side-by-side engine gives the machine a unique sound. Specifications on all A&T 30-60s are pretty much the same, he says. The only difference he's noted is the location of the exhaust pipes: Some come up through the cab, and some are forward.
The A&Ts could be started with a battery as well as a crank. After priming and setting the engine to top dead center, a big lever in the operator's platform was used to pump air, tripping a lever that held the flywheel. 'When it gets so much pressure on the piston and head at top dead center, it lets go and the tractor is supposed to start,' he says. 'I've started it a couple of times like that, but you've really got to be coordinated. It was an Aultman & Taylor option at the time. It could be installed at the factory, or you could buy it for the tractor.'
For an option, it involved a lot of extra work. The farmer had to take a battery out to the tractor and make sure the machine's coil was switched from magneto to battery, accomplished by flipping a switch.
Once underway, Clem says the A&T is easy to operate and steer. Move a lever forward and the machine goes forward. Move the lever back and the machine goes backward. A second lever put the belt pulley in gear. The A&T also has extension rims, but they are rarely on as they make the machine too wide to get into Clem's shed.