Hands-On Training with an Allis-Chalmers WD

By Eugene Blake
Published on July 20, 2011
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Erik Glover at the helm of his Allis-Chalmers WD.
Erik Glover at the helm of his Allis-Chalmers WD.
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The WD after a complete restoration. “When he restored his grandfather’s tractor, that was really special,” says restorer Russ Barth. “I’ve restored a lot of tractors, but never a family tractor. I was impressed with the way he removed the piston from my block right there in my shop.”
The WD after a complete restoration. “When he restored his grandfather’s tractor, that was really special,” says restorer Russ Barth. “I’ve restored a lot of tractors, but never a family tractor. I was impressed with the way he removed the piston from my block right there in my shop.”
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Before restoration, the Allis-Chalmers WD Karl Kulwicki gave to his grandson.
Before restoration, the Allis-Chalmers WD Karl Kulwicki gave to his grandson.
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Erik in the electric car he built and raced in his high school’s power drive program.
Erik in the electric car he built and raced in his high school’s power drive program.

Erik Glover isn’t so much for sitting still. Now 18, the Doniphan, Neb., youth spent the last two summers working at a feedlot. He’s helped with the corn harvest for the past four years and last winter plowed neighbors’ driveways using a 60-year-old family tractor he restored at age 16. “Erik likes to stay busy,” says his dad, Mark Glover.

That kind of energy is a good match for an old iron project. It takes a lot of drive, determination and mechanical ability to restore an old tractor, and Karl Kulwicki, Loup City, Neb., thought he saw that and more in his grandson. So in December 2009, Karl gave Erik his 1951 Allis-Chalmers WD. Often referred to as “the biggest little tractor made,” the Allis-Chalmers WD had played an integral role in Karl’s farm operations: planting, cultivating, mowing and baling. 

Purchased by Karl in 1954, 30 years later the WD was relegated to a grove on Karl’s farm. By the time Erik got his hands on it, the engine was stuck, the rear rims were rusted out and the back tires were flat. With a self-imposed goal of restoring it by his 17th birthday (just months later on March 29, 2010), Erik might have panicked. Instead, he rolled up his sleeves and went to work.

Replacing stuck pistons

Before the tractor could be moved the 50 miles to Doniphan, Erik and his father scouted replacement rims and purchased new tires. After rims were tracked down in Minnesota, the Allis was parked in Mark’s woodworking shop where Erik replaced the hood and one fender, and repaired sheet metal. “Then I took off the head,” Erik says, “and had a machine shop in Grand Island (Neb.) repair it and grind the valves.”   

With the head and oil pan removed, Erik could tell one piston was stuck as the result of rainwater entering through the muffler, but that piston refused to loosen. Diesel fuel and penetrating oil didn’t work; neither did pulling the tractor in gear. “Finally, we used a jack to apply pressure to the piston rod, enough that we raised the front of the tractor off the floor,” Erik says. “I even jumped on it. The piston still didn’t loosen. However, the sleeve came loose from the block and antifreeze ran all over.” Eventually, Erik found a mechanic to press the piston from the sleeve.                         

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