My old Allis 7G was hurting pretty bad when the donor came up for sale, I have the trans out with the converter, have resealed the outputs for both and had them ready to swap out for some time. Was looking to buy a decent older A-frame gantry around a two ton but so far have come up lame. First two on ebay were well out of my range money wise, were great looking but no way was I taking a loan to buy a gantry for once I awhile use. Looked to craigslist, found quite a few home-made, most were not worth the sweat to try to disassemble to move, found one in N Central MO but could not reach the seller until it had already sold so went the only method I had left, building my own. So far it is a W8x18 12' long beam, alley-engineered pocket attachment for the side legs and built what I consider at least a two ton capacity unit. Will not have casters for now, just sitting the feet into wider channel frames on the rock/dirt floor and will deal with that for now. Did weld slip pads on the ends of the bottom feet. Still need to cross drill at the pilot holes for a retainer pin but the largest part of the weld work is done, it works well enough then will paint the whole machine. Trans and converter sit alongside the beam awaiting the swap. Now I need to finish the assembly and get on with it.
My hat is off to you Miller. Damm few like you still around to use that kind of ingenuity. I kind of think that old iron and ingenuity go together sort of like old iron and grease under the fingernails go together.
Had a little extra winter time to think this out(probably too far out) usually as a youth mechanic we would odds and ends a rig to do this with whatever junk scrap stuff we had lying about. I took some time and will do some test lifts over the next few days after it is standing and leveled.
Made the final welds today, then arranged the pieces and cross drilled the pin bores. It is standing and functional, now to the real work.
Too bad your so far away, I have the same pair of 7G's as you do. One runner and a stripped donor with just about a new set of tracks. I am selling everything this summer as I picked up a 955L to replace it last year. It's all probably going to sell for scrap prices and hopefully a little more.
Should at least off them up on the Allis Forum, or craigslist locally. Better money than scrap prices, I have not taken the remnant pieces that are crap off the donor to scrap yet as the price is down. Here we can only get $180 for 'Clean' or sized scrap, anything bigger than 2'x3'x100# is considered as rough and won't bring clean price, they have to do any dissecting and the price moves down drastically. The rails (7 pitch) will also fit HD11's and are no longer made, they are prized collectibles for many, I got lucky in that the chains off my donor were fairly new to it and still measure at new dimensions. Once completely working and the donor fully stripped and gone I will probably sell my old unit and move up to a Cat of some type.
I have to take a bunch of pic's and put them on the Allis forum as I really hate to see it cut up. It really runs great and actually starts up easier than the cat 955 I bought. I traded a contractor a days work for it and ran it for three years so I kind of hate to let it go, But as you have found parts are scarce and my time is limited.
Took a full day but the trans was on the floor yesterday, a lot of cleaning to do especially the stuff piled in under the converter to get to the bolts, then install replacements change all hoses and filters get it running to test then more found work while the covers are off.
It looks like your gantry is serving you well!
Not a creak or groan, actually more solid than I expected. Had to shift it forward to allow trans to swing out of pinion connection, did so easily and no indications of attempt to pitch off center.
Did find the source of most of the transmission issues, the seals in the end accumulators for the shaft shift oil supplies are bad, blow air in one side comes out the other for forward and into the case for low reverse. Was told these may be available thru a hydraulics shop as are similar to shaft seals on cylinders, just have to find a correct diameter, once found will order up clutch plates. From there I may be able to salvage a second trans for an added spare or to reinstall later and rebuild the one going in now for a spare for piece of mind.
Started clearing the debris off the frame crossmember only to find it won't help much if any. Will have to drop the engine belly pan to see if can access the torque converter bolts from that way, if not it will stay in place as I am not pulling the engine to get at it, may be a bad choice but is all I can do as no access installed is still no access.
Still in process, trans is out while I change a few more hoses and seals. Going to move this to Old Iron where it really belongs from here out.
For now though, the trans is in, will be connecting the small stuff tomorrow, have drain plug gaskets coming from Minnpar to stop some seeps that have come up over the last months.
Nice job on the gantry DMiller . The old 7G will run like a new one when ya getter done . Hey ...... Is that an Allis Chalmers 175 tractor I see in post # 4 ?
That's my old 180D, same year range as my 7G, around a 1974. Seems you get hooked on the old Allis line and it is hard to shake! My other helpers use it for added lift ability or a spare hand, those would include 'Me, Myself and I' as the three mechanics in the shed. I never had kids and finding anyone willing to help when I can be there to get the direction done just doesn't happen, that is why the gantry build as well, cannot be on the tractor and in the hole at the same time. Currently in process to build a concrete floor shop, is going up near to where I wish to place a new(final) house, not very big just 30x48 but enough to suit me as I can't push too many projects in at once! That 180 is well due for an overhaul and a clutch. I also need a decent clean place to open and repair the old trans from the 7G for a spare.
Well all the big stuff is back together, still need to tie down hoses and small crap as the seat mounts(need rework), decided to start it as the worry hair stood up on my neck. Nothing, no trans pressure no fluid movement, the trans hydraulic pump did not feel quite positive splining on so I am suspecting something awry there, back into that tomorrow, there is a c-clip retainer for the coupling collar to a drive shaft, I suspect it to have slipped or the ring to have left when I pulled the pump earlier on.
BTW I did look to that donor torque converter to see what I am up against, that one is FUBAR, some goober welded the shaft to the drive gear, looks like a mound of bird crap sitting on it, may be able to grind it free if need be. Minnpar has a listing for the shaft and collar, $1900+ for the shaft(5" long weighs .6 pounds), $1300+ for the collar(neither are stocked, imagine that).
D probably wont need it with the shop going up but saw a fellow one time that had a gravel dirt floor like yours and he took 20' pieces of rail road track and put some bottom track rollers on the bottom of his gantry to roll it back an forth on, just a thought
Considered that as well, rail is available but hard to deal with at 55#/foot for switch rail, the 4" channel feet I put on the gantry sitting in 6" channels worked reasonably well, just had to coax them with a small com-a-long.
Forms are off, boys are going to grade the inside dirt level down and then backfill with rock, will be setting the penetration fixtures when they get to that point. 3" center floor drain, header for sewage and a sweep for well delivery line and pump supply wiring. Old Allis is giving me fits, got all back together and the hydraulic pump for the trans wouldn't pull prime, when took it off to grease pack it found a mount ear cracked so looked to the donor, it too was cracked same spot, now looking to find a Eaton distributor to get a replacement end cap/fixture.
So far the best bet is twelve days lead time manufacturer, coming out of Eaton Corp direct. Sitting and waiting is the worst.
Hopefully that will take care of the 7g crawler . That 180 Allis is nice all around tractor . We have a 73 model 170 gas and 78 model 175 diesel . Pretty handy tractors . The new foundation for the shop turned out nice . Those look like Simplex brand concrete forms & wall ties .
Hope upon hope I am almost back in business, seems for every step forward another two or three backward, one hour worked four hours down has to stop. I have a ton of Honey Locust to push out. Old 180 has its days too, compression for AC was always low but this one is really weak. My next winter project a full block out overhaul. I had the injection pump rebuilt last summer, has good transmission where nothing jumps out, do need to do some PTO seals while have it split with power divider clutch packs and seals. Have owned it seven years and not a regret yet!