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Jim Allen

181 Articles
DW PORT e

Head Porting: DIY or Not?

The horsepower game is all about getting as much air into the cylinder as possible, adding the appropriate amount of fuel and lighting it off. […]
DW TRAC

1978 IH 584 Utility

You Get More in a New 84 No matter how hot the horsepower race got with the big tractors, a good deal of any tractor […]
DW TRAC

Tractor Talk: Allis-Chalmers 8070, End of The Line

By the time 1985 rolled around, the agricultural side of Allis-Chalmers was 71 years old and the company was drowning in debt in the face […]
DW UNOH

UNOH Cummins, The Final Act: A Student-Built Cummins Nears 1,000 HP

We’ve been following the University of Northwestern Ohio Diesel Club’s Cummins-powered pulling truck since 2011, and we’ve been pleased to see the students transform a […]
DW TRAC

Tractor Talk: Case 431, Carrying On the Tradition

The 1960s were a rough time for J.I. Case, but that didn’t stop the company from introducing what would become one of its best-loved tractor […]
DW JEEP

Comanche MJ: The 1986-92 Cummins-Powered Jeep

The 1986-92 Jeep Comanche MJ was one of Jeep’s better ideas. Essentially an XJ Cherokee with a pickup bed, the Comanche even had a factory […]
DW TRAC

The Hundred Series: 1958 Oliver 770 Diesel Tractor

By the late 1950s, Oliver was still a major player in the tractor market, but more and more, bigger players were overshadowing the manufacturer. Oliver […]
ID

Ford’s First Diesel Pickup Engine

It was the 1970s and people were reeling from the shock of gas prices that had tripled in just a few short years. The effect […]
DW TRAC

Cub Cadet 782D: Tractor Talk

The Cub Cadet line of garden tractors debuted in 1960 as “little brothers” to International Harvester’s compact Farmall Cub series. Originally to be called Cubette—a […]
DW RETRO

Diesel History Retrospective: Oldsmobile's Other Diesel

Say “Oldsmobile diesel” and most people think of the trouble-prone 350-cid (5.7 liter) V-8 that plagued GM’s full-size cars in the late 1970s and early […]
CD

The Camel Trophy: Land Rover History

In a world where daily-driven diesel pickups can turn 12-second quarter-miles one day and move houses the next, it’s easy to forget that the diesel […]
DW TRAC

Hi-Crop Tractor: 1957 Oliver Super 77D

Hi-Crop, High Clearance, High-Clear, HC… whatever name the manufacturer chose for them, tractors with extra clearance for taller crops have been part of the farming […]
DW TRAC

1989 Deutz-Allis 9190: Tractor Talk

When Klockner-Humboldt-Deutz (KHD) took over the ag side of Allis Chalmers in 1985, the only part of the old tractor lineup they wanted to keep […]
DW TRAC

Sheppard SD3: The Best Tractor You've Never Heard Of

In the late ’40s and early ’50s, diesel-powered tractors were just starting to increase their market share against gasoline and distillate (kerosene) power tractors. It […]
Randy Coyings ’61 570 Super is one of only 1,680 built in ’61 and ’62. It is the 568th 570 Super ever built. Cockshutt had adopted this Harvest Gold/Vermillion Red color scheme for the 1961 model year. The 500 Series had debuted all in Harvest Gold while previous generations were often all in Vermillion Red (the traditional Cockshutt color).

The 1961 Canadian Cockshutt 570 Super

Canada isn’t generally known for her tractors, but one Canadian tractor manufacturer made a mark on the world: Cockshutt. The company started in 1882, when […]
DW TRAC

1959 Porsche-Diesel Standard Model: The Schlepper Project

Ferdinand Porsche (1875-1951) had his hands into just about everything with an engine. By the time he started his own engineering firm in 1931, Dr. […]
If you are not a “red tractor” person, you may be confused with the interchanging of “International Harvester” and “McCormick-Deering” in this story. The McCormick-Deering tractors were a products built by International Harvester. International Harvester was formed by the merger of the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company and the Deering Harvester Company in 1902, both of which were developing internal combustion engines and tractors at the time of their merger. Both were prestigious companies with lots of name recognition, so McCormick-Deering was a name that worked to bring fans of both to the company, plus settle a monopoly issue with the government over keeping two separate companies. By the end of the 1930s, the McCormick-Deering badged tractors became fewer and International Harvester or McCormick branded tractor began becoming more prevalent. By the late 1950s, in the USA at least, the McCormick branded tractors were also gone.

The First WD-40: 1935 McCormick-Deering WD-40

You’re forgiven if “WD-40” brought something else to mind. Before that incredibly useful product was invented, there was an equally useful product with the same […]
Daron Rittenauer’s ‘87 Panther 1000 is almost a last-of-the-breed tractor. Though built under the ownership of Case IH, it was still the same tractor offered by Steiger in its last year of corporate independence. The Panther and the Lion shared a platform this year, the only difference being the Cummins or Cat engines (your choice) were turned up from 335 to 375 hp. Yeah, it’s safe to say Daron’s is turned up that much.

The Big Cat’s Ninth Life: 1987 Steiger Panther 1000

The 1980s are not pleasantly remembered by most in agricultural manufacturing. Things took a downturn in the late ‘70s, got serious in the early ‘80s, […]
This 1955 401 rowcrop has the adjustable rear wheel track, the "Eagle" three-point hitch, and hydraulic system, but is lacking either the rear shaft PTO or center belt PTO. That's somewhat unusual in a general-purpose tractor, where PTO work is often a part of the general purpose.

Tractor Talk: A 1955 Case 400D - Case Compact Power

Sometimes big ideas come in smaller packages. Case in point: the 400 Series Case tractors that debuted for 1955. This was the first all-new J.I. […]

Tractor Talk: Call Dave! 1967 David Brown 780 Selectamatic

David Brown is not a well known name in the United States tractor scene, but our neighbors north of the border are very familiar with […]