small road grader

Bob N.Y. · Dec 30, 2020

Speaking of small road graders, the village where I went to elementary school back in the late '50s and early '60s had a small grader that they used to plow the sidewalks. It was an Allis Chalmers and larger than a "G" tractor. It was a rear engine machine. I would guess it had a "B" engine. I don't think it had tandem wheels, but that was a long time ago. I have never seen another like it. Have any of you?

Traditional Farmer · Dec 30, 2020

AC made a D grader with a WD45 gas motor and a DD with a 230 diesel like was in the WD45 diesel tractor.

warbaby · Dec 30, 2020

It may have been a one off creation built by your local road maintenance council in their garages.

The smallest rear engine grader Allis had in that era was the "D", but that would take either a highly skilled operator with a sharply skewed blade, or very wide sidewalks! It also had tandem drivers. Allis also sold many of the "Speed Patrol" & "Speed Maintainer" graders, a small, single rear axle, manually controlled grader- but they were all based on the "WC" tractors and had the engine up front. They were popular with townships and villages, but again, a bit too big for sidewalks.

An AC "G" with a underslung blade would have been a perfectly sized machine for clearing sidewalks, or, if your hometown was close to the Canadian border, a David Brown "2D"!

warbaby · Dec 30, 2020

Heres my AC "D" last year getting some hours in. Allis Chalmers sold thousands of these machines to small municipalities from 1949 (when mine was built) until 1971. Most of them are still in use- small contractors love them!

J Hamilton · Dec 30, 2020

Years ago our road district had an Allis like you're describing. It had one rear drive axle with duals, it was a cute little machine

DeltaSteve · Dec 30, 2020

a G with a stretched frame would make a neat little grader. I wonder if anybody ever acctally made one? It would be handy as a shirtpocket. A real show stopper,too.

JF in MI · Dec 30, 2020

Here's mine. I also think it's a '49 (Drott actually but same thing)

Case Nutty 1660 · Dec 30, 2020

a few was used here by contractors and the State had one or two at every department, you seldom see them these days

Bob Bancroft · Dec 30, 2020

Looking in Swinford's AC construction machinery book I don't find anything like you describe.

merlynr · Dec 30, 2020

(quoted from post at 08:40:31 12/30/20) a few was used here by contractors and the State had one or two at every department, you seldom see them these days

I'm going to take some pics of a grader based off of a wd45 and its completely restored by a neighbor. May be a few days.

Bill(Wis) · Dec 30, 2020

They're still being made with a few changes and improvements which could be expected.

old · Dec 30, 2020

Never heard of one based off the WD45 but have one based off of the WC that I use on my driveway

Traditional Farmer · Dec 30, 2020

Two reasons a G probably wouldn't have made a very good grader,lack of HP really didn't have enough HP to make a good cultivating tractor in my clay soil.
And the rear axles weren't very strong,I bought a couple of G tractors with wrung off rear axles.With a B/C motor and beefed up axles they'd of been great.
I have seen graders made from a B but think they were aftermarket conversion.

Bill(Wis) · Dec 30, 2020

I stole this from kcm.MN down below

warbaby · Dec 30, 2020

NICE! I should reconfigure my exhaust like yours- it might keep the carburettor from frosting up! If the serial number on yours is in the 1 to 480 range, it is a 1949 model (mine is #104).

warbaby · Dec 30, 2020

It looks like an Allis M65, which replaced the "D" graders in 1972, only .5 the size! Whoever built it could probably sell a lot of them and make a good profit.

JF in MI · Dec 30, 2020

The only thing I can read off the plate is 'D-738' so presumably, by your account, it is a 1950 just like my 8N. BTW the exhaust must have come that way because there is no hole in the engine cover.

warbaby · Dec 30, 2020

Yup, 481 to 1060 were built in 1950. Yours is right about in the middle of that year's production of 579 graders.

old-9 · Dec 30, 2020

Here is Ford Maintainer not a grader, the difference is "if the front/steering wheels tilt." No tilt= maintainer-- tilt= grader. These aftermarket units were built for many different tractors. IH M's, Case,A/C, Fords and others. Hard to find but I know of a Ford that maybe could be bought.
Ford Maintainer

jm. · Dec 30, 2020

Sounds more like a Austin-Western they were single rear wheel units

J Hamilton · Dec 30, 2020

It may have been, that was many years ago and I remember it was orange, but I don't know if was original color or repainted

bc · Dec 30, 2020

(quoted from post at 18:28:06 12/30/20) Here is Ford Maintainer not a grader, the difference is "if the front/steering wheels tilt." No tilt= maintainer-- tilt= grader. These aftermarket units were built for many different tractors. IH M's, Case,A/C, Fords and others. Hard to find but I know of a Ford that maybe could be bought.
Ford Maintainer

Interesting difference. How does tilt wheels help grade a road? Thanks

small road grader

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