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Allis-Chalmers Model WC
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Allis-Chalmers Model WC
The Model WC was a tractor made by Allis-Chalmers from 1933 to 1948. The WC was designed from its start as a nimble, low-cost, but well-powered row-crop tractor that would make the best use of pneumatic rubber tires, which Allis-Chalmers had just introduced to agriculture in 1932. A successful model at the historical height of row-crop tractor demand, the WC was the best-selling tractor model that Allis-Chalmers ever built.
The WC was the Model W variant tailored to cultivating, thus the W + C (for "cultivating") name. Other W variants, such as the WD and WF, followed later (in lower numbers).
The WC was popular in the Great Depression for its good value, affordable price, and frugal design elements. Two factors that lowered its cost of manufacture, and thus its sales price, were that it was made partially from off-the-shelf components, and that its steel channel iron frame eliminated the need for large, heavy castings for the transmission and rear end (as were often used in tractors of the era). Its power was ample for the time and class, allowing it to pull a two-bottom plow.
With its minimalist design and low price, about 178,000 WCs were made from 1934 to 1948. The WC was assembled at the West Allis, Wisconsin, plant, near Milwaukee. In 1934, the WC was listed at USD $825 on rubber (standard), $675 on steel (optional). By 1936, the prices were $960 and $785, respectively. The tractor could also be ordered as "air front", meaning rubber tires in front and steel wheels in back.
The WC had a 201 cubic inches (3,290 cc), inline-four engine. Like most tractors of the era, the WC offered multifuel capability, running on gasoline, kerosene, or alcohol, and featured a small auxiliary fuel tank in addition to the larger main fuel tank, so that the tractor could be started on gasoline when cold and, once warmed up, switched to kerosene or alcohol.
The engine's 4 in (100 mm) bore and 4 in (100 mm) stroke made it one of the first tractor engines (to Buescher's knowledge, the first) to be square or oversquare, that is, to have an equal or shorter stroke than bore. The WC engine tested at 22 horsepower at the drawbar and 30 at the belt. Its "snappy governor […] seemed to sense a heavy load, even before the load arrived."
Ignition was by magneto.
The WC was the first farm tractor to have rubber tires as standard equipment, and the first tractor tested on rubber in the Nebraska tractor tests. The pneumatic-rubber-tire-on-steel-wheel combination was more expensive to make than a steel wheel with cleats. To make rubber tires standard equipment while also keeping the cost of the tractor low, the WC's designers, C.E. Frudden and Walter Strehlow, gave the WC drop gearing at the rear (bull-gear-with-pinion final drives), which allowed row-crop ground clearance while having smaller-diameter drive wheels. Drop gearing had appeared many times before on earlier tractors, but never yet for this new reason—to minimize the amount of rubber needed for the tires.
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Allis-Chalmers Model WC
The Model WC was a tractor made by Allis-Chalmers from 1933 to 1948. The WC was designed from its start as a nimble, low-cost, but well-powered row-crop tractor that would make the best use of pneumatic rubber tires, which Allis-Chalmers had just introduced to agriculture in 1932. A successful model at the historical height of row-crop tractor demand, the WC was the best-selling tractor model that Allis-Chalmers ever built.
The WC was the Model W variant tailored to cultivating, thus the W + C (for "cultivating") name. Other W variants, such as the WD and WF, followed later (in lower numbers).
The WC was popular in the Great Depression for its good value, affordable price, and frugal design elements. Two factors that lowered its cost of manufacture, and thus its sales price, were that it was made partially from off-the-shelf components, and that its steel channel iron frame eliminated the need for large, heavy castings for the transmission and rear end (as were often used in tractors of the era). Its power was ample for the time and class, allowing it to pull a two-bottom plow.
With its minimalist design and low price, about 178,000 WCs were made from 1934 to 1948. The WC was assembled at the West Allis, Wisconsin, plant, near Milwaukee. In 1934, the WC was listed at USD $825 on rubber (standard), $675 on steel (optional). By 1936, the prices were $960 and $785, respectively. The tractor could also be ordered as "air front", meaning rubber tires in front and steel wheels in back.
The WC had a 201 cubic inches (3,290 cc), inline-four engine. Like most tractors of the era, the WC offered multifuel capability, running on gasoline, kerosene, or alcohol, and featured a small auxiliary fuel tank in addition to the larger main fuel tank, so that the tractor could be started on gasoline when cold and, once warmed up, switched to kerosene or alcohol.
The engine's 4 in (100 mm) bore and 4 in (100 mm) stroke made it one of the first tractor engines (to Buescher's knowledge, the first) to be square or oversquare, that is, to have an equal or shorter stroke than bore. The WC engine tested at 22 horsepower at the drawbar and 30 at the belt. Its "snappy governor […] seemed to sense a heavy load, even before the load arrived."
Ignition was by magneto.
The WC was the first farm tractor to have rubber tires as standard equipment, and the first tractor tested on rubber in the Nebraska tractor tests. The pneumatic-rubber-tire-on-steel-wheel combination was more expensive to make than a steel wheel with cleats. To make rubber tires standard equipment while also keeping the cost of the tractor low, the WC's designers, C.E. Frudden and Walter Strehlow, gave the WC drop gearing at the rear (bull-gear-with-pinion final drives), which allowed row-crop ground clearance while having smaller-diameter drive wheels. Drop gearing had appeared many times before on earlier tractors, but never yet for this new reason—to minimize the amount of rubber needed for the tires.
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