Allis Chalmers 616 basket case rebuild.

Just something I thought I'd pass on, we're rebuilding our AC 616 and one of the things it needs is tires. I noticed that the front has a 5 x 4.5" (5 x 115mm) bolt pattern which is pretty common, my Ford Ranger and my wife's old '92 Olds Cutlass to name a couple.. Anyway, just for S&Gs I got the old compact spare from the 92 Olds and tried it on... It fit surprisingly well, 185/80D16, I figure a 6.00-16 or 5.50-16 ag ribbed tire might fit nicely on the 16" x 4" wide rim.
3 problems with using these rims, one, the stock lug bolts have small heads, which don't match well to the half inch holes in the rims. But, one of the things that I will do is convert to lug studs and nuts, using 7/16x20 GM lug nuts should fix this problem. (I hate lug bolts anyway)
Two, the taller wheel/tire combo comes very close to the frame at full turn, not touching but very close. (see pics) a wheel spacer might fix that, or welding the turn stops to limit how far it turns.. or just live with it..
Three, I don't have a belly mower deck for this,  (It's being rebuilt as a garden tractor only.) these wheels/tires prob wouldn't work with the mower deck.
Anyway, hope someone finds this info useful,,, or amusing..

Update, the wheel/tire will rub on the drag-link on the other side, no biggie but either a wheel spacer or modifying the stops to limit how far it will steer might be necessary.

Yeah that will probably work. Going larger on the rear to?

Yep. I've done that to garden tractors, sub the rims with Vec rims.

What'cha got on the rear?

I've used flat washers for awhile when the lug nuts or lug bolts are too small for the rim holes when testing slow speed garden tractor rims.

When you tighten the nuts or bolts the washers will dimple, just re-snug them after you have drive tested.

We thought that the left side brake had seazed/rusted up, but turns out that water had got into the bull-gear housing and mucked up to the point it wouldn't turn. Got everything cleaned up and all seems well, we checked the other side and found water contamination in it too, but with no real damage.


There's a backing plate goes over the bull gear, I didn't get a pic of that....

The differential shaft came out with the bull gear assembly, it has a snap ring on the inner end and just snaps back in place. (turn while you push)



We drilled new holes in the rear hubs and got the lug-studs installed, I think it turned out purdy good! Re used some old Dodge 1/2 ton truck wheels (8" x 16" rims) and tires (Cooper S/T 265/75 R16, abt 31" tall) so didn't have to buy new tires.
Used 10 Ford Ranger rear lug studs and nuts (1/2x20 thread)
Drilled the hubs to 5x5.5" bolt pattern with 19/32" holes for the press in studs. I think 29/64 hole would have been better but we didn't have a bit that size, anyway, they pulled in nice and tight.




Next will be to dismount the tires, sand-blast and repaint the rims the proper color.  Also picked up 10 7/16x20 x2" bolts to use for front studs (I hate lug bolts)  I'll need to pick up 10 GM 7/16x20 lug nuts before we start that.