Alice Chalmers 190 gas

[ohiofarmer]

I am looking at buying an AC 190 gas from a neighbor's family. He died a couple years ago and the tractor has set outside for probably 3+ years. According to his brother, the tractor was running when they parked it, but had a miss. They thought it had water in the gas tank.

Anyway, not knowing anything about an AC 190, wondering if there are any gotchas with that model. Any issues with drive train (like messed up torgue converter) as typical for the model? Is this a pretty good tractor? Looking to pull 4 bottoms in Ohio clay?

Whatever advise you'all could give would be greatly appreciated. If you can think of anything specific to look for, please let me know. I will be checking on this tractor over labor day weekend.

thanks

 

[Tradititonal Farmer]

It'll burn a considerable amount of gas and the 190s are famous for jumping out of gear but they are a nice tractor to operate

 

[Anonymous-0]

In 1965 I bought a new 190 AC Gas and I used it for 6 years for all my heavy work for that time of History. I Plowed with a 4 Bottom Snap Coupler Plow with Slat Mold boards and a Mounted Drag,Disced with an AC 12' Wheel Disc[18" Disc's] cut Corn Silage [1 row] made Haylage[5'P.U.] cut Hay[10' MOCo] and a lot of easier jobs and I was very satisfied with it for power and fuel consumption. I had a D17 it relieved of the heavy work. I occasionally had my friends JD 3020 on the place for one reason or the other and I would much rather run the 190 than the 3020. It never developed a "Jump out of Gear Syndrome" as some say. It was well taken care of and at last report it was still on duty at a Dairy Farm in Wisc. holding up it's share of the daily grind. It has had one Engine Major and a Clutch and Pressure Plate replacement since new,several sets of tires and new Brakes . Not bad for a Tractor that is 42 years young. And I get to run it once in awhile ,makes this 70 year old Retiree come alive again for awhile.I was/still am very proud of that Tractor.

 

[rrlund]

Never had one myself,but the neighbor had two diesel models. I always liked to drive them,but didn't like the "live PTO" setup on them. You have to use the hand clutch. Funny story that wasn't funny for them at the time...their oldest son was quite the know it all. They had a loader on the older one and he took it to the gravel pit to load an old dump truck. The loader had two way cylinders,so to get them both home at once,he put the bucket in the back of the truck and lifted the front wheels off the ground then shut the engine off. Well,the transmission didn't get any lubrication and it blew the housing wide open. He didn't think he was so smart all of a sudden.

 

[unclemerle]

Ohio

I had 190 gasser on a loader and it served me ok.

Good points; easy tractor to drive, hyd's were strong, always started if it was plugged in (0-)

Bad points; mine had the typical AC problem of the hyd oil would go into the tranny side. Used 5 gallons of gas an hour no matter what you did (holly carb). Front end was a bit light duty for loader work. Was hard to drive when using a rear mount snow blower, if I would of had a second right hand to run the torqe converter it would of been ok.

Mine went to a consignment auction and was glad to see it go.

Merle

 

[Anonymous-0]

As you can see there are negatives of any thing in life including the negative responses to your inquiry. The tractor you are interested in has had a hard life I am positive of,it probably needs more repairs than the equity is worth,it was not designed as a chore or loader tractor and is way beyond todays image of fuel efficency. When this series tractor was current[middle 60's -early 70's] Gas was probably about $.29 per Gal. Farm use[less Road Taxes]. I don't remember ever worrying about fuel efficency and I certainly never used it as a "Loader Tractor". It was a "Plow" Tractor and as now Plowing is pretty much a thing of the past[except in certain circumstances,nostalgia for one] so the 190 Tractor being in the neighbor hood of a 40 year old machine will need many updates but a loader is not one of them in my opinion. If you are interested for the restoration and show challenge go for it. Given the care it has had as you intimate if you wish to start it up and hook it to a 5 bottom plow,SURPRISE, I think you are more senseable than that. In it's day the AC 190 was the equal of a JD Gas 3010, Case 730 and the list of 60-80 HP Tractors goes on. In it's day farming Fence Row to Fence Row was not being practiced. Conservation was still alive and 160 Acres could provide a decent standard of living for any one not afraid to get his or her's hands dirty. I for one liked the AC 190 and still do.