What Good Is An Allis Chalmers B vs Farmall Cub in 2024?

[Bill VA]

Friend of mine has a Farmall Cub. It is a neat little tractor to take to shows and parades on a utility trailer and half ton truck - read small and light weight…

However (and maybe I’m totally missing it), aside from the above, here in 2024, I’m not sure how handy a Cub would be on the farm, especially with the non-540 rpm pto.

So I lookup the Allis Chalmers B and it has a 560 rpm PTO and not to much more weight than a Cub.

School me on the Allis Chalmers B. I think one could haul it on a heavier utility trailer for show duty, but might be more handy around the farm. Can a 4ft bush hog (tow behind) be used with the PTO for barnyard/ orchard trimming?

What else can you do with a B in 2024? How’s the parts and implement situation, I assume a late model is better?

Any sage advice is appreciated!

Bill

 

[T.R.K.]

All I know about them is The B has about twice the power of a Cub. Getting on the seat is interesting as there is no step or provision for mounting the tractor. Most I see around here have the Allis cultivators if they have anything other than a drawbar. I would guess at some point at least there was an aftermarket 3 point offered for them, but I don't think the original lift cylinder can lift very much.

 

[Bob Bancroft]

Friend of mine has a Farmall Cub. It is a neat little tractor to take to shows and parades on a utility trailer and half ton truck - read small and light weight…

However (and maybe I’m totally missing it), aside from the above, here in 2024, I’m not sure how handy a Cub would be on the farm, especially with the non-540 rpm pto.

So I lookup the Allis Chalmers B and it has a 560 rpm PTO and not to much more weight than a Cub.

School me on the Allis Chalmers B. I think one could haul it on a heavier utility trailer for show duty, but might be more handy around the farm. Can a 4ft bush hog (tow behind) be used with the PTO for barnyard/ orchard trimming?

What else can you do with a B in 2024? How’s the parts and implement situation, I assume a late model is better?

Any sage advice is appreciated!

Bill

I've had a couple of "B"s and a "C", (all with the same engine) I added an aftermarket three point hitch and ran a light duty 5 foot bush hog. Power was not an issue. This size tractor served as the yard tractor, running grain auger for years, until I put up an elevator. I eventually updated to a newer tractor with live PTO and hydraulics, and a much handier way of getting on and off, and a more comfortable seat for this old man!

 

[caterpillar guy]

I think you need to consider the weight again. If it is a ballasted tractor the weight is almost twice what the cub weighs cub at 2800 and B allis is 4000 ballasted. Shipping weight is about the same though which is never what the using weight is. Shipping is with a dry tractor ballasted would be a wet tractor with weights and or loaded tires.

 

[Jim in NC]

I have a C with a belly mower. It is very handy, but is one of the most difficult tractors I have ever used to mount and dis-mount. The cub has that beat by far. A cub with a set of cultivators and attachments is very useful. I have no Allis experience other than with my Allis C.

 

[showcrop]

Neighborhood friends and I did a lot of big time farming with a cub back in the early sixties.

 

[Brendon-KS]

Friend of mine has a Farmall Cub. It is a neat little tractor to take to shows and parades on a utility trailer and half ton truck - read small and light weight…

However (and maybe I’m totally missing it), aside from the above, here in 2024, I’m not sure how handy a Cub would be on the farm, especially with the non-540 rpm pto.

So I lookup the Allis Chalmers B and it has a 560 rpm PTO and not to much more weight than a Cub.

School me on the Allis Chalmers B. I think one could haul it on a heavier utility trailer for show duty, but might be more handy around the farm. Can a 4ft bush hog (tow behind) be used with the PTO for barnyard/ orchard trimming?

What else can you do with a B in 2024? How’s the parts and implement situation, I assume a late model is better?

Any sage advice is appreciated!

Bill

The Cub would have been a direct competitor to the Allis G (not the B), Massey Harris Pony, and Deere L/LA. All were in the 10 to 12 hp range and were marketed primarily to what we would today call professional market gardeners. The planting and cultivating of vegetables was a primary design consideration.

I've got two Cubs, one usually equipped with a sicklebar mower and the other with a Woods rotary mower. The rotary mower is fun and it cuts nicely but if I want to actually get work accomplished in a short amount of time I'll get on my sub-compact with double the power and thus double the capacity. The sickle mower works nice in our little hay patch. One big strike against the usability of these tractors is the time and labor required to go between implements. Grandpa Love has the right idea here - have a Cub for each implement so you never have to change them over!

 

[Ultradog MN]

I grew up on an Allis B.
It was Grandpa's only tractor and we got it when Dad got the farm. It got used for everything. Hauling wood in a trailer, hauling trash to the dump, picking maple sap in the spring, dragging logs, launching boats into the lake for the trailer park, pulling a horse drawn plow, disc and spike tooth drag for the garden, pulling the stone boat, pulling an old horse drawn JD mower to keep the roadside clean, a road drag in the spring. Later, pulling a hay rake. Only use we had for the PTO was a cordwood saw and we cut up a lot of wood with it.
I was a stripling lad then so mounting/dismounting wasn't an issue.
30 years later I got a 2N Ford with 3 point and EZ mounting and wouldn't have traded it for a couple of Allis Bs. I still have a soft spot for them but would have zero use for one now.

 

[Butch(OH)]

I have a good bit of seat time on both and an Allis B is easily twice the tractor of a Cub in every way except one, getting on and off of it. That is easily fixed with aftermarket step so you can get on from the front or get rid of the bench seat and install one of the aftermarket pan seats that were made by Monroe and others and get on it from the back. They are no longer made but very easy to find.

 

[4wdtom]

Not in he same class. The B and C are twice the tractor. However for small light jobs the cub is OK. Myself I would prefer a B or C with hydraulics over the cub because as you say they aren't that much bigger and are twice the tractor. If you drive both one after the other you will say "where is the power" about the cub as it is about half of the B/C.

 

[Bill VA]

Thanks for the replies everyone - really appreciate the replies!

 

[jwal10]

An Allis B compares better power wise, to a Farmall A, the Farmall has cultivision and wide front. The Allis C compares better to the Farmall BN but the B has cultivision and narrow front. The Allis C compares to the Farmall C, neither has cultivision, both have narrow front....James