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Like the title states, we are having a ball at the Fort Wayne Coliseum Show. The show will be going on again tomorrow from 9-6 and then Sunday 9-3. Stop on by if you get the chance and say hello. Mike Biser (racinfool40) graced us with his presence today and will be back tomorrow. Has some of the repop tombstone weights for sale. Please pick one up from him!!!! Had a nice chat with Don (Buckshot).........thanks for stopping by and reconnecting. Always a fun time! Met a lot of great people and looking forward to what the weekend has to bring! Here are just a few of the pictures that I snapped off today........... This is the 500 Special that I recently finished for my little boy A photo of our first restoration, Commando 8 with our 401 in the 4 wheeled wagon A NOS 420 LSE (never had gas, never fired, and battery never serviced) that some good friends allowed us to show with our display And a few more to wet your Wheel Horse appetite.........

If your trying to paint with the little compressor you have in the blaster post, no gun is going to help, you need a bigger compressor, I have 3 of the cheap harbor freight guns and they shot just fine, not high $$ guns but do the job, but I have a 60gal. 5hp compressor. This was painted with a HF $9 gun

As Richard has hinted it's impossible to place an exact market value on project tractors and I doubt any of us are thinking in terms of what could I get for it when it's restored, its not why we do it. Two bidders within viable collection distance who both want an item will inevitably push the price upwards until one caves in. Twas ever thus at auction. A runner is generally a good start but given the age and use these have had that doesn't mean that there aren't mechanical things that need attending to if you are going to do a good job - all part of the challenge and reward from restoring things. These little tractors can pull heavy loads and I've been moving soil and rubble for what seems to have been an age now in aprox half ton loads. There's a caviat here though and that is don't expect to do it on rough wet or muddy ground, or steep inclines - common sense comes into play - when conditions are bad I do it in half loads. Time wasted getting a tractor or trailer out if it gets bogged in makes taking more time with smaller loads the more attractive option IMO. My trailer has fairly wide wheels / tyres, again a sensible approach to heavy loads. Given the way these WHs were designed and built it often surprises me that they fetch relatively little but then they almost always need some mechanical and cosmetic work to bring them back to their original shape. I don't think anyone brags about how much a resto cost in terms of time or money - it's something you keep a secret, particularly from partners, and tend to 'forget' for your own benefit rather quickly. Good luck with whatever you're bidding on. Andy

here are some pics; got the '73 7-1251 as a rusted basket case. I had to E-tank everything, new bearings and seals, new gasket, prime and paint. the tiller never saw much use. the tines are still full blade. the parts cleaned up nice in the E-tank, I used rustoleum regal red with hardener. filled the pitting on the hood and finish sanded to 400grit. I had to borrow a buddy's mid idler for a pattern. decided to make three while I was at it. cant ever find em when you need em. needed a rear rock shaft so with illustrations from parts tree and pics from 312hydro this is what I came up with. I used a cable left over from a bay window installation. It has a threaded end put through a trunion, and clevis and clamps on the front rock shaft. poor old worker (C-175 eight) is gonna learn a new trick, better clean her inerds quick while its apart, need a shifter boot too. seat switch wires were through the lift cable tube. almost hate to attach it. hmmm, don't want to put a hood plate lift point on this model. decission time. now if only i had a belt. what size should i get? gonna be good to get some seat time tilling. if anyone thinks I should use this flat pulley on the tiller end instead of the original to get a belt to fit, let me know. well thats what I been up to, any help at this point is appreciated. thanks,-Keith

Fantastic work Ian! I really like the way the body is starting fit together. Still can't wait to see that seat gone though! Matt

Knock on wood, all is good. The new, larger o-ring must have worked it's way into the seat of the cam block as everything closed up nicely when I torqued it down with a 3/8 drive torque wrench to 6 lbs. I ran it up on the stands for a while and so far I have not seen signs of it leaking. Thank you for all of your help. I'm still not 100% convinced I'm in the clear, but I'm hoping it gets me through the summer into next winter before I have to do any major motor/ transmission work.

just saw this thread,i agree that you need the spring and some sort of rock shaft,i made this with a piece of angle and a pulley i had laying around,mu tiller kept breaking the wire rope,it got used alot that year,i took it to work to finish some yards that got tore up

Like I said. Go to the TP tools web site. They have all the info you need about compressors and blasting. http://www.tptools.com/ TSC sells the compressor I have for about $470.00. I used to run a pot blaster and cabinet with it. http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/campbell-hausfeldreg%3B-60-gallon-cast-iron-air-compressor

Got fire in the hole, finally! I found a set of points and a head gasket at a tractor dealer and put them on. The points broke clean and I had good spark. A couple hits of the key and it fired up. Still a little finicky on start up, but much better. Gonna check the fuel side as the filter never has much in it. I had put a new Stens carb on it when I bought the tractor, it has one mixture screw on the right side that if all the way in the motor runs good and clean at high rpm but will not idle much lower than that. If I turn it out about 3/4 turn it will idle down, but sounds kinda crappy and will not rev as high or run as good. If I pull on the govenor with it at idle, it will stumble and rev up with black smoke. When it gets warmer I'll pull the carb and check the float setting. The battery reads 12.34 volts weather the tractor is running or not, so I'm not sure if it is charging or not. Time will tell I guess. The tractor seems to have more power, it will drive third gear without bogging down and taking 30 feet to rev back up. P'Chop is happy, although Momma would not let him out to ride it as he may be getting sick.

Well here I go down that road again, thought I would try my hand at a D180! just got this today, seems like a strong runner. this one has a 18 Onan in it is this a repower? no matter, it called to me now its the big brother!

Glad to hear you got your carburetor back. I had though of ordering a Kohler crank shaft from him now, I am afraid I would never get it.

The lowboy is a decent machine if its the right one. The early type is an offset like the regular Cub and is one I'd buy in a second if I had the money for it. The other is an "inline" style that I'd only get for parts. Heres a couple pics I grabbed off the internet. The first is the offset one and the second is the "inline" one that has all the problems. The offset one came in several different body styles as it was evolved and was either 6 or 12 volt depending on the year. It also could have had a pan seat or a deluxe type like the picture shows. Its a decent all around tractor that I've never really had any major troubles with working on them unless the owner of it did something dumb like try to pull a wrecker with it or something it was never designed to do. The other one was the replacement and IH just tried to make it look like their garden tractor line any way they could and it didnt work out very well. Stewart

Pacer : Keep posting those 1054 upgrade pictures when you get a chance. I am sure several Red Square members would be interested!!

Great info! Dr Clank: this photo should be on a calendar!

I've owned all of the D-auto models at one time or another but only kept the 1973 18-Auto as my "collectable." So I'll toss my 2 cents in the fountain... I've never been overly impressed with the abilities of the D-autos compared to the C-series, but they certainly have their following. I always felt that they wanted for traction, especially when equipped with the floatation turf tires on the rear. I tried plowing snow with a 56" blade on my D160-K and didn't find it very satisfactory. On my D180 the snowthrower was so heavy on the front that even with wheel weights and extra ballast hanging on the hitch I couldn't get back up my driveway when the blower was lifted. Both tractors had weights and chains. They're also not particularly manueverable. They have a wide turning radius and slow steering that made them uncomfortable (for me) to use for mowing. I'm not sure if the available turning brakes improve this much. The engines used seem to put out obscene amounts of power, so you'll seldom overwork the engine on a D. The tractors were decent machines, but they did have some problems that years of (mis)use can highlight. For example, the early D's and all of the 18-Autos had 3/4" diameter front spindles. These were prone to breaking even without the added stress of front implements. Retrofits to 1" spindles and axles cured that. The steering boxes seem to get very loosy-goosey over time. The transmission itself seems to be a bit undersized for the tractor. The hydro used was also used on much smaller C-series tractors and seems more vulnerable to overheating and premature wear in the D-autos. Transmission temperature gauges were fitted after the 1974 revision and later a transmission cooling fan was added to help alleviate the heat. I think the size of the tractor and its big implements (like the 56" blade or the loader) set these things up for abuse. At some point, 1975 or 1976 I think, Wheel Horse added a pressure relief valve to the transmission bolted to the frame behind the left rear tire to help absorb spikes (and damage) from hard use. These improvements, I think, indicated that the hydro unit was a bit marginal for some applications. The divorced hydro pump and motor was actually, in my opinion, a brilliant idea. Why run a long shaft or belt from the engine to the transmission when a couple of pipes could do the same thing? Simple and effective. The differential bolts have already been mentioned. It's not terribly uncommon to find a tractor with a welded transaxle casing from one of these errant bolts getting pushed through the cast iron. Speaking of transaxles; in/around 1976 Wheel Horse relocated the parking brake control from a separate control on the dashboard to the Direction Control Lever (DCL). The DCL, then, had the obvious positions of Fwd-N-Reverse but also added a Park position accessed by pulling the DCL rearward into a separate slot near the Reverse position. The Park position engaged the parking pawl inside the transaxle (another weak spot). Anyway, apparently this reconfiguration caused problems with operators shifting into Park while still on the move which, of course, introduced the possibility of causing internal transaxle damage. One guy I talked to who has scrapped probably a couple hundred D-autos over the years said it could even cause the transaxle to drop out of the tractor if the loads were high enough and the traction was good enough. The Parking brake control was later moved back to the dashboard and the extra slot was filled with a bolt-on plate. Eventually, a contracting band on an external drum replaced the internal pawl on all Wheel Horse hydros including the D. But they did offer some big attachments and a lot of guys really like them. Strangely, the biggest belly deck ever offered was a 48" unit. But 60" and even a 72" rear mower (from Woods) was offered. The 72-incher is exceedingly rare and I've only ever known of one of them that Jim M had. 54" and 56" front blades, 50" mid blades, Ark 550 loaders, 48" thrower, and - of course - the backhoe attachments were offered. You can see that the dreams and plans for the D-autos were big. The 50" tiller is a brute. Early versions were actually 38" in width with optional extensions for the total 50" width. But be advised that the input gear tends to be a bit weak and the tiller should NEVER be used with the 3pt hitch set up to provide down pressure. It can overload the tiller and can lift the rear of the tractor enough to propel it forward with considerable and uncontrollable eagerness. The market was for "estate" owners and pretty much whomever now would be buying a Sub Compact Utility Tractor. They remained in the lineup a long time and must have acheived pretty good sales considering how expensive they were. 1973 marked the introduction of the series with the 18-Automatic. In 1974, the tractor was mildly changed (the dashboard changed to include more gauges, the parking brake lever moved from the "hump" to the dash, and the space under the hood grew taller by about an inch) and the D160 with a Kohler k341 single cylinder joined the lineup, the D180 with a Kohler k482 replaced the 18-Auto, and the D200 with a k532 was added. The D160K was a stripper tractor with no headlights, a simple seat, and smaller engine. The top line D200 was fully dressed with PTO/3pt/and turning brakes. D180's and D200's had a "suspension seat" mounted on a big spring and easily adjusted forward and aft. I think the seats themselves were different. And the D200 had a 5-gallon gas tank whereas the others were smaller. In 1978 (I think) the 16-kohler was dumped for the Onan 16 horse twin BF-something. The D180 was dropped. And the D200 soldiered on. I think eventually the 3pt was added as standard to all D's. Probably to use up parts or something. The C195 and D250 experiments and the end of the run for the D-autos put the nail in the coffin for WH dipping a toe in the larger tractor market. I too found implements hard to find, but 3pt/PTO attachments can be had if you look outside the WH family. The 2000 rpm rear PTO and the cat 0 hitch really became the standard for many garden tractors up through the 1980's or 1990's. Deere and Cub Cadet (probably others) offered 2000 rpm bush hogs, tillers, and finish mowers. The location of the PTO shaft itself was a bit goofy on some Cubs that might make their implements hard to interchange, but there is more out there than I first realized. The D250, on the other hand, is really wacky with a 1000 RPM PTO that spins in the opposite direction (CCW). The D-autos were GOOD tractors. But not great. The C-series were GREAT tractors. Wow, that's a lot of typing for 2 cents. Not necessarily much value though. Steve

Using this site is the best manual you are ever gonna get . With probably over 10,000 members at least a third of those members would have gone through a restoration of some sort and should you hit any problems just ask the question here and there will be someone to help. Some would say that restoring a tractor is the best part of owning a wheelhorse , the satisfactition of getting it running again and making it look new again is just so satisfying & a real acheavement. The most important thing that you need when restoring is to have fun & be proud of what you acheive Good Luck Tom

These guys all missed the best way. Go out and buy another tractor just like whatever your restoring so you'll have a tractor to refer to ! Its a perfect excuse to buy another tractor right?? Mike...........

I would agree with ILLINILEFTTACKLE. Make lots of notes, and take plenty of pictures....even a video of some really difficult disassemblies may be in order. That way you can show us the pictures & videos!

Bit late with my post, sorry I'm an armchair f1 fan, and like you Richard if it's not on the bbc I don't get to watch. I'm not a follower of other types of motorsport so I can't comment on them, but with things like DRS and KERS f1 racing stays fresh, racing is all about overtaking, that's what makes me watch.... Well that, and the cars and the drivers and the curcuits and the technology and the pit stops and the young ladies and the weather and... Favourite track for me would be Spa.

Well she is coming a long may be fire up the old girl next weekend. I took the muffler of that I had on last week and put this one one that has been collecting dust for years, Also I have a line on a 657 with a engine and it will take that muffler that I had on.This will complete the 57 series for me. I will redo all this when I redo or restore the 857. I hope you enjoy the picks. Gary B.........