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Had a great time at Evensville In. Lots of great people & tractors.

Well, I really wasn't planning on another boat project! The boat is a 1955 Dunphy mahogany ply with its original 1955 Johnson and original trailer. It is almost 13 ft. long. Being a wood boat I really doubt there are many of these left out there and most buyers opted for the 14 ft. model. The boat was a barn find by my brother and he just HAD to tell me about it. I purchased the boat from the original owners son. (His father is still living at 87 but now lives in New Hampshire) The boat was last used in 1977. I got it home safely this past Saturday and immediately started working on it. I'm up in the air about what color to paint the bottom. The bottom color on it is the original factory color, Dunphy painted all the bottoms of their boats this color. I really don't mind the bottom color, Mr. original himself Stevebo says, red bottom and red interior cushions. I was thinking factory color on bottom and maybe hunter green cushions or a medium blue? maybe even red cushions? I promised the previous owners pictures when done and they can even go out for a boat ride with it. They were pretty excited too hear that. Since it is rainy today, when I got home from work I pulled the carb to clean it and pulled the flywheel to have a look at the ignition. Carb was spotless clean and after cleaning and checking the gap on the points I had good spark. I put it all back together and decided to try starting it. Within a few pulls she was off and running. Nice to see that after 38 yrs. being idle this is still a great motor. I will now order new maintenance parts for it.. You can tell the old timer really took care of his stuff, the paint and decals on the motor are near perfect, I won't do doing anything in that area other than keeping it clean and waxed.

Good thing my wife loves me. In a month or so, I've bought 3 WH tractors. I just picked this Commando 8 up today specifically to move some dirt and mulch. Unfortunately, we have had so much rain, it's too wet to move it. You can see the mud on the 520's tires

Got a spare battery with a fair bit of charge in it and a set of booster cables? Clean that cast boss up that the set screw is in so a booster cable clamped to it will make a good electrical connection and the other end to one battery post. Shine up the end of the broken set screw. Place a spare piece of steel rod or flat stock you don't care about in the other booster cable and the other end of the cable to the other battery post. It is going to arc and spark when you hold the steel rod to the set screw for a count of about two. Battery current will try to flow through the set screw, through the rust to the cast iron. The rust is resistance to current flow and will create heat right where you want it. Let it cool because it will be hot. You might be able to thread the set screw out with your fingers because it was loose in the threads when it was installed. You may need to try a second time. Often the rust will blow out as soon as the current hits it. Garry

I got a chance to do some cleaning. Turns out that the tractor is in very good shape and was just caked with dirt. The onan doesn't smoke and the tranny is strong. Some elbow grease, citrus cleaner, murphys oil soap, wax and a tooth brush equals a clean worker tractor. I am super happy buying this tractor. I didn't pay a whole lot and got a nice looking worker with a good 48" deck. I guess that I lucked out with this one! To be honest, I wasn't planning on this tractor being a keeper. I was planning on cleaning and selling but after cleaning her up and cutting some grass and a few odd jobs, she is a keeper for sure. I am really getting to like the hydro on the column and the reduction steering makes a big difference. Maybe one of Matt's foot pedals may be in order in the future.

​I'm thinking late night interview with Craig (Candid Camera RedSquare style)

Well my local dealer came thru again! Great guys. They showed this tractor to me 2 weeks ago and asked if I was interested. It was really hard to start and pretty dirty but there wasn't any rust on it. I said "sure am interested" but I have no way to get it to my house. They said see what you can do. Two weeks go by and I stopped by early this morning to pick up some other parts. I mentioned that I had no luck in getting a trailer. They said we will just have one of the guys throw it on a trailer and he can follow you home. Pay us when you get the cash. We shot some starter fluid in the carb and by some miracle she fired right up! A 1993 520-H with a 48" deck followed me home today. Some faded paint, lots of crud and dried dirt BUT underneath is a rust free awesome hunk of tractor! Hour meter stopped at 658 hrs so I am not really sure what the hours are. New oil filter, tranny filter, fuel filter, air filter are all in store for tomorrow as is a wash. The Onan sounds awesome and doesn't burn oil. I put fresh gas in her and cut a third of my yard with her this evening and the hydro is strong, the motion control lever doesn't need any adjusting and the cut was great. Support your local dealer!

I just bought this wheel horse today for $100. It looks to be in decent shape(not rusted through anywhere). I am not sure what model it is. The model tag has the numbers ripped off so I could not read it. It would be very helpful to know the model before the restoration. If you have any clues that would be great.

The property next door to me has been abandon for over two years. I offered to keep it mowed but the mortgage company declined my offer so it sat empty and unmowed for two years. Last night when I got home a young lady was attempting to mow with a push mower. I introduced myself and discovered she was the new owner. After thinking about this last evening, I decided the Raider should make a contribution to this young lady's project. Four gallons of gas and four hours later, we had the place mowed. We ran with the deck @‌ max height @‌ WOT in low 1st and 2nd. Seat time !!! I hope She is surprised and pleased when she returns.

Yep, the answer is in your title.

This afternoon I changed the engine wiring harness and also a few other electrical upgrades... Thanks to Jeff for helping make sense of the wiring diagram. She is a runner and a strong runner. I had to swap over the drive pulley on the engine with the smaller 8 speed pulley. It has the typical Onan surge. Pulled carb top off and it was a little dirty. Need to fix that but she runs and drives and the motor seems very strong.

If you go with the double seals remove the grease fitting and Loctite a short Allen set screw with the same thread in it's place. If the double sealed bearings happen to meet up with a grease gun in the future it will push the bearing back out of the hub and off the axle. I have some of both and no question now where they are. The grease will not enter the inner seal. Garry

I have a K 181 with chrome air cleaner and points cover and all the gen brackets for sale. Excuse the Robert Yates Racing decals, He didn't build it!

Same with me.

I'd bet that its gonna be a bad needle & seat thats sticking, I'm running 5 of that type pump and granted they wont stand for a marginal needle/seat, it has to be a good seal. I had a carb that was doing OK til I added the lectric and then it would stick on occasion, I finally put a new needle/seat in it and that fixed it.

IMO Stihl is overrated. Had weed eaters and saws...hated them. Went the Husqvarna route and never looked back.

You can get 2000 ~ 2500 hrs if you run a diesel oil, changed often. No longer does SM or SN oils have proper additives for flat tappet cams. Diesel oils do. So Shell Rotella T1 SAE 30, Mobil Delvac SAE 30, and Valvoline & chevron makes some. During the winter Shell has a 10w-30 diesel oil. -Warm up engine at 50 - 60% throttle, NEVER EVER at idle. The dipper will never sling the oil to the cylinder, and you will create an oil burner in very short order. -Operate at 100% full throttle during hot days so you get proper airflow. Regardless of internet rumors you can operate a little slower when you are not loading it down much & overheating it. But if you are mowing, run it wide open. -Regardless of oil type, never ever extend the oil change beyond 25hrs. These engines shred metal, and there is no way to filter it. -Fix & repair the throttle shaft busings in the carburetor. These will loosen up around 700-800 hrs on a Walbro carb. This is an instant source of dirt entering the cylinder. -Inspect every year the rubber hose going from the carb to the crankcase breather, these dry rot, or fall apart and also let lots of dirt in. -Make sure to decarbon the cylinder ridge, this will eat the piston alive. Attached is one that was never done. It is now in need of a rebuild. This needs done every 250-500 hrs. I prefer to do it at 250 as you never know how bad it is until you look. If done at 250 you can reuse the headgasket. At 500 you should replace.

Thanks for the photos! My wife took video of all the garden tractors, but she is having difficulty getting them to up-load. Hopefully she gets it working and I can post the vids!

Ya know... just thinking... maybe the Friday bon-fire would be a good broadcast.... or maybe not? @Big Show or Bust. @rmaynard

​Bob, any idea the width of the wheel on the D? ​pretty sure mine are 7 inches wide.....

Adding a bit to what Bob said about taking the pressure up to get the tire to 'seat' in the rim -- I have had an occasional tire be stubborn about seating and would take as much as 50+ psi (and yes I get nervous about this time!!) What I wanted to alert you to is when it finally does seat it can make a rather startling "POP!!" so be expecting it -- honestly most often 20-30psi will do it and the pop isnt much. By the way, get some of the wifes dish detergent (Dawn is the goodest!) and smear it around the tire bead, it'll act as a lubricant...

Big show, sham on you! Every one was being soooooo good and then you went and used the "H" word.

It looks like a 1988 520-H. The ignition key location was changed for 1989 to left of the steering column. You will notice that the motion control lever slightly interferes with the ignition key.

Mike, you have given me an idea. I am not going to swap out the seat but I am going to figure a way to attach a headrest on that sucker. I am thinking something like this.

If you can lean back far enough, the drool when you fall asleep mowing will get on your shirt instead of your nice dashboard. At least that works for me!

Unfortunately this one will not make it to the show this year. I was trying like mad to get'r done but work picked up and time got short. I'm building this as a two seater to cruise around the shows since the wife has been going to some of them with me. It's sporting an 8 speed tranny powered by a small Clinton.

I had the herd outside today to do some cleaning and first start's of the yr. in preparation for the Big Show... Even shot a quick video... http://vid187.photobucket.com/albums/x201/flyinaceman/20150610_180322_zpsxej6u5gn.mp4

It was a great time hanging out with a bunch of good friends & great tractor people !

Nice. I like the idea of original color with hunter green seats. Maybe two tone... i liked the the two tone upholstery in your previous boat.

A video showing how that works... would be better than watching paint dry any day of the week.

The smaller size (16 x 6.50-8) works better with the standard wh front wheels (5.38 wide x 8). over on the JD forum (weekendfreedommachines.com) they talk about the two widths of the v61 tires and their suitability for wheel sizes. general opinion is the 16 x 6.5-8 works with the common 5.38 width and the 18 x 8.50-8 is better suited to the wider JD wheel on the bigger tractors (i think its 7 inch but not positive). as mentioned above the d series Wheelhorses use a wider front wheel. the key for proper fitment is to look at the sidewall profile from the front. those wider tires look right with the wheels on that d pic above this post. here is a pic with the smaller size on smaller 5.38 wheels (400 series) on my 416.... sidewalls look similar on both, in my opinion both of these pics show proper wheel/tire sizing.

I'm thinking late night interview with Craig (Candid Camera RedSquare style) LOL! Bring your crew.

Well, today, I went to look at a 520H, I've always wanted a 500 series, since day one, and I finally found a decent one within price range for me! It seems to be an early 520, with no foreward swept front axle, and has pre-toro decals. It had 835.9 hours when I bought it. The previous owner got it from his neighbor, apparently, and he had it for quite some time. It came with a dozer blade, wheel weights, and chains, and something which I have no idea what it is, an extra front rim, and a parts manual (and he threw in a few kohler manuals because he said I'd use them before he did). The tractor runs like a top and the hydro works great, doesn't seem to smoke, doesn't have any leaks, and seems like it was at least semi-taken care of. It did not come with a mower deck, and has not had one on it for quite some time. It is also missing the PTO and tachamatic brackets, but those shouldn't be too hard to locate. If anybody has a good idea on how to date the 520's, let me know, because the rear fender pan has been re-painted, and does not have any tags on it. Maybe it can be done with the tags on the onan? Does anyone know what the red thing I got was? I think the PO just thought that it was red and assumed it was Wheel Horse related, but I have no clue what it is!

I think the TG has a tapered shaft, be sure about the shaft size before you buy it.

Your right Karl... might just be better to hide out in the camper again. Maybe broadcast from in there instead?

Jeff, as long as you are doing the routine maintenance - oil changes being the major one, that engine is still young. I have an 89 or 90 312-8 that my father bought brand new and it has right around 4300 hours on it. Top end has only ever been off it once to inspect and clean carbon about 15 years ago. I have bought and sold many horses and I still think the magnum 12 is the best motor I have had on all of them. Taking into consideration power and fuel consumption. It is still my favorite horse for a worker.

Looks awesome mike!

Please don't wait until it's done to post pics. Watching the progress is fun.

Agreed. I just seem to remember there being a safety issue and someone posted a fix for it. I was originally just going to add two wires to the battery terminals and run them to a connector off the side of the machine, then I got to thinking about it (a scary thing, mind you).

Really?? Wow... providing your not nuts, and I'm not drunk that sound pretty great !

slammer is dead on, It is an RJ-58

2000+

Oh Heckfire, me and the whole family is comin'!

If you have an air compressor, try blasting air through the tube...at least this will help you figure out if the tube is blocked or not. I have tried to "fish" wires through automobile/truck floor boards, frames, headliners and door posts, and some will fight you all the way! I have run coat hangers through one way, tied a string on and pulled it back and then tied the wire onto the string to pull it through! You have to "outsmart" the problem!

You need to inflate them until the bead pops on the rim then adjust the pressure. You'll be fine. Don't fret over the tube size in the picture. It will fill out the tire nicely.

Looks like a different tractor! congratulations!! If you keep all your horses cleaned liked that it is no wonder they called you!!

Thanks for the nice words fellas. Regarding that seat...man when I lean back on it I feel like I am in a recliner. It has a broken right front seat screw so that corner isn't attached. That gives me even more room to lean back! The seat is the same type that is on my 522. I am not sure if that is original or not. I do have a 520 seat on my 416 that I may swap. Since I am not a fan of reclining while driving I will have to figure out something.

It'll be perfectly fine --- I have a motorcycle tube in a 15" on the back of one of my D's, talk about skinny! Its been in there 3-4 years. I was recently looking for 8" tubes on the bay and saw several distributors showing tubes for a range of 4 different size tires, saw a couple even showing different rim diameters! Remember when you went to the lake with inner tubes? and how big we would blow them up? same thing in your tire.

Chicks dig scars and muffler tattoos.

I should probably know this but I don't ! Anyone have a good measurement on the length of the 1054/953 Wheel Horse lift cables from rear hitch to rockshaft? We need to make a couple for some tractors with broken lift cables!