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Decided to take a couple pics of the 1257 on my lunch break of the horse. Idled it for 15 min.

For those of you that opened this wondering what is a McLean, here is a link to some history on the tractor. It is also the most information that I have found on the McLean.http://www.tractorfriends.org/lawngardentractors/mccleangardentractors/mccleangardentractors.html Last year when I bought my Suburban 400 I also saw this strange little tractor sitting off to the side. I had no idea what it was but my interest was peaked. I took a couple pic's then kinda forgot about it for a while. Eventually it came back into my thoughts and I decided to do some research to find out what it was. I posted my pic's on here hoping some one would recognize it but I seemed to have every one stumped. After a few days of searching I finally found a picture of one on the net. Great! I thought, now I can find some info. Well there just isn't a lot of info out there on these thing, unfortunately. I did manage to find the owner of the one in the link that I posted above. He's a great guy, I spent some time on the phone with him and he was willing to send me some pic's to help me out with my project. Below are pics of when I brought my McLean home. Really rough shape, probably not worth fixing but it's a rare tractor so I was willing to give it a shot. A tractor needs an engine so I started there first. The K90 that was in the tractor was locked up of course, but after a month of dumping ATF down the plug hole two times a week it broke free. All of the tins and the bearing plate were junk so I started to look for parts. Then I found a K91 close buy and decided to go with that engine instead. I will tackle the K90 another time. There are many great engine rebuild posts on here so I'm going to keep mine real simple. 1 2 3 Next was the tear down on the rest of the tractor. Most of this went well, a PO had made a lot of changes that I had to cut out. I will share those as I go along on this resto. First thing that I tackled was the front end. The steering shaft had an aluminum pulley on one end and an aluminum steering wheel on the other, both of which were locked on to the shaft. i decided to cut the shaft in half so I could deal with removing the pulley & wheel on the bench. The steering wheel I did not remove because it is wrong anyway, but I needed the pulley. A little wax and some heat helped start to get things moving and then "Sha doobie Shattered Shattered". Well I have no way of casting aluminum but I did find a nice chunk of aluminum stock laying in my garage. It was 3 1/4" dia, I needed 2 1/8" dia. Time to make some shavings. Finished product next to original. A PO also cut part of the steering arms off that will be required for the differential to work. I made new pieces and reinforced the axle where it was worn. Then carefully measured and lined things up so I could weld every thing back together. Removing the old steering arm was great fun! Front end mocked up and looks ready for paint. Next it is on to the transmission. What to do with this mess?!

Hi gang I'd like to introduce myself as the proud owner of a '74 C100 and a Wheel Horse enthusiast overall. I think Wheel Horse machines are some of the most handsome and classic little tractors ever made. I'm new to this game and have a thousand things to ask and learn. My C100 is in great mechanical shape but there are a few cosmetic items I'd like to find. To tell you a little about myself I have spent a lot of time messing around with old Fords of the Flathead V8 era. I have a pretty nice '41 Coupe and lots of Ford parts squirreled around my shop and sheds. I have always loved tractors and especially the little ones and now I have one! In fact as much as I tried to resist I think I have been bitten by the bug I guess. Tomorrow I'm going to look at a 1967 857 that needs help. I'll try to post a pick of the C100. Fingers crossed......

I bought a motor in Ohio this summer and it was a two hour trip from my home in Greencastle, Indiana. While picking up the motor and a few other items the seller said I had to take a Wheel Horse Snowplow he had on a trailer. I loaded in the truck with the other items and I started churning on an idea to make and RJ plow out of the Suburban 42 inch plow. I had another RJ frame I bought several years earlier in the basement storage. I really did not need it but when I saw the plow it looked like the early plow used on a Wheel Horse Suburban with two skids on it. It did not come with the frame and I do not own a Suburban. But I have three RJ's ( and my brother has one too without a plow). I have one original RJ plow that works great and has been used a few winters. Not much snow in this part of Indiana this year but when I bought this in the summer I thought I would make up another plow for an RJ. I had a plate made by a friend with one 1/2 hole in the front and three 1/2 inch holes in the back that would be welded on the Suburban plow frame to accommodate the RJ plow tube support that attaches with two side plates on the RJ frame. I remove the cutting edge and all five bolts on this 42 inch plow and began sanding and removing rust before priming and painting. The old RJ frame had been really used and the previous owner welded a support piece of steel on the side of the front of the tube to overlap the second hole where the pivot pin or bolt rides on the frame at the back of the plow. You have to get off the RJ tractor to move the pin or bolt when plowing if you want to change the direction of the plow. My welder reduced the 3/4 inch holes in the Suburban plow frame by adding spacers to reduce the sixe of the holes for a 1/2 inch pin or bolt. The photo above if for the two skids that attach to the rear of the plow with two 3/8 fine thread 3/4 inch bolts. The skids can be adjusted up and down. The photo above shows the plow with the newly welded plate on it . The tube frame support for the plow will ride in between the two triangular pieces and the pivot pin will go through the tube frame to the holes in the plate at the bottom of the tibe. Tube frame support that goes under the RJ. Two plates bolt to the RJ frame and the rear T on the back goes into the plates. The part hanging down on the side attaches to the RJ lift handle to raise and lower the RJ /Suburban Snowplow. I will post more pictures when I am fully completed but this nice 64 degree weather in Greencastle today got me in the painting mode on this project.

The first is my favorite picture of the '41 Ford. The second picture is of a rolling chassis I'm restoring for a '39 Ford that belongs to a friend. I have to tell all you guys that the K serious Kohler in my tractor reminds me a lot of the Flathead Ford. It beats out such a rich deep baritone rythem with a smoothly balanced rotating mass. They don't make 'em like that anymore gang.

they come lookin bad but leave looin great. mine looked rought but witha good summer oif fun it was restored to looking amazing

Yup. you've got a 1960 Suburban 400 there. I must say a very nice example too. The first thing to do, as Major mentioned, is to pull the shifter and check the shift forks. In neutral they should look like this: Simply use a screwdriver to reposition them if they don't. Put the shifter back on making sure the dog point setscrew hits the hole on the 'donut'. Tighten it just until you feel resistance as you shift it through the gears then back off just a fuzz and, while holding the set screw (1/8* allen wrench) in place tighten the lock nut. The 1/4-20 lock nut isn't shown in the picture. That should free up the transmission. If it doesn't or the forks are already in that position don't force things. Let us know what you find. These transmissions are really quite simple and you'll find all the help you need right here. The 400's originally had a Kohler K-91 on them but some had Clintons that could have been leftovers from the earlier RJ's. The Suburban 550's had Tecumseh's with electric start. Other than that they were identical. I'm not seeing any signs of ever having a battery mounted under the seat so I'd have to stick with saying a 400. OK, let's just leave it at that for now. There's much more but one step at a time. Keep us posted and most of all have fun with your grandpa/grandson project.

I got my front and rear wheel weights on today and also my front weight mount. Then I decided to put the new stack on.

Hi All !! just signed up! I bought this Wheel Horse from a junk yard around 25 years ago. I loved the look and small size of it. Brought it home and shoved it in a corner of the barn. Well, now we have grandsons that love old tractors (large and small). It was an unusually warm February day here and my 6 year old grandson and I decided it was time dig the ol girl out to see what we actually have and what we would need to get it running again. I never really knew what model it is? After looking around the site, am I right that it is around a 1960 Suburban 400? Any help is appreciated with direction to try and get her running again?. Obviously it needs an engine... What would this have originally used? Rear wheels are locked, like trans is in gear. Shift lever just wobbles like it isnt attached to anything inside? I am pretty sure I was able to move lever into neutral when I first got it. Any ideas what to look for here? Any other info /insight as to what I actually have is appreciated!!!

For the longest time I worried about getting a decent tractor with readily available parts and all its attachments. Now I focus on buying functional attachments, in other words a working tractor with some attachment, rather than A tractor and EVERY attachment EVER made for it. Oh I'd like to have several "xi"s each with its own attachment but I'm happy to fill in with other fine WHs with other attachments until I do. Point is an "xi" with just one attachment is one fine tool whether you find another attachment for it or not! Use it as is, enjoy it and keep an eye out while you're smiling! One tractor with many attachments just doesn't work for me. I need both blade & blower in the winter & I can't be changing them every snow storm. I need a blade for more than snow so I can't be changing deck and blade all the rest of the year. Or tiller & deck, or this and that. Sturdy 50 year old Wheel Horses at bargain prices has made it possible to afford more than one tractor as well as more than one attachment. Good lord back in the 1970s & 80s I never thought I would have even 1 Wheel Horse much less a dozen with attachments. Ain't America great! Bless the "Ponds"!

btw,,, We have 4 grandsons total. Three of them are tractor nuts (pretty sure the 4 month old is going to be as well... he's just not talkin about it yet...lol) The 10 year old grandson was busy riding the Speedex S24 while the 6 year old and I dug the Wheel Horse out. Hope you dont mind a pic of it ... the Suburban is in background... first time it has seen daylight in the 25 years.

Nice save, twenty five years ago you recognized the beauty of a and now your six year old grandson has the fever too.

That 400 should have come with a Kohler K91, 4hp spec K91-31388A. Great little tractors. Loosen up the dog point screw at the front of the shifter and pull it out and see if the shift rails are lined up. The notches in both of the shift rails should be centered for neutral. Here's a pic of my 400 to give you a little encouragement for your project!

Well that didn't take long. Going to pick up a 310-8 with 2 attatchments tomorrow. And it begins.

Hi , I'm new here just signed up a minute ago. I just got my first Workhorse Gt 1800. I've been waiting for that phone call since 1984 (I was born in 1983) and it finally came. My uncle said it was all mine if I wanted to make the 700 mile trip. An hour after that I was hooked up to my trailer and heading north. He hardly ever used it and it never spent a night outside. He gave me a mower deck , rototiller and a snow plow with it. It had sat in his garage untouched for 22 years. When I got to his house he said "I'm giving this to you under one condition, send me a video of you driving it someday when you get it running. The tractor meant a lot to him and to me. So I drove straight home and the next day I had it running like new. Sent him the video and he was as excited as an 80 year old can get. He has every piece of paper and manual that came with it since new in a binder. What I'm wondering is what other attachments are there for it and what model tractor would use the same attachments. Any information is greatly appreciated. Since I got this one I've been looking for more. I've always been in to tractors and the like but never could afford much more than old craftsmans. But now I got the bug for these. Thanks.

I think most of us resemble that remark!

Here is pic of dashould plate... pretty masty. Not sure of you can pull an from it somehow? Pic of dash...

Wow!!! Nice looking tractors guys!!! Thanks for the warm welcome! I will pull the shifter and check the fork alignment. I was going to ask about electric start. It does have what appears to be a batter tray under the seat, as evidenced by the battery cable?

I took a look at the manuals and saw that this set up was used for both. I did not know that the RJ's could use this HD-42 plow and frame. We had the other RJ original type plow. I know from experience it was not as strong or stable on the frame as the later Wheel Horse tractor ones but I enjoy using the original plow on the RJ as the plow face was lighter and more curved. It always seemed to push snow better than the later plows. This 1961 picture of my brother and I shows the original plow on our 1958 RJ!

Looks like the shifter boot is torn. May have gotten water in the transmission before you got it. Something could be rusted. Remove the shifter and fill the trans with cheap oil or diesel fuel. Let it set for a day and then start trying to turn the input shaft and the axles. It may just start turning.

Wow @roadapples you said a mouthful. Like @Ed Kennell I've been working in the Dam and Hydro business for many years. The development around and below the dams is $$ amazing. I really feel for all the people working to keep that dam safe. They need our prayers as they deal with passing those historic flows and working on emergency repairs. It sure is easy for the blame finger to be pointed even when your dealing with unpredictable Mother Nature at historic levels. We always say the public owns the lakes 364 days a year and we own them the 1 day it floods These are pic,s of 3 out of 10 gates open (roughly 90,000 CFS) at one of the dams I work at last Spring. They call this the most flash flood area of the US. Back in 97 I spent a night working with all 10 gates wide open wondering what happens next. ...and the good Lord sent us sunshine!

Like I said.... slow burner... a few bits turned up over the last month on that auction site. A few hundred quid later, 300 miles, a hotel stay, etc I came home with this lot! The idea being I need to design a drop box between the rear and front axle. Plan A was a right angle box, but then I thought I could go more compact and get the gearing in with a small peerless box. Heres a dry run of the current thoughts. I need to get a rear rear axle on the bench to look how things might join up and fit a little better....

Back before the former Wheel Horse employee who was my contact at Toro retired I could call with a serial # and not only determine the model, but the build date and shipping location for the early tractors. This info was hand written in a ledger. Another clue to look for is additional wear on the right side interior of the tool box. This is where the battery was located. The battery was held in place by a large, square shaped u-bolt that went around the tool box and bolted at the top side of the battery to a metal bracket that was covered in a rubbarized coating. You can look underneath the toolbox and see if there is wear line where this u-bolt would have been. I have only seen one 550 that still had the bracket in place. I bought the last NOS bracket from Chandler's Sales & Service (in the old Wheel Horse factory location before they moved to West Ireland Rd.) back in the 1990's. Apparently there was a shorting problem with the bracket as a service bulletin advised on cutting a notch in the bracket. The kill mechanism on the 400 was a screw on the throttle bracket that shorted the ignition when the throttle was pulled back. The later 400's still used this mechanism and the hole to the right of the steering shaft had a metal plug installed.

The serial # for your tractor is/was on the little metal plate between the levers. If water is in that trans, it's possible for it to be frozen which could lock the trans too. Hard to tell from the pic but it appears there's an older style attachment foot pedal on the right side foot peg Not that it really matters but I was also under the impression 550s used a solenoid attached to the tool box. One being there or the mounting holes is one way to try and identify if a tractor is a 550. Earlier 400s didn't have the hole in the hood for a key switch but his pic above just misses that area of the hood next to the steering shaft.

Here is a picture of the one I'm going to look at

to the Bryant, and Just so you know, there is no know inoculation or cure for the dreaded WHA. Make plans now for additional storage buildings.

Although my C-121, commonly known as the Black Horse, has ag tyres fitted, these are 8-50's. They do tend to be a bit wide for ploughing. Narrower tyres, like 600x12's, would be better. The main problem to fitting narrow rear wheels over here in Merry England, is their scarcity. At the end of last year, I acquired a pair of 700x12's plus tubes, as new, for the bargain price of £80. Roughly a saving of £140. So what to do with them? The answer to that question? Well, widening wheels is very common, I'll just go he opposite way. Took a couple of spare wheels to an engineering shop and in exchange for a few beer tokens, I ended up with six wheel parts. The pieces cut out from the centre, I cut once so they could be sprung out to fit round the two wheel parts, to locate them. Then they were tack welded to form a band. A G clamp was used to hold the band in place while welding. Moving it round for every weld. A sash clamp held the two halves together. The welds were ground down level with the band top, then filler was applied and smoothed so no sharp edges. Finally tape was wrapped round. The next job was to clean up the wheels ready for painting. Unfortunately the damp weather and lack of capacity of my compressor for big jobs, rendered my blast cabinet useless. So out with electric drill and rotary wire brushes. Not a bad result. Onward and upward and applied two coats of primer followed by one of grey top. No way was I going to struggle fitting the tyres and tubes, so off to a tyre fitters I went this morning. OOOH! Chunky. Final job is to mask the tyres and apply more coats of silver top coat. BTW. I forgot to mention. I drilled out the valve holes to accept the tubes valve stems.

That's an understatement about a lot of these guys (not me)... It's bordering on freaky how much they know and how willing they are to walk you through just about anything that is remotely related to Wheel Horse...

Haven't seen any bees out yet...did see a bunch of robins though. Mid 50-60's predicted here for this upcoming week... so, let's pray the snow is on the down hill slide.

Good lookin' there... can we see your '41 coupe too?

The spark plug may fire on the head but may not fire when installed, under compression. I would try a new plug they are not that much money.

Had to spend half the productive daylight hours assembling chicken coop for the great chicken experiment my wife and I are planning for this spring. But I did get to some tractor stuff eventually. Started mocking it up. I can see already that the steering I plan to use is going to be very challenging and require major cosmetic surgery. Hope to try and fit engine to frame and see what ripple effects that is going to trigger on Monday.

A friend who is a bee keeper lost all his bees a few years back because of an early spring where they ventured out too many times, consumed all the honey they had stockpiled and there were no flowers in bloom, so no nectar. Hope this isn't going to be a problem this year.

That's Pretty bad. My serial was forever gone so I did this thanks to another decal from Terry.

If you are strictly looking to get it running so you can sell it, then I would first check for fire at the plug. If you have fire, It should run if you hand spray fuel directly into the carb. If it does not run with a good spark and fuel sprayed into the carb, there must be internal problems.....timing off, stuck valves etc. If you want to keep it running without cleaning, repairing and/or replacing the fuel supply components, connect a gravity feed fuel tank directly to the carb.

The pedal on the right side is the engagement pedal for the 1960 RMR-32 mower deck. It had to be held down the engage the mower drive. When released the mower drive was declutched. His tractor also has the belt guard and rear lift arm that goes into the slot hitch for the mower. In addition he has the auxillary hitch that allowed towing of impliments without removing the mower lift.

Oh my gosh, the BIG SHOW! Anywhere in New Jersey is close to the BIG SHOW. Someone needs to tell Bryant about the BIG SHOW!!

See what you guys started,!!!!?????!!!!!!????!!!!!!! Don't tell him about the effect on family life..empty corners in the garage,,,,,THE BIG SHOW !!???!!! Then there is stocking up on 90wt,,,,,fuel filters on sale......spare tires and wheels..... Now,,,,will he need a TOMB STONE.??? and does she know about that ??? $$$$ weekend road trips ololololololol,,,,,,,,,and what color RED works best...... I'm not sayin nothing !!!!! HOWARD 857 Horse in VA

Well there was an incident John! Running at our grandfathers house in a field and trying to see who could get to the strawberry field first! I did get in big trouble as he fell on a shovel in the field and I was to blame ! The court of law in the ralph house did enforcement!

Great story. Nice to keep them in the family, and

Just a quick update. This motor runs good but smoked more than I liked so I found a nice rebuilt 8 from an 854 from a member here. I tried to surprise my boy on his 10th birthday by doing the engine swap. I got er done. Video link below https://youtu.be/xWcFKjqB1b8

Yes, one of my 520's has 16HP. The one with the straight axle and smaller tires. All the wiring is the same. It is a plug and play and everything works just the same. Since that machine will never get the big deck or the 2 stage blower 16HP is plenty. I do tend to use the tiller on that one due to the smaller tires helping to keep the width down to the tiller width. The tiller does not seem to require much HP though. Cleat

You are going to love that tractor. I bought mine BRANDNEW in August of 1984 and still have it to this day. I'm currently giving it a down to the bare frame restoration. Your tractor will handle all kinds of attachments with ease. Welcome to Red Square this place is the best with the nicest and most knowledgeable people you can imagine. One thing we all love is PICTURES!!! So please post them, we want to see your Work Horse!

If you do any cutting or welding on galvanized metal and start to feel ill drink plenty of white milk it seems to offset the effects.

One other thing, if you do any sanding or grinding be sure to wear a respirator, not a dust mask. Never heat or weld a galvanized piece without a supplied air respirator.

Here is what my father taught me over 50 years ago. He used to work with galvanized steel in the boiler trades. Galvanization is the process of coating metal with zinc, either hot dip or cold dip. If galvanized steel is just dirty, clean it as you would anything else. However, if it is has red oxide (rust) the zinc coating has been breached and it must be treated as any rusted steel by removing the rust, priming and painting. If it only has small white deposits, that is zinc oxide and it can be cleaned with acetic acid. If a significant portion of the item is covered with white deposits, it may not be possible to thoroughly clean it. After cleaning with acetic acid, thoroughly rinse with clean water and dry. If you are going to paint it, an etching primer must be used on the zinc before applying your regular primer and paint.

I'm going to be the wet blanket here....but I think $3600 is a bit steep. The '88 520's don't have the swept axle and are not as sought after nor worth what the swept axle models are. Are you sure about the snow-plow size? The biggest offered with a 520 was 48" unless someone made their own. My method of pricing out tractor packages is to assign a value to each piece. Here's what I came up with...keep in mind I have not seen pictures nor spoke to the owner to get the "story" on this tractor, only going by what you posted. Bare "straight axle" 520-H --- $600 48"deck ----$500 Blower -----$600 Plow w/axle bracket -- (55"??) --$300 Chains ---$60 Weights (rear, plastic) ----$80 Weights (front, plastic) ---$60 That's puts the package at $2200...if the weights are all official WH cast iron weights and not plastic the package is closer to $2400. If the guy has records (proof) of any services it has had AND is the original owner I think that ups the value as well. He does state "Or Best offer" so I would start with an offer of $2500. Just my opinion....Mike.......

A less than earth shattering update. But hey! it's winter and any progress is good IMO. The proverbial cherries on top came in today.