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Well I posted on another thread earlier today about wanting a tractor or two back which were sold, "just to take them for a spin and tinker on". Then after walking by one which I DO have, I decided to take the time to get this old neglected girl going, plus it needs to be moved for winter storage. It's been sitting in the same spot since early April and hasn't even been started. Time has been my hobbies' enemy among many other things since starting a new job, but today it just made sense (only to me) to take a moment and make the sacrifice to just do it. "The hell with making money and satisfied customers" I shouted. Just kidding, but that was the basic thought and the reality. So I pulled the carb, gave it a quick spray cleaning and some new gaskets, charged up the battery while doing that and fired it up. It was really nice to just take her for a spin and get the juices flowing through all of the hydraulics. It's such a fun machine to play and work with, too bad I don't have the time to really get into fixing her up. Can't even remember the last time I started a new thread.

Hog or Hawg have always been the license plates on my Harleys over the years and I live in New Jersey, so Jerseyhawg. Glenn Very good and interesting thread. I really like it.

Have you ever gotten rid of a tractor and found yourself wishing you had it back? These are a few that I wish were still with me!

••• I like RimGuard, not just because it's made in Michigan and with our Beet Juice, but I believe it is the most heavy liquid/gallon for weight in our tires, organic, safe for the environment, safe for metal and actually has a food-value for plants. ••• If you do use tubes with 'RimGuard', be sure they are USA made tubes. This juice does corrod the glue used in the rubber stem-patches used in all the non-USA tubes, (google this to verify, it's also in the RimGuard instructions on the net). ••• The price per gallon and the labor cost to fill tires can vary a lot, check around and ask on the total/final cost. Seems like there is one price for "city boys" and another, lower price, for "country boys & truckers". ••• I would recommend tubes, and to fill tires only 80% full as you still need some air pressure in there. ••• If you do use liquid, you devote this pair of tires to always being heavy (60–100# each), and you may need to have an extra set of light-weight tires & wheels for Summer mowing. Heavy tires can damage, compact & may leave ruts in moist lawns in the Spring.

Mine comes from my name, Jim Barker. When in High School (boy, was that a loooong time ago) many of my friends called me JB. That seemed a little short for a screen name, hence the jay bee!!!

I keep hearing " You have to use genuine WH belts. HORSE HOCKEY! I was taking my deck of my 520 for the winter and found a chunk of wood stuck down in the PTO pulley groove. I had to use a small chisel and a hammer to get it out. No telling how long it was there. My 2 yr. old Napa green belt was unfazed!

My favorite is my 1958 Wheel Horse RJ !

Probably would be this 500 special that I restored with my son who is now 8 years old.

Glad to hear responses like that - I know I can sometimes get pretty long-winded with details about how to do things or repairs , fabricating and such...hope they aren't too boring to our members . I'm deeply a detail-oriented guy and quite picky about how things are done and hate re-visiting an issue - would rather fix it once than do it ever again . Favorite line for those I'm teaching - "If you don't have the time to fix it right , how will you have time to fix it again ? " .... Sarge

—one of the things that I love about this forum is the variety of folks from all walk of life that are part of it. With that comes a lot of different perspectives and insights. Some guys are great with technical things, others amazing fabricators, some mechanical gurus, and some who just have a and need some help fixing or maintaining it. In just the few short year that I’ve been a part of RS, I’ve seen how well this community works together because the core of guys on here are good guys. Some guys are content to say what they need to in a line or two. Others (like myself ) tend to write a book for a post! I have learned to appreciate both styles and everyone in between. Sometimes I don’t have time to read a long post and find myself skimming it, but later when I’m relaxing I’ll come back to it and take time to “digest” it! I’ve really enjoyed this thread and even digging back into the old one from three years ago. It’s cool to see how people come up with their screen names...

You have let some nice tractors go. I have gotten rid of some box store mowers. Fortunately I don't have that regret with . I was given one years ago and I have bought two in the past couple years and still have all three.

I have always used hank on forums but when I started here at rs hank was taken so I used hank01. After a while I noticed a phrase used often "make it your own" so I did. My name is Jay Paxton so JPWH.

Well, I had many user names and "handles before joining the Red Square. On my early hunting trips to Montana, I was given the CB handle "The Gobbler". My hunting partners were aware of my addiction to spring gobbler hunting. The Gobbler is still used today as my call name on radios and as a user ID on some hunting sites. Spring 2017 In the late 50s and early 60s after watching Fred Bear make some amazing archery shots on the original American Sportsman hunting show, I also became an archery deer hunting addict and assumed the user ID FBfan for many sites. The little white piebald deer was not taken by me. That's another story. BTW, I do my own taxidermy work. After my two sons finished college and left home, I had more time on my hands, so with a name like Kennell, what else. I built a kennel and started breeding and training beagles. Many IDs were on the hound sites..The Kennell, The Beagle Man, Dog Man, The Dog...Right Mike @squonk. Later on after my four grandsons became a major part of my life, I was designing a name for a newly purchased boat and I wanted to use their four names in the boat name. So the boat became " FOUR BUOYS'. This name is now my user name for several fishing, boating, and crabbing sites. So, sorry for the long post, but when I recently joined Red Square, and I was having trouble remembering user names and passwords, I decided to keep it simple and used a name I could remember....

When member number 658 is still posting...I know I'm in the right place.

Sometimes tractor tinkering is a great way to forget about all of life’s responsibilities and stress. Very cool machine!!

With tubes you'll need to pump whatever fluid you use into them. Tubeless, just break the bead and pour it in. I opted for WW fluid and went tubeless since I have plenty of rims around to replace them if it ever becomes necessary, plus all my tires are old anyway. Both suck when the tire gets punctured but worth it's weight in ? weight, when plowing or blowing snow.

Had this for 21 years - traded in for 89 312-8...wish I had just paid for the WH and kept this for grins - tough old machine...

Ed, and everyone else for that matter. Never apologize for a long post. Those of us that love to read them will be very happy. Those of us that don't like long posts will skip over it and still be happy. Personally, I like 'em..... I'm a HHUUGGE Louis Lamour fan. ... I'll write more later when I have time

I have sold a couple that I can't say I have regrets over. One was a 400 Suburban that my wife HAD TO HAVE and never used. The other was a parts tractor 855 that turned out to be too good to part out but didn't fit my needs. My total investment in it was $ 55 +/- and sold it for $ 250 to a happy new owner who still loves it. I wasn't looking at making a killing on either of these, just wanted to pass them on to someone who would show them some love.

And Rhubarb pie for dessert! Ed Dog!

This a B-80 I picked up awhile back that I swapped a Kohler CH13 into. I didn't want the battery ignition K181 so I sold it and recouped half of the 200 I paid for this. A friend gave me a cub cadet which is where the 13 came from. Ironically I just got a flywheel ignited K181 from a friend. Also kept the 26s off my 265-6 that I sold this spring. I have a snow blade that will go on soon as I already had it mounted and adjusted. I wanted another dual range trans tractor as a worker. The RJ pictured is for the fun of it.

Sometimes I wish for some of my custom tractors back just to take them for a spin and tinker on. There's not really regret for selling them in the first place but when I see them go up for sale at a MUCH higher price than I sold them for, it's a little bit of a sting to my @ss. They were sold (not all of them) with agreement they would try and stay with the original buyer as they were let go at a fair price, even though I had higher offers. It's certainly up to the new owners once they're bought and it's understandable things change, but maybe giving me the first opportunity to take them back would've been be nice. They certainly weren't let go for someone else to profit from and they will always be worth more to me than anyone else. (not necessarily monetary value) END RANT Hopefully one day my grandson will be interested enough to hunt them down and buy them back if they still exist. Hunting the stuff down is 1/2 the fun! Keep an eye out for the wanted ads in about 20 years!

Not at all......you have been one busy man....wears me out just thinking of all the stuff you have done and accomplished.....

I think a lot of us fall into that group. We all have the same data stored away, but the retrieval mechanism sometimes fails us.

Actually Jim, I'm only 23, I don't know how I got stuck in this 73 year old body? Mrs. K say there is a lot I don't do.....the honey-do list just keeps growing. Yeah Fred, I may have strained the CANNON SX150 with that shot. The deer looked like a dot on the original picture and it did get a bit grainy when I blew it up. I've actually taken some pretty good long range pics with the Camera held behind a 50X spotting scope on a tripod. Didn't have it with me for this shot though. Is this better Fred?

Mine is pretty straightforward. I was named that at the FBI Academy when we had me and Louisiana Todd. Had to keep us seperate. Kinda stuck in subsequent years at Karaoke!!! When I cranked off with David Allan Coe, it made even more sense.. If you don't know who that is, well shame on you! You have missed out!

OMG...you guys have killed Bambi over and over and over and over...where is the sausage at the show??? WTH!!!!! You have to share...I bring my homemade wine to the show and share with anyone who wants. What don't you guys understand...this is family!!! We want deer sausage!!! I could change my name to "Deer Sausage Wannabe".

I'm trying to piece together it's history. Thanks,

You must have worn out a few hammers on that project. Did you post a thread on the build ? That is a nice looking machine .

My wife asked me why I need 3 tractors. I said one for each grandson. Before she thought about the outcome she asked, what about the granddaughters. Now I need 5 more.

Of course, being a heavy equipment operator by trade... that one has always been one of my all time favorite Wheel-Horses John.

I owned this low hour 1989 520-H for a couple of years. The Onan P220G has, in my opinion, a really nice sound when running. But the tractor was traded for my DC-105. It was a 520-H worth keeping.

Good thing about Matt's kit is the tractor is always at a safe stopped position unless your foot is on the pedal. This pretty much eliminates the real need for a neutral safety switch. None of mine have this any more. Seat switches go as well, I like being able to get off the tractor and move obstructions while mowing. Also handy when mowing ditches where I am actually off the seat sitting on a fender because of the angle the tractor is on. Cleat

I loaded the ags on my C125 with windshield washer fluid and this near neat little gadget...picked it up at tractor supply for around 10 bucks...used an old RV water pump to pump the fluid in works great.

Just a few short months from being here two years myself...i have joined tons of internet forums over the years for different hobbies and interests, but RedSquare is the only one I really frequent and am an active member on. The knowledge of the member base here is phenomenal, not to mention y'all are just a fun bunch to hang around. Hope to be able to make it to the Big Show next year and finally meet some of you. Big thanks to Karl and the entire team of moderators for keeping this place up and running for all of us to enjoy. Not to mention how many other forums have a @Big_Red_Fred to give us our daily laugh.

@Ed Kennell the way that started Ed, I thought your handle used to be "Turkey"

Well, I've been busy rubbing bonds and block sanding. Finally, I think I'm ready for the first coat of filler primer. It'll be late Sat. before I get to try a coat. I have to work a pancake breakfast at school that morning. I hope to get the first coat of metallic black on the hood soon.

Nice rig. Like the backhoe.

Great suggestions. Unfortunately, the nice lady is smarter than me. and as I've learned many times, she is very observant. As ElCamino stated, "she who must be obeyed, remembers everything": For now, I'm going with the ....we'll be moving now that the kids are gone. I want a little more property and will need a tractor/plow/tiller/etc. in order to take care of the place. I don't have an answer for having two tractors at this time but I'm working on it. Thanks for the help.

That is "some" rig. Wow, made for the task. Glenn

I thought beet juice (Rim Guard) was 11+ pounds per gallon but this chart shows < 11# per gallon. Liquid Ballast Comparison Table Type Cost Freeze Resist Weight vs. Water Safe? Availability Weight per gallon Water free none +0% very safe wide 8.34 Calcium Chloride low/high* -50F +40% corrosive wide 11.67 Ethylene Glycol Antifreeze medium -40F +0% toxic wide 8.34 Propylene Glycol Antifreeze high -40F +0% safe wide 8.34 Windshield Washer Fluid low -20F +0% toxic wide 8.34 Methanol medium -15F +0% very flammable wide 8.34 Beet Juice very high -35F +30% very safe dealer network 10.84 Polyurethane Foam/Flat Fill very high +20-50% very safe dealer network 10--12.51 I thought beet juice (Rim Guard) was 11+ pounds per gallon but this chart shows < 11# per gallon. Liquid Ballast Comparison Table Type Cost Freeze Resist Weight vs. Water Safe? Availability Weight per gallon Water free none +0% very safe wide 8.34 Calcium Chloride low/high* -50F +40% corrosive wide 11.67 Ethylene Glycol Antifreeze medium -40F +0% toxic wide 8.34 Propylene Glycol Antifreeze high -40F +0% safe wide 8.34 Windshield Washer Fluid low -20F +0% toxic wide 8.34 Methanol medium -15F +0% very flammable wide 8.34 Beet Juice very high -35F +30% very safe dealer network 10.84 Polyurethane Foam/Flat Fill very high +20-50% very safe dealer network 10--12.51 *using CaCl2 is low cost if containment tubes are already available and installed, otherwise this is a high cost option Water Water has been used as ballast inside the rear tires of tractors operated in warmer climates for years. In geographical locations where freezing occurs, an additive is necessary to prevent the water from becoming an ice block inside the tire. Ballast that does freeze inside the tractor will make those tires unstable and general operation of the tractor unsafe. Water is the least expensive form of liquid ballasting and weighs 8.3lbs per gallon. Advantages readily available no cost safe to use – non-toxic, non-flammable easy to install into tires Disadvantages not suitable for cold climates Calcium Chloride Calcium chloride, CaCl2, in powdered form can be mixed with water to produce a liquid that will resist freezing up to -50F, depending on the strength of the concentration. Calcium chloride weighs about 11.5lbs/gallon mixed, so more ballast weight is achieved in the same volume, allowing a heavier ballast. This type of liquid ballast is a highly corrosive mixture so care must be taken in handling this product. CaCl2 should be installed into tubes regardless of whether or not the tire on the tractor is tubeless. Without being contained in a tube the mixture will rust the rim flange area right out. Advantages easily obtained in large quantities high weight/volume ratio (almost 40% more than water alone) very high freeze resistance Disadvantages care taken when used – corrosive mixture must be installed into tubes – extra cost if installed without tubes corrosion/rust of the rim will occur puncturing a tire filled with CaCl2 will spray rust-causing mixture everywhere, damaging sheet metal and vegetation A typical 50lb bag of calcium chloride with inset image showing powder consistency. Ethylene Glycol Antifreeze Antifreeze, mixed 50/50 with water, and installed into your Kubota’s rear tires, will provide the same amount of weight per gallon as water and will resist freezing to approx -40F. Ethylene glycol antifreeze is classified by Canada’s Environmental Protection Agency as hazardous waste after it reaches the end of its useful life. Care must be taken when disposing of this type of ballast – and in the case of a tractor tire, there will be a lot of mix to deal with. Advantages easily obtained in large quantities high freeze resistance safe to mix – non-flammable but is toxic if ingested Disadvantages hazardous to the environment, animals and people – care must be taken regarding its disposal could get costly if your only source is 1 gallon jugs at a Walmart Propylene Glycol Antifreeze Propylene glycol is known as a non-toxic or people/animal friendly antifreeze. Besides its antifreeze properties, it is actually used in many cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, shampoos and as a food additive. Dow, who manufacturers 35% of the world’s supply of of propylene glycol, reports that in the United States, 22% of production is used for antifreeze or de-icing. When installed into your tires as a ballast in a 50/50 mix, expect similar properties to ethylene glycol, high freeze resistance with ballast weight similar to that of water alone. AMSOIL makes this type antifreeze available by the gallon or 55 gallon drum. Advantages easily obtained in large quantities high freeze resistance safe to humans, animals and vegetation, non-flammable, non-toxic and biodegradable Disadvantages more costly than plain old toxic ethylene glycol – sources we used, quoted prices of 33%-120% more per gallon Windshield Washer Fluid Washer fluid, installed right from the jug is freeze protected to about -20F and provides about the same ballast weight properties as water does. Washer fluid has some of the same chemicals in it that antifreeze does, but at milder concentrations. Disposing of gallons and gallons of washer fluid, as in the case of tire ballast, would require care. Advantages easily obtained in large quantities low cost adequate freeze resistance no mixing required – use as is, non-flammable but is toxic Disadvantages hazardous to the environment, animals and people – care must be taken regarding its disposal Methanol Methanol is highly flammable and if you decide to use this product it must be mixed with water to make it so you do not blow yourself up while mixing it, installing it, or driving your tractor with it in there. Depending on strength of mixture, methanol and water is good to around -15F temperatures. We are not recommending the use of methanol and water because of the danger – but it is an option available for tire ballasting. Advantages easily obtained in large quantities adequate freeze resistance Disadvantages extremely flammable mixing required with water hazardous to the environment, animals and people – care must be taken regarding its disposal Beet Juice Beet juice, a liquid byproduct made from de-sugared sugar beets. This food grade product is available in the US under the trade and brand name, RimGuard. This liquid weighs about 30% more than straight water and resists freezing to about -35F. Best of all, it will not solidify until the temp drops to -50F. Natural, non-corrosive, safe to the environment and humans. If beet juice is available in your location, we believe this your best bet – safe to use and provides extra ballast weight. Advantages high weight/volume ratio (about 30% more than water alone) very high freeze resistance anti-rust properties a natural product – environmentally friendly and safe Disadvantages may not be available in all locations Polyurethane Foam/Flat Fill This ballast method is essentially a run-flat polyurethane fill that is injected into the tire through the valve stem. Two liquid components are pumped into the tire and they react with one another so that 24-36 hours later, you are left with a solid rubber core – the air inside the tire is completely displaced. The term “foam” is a bit misleading – the core is actually very much a black solid. It is sometimes called foam because air bubbles are injected into the mix to control the density of the end product. This ballast method obviously adds serious weight gains to each tire and also has the nice benefit of eliminating flat tires and associated repair costs. Because the tire is run-flat there is no risk of corrosive/toxic ballast spraying all over your tractor and scorching vegetation if you do spring a leak. You will have to find a dealer near you that performs this service (Brannon Tire in Stockton, California for example). Advantages high weight/volume ratio (about 20-50% more than water depending on type of fill) cannot freeze tire is run-flat simple – have it done once, ballasted forever Disadvantages may not be available in all locations high cost – prices range around $0.95-1.25 lbs injected, or $300+ per tire tire must be cut off rim after tread wears out – best for new or nearly new tires if performed on steering tires, heavy duty weight gains will put more stress on steering components no air in tires to absorb humps and bumps so you will get a very rough ride – could be jarring for long distance travel Have experience using some of these ballast types? Write us a comment below

Do what I did when I got a B80 and didn't say anything to my wife. I just stuck it in the garage with the other 5 and she didn't even notice. But that only works if you have more than 2. That's a really nice workhorse. I've always wanted a 18hp one. If I ever find a nice one I'll have to tell my wife because there so much different then the red ones and she'll notice it. Or I could tell her after so many years they turn gray !!!!

To me it is the C-195 from 1984. 60" HD deck, 3pt hitch, pto, and a D series tiller on the 3pt.

Maybe I’ll start a trend:-) I will have a full trailer for certain.

Tractor Porn. Karl.

Great, I’m running a porn site

Happy Anniversary Red Square, Thanks for Letting this Ole Red Fred Join & keeps me from doing Laundry & making dinner !

@Ed Kennell Ed is there any thing you don't or can't do . You have the energy of a 15 year old. I could not keep up with you for a few hours without a long nap.

Only 300 yards...? Piece of cake with the right bow and no wind...

the guys at the shop always asked me if I had one tied up out back every year so that's where Buckrancher came from brian