Leaderboard

I spent some time during off season and restored the old girl she will out last me. I have a 416-8 and I love this one. I don't see many around well not here in Va.

I know it has been a while since Henry was last on here, but now that spring is finally here, Henry is Horsing around again! Here he is, plowing up the pumpkin patch this past afternoon.

The last two weeks we have been splitting time between our new home in VA, and finishing the little to-do projects before going on the market with our MD house. Juno has been helping me navigate the drive! It must be the breed as she stood by my shoulder for looking out the windshield most of the way for the 181 mile trip. Mrs. Sailor has to drive by herself. Whittling the collection of tractors has been an interesting exercise. Different scenarios of equipment needed depended on which house would be our new one. Properties that we looked at ranged from 3-1/4 acres down to 0.4 acre, which is what we chose. After the choice was made in January, I have been divesting of the equipment that was used on our current wooded two acres. With only four trees compared to our grove of over 300, the log splitter, chainsaws, chipper/shredder, etc have been sold off. The primary tractors at the MD house have been my three 5xi. But I have decided that my three Black Hoods are better suited to the new house. Ironically the 1980 C-145 will become the primary mower at the new house - and the 1998 518xi will move on to another owner. The C-145 will receive a rebuilt engine and general refurbishment. In the meantime one of the other two Black Hoods will temporarily take over.

Got the out front deck installed today. It’s works well even lacking the gauge wheels. It cut very well and it reached far under the trees. I was also able to reach areas into a drainage ditch that typically requires a string trimmer. The only drawback is when I put it into the shed. It’s rather long and I’m afraid that it’s novelty will wear off soon when I need space. Im thinking that the room it takes up is a deal breaker for me. It may need a new home.

I'm always the odd man out on things like this it seems. Maybe it's because part of my job is to determine pricing on things we sell in our business, including spare parts. So I look at it from a different perspective. Toro is trying to make sure they don't lose money on parts. If they're lucky, they're making money on them. But I'd be surprised if they are getting rich off of these things. Parts are expensive. No doubt. I don't disagree with that and it sucks to have to buy them. But costs of doing business rise just like everything else. For us to expect them to never adjust pricing is silly, even for some item that might have been made 40 years ago and has been sitting in inventory ever since. I of course don't know specifically how Toro marks up their parts, but you can bet on it that the bulk of the markup isn't "profit." They are paying overhead and general and administrative costs on everything they do. Electricity for the warehouse the part is sitting in, real estate taxes on the warehouse the part is sitting in, the salary and benefits of the picker who pulls it from the shelf, The shelf itself, the salary and benefits of the security guard out in the parking lot, the salary and benefits of the legions of people that shuffle paper around to keep track of which shelf in which warehouse the part is sitting on, permit costs to keep the place open, maybe pensions to people who no longer work there, possibly inventory taxes every year that goes by on that part, on and on. Shoot, they even have to pay the guys that cut the grass outside their buildings and for the break room table and coffee pot. Don't forget toilet paper for the guys that have their bodies trained to evacuate on company time. They also have to pay for the computers and statistics folks that try to anticipate what parts are needed for their current lines of machinery. And for R&D and marketing for new products. All of that gets rolled into every transaction they make. The CEO and other people way, way at the top get paid to manage all of this and more. They're in there too. These costs of course are on top of the cost of the actual value of the part. In cases where they have to have a batch run, they have to pay for all of them up front and then float the cost over time. I wouldn't be surprised for them to amortize the cost of a batch of parts over a fixed number of them that they expect to sell in a year (for example). So if you're buying an idler pulley assembly you are probably also paying for a couple of other idler pulleys they expect to languish on the shelf longer than a year. But they commissioned more than they need to ensure the part is in stock in case of abnormal demand. Just guessing of course. It's hard to imagine how much stuff in their parts inventory never sells. Eventually they throw all of this stuff away. I heard stories about the exodus from South Bend where tons - literally - of old parts inventory was hauled to the scrap yard just down Ireland Rd. from the factory. Stuff that hadn't sold and wasn't valuable enough to move to Minnesota. The relatively low value of the little things we buy for our tractors is overshadowed by the costs they have to charge. Some of the cost of getting the part to you from their shelf is relatively constant across the range of their stuff. So if you're buying a new $1000 transmission for a Groundsmaster or you're buying a $0.39 primer bulb for your snow thrower it still costs Toro about the same amount to find the thing, get it off a shelf, stick it in a box, ship it, and update the inventory. So it makes little things artificially expensive. I'm sure they have a way of spreading the costs around to keep the prices on low-value stuff as low as practical, but it probably isn't completely proportional. There is a tremendous amount of stuff going on in the background. Paying for all of that has to happen. And there is only one source of revenue for these businesses: customers. I wouldn't expect that Toro is big enough in the parts distribution network to be automating anything in their system either. Chances are that everything is still done by people, which obviously costs more on a running basis than a machine. Somewhere in my literature collection I have a couple of price increase notices from WH from way, way back. They've always done things this way. I think the requirement for a manufacturer to support parts for a machine is only about 7-10 years after it was last manufactured. I wouldn't be surprised if one day they just abandon anything older than that. I suspect that Toro being a privately held business has something to do with their long-term product support that they've shown so far. This doesn't make it better, but perhaps it is something to think about next time you buy an expensive OEM item. besides, it could be worse...ever bought Echo parts? Wow! Steve

Wow beautiful job! The 1978-79 C-series are my favorite! I have six of them. Here's two of them. C-161 8-Speed and C-121 automatic

I wouldn’t think anything on our tractors with a grease zerk would be negatively affected by synthetic grease. Just glad to hear your greasing it...can’t tell you how many tractors I have brought home with no signs or any maintenance done to them (including lack of grease)

While I have not served in our military, I along with all of you fully support and thank our veterans on a regular basis. Please see the below, this is our very own @Rob R I am fortunate to live in the same town as Rob and have met up with him on several occasions and at some of the events he's mentioned. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago, I was out for a drive. While passing Rob's home, he waived, so I stopped in. Funny thing is, he had never seen that car before, he was being friendly. I am glad thar Rob shared his story, and while I have a deep appreciation for him anyway, reading about his experience was touching, and I want to say thank you for sharing, and even if it's many years late, we appreciate your service and am very grateful you returned home safely. I do wonder though, did the Navy ever call? https://news.hamlethub.com/brewster/life/7132-view-of-a-veteran-freedom-is-not-free-interview-with-mr-robert-rottkamp

So the rusty one sells for $240.00, and the new in box sells for $197.00 . You gotta love this hobby/ addiction.

Happy Birthday Richard!

Have a great birthday !!!

Thanks to all it is my second one I have restored. This 101 is my favorite. I did a 312-A and my neighbor at the lake wanted it so I sold it. Funny he mowed grass with it come over and gave me cash. Here is the 312-A. Thanks to all

My neighbor and I welded up the Wheelie bars and the front weight bar. I started priming the tins a few days ago. Hopefully the paint comes in tomorrow and I can get painting. She’s starting to look like something.

Karl, thank you for sharing this article with us. In my opinion Rob hit the nail on the head with his closing statement! "I really think it would be beneficial for all our young people to be involved in something service or peace core related for a period so that they really understand and appreciate the freedom they and their families enjoy, and perhaps take for granted."

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICHARD !!!! We have all been waiting for this day.

The hours on the meter could be actual or it could be the key was left on a few times. The only way to know what has been done to the engine is to view the receipts and talk to the people who rebuilt it! If it runs well and has been properly maintained you will probably be OK. The creeping transmission is a simple adjustment, no big deal.

If you find that # 45 is broken, I have a replacement. my direct email is: daveoman@windstream.net

Agreed Tom ....gonna get one for the 753. This is just something I picked up last minute at Fleet Farm when I got near to the end of the refresh and realized all I had was a pepper pot never giving second thought to an exhaust. After seat time still not sure of the looks ( too tall?) but love the sound! 1 1/4 straight through with what I call a "church key" baffle ... like we used to run on our iron barreled Sportsters with drag pipes. Gave the cop something to thud his nightstick against when asked if we had mufflers.

Thought I would share this aerial view of the pioneer power show grounds, this was from the last day of the 41st annual swap meet held this weekend. April 27-29

I know that many well used Kohlers will blow oil smoke for a few minutes on startup. I have a C-175 with a Series 1 KT-17 that came off of a John Deere 317. It had over 2000 hours on the hour meter, which wasn’t working. Then she sat in my brother’s barn for many years. Cleaned her up changed out the intake and exhaust and the tins put her on C175 and she ran. You wanted to get her outdoors right away as about 30 seconds after start up she kept the mosquito population at bay for a couple minutes then it would clear up and she worked well. Always assumed the smoking had to do with worn rings. She is on sweeper duty and only gets a couple hours a year running. Fired her up this year and no smoke, none at all. Did some one sneak in over the winter and overhaul her??? Why would it stop smoking....

How did I not see this sooner?! I discounted the Honda initially, but they really are all the truck many (most?) people need. A pretty impressive vehicle all around. I’m a fan, but I’m biased because I bought one in November to replace my f250. I’ve not yet and don’t plan to beat on it, but it handles my 3000 lb boat perfectly. And it has hauled what I’ve needed so far without a whimper. True, they are a unibody with a front wheel drive primary platform, but you’d be surprised at their real capabilities. And nothing drives or rides as nice as they do that still has a bed on the back. The four wheel independent suspension goes a long way in handling and ride. The tailgate opens conventionally or like a door to access the under bed trunk. Like an old station wagon used to. I do worry about the single tailgate support cable though when loading a tractor...it just seems like asking for trouble. But the gate is rated for a substantial live load, so I’m not expecting troubles. They are only rated for 5000 lb towing. But the almost 1600 lb payload rating bests many of the current crop of body on frame half ton crew cabs and many of the midsizers. Most Trucks are just so heavy these days that there isn’t much room between unladen curb weight and GVWR. They fit a piece of plywood flat in the bed between the wheel wells and - in their range - are capable. The inner bed is all fiberglass, so is very tough and resilient. Like almost all popular trucks, the bed is short short short. I think only 5’4”. The platform is shared with the pilot and odyssey, but there are many unique and strengthened components. And the platform was deliberately designed to accept the duty cycle of a pickup truck. Honda is very conservative, so there is a lot of faith in their ratings. I researched a ton when trying to figure out what to replace my old truck with. Kept coming back to this thing even though I thought the whole concept of an awd, unibody pickup was idiocy at first. It took a lot of reading and cross shopping to get myself past the “that’s not a real truck” convention. But looking at it from an elegance of problem solving perspective, it was the best choice for my current needs. I have a 30 mile one way commute to and from work. I’m averaging 23 mpg so far over 12000 miles. That may not seem impressive, but it’s a real pen-and-paper 23 mpg, not from a trip computer and not cherry picking data. I’m expecting it to improve with warmer weather. The only things that come close to or beat that are the diesel Colorado/canyon and diesel ram 1500. Fuelly.com is a great resource that truly normalizes real world mileage owners get and smooths the statistical anomalies. My last tank was 26.1 mpg. This tank will be less since I’ve done some towing on it. My Ford Edge was 22 mpg over the last 7 months I owned it. Vw diesel was 44 mpg over 82000 miles. F250 was 15 mpg. I keep a lot of spreadsheets. The Honda’s aren’t for everybody and they’d be a poor choice for a contractor or as a serious, everyday work truck. And they aren’t going to tow a big trailer, but they don’t pretend or make you pay a penalty in everyday usability. Honda is really on to something with these things, but their modest sales attests to them not being a popular choice. The soft styling and general lack of machismo doesn’t help. Vw is probably going to put their version on the road at some point, so mAybe we’ll see the start of a trend. Probably not. Anyway, I wanted to defend my ego 🤪 i really enjoy reading your posts and opinions sarge, so please keep them coming! I need to stick a wh in the back of mine to test it out fully! steve

Your fuel cap has a vent in it. If the vent is plugged the tank will develop a slight vacuum as the fuel level goes down and the pump can't overcome it. You can tighten it up like @Achto suggested and if the problem pops up then take a look at the cap.

The pump arm rides on the cam shaft. If the lobe is really worn on the cam it may not work properly. I wold try getting it tightened down & see if you are back in business.

After it stopped snowing Saturday, I took the rear chains and roller chains off the 68 Commando 8, and changed the dozer blade over to the 36" mower deck. Changed the oil and greased the tractor and checked the lube. It's ready for lawn duties.

Ill make appt and try to get running myself the owner would let me work on it rather have an eight speed 10 to 16hp though but this is close to home Thanks for all the welcomes from all you wheel horse owners

2 sets of toolbox/fenders. Blue one I believe is off of a 702. Red/white set is off of a 604. Some pitting but solid. $ 25 each.

Yes, I have been allocated the 22' x 39' room on the right side for a hopefully a train layout. Actually I will also have the lower Family Room too. But I am having a 10' x 16' shed built for the Horses and Bee Hinds. The 5xi never really gave me any problems, but I will admit the Black Hoods are simpler. I have to get a fresh propane tank first.

Maybe ya ran out of oil? Nah...that's not you. It doesn't sound like this would pertain to yours but my 1976 K-341 started fogging the skeeters for maybe 10 seconds after start up but only after I switched to 10w30 for the winter last fall. I wasn't too worried because I have a fresh rebuild sitting in the garage ready to install when I get the time. Warmer weather arrived and I recently went back to straight 30. No smoke at all. Zero, zip nadda. Kohler even states that using 10w30 will cause more oil consumption but when this tractor was newer I always used 10w30 on the winter and 30w in the summer with no issues. Apparently with time and hours this could happen but I was shocked at the turn around. All I can say is that I'm seconding guessing myself for forking over the bucks for a factory spec rebuild but it's going on anyways.

What everyone else said. Wishing you many more.

I think the smart money would use the 310-8 for mowing once or twice. With the time you would save doing that, drop the other trans and open it up. I figure that you either broke or bent something...it should be an easy fix. If it turns out worse then we think, then take the trans off the 310-8, fix the one off the 416-8 and put that one on the 310-8 when done.

I don't like price increases , but lets please keep our posts in check and remember to keep things unpolitical ... Thanks Terry...

I'm telling ya, I'd sell my rusty one for $240 and give free shipping! Then I'd go buy another horse. Not that I need another one though lol

Go out and get yourself a nice Wheel Horse to celebrate. Have a great day!!!

Well the Prodinsky boys @Shynon, @prondzy are probably trying to comer the market then. Nawww...Tom would put it in his cabinet along with the five other ones he's got and Mike would put it on a tractor!

I pull up on a ramp and clean with a garden hose after EVERY mowing. Whenever the deck is off, I scrape off any remaining buildup, then apply Fluid Film. I find that that the Fluid Film is pretty much gone after a couple of mowings, but I like the way it penetrates between parts. I do need instruction on how to remove or install a 60" deck in five minutes.

It's now just the perfect opportunity to spend time with her and inspect the fuel system from the tank through to the valve inlet. Heck, I'd pull the carb and clean it, check the needle, pull the fuel pump and check the seals, replace the lines and filter if it has one and the valve in the tank. Whatever the model, with today's lousy fuel, makes good sense.

Like 953 Nut said,it depends on how the tractor had been maintained in its lifetime.I've seen low hour machines that were rode hard and put away wet,weren't maintained at all,no oil changes,etc,and the machine is basically junk.Have seen high hour machines that were properly maintained and probably are the better choice to buy.Look it over and talk to the owner.You should be able to tell how the machine was taken care of.Good luck.

Hitch_Front_1972_8-5541_1973_8-5551.pdf Yes , Wheel Horse was still innovating 45 years ago when they made these two parts to attach newer mowers and snowblowers to older tractors!

With any electrical problem the first thing to do is clean and tighten ALL electrical connections including grounds. Lots of people spend lots of money replacing good parts when the problem was voltage drop at a bad connection.

Remove the shift lever and fill through there. It's just a 1/4" lock nut and a hex head dog point set screw. Some models are a pain just to remove the shift lever so I bought one of those smaller bottles of gear oil with the cone tip and squeeze it in through the dipstick tube. Re-fill the bottle each time. Gravity feed through through there takes forever.

To take on your trip to France? Convert pre attach/matic tractors.

Took two of my RJ frames apart today to get sabndblasted. Disassembled parts and primed and painted some gas tanks, seat springs, cables , etc. I may only have enought good parts for two RJ's instread of three but will make sure the trransmission parts and othe goodies get reused, sold or saved in some way!

One of the bigger projects that my honey and I are working on this year is creating a trail that goes into the forest that we can use for hiking, jogging, mountain biking, and to get the tractor and logging trailer and splitter out where we can harvest wood. We worked on our bridge going over the little stream in the forest today. We are using a combination of forest logs, and very large pallets, and some boards I got from work when they took some shelves down. Today we used the B80 and a yard trailer to haul the boards and tools down to the bridge site. It's about 400 ft plus or minus into the woods. This is about halfway through the process. The farthest pallet out is sitting about a third of the way onto the pallet in the middle. The first section is the bridge that my honey built by hand. Two logs laid down on the forest floor and then the other boards nailed on top of it. This pic is taken from the opposite end of the one above. After we rolled it out of place and I dug the end in so that it would sit level. You can see how we are adding boards in between the existing pallet boards. Just a few more to go and we'll be able to drive the tractor across.

May as well become accustomed to it, as our economy improve there will be price increases everywhere. Of course our government bean counters will say there is no inflation so there is no need for a cost of living increase in my Social Security, however the Medicare payment they deduct from it will go up due to cost increases? ? ? ?

US Army 254th FA Radar Detachment LZ. Weight Davies/LZ. Loney Vietnam. 1970-19.71.

US Army . 1965-1966. 168th Combat Engineers. Viet Nam.

Sorry I didn't reply any sooner, I was outside all day messing with the new tractor! It was good times. I now know why so many folks get 5, 10, 20 Wheel Horses, it's because you don't know what to do with yourself once you finish dressing one up. Richard you were right on. As soon as I moved that bolt to the third hole it made all the difference, everything fell into place after that. The deck would rise much higher than before and the spring loaded pin fit into the notch nice and snug (Thank you John)! I discovered an additional questions during my day (I'll create another thread if you think I should): How the heck do you guys get the transmission fluid into the transmission? I ended up slowly siphoning it into the case through the dip stick hole but that was slow and seemed wrong. Do I remove the dipstick fitting, I would need a square adapter if that's the situation?