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My dear friend George Sleezer gave me this beautiful viper red 656 that was his pride and joy. I’m so grateful for this, but sad to see he’s getting out of the hobby due to old age. It came with a sickle mower and tub cart. More pictures to come.

TRUTH!

Anyone remember this one? Stumbled across it and brought back some old memories. They weren't exactly mainstream but this song was on the radio.

As our treasures pass between us, I have pondered on several occasions that our motto should be "in good hands we trust."

Not really. Round are somewhat stronger but not all that much. The force simply must be applied very close to the shaft. Remember this is a casting, not a forged item. A rare few have made 5-bolt pullers and had success. Many, many, many posts here on the adventures of hub pulling. Pretty much everyone considers it a rite of passage.

So nice to have this club/site. Still using my 1996 314-H. In the late 80’s I worked in the Wheelhorse offices/factory in South Bend. Didn’t work for them but for the finance company Borg Warner Acceptance Co. our office was in their facility and we financed / Floorplanned all there dealers. I had all dealers in the NE PA up through Maine. Remember walking the assembly line etc. John Munn was running the company at that time. Knew most everyone in the offices. Solid people! PA had some big dealers. Only after moving to TN in 1989 I purchased my tractor as I knew Toro was going to eliminate the old quality stuff. The last National Lawn and Garden show I attended in Louisville Toro had 4 or 5 of the “real” Wheelhorse units there but they were stuffed in the corner. You could tell they didn’t want them front and center. So, I went to the local TN dealer and ordered one before it was too late. Recall the dealer asking me why I wanted a 314-H just to cut grass. My answer was because I never wanted to buy another tractor. This to date is true! I’m in Ohio and gave the yard one last cut today and put the old girl away until spring. Have only posted once when I joined a number of years ago but wanted to share my story and love for my tractor. She’s a great machine! Thanks for allowing such a long message. Mike

Ok fellow horsemen and da ladies! I recently rounded up a D-200 with a blade at auction. I have been going over it. And think I've got the booby prize.🏆 First ...can't run the numbers as there don't seem to be any. As I recall? Plate was suppose to be below steering column? It's not. It does have a single brake on left side, might indicate an early model 1974? The steering column itself needs support badly! It's wobbly. The oil was overfull and I'm really worried about that. Wrong gas tank. Wrong oil filter. Two screws missing from air cleaner backing plate (hope not mashed by cylinder or caught in valve.) Hood was carved up. It pops off, but doesn't stay running. I have not done compression test yet or checked fuel pump. Plugs were sooty (valves)(missing screw) 🥺 This will be for sale eventually as I just don't have room and was impulse buy.

Safety first!

Karl @nylyon fixed it. My pics load again. Here is the swivel setup. Locks about every 30 degrees of rotation unless the handle is pulled.

I love your story and about the financial info, you most likely helped our small dealership in Vermont! Getting easy financing for our W/H customers was difficult at our local banks, and when W/H started offering it through Borg Warner, that really helped our business. Before this we were at a disadvantage because places like Sears offered very quick and easy financing, with this, we no longer had that issue. C-85

I live a scant 9 miles north of Mecca....error I mean the Wheel Horse factory ..lol I own old man Chandler's personal Wheel Horse which I got from his daughter some years ago. For those who don't know. Chandler was the first wheel horse dealership. They built the horses out back and sold them up front. (corner of Auten Rd. & 933 S. before moving to their Ireland Rd. location in South Bend) I will never forget going there in early 60's with my dad. If he mentioned Chandler's? I was already sitting on the front seat of our 63 t-bird. Funny how I can remember dad, the T-bird, Chandler's, (building still there), but don't know what I had to eat for breakfast yesterday.

@mae thanks for the post and your thoughts. I would say we all enjoy the history of these fine tractors. Would’ve been cool to have a walk-through with the assembly line and watching them being put together. At least we have a lot of information with manuals and other literature to look at every day. After all these years of being here, I still find something new to look at. If you can’t find it in the manual section it doesn’t exist. Enjoy your day.

And that is exactly why my interest lies with early to mid 1960's Round Hoods, except for the C81's that "followed me home". Thanks for sharing the story. And

Heart beat replacement for the C175. Met up with Lincoln from A to Z and picked up this KT17 series 2. Most likely will be after the holidays before I get the chance to install it. Looks to be a 1995.

Bob Ellison. Passed away this year.