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My widowed neighbor brought this sign into my shop about 3 weeks ago. Her special needs son had tried to restore it with a rattle can. She said she had a dream about the sign and my name came up. Would I like to paint it.? No way I can ruin a dream for a wonderful neighbor. So it became a project. I took the sign to a local cabinet / sign maker for advice on paints and clear coatings. In 2 minutes he had it on his screen. He made the sign in 1995. I thought about paying him to make a new one, but I knew my neighbor would prefer the old one. It had taken a 1/2" warp over the 30 years and I decided to not correct it, but added two ribs to keep it together. Used some soldering irons as wood burners to reestablish the outlines. Three coats of brown oil based enamel, three coats of gold water based acrylic, and the fourth and final coat of water based spar poly today.

Well except for the 855 I should have never sold! So Tom @Shynon texts me a listing on FB for this girl and I stepped on it immediately. I learned long ago ya snooze ya loose. Just got yourself a free plow day t 👕 Tom. It's not real local but a nice hr 1/2 away. It looked real nice in the few pics that were shown but we know how pics look. At first look at it I knew right away it was going on the trailer. Love at first sight... yep. For what price was the only issue. More after the red porn...

We've put a deposit on a 2026 Keystone Coleman 13B. Coleman Travel Trailers - Compact Comfort Trailers - Keystone RV https://share.google/unmuxzxyGQupcq8Qc Basically an enclosed utility trailer with a restroom and great storage. This will give us the storage space to keep all our standard camping equipment in a permanent place. Likely upgrades will be an axle flip for increased ground clearance and larger tires.

Today I did something I’ve been meaning to do for years. Take the transmission and hydraulic system out of this 416-H. I took out the wiring harness and might save the spindles and steering wheel. This tractor was given to me and was already in rough condition. I lent it to a buddy to use around his farm. He is not known for taking good care of his equipment, so that’s why I let him use this particular tractor. Well after a few years of use he called me and said it’s making a funny noise. I went there and listened to it, it was knocking like crazy. Checking the oil I found none on the stick. I was not surprised or mad because I knew this could happen with this guy. Luckily the transmission oil was full so I drove it around and it worked fine. I brought it back home a few months later and it sat in my back yard for a few more years. So I decided today was the day to finally do this and junk the rest. While I was working on it my granddaughter decided that she wanted to clean and work on her tractor too! I was absolutely thrilled to have her in the garage with me! ❤️

Over the weekend we flew down to see my daughter in Charleston,S.C. and decided to go check out this museum. I must say that I was super impressed by the quality of the restorations of these trucks. Figured I would take a few pictures for you guys, I know how much you love pictures!!

I recently had blood work, MRI, and a colonoscopy. Test results all came back good. No cancer. Next blood scan will be the end of December.

Found yet another use for the Horse. First year I didn't have to drag a deer over 100 yards uphill with a rope!

Everyone meet Jerry, Jerry meet everyone. my 5 year old stepson wanted to have a skeleton on a tractor. He went with his mom to go see his sister at her college this weekend. Can’t wait til he sees it. I’m going to get a different skeleton for the one who’s getting mowed up. Now the wheels are turning on getting Jerry some friends doing other crazy things. He’s temporarily mowing with my 12auto until I get the rusty 14-8 up from out back.

The ol girl worked good today. Dug up a brick and mortar foundation and hauled it away with no sweat!

Picked this lawn ranger up a few months ago and right away my youngest claimed it as his! Being all original we stared cleaning and buffing it up. We just have a few things to button up but for the most part it’s done. We did a makeshift muffler to keep the noise down being right in town lol. He was excited to take it for a few laps around town. FB3CA92C-1526-49E2-89A2-3FF456044131.mov D0676C82-8D93-4955-9852-853793D1A035.mp4

Not super rare, but equally they only surface once every six months and there’s a queue waiting to grab them! I managed to acquire a suburban 400 from a young lad who bought it then realised he couldn’t do anything with it! Had a very large Briggs engine fitted, a VW Beetle steering box and too many hacks to mention. he nabbed the narrow rears and left me with the rest! gearbox full to the brim with water! Interesting stretch chassis to take a Briggs engine. lots of chassis patching! rolling..... making a new hoodstand steering gears - same size and ratio as the original - but will outlast them! looking more like it onto that gearbox it was a mess, all the bearings were gone! they had chopped the bottom of the casing for some reason nearly together - amazon packaging to the rescue as a gasket done - with a modifed C series shifter onto the brake drum - I turned down and old cast pulley. reamed the inside to 3/4" all done - just the pedal and linkage to sort.... Ewan very kindly fired up the forge and made me a pedal. new brake/clutch pedal in place - I thought a bigger bush can't be a bad thing! donor Clinton engine didn't spark - home made puller did a reasonable job. Points cleaned up and all connections clean - we were in action! didn't have a pull start either - so made a start cup and used a new tecumseh pull start finally made two footrests to match. Hard work in the press, but a modified bolster chisel did the job! Finished - just needs the right steering wheel and hood! Does anyone have something that could be shipped to the UK?

Got tired of robbing parts machines so, Made a few shifter grub screws on mini lathe. Now the other horses want be jealous and everyone will have a shifter that works .

We miss you @Stormin, today would have been his 78th birthday.

Hello All, First off... I will NEVER believe that theres only "225" This is number 3 for me (sold first one dangit) Plus @Sparky has one in his garage and I saw another sell this week. There EVERYWHERE... Anyways... took a few days off from work and went on a road trip. Im 1000 miles west of home in Indianna. Picked these up today, doing a couple other things around here tomorrow--that will be another post. Supposidely the one on the back was fully rebuilt--engine and trans wise and painted by a member here on the Square. ( Ronald Castleman?) The dealer in pic was original seller and supposidely big time WH / Toro. Tony 6pm update... Got to hotel I'm staying at... unloaded everything and put that big azz deck on back to take the squat out of my truck. No need to kill it like that for 1000 miles 20251019_153909.mp4

There’s nothing more satisfying than using a Wheel Horse to perform a chore. Unless, of course you’re using two!

Construction began on the 515 West Ireland Road Wheel Horse Factory The rapid growth of demand for Wheel Horse Garden Tractors was too much for the building that Pond had occupied for twelve years. On October 11, 1960, construction began on a new 46,500 square foot steel frame and masonry exterior factory building situated on 36 acres of land on Ireland Road, South Bend, IN. The new factory was ready for occupancy in August of 1961, the move from the old Pond factory on South Dixie Way (near Pond Street, wonder if this was one of the subdivisions built by Elmer Pond) took place in time for the next year’s production. The 1962 models were the first built in the new plant on Ireland Road. They included the 502, 552 and 702. All three models featured the new front mounted engine and cast iron cased transaxles. The business was acquired by American Motors (AMC) on May 24, 1974. The company paid $30 million as it expanded into non-automotive markets. In 1982, Wheel Horse was spun off from AMC to Munn Investment Group. During this time some cosmetic changes were made, but frame and attachment design remained the same. In mid-August 1986, Wheel Horse was sold off from Munn and purchased for $8 million by Toro. Tractors were built under the Toro banner for the next two decades. The Wheel Horse name was eliminated from production after 2007. Today the building is occupied by Lock Joint Tube, a specialty fabricator of metal tubing products used by diverse industries such as office furniture, automotive, health care, display fixtures and exercise equipment. Chandler Sales and Service located next to the old South Dixie Way factory is thought to be the first Wheel Horse dealership.

Did some more maint work on free 702 today. Also installed hitch I bought at big show from Brian @K&B Wheel Horse on Workhorse.

I put a magnetic cup holder on the 314. I’m resting now 🤪

Celebrate the Navy’s Birthday on October 13 and recognize the brave men and women who have served our country — past and present. Established during the Revolutionary War, the original Continental Navy was formed, disbanded, and then reestablished nearly 10 years later. Today it’s the largest and most capable navy in the world, with the highest combined battle fleet tonnage. The Navy also boasts the world’s largest aircraft carrier fleet, over 300,000 active personnel, and nearly 100,000 in the Ready Reserve. A few fun-facts about the US Navy; General Washington commissioned two small schooners to patrol in and around Boston Harbor as the Revolutionary War heated up — eventually leading to the Navy we have today. The Massachusetts cities of Beverly and Marblehead have long argued over which was the birthplace of the Navy — which takes no official position on its place of origin. All submariners are volunteers, those serving on submarines are among the most highly trained personnel in the military. If not for the Navy, James T. Kirk would have been captain of the USS Yorktown Star Trek’s USS Enterprise was originally called the Yorktown. After some debate, creator Gene Roddenberry eventually renamed it. SEAL Team 6, officially known as United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group — along with Delta Force — are the most highly trained elite forces in the U.S. military. On a personal note, if you travel through Fort Pierce, FL, visit the UDT/SEALS Museum. I had the honor of being one of the founders of this museum and am proud of the way it represents team members past and present. This was the birthplace of special forces in World War Two with the formation of the Underwater Demolition Teams, UDT.

Had our contest today. And the winner. And a pumpkin cake. Got some, post them here?

The BBT aka Lead Logging Supervisor and I went off to the right side forest to get a few pieces of standing dead trees. 3? Small ash. A couple small maples. We sectioned them to 84" because we use 14" cuts of firewood. 6 pieces there. We hand hauled those 40 to 60 feet out to the pole trailer. Then brought that to the upper yard.

Rolled into crab camp at 3PM and moved in for the week. And the relaxing begins.

I took out some tractors I had stored in my enclosed trailer to put different ones in to go to a show yesterday. When I got home I didn’t feel like reloading them so I just put them in the garage.

Moved the 2” receiver from the Workhorse to the 520-8.

I'm past due for an update. The paint is cured enough and it was decal time. I've been anxious for this. I decided to go with stock decals from Terry. As any of you that have used his decals knows they are idiot proof. Soooooo easy to apply with no bubbles. I still have a couple minor decals to put on. The headlight tub got a quick coat of silver and pop riveted in place. 5000k led bulbs. I don't need taillights so reflectors covered the holes. I got this seat with no tears but it needed a good cleaning. I'd say it cleaned up pretty good. The electric fuel pump is installed under the seat. About all I need to do is the electrical, throttle and choke controls and the usual odds and ends. In the background of the first picture you'll see some mufflers sitting there. Big block and a small block Nelsons and a stack with a flipper cap thingy. I'm not a big stack person but for some reason it's calling me. I've been pondering what chore this tractor will have and I've pretty well decided on getting rid of the 314H and slapping the 42"sd deck on this one. This had a 42"rd but it needs work. I'm thinking that will be a project for this winter.

Well maybe not a new home ... but I could live there. A new man mall just opened very local that I have never heard of before and I consider myself a farm n barn store connoisseur. Very clean and very well stocked. Tractor parts, tools, hunting, fishing everything a guy needs. Very well priced too as it goes nowadays. https://www.theisens.com/ I doubt many here have ever heard of it either. Apparently it's a small chain based in Iowa. This is only their 3rd store in WI. I was impressed. A massive hardware aisle complete with Hillman style drawers that wouldn't quit. I thought it strange all their grade eights were bright blue anodized. The grade fives were a bright green. For easy id at the checkout I'm guessing. Best part like TSC and unlike Ace or other places sold by the pound. The 1045 may develop a blue glow...

Plastic lined the 2 stage blower chute today. Still need to make new rubber paddles for the impeller. They're worn down pretty far but ran for a good 5-6 years or so. Can't remember exactly where I saw this plastic thing done but it might have been from a geasy Pete post. Thought I'd give it a try this year and we'll see how it performs and holds up

Picked up a C-120 auto with a snowplow and wheel weights today. Started to mess with it a bit but going to need some cleaning and a few battery cables and some good needed maintanece. Picked it up from the original owner and they were looking for the manuals and such but couldn’t seem to find them. Everything seems to be there. More to come soon.

Gave this a second look today. Just not a Tecky guy, shame WH seat has a hole ate in it.

At a local show today I scored this C-111 with a plow/weights/2 link chains for cheap $$$. No idea what my plan is. I really don’t need another plow here, sold off a couple plows this summer so I only have 5…and today I added another one back Into the mix

I haven't forgotten anything, everything is in there someplace, my memory is prefect, but my retrieval mechanism leaves a bit to be desired.

LOTS done with the Wheelhorses and trailers today! Earlier today I got the newly acquired and painted steel weights from @Sparky on my 1974 C160-8 Cinnamon Horse. We used Cinnamon to yank this project trailer outta its hole. Someone else can tackle it... Then we cleaned out the slot of forest it was in. Trim. Rake. Blown leaves. Cut sticks etc... Now the big 7 x 16 flatbed trailer has a home. Trina and her momma been working on firewood again today. Super friggin hot 🔥 🥵 so momma takes lots of breaks. The shed is full. 2.5 cord. The barn overhang is starting to get there too.

Piece by piece, I'm gradually getting the paint sorted on my GT18. Here are the steps in fixing up one of the foot rests: A fair amount of rust had developed under the rubber mat: I slathered on a thick coat of CitriStrip, wrapped it in a polyethylene sheet, and let it sit for a few hours. About 98% of the paint came right off without any scrubbing or scraping: Here's how it looked after washing off the CitriStrip and removing a few bits of remaining paint: Next, I let the foot rest sit in a phosphoric acid bath for a while, which took care of most of the rust, and then hit any stubborn remaining pockets with my spot blaster. (Note: I don't use phosphoric acid on high-strength or hardened steel, since I want to avoid hydrogen embrittlement.) I applied the initial coat of self-etching primer, which contains zinc phosphate: Then I filled the pits with 3M High-Bond filler and sanded it flat: Here it is after more primer coats: And after a few coats of paint: Now on to the next one.

If anyone here has seen the movie "Hacksaw Ridge" knows about the heroics of Desmond T. Doss. There was a TV show, "This is your Life", and one episode, it honored Doss. To make this on topic, the show gave him a brand new Wheel Horse Ride-away. You can see it on the below video at 24:30. Dorothy Doss, his wife, died in a car accident in 1991 and Desmond, himself, died in 2006 at age 87. He was a real life American hero that most don't know about.

So, let’s get to some of the good parts! The biggest part of our journey was planning the road trip! Interstate 80 runs from Reno Nevada all the way to Southern Michigan. It was quite easy to plan our route. We never really made an exact goal, but we wanted to be home in three days. 2100 miles, three days, 700 miles per day was our estimated goal. That is not including any travel on Friday. If you can recall, I recently did a trip down to Southern Kentucky and home in one day. That was 915 miles. I set myself a goal to drive 800 miles Saturday, 800 miles Sunday and have an easy drive on Monday. I think I ended up around 900 miles on Saturday. We stayed just outside of Sparks Nevada on Friday and dropped $550 at Walmart on RV, fluids, food, and fluids for us. I wanted to make sure that I had enough oil, coolant, and transmission fluid for any surprise! We drove Sparks Nevada to Laramie, Wyoming on Saturday. We made it from Laramie all the way to the Iowa 80 truckstop on Sunday. That place is huge! Monday we made it home for 2 PM and was able to pick up Rylee from school with the big turd. We saw all kinds of cool sites along the way. We saw deer, antelope, wild horses, roadkill coyotes, it was all great! The views in the mountains never get old. I feel like every single mountain. I see I can take a picture of. I love it just as much as the one before and just as much as the one after. The colors that come out of the ground, the shapes and sizes, the objects that defy gravity, it’s also so beautiful! I also realize that when it gets dark out, there is a very predominant star to the east that I can see from home. Most likely anywhere you are if you look to the east, you’ll see what I’m talking about. I followed that star from Nevada all the way home. We set up a time, lapse camera, had fun, stopping when we wanted to, enjoy a little break at Bonneville salt flats, and all kinds of other cool places along the way whenever we road trip, I try my best to get up early and get a couple hours of drive time in before the world wakes up. we’re also battling time zones. Nevada is three hours behind Michigan and it seemed like we crossed a time zone every day. So, getting up at 4 AM kind of meant that we actually only got up at 5 AM. We lost an hour every day. now, we are home. We don’t exactly know what we will end up doing with this bus. There is enough water damage, body damage, and exterior needs, that we know a big project is going to cost even more money. I also don’t want to lose all the money we’ve “invested“ into this! for not now, I plan to replace the bushings in the track bar that are so sloppy. Then, we will take a breather from it. I did walk the roof today and was kind of impressed. It’s nice to know that it’s one solid panel, not a applied barrier of vinyl or other soft material. It’s hard, solid, and serviceable.

Dock removal day today. Tapped Clyde, the C-197 for hauling duty. Got 5/7 done. I ran out of daylight and energy. For @c-series don and @rjg854: Clyde, the C-195 at work, hauling dock sections and at quitting time:

I made a front weight bracket for flat plates. Free weight bar was cut. Old mule drive Bolt on receiver hitch. Extra unused drop hitch.

The white domed building is the McKim Observatory built in 1884. It is owned and operated by DePauw University. https://www.depauw.edu/about/campus/mckim-observatory/ 140 years old and very well preserved. On the National Register of Historic Places and has the original early telescope. The last picture is of the time clock that keeps the telescope aligned with what you are viewing- again clock technology from 1880s! This telescope was the 30th major observation telescope built in the USA according to to DePauw University.

I just picked this up and I after I power washed it I can't decide if I should paint it or clear coat it the way it is. I have a few days waiting on electrical and fuel parts for it so I need to decide.

Assembled some new old stock accessories :

Just for inspiration...

Trina's family has a look looonnngg standing tradition of Goin' apple pickin' 🍎 every year... for DECADES. They figure they haven't missed one in at least 30 years. Even then it was because some folks were 1000 miles away but some folks still went... My own past was also into the tradition but not quite so often or steadily. Well this year the grand baby is 16 months old and starting to walk/run explore. Most apple farms in this area have the standards in place. Apples in trees. Apples on the ground. Apples in bags for sale. U-pick. They pick. Whatever. Then some attractions like a playground and/or old machines to stare at. Cute little farm stand or store with various apple or other products for sale along with an assortment of ... various variables. Trina's daughter wanted to try a more "retail" farm with lotsa stuff to do. Ricker Hill Farm is all that & then some. The place is it's own destination. All of the above and on the grand scale. They even run a literal tractor & hay wagon commuting service for the whole day. Yesterday we happened to be there during a Craft Fair as well. All local. All home made items. This is Jaxon eating an apple his way. 1. Peel with teeth. 2. Discard peel. 3. Eat the nummy section below ridiculous annoying peel. This is how we hunker down below a tree and really set to munchin' Don't mess with him in this mode. We tried to get the kid to make a funny face but only the Bear succeeded. This bouncy house obstacle course was HUGE. Trina - being an average 5 year old - had to go through it. So she took the kid. These red standing pieces would bend towards you and knock you sideways. Jaxon kept going near, getting knocked over, and laughing really hard. Repeatedly. So eventually Trina stuffed him through. Here's the hay wagon ride settin with "Pappy Bear" nice n comfy after a busy few hours...

Did a few things today. New wheel on my B-80 36 inch mower deck. working on a transmission to change on a RJ. Cracked the drive pulley but had a couple extras. Also put Schnacke recoil back on my new to me RJ. With one of the new 1 1/2 inch hex nuts i had made. 7/20 fine thread on both ends of the 1 1/2 inch long 7/8 hex nut. Made so you can turn it around and use again if the hex gets rounded by the three recoil fogs!

Just returned from our first trip to England and most likely the only one. Friends who have been to London about twenty times said let's visit there so off we went for ten days. Did many of the newbie London tourist stuff. Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, theater, Churchill War Rooms, Bletchley Park, British Museum, Highclere Castle where Downton Abbey was filmed. Also a neighborhood pub with the son of another friend. We only scratched the surface. One could spend ten days in the British Museum alone. Our friends knew how to use the Underground (subway) and we traveled all about using it.

Patched the broken seat frame on my 314-8. One side was completely missing. some angle iron and flat stock was used.

I did this on a Coleman Columbia pop up. In 1989 I traded my 3000 lb 30' Mobile Traveler for the 1000 lb Coleman to take a tour of the Western National Parks. We spent 30 days and 5000 miles on the road in the camper. Total cost for the trip was $2900. Best vacation ever.

Getting his Lawn Ranger cleaned up and ready to polish. Got to love saving some original paint!

Freaking awesome 'Fish... 1045 all back finally together after being neglected all summer. Go to tub puller. Nothin like a fresh tranny. Tried @Racinbob patented input shaft shimming but kept binding it up???? Needs hood hinge work yet. Thinkin maybe weld washers on??

You can get fuel strainer parts at Napa, Tractor Supply ,Rural King Ect. Those sediment bowls are a French word for " fuel leak"