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Some of you members who go to the Wheel Horse show, know my Grandson Mason. Well on December 14, we had our first snow, and Mason has his first time driving in it. Unfortunately, he and his Subaru Outback had an untimely meeting with an F-350 pickup truck, his own. This was in the driveway. The F-350 won. He was quite upset but said that it would be back on the road in time for reopening of schools. So, Mason did not want to report it to insurance for obvious reasons, and he did not want to take it to a body shop, so he proceeded to disassemble it. After determining there was no frame or engine damage, he started his search for parts. He found a bumper cover, left fender, and hood, all the same color. He purchased a new core support and radiator, two new headlights, and a grill. He brought the car over to my house yesterday. The whole job was done outside in 15 to 35 degree weather. Total cost? $1400. That's perseverance.

Here I go again. As the title says, this years project is a 401 Suburban. Will start off with some ground 0 pics. Next step that I was happy about was my Christmas Miracle. The steering wheel came off without special tools or much resistance. When I bought the tractor it had a Nova ignition module on it. Starting it was sometimes a challenge so I wanted to switch it back to points before disassembly. Happy to say that it starts much better on points than it did with the Nova module. With this accomplished it was time to move on to tear down. A couple of hours later & I had a pile of parts. I went through the transmission shortly after I bought the tractor because it had a 3rd gear issue, so that will not have to come apart again. The engine runs good with no smoke, so hopefully it will not need a rebuild. It does appear to be seeping oil from the head gasket, so I will pull the head to change the gasket. Will also inspect cylinder condition as long as it's open. Now for some P.O. surprises. Lets just say that some people should not be allowed to play with welders. First, when a lock collar cracks I guess one should grab the welder & tack it in place. Drag link issue?? Lets burn that in place too. I'm sure there will be a few more surprises. Feel free to come along for the show.

We got a few inches of the white stuff today, daytime temps in the 20's. Used all three of the seasoned "Snow Angels" - 1979 C81, 1964 854 8 Speed, and the 1976 Ariens 24" Snow-Thro. The Snow Shovel not shown has only 8 years on the job, gets an "Honorable Mention" ...

The leads going to the cruise control electromagnet on my 522xi showed definite signs of having served as a meal or nesting material for a mouse or some small furry critter. All but one or two strands of the wire were chewed through: Not a difficult repair job. Cut/strip/crimp: First layer of heat-shrink tubing: Second layer of heat-shrink tubing: Wires fixed. I managed to clean and save most of the original outer jacket/loom: Electromagnet reinstalled: Rounded up the usual suspects, but had to let this one go for lack of evidence:

The right-rear axle seal in my 522xi failed rather suddenly, as evidenced by the oil slick that appeared overnight on the garage floor. I jacked up the rear end and checked for play in the bearing, as well as end play in the axle. All was snug and smooth, so I figured that the rubber portion of the seal probably split or became detached from its metal ring. So, off with the hub. I loosened the set-screw jam nuts, heated the set screws just enough to soften up the factory-applied thread-locking compound, and removed them, using a 3/8” square (4-point) socket. I was going to use a three-jaw puller to remove the hub, as shown in the service manual. However, the hub appears to be cast iron, and I saw that some forum members had broken a hub flange with a puller. I could have used a bearing separator to pull the hub by flipping the jaws front-to-back and placing it directly right behind the flange, contacting the hub reasonably close to the center, but I opted for a more ‘elegant’ solution: I made a custom hub-puller that I could use again for future repairs if/when needed. It didn't take long to make. I traced the wheel hole pattern onto a scrap piece of 3/8" steel plate, drilled five 15/32” holes (for 7/16” bolts), drilled a 25/32” hole in the center, and welded a 3/4” grade 8 nut to the plate. I would have made the plate round, but I didn't have a wide enough piece of 3/8" plate, so it's in the shape of a pentagon. I figured that pulling from five points instead of three, and with those points closer to the center of the hub than its edge, there wasn’t much chance of breaking the casting. Also, before applying any pulling force, I snugged up all five of the 7/16” bolts finger-tight to make sure it would pull evenly from all five points. It worked “slick as snot on a glass doorknob,” as an old employer of mine used to say. As I suspected, the rubber portion of the seal had partially separated from its steel outer ring. I pried the seal out, being careful not to scratch the axle or transmission mating surfaces. I also checked for burrs on the axle, to avoid scratching the new seal when installing it. I made a simple seal installation tool by turning down a piece of schedule 80 PVC pipe in my lathe, which worked fine for installing the new seal. I’ll improve that tool later by inserting a thin sleeve inside it for a closer fit over the axle. Here's my hub service 'kit,' consisting of the puller, the 3/8" square socket, and the plastic seal installer, which I'll keep together in a bin for later use. I re-installed the original plastic thrust washer, which had a few thousandths of wear, but was still in good condition. I also installed a new key, even though the old one looked fine, and I cleaned and dried the set screw threads in the hub, so that the Loctite would work properly. The hub was still a snug fit on the axle, and I tapped it into place with a dead-blow plastic hammer to the point where there was only about .002 or .003 inch of end play in the axle (in other words, I tapped the hub far enough on to the axle to make up for the slight wear in the plastic thrust washer). I then installed new grade 8 square-head set screws with Loctite 271, torqued them per the service manual specs (28-32 ft. lbs.) and tightened the jam nuts. Done, no leaks, and I have a tool that will make any future hub work easier.

All: Having "moved" both spindle bores when I machined it for bushings, I realized I now needed slightly shorter length Tierods. I have used regular 1080 Cold Rolled material for another set, but the quality of the machined threads was lacking. This set I switched to 12L14 "leaded" hexstock - per the certificate it has .27% lead in the alloy. This allows easier machining with a superior finish. Cost is just a couple of bucks more than 1080. The threads shown are done with an adjustable thread cutting die - 3 passes needed to get the proper shaft to nut fit. Shown is the die from the final pass - the chips look like angel hair Also shown is the old trick of having a starting pilot diameter for the die - it is removed once the threading is done. The 12L14 material is safe to work with, but sanding, grinding and welding are NOT recommended...

Put a new brake pedal return spring on my '75 B100 Auto a couple weeks ago and when I was done the engine wouldn't crank with the ignition switch. No click, nothing, but I could turn the key to the run position, jump the solenoid and it would start right up and keep running. Switch tested good and I tried another known good one, same for the solenoid. The seat saftey switch was long gone when i got it. I replaced a sketchy looking splice in the lead to the solenoid and also put a new terminal on it. I did find that somewhere in all this the terminal for the battery negative cable had snapped off where it was fastened to the frame so I put a whole new cable on, still nothing. I had continuity across the switch but when I checked from the switch to the solenoid nada. I pulled the rectifier/ammeter mounting plate to take a look at the wiring to the switch from there. Ammeter had been bypassed years ago. I had juice from the switch to the rectifier but nothing to the feed running to the solenoid. I started to suspect the PTO safety switch...... That's when it hit me, I gave the PTO lever a pull and it moved backward, it had gotten bumped forward just enough to break the circuit..... put it all the way back, hit the key and it spun right over. Realizing I'm a moron never felt quite so good LOL. I did however take care of at least 3 future wiring problems so it wasn't a total loss. Thought I'd share that, always make sure everything is in the off position even if you "know" it is. All it took in this case was a few degrees of rotation and my total confidence it was an actual electrical issue..

Stuck these lights on the 1257 today just to see what they look like. The holes are already there so dont know if I want to fill them in, leave them alone, or run these lights? They would be handy in the dark of night . What is everyone’s opinion?

Sacrilege or not I wanted some new wheels, tires, hubs, and lugs. Put old shoes on my L-156.

Just recycle them into trailers....

The doc told me a few bacon bits on my salad is fine.

During the winter months, I take to playing with the model train layout I've got in the basement. It's "L" shaped and is 11 feet by 22 feet. It's a great way to while away time when there's no grass to mow. The assisted living where mom lives has asked me to bring a train set up and leave it for them for a few days. If it's successful I'd like to do a snow scene next year. So I practiced making a small diorama. It's probably 24" square. I got a little heavy handed with the fake snow but it's learning as I go. This diorama is made of drywall compound, paste board boxes cut in strips, assorted paint, paper mache run through blender, wire and rope for trees and/or cuttings from trees in back yard and glue and some hair spray. I've probably got 8 or ten hours in this project.

Team 4x4

Put new 24-12-12 tires on C160. They are Horseshoe brand will try and post more info on them in lets talk tire thread.

After a year of sweat, tears, and help from the forum. I'm done (enough) for now. After a few dicky electrical gremlins which I thought were solved, its not starting reliably, and ready to be put through it paces. And then in a year, I'll fix all the other stuff I'm not happy with.

There are way too many "lower life forms" that sell WH parts on CL and FB Marketplace. They are not one bit interested in preserving the hobby, just the color of folding money. I have had mostly decent transactions on Fleabay - but the most accurate, knowledgeable and honest are the folks here on Red Square....

Getting ready for first time plow use to turn up some grass to place in rills from recent rains that are cutting up newly laid drive to shop. Didn't get it all setup correctly but got enough to save culvert. All the plowed area was covered by new shop so no loss. Since I reviewed plowing directions in manuals I see my mistakes and not enough wheel weight either.

Merry Christmas from the PeacemakerJack family. This is Coulter Caleb’s new house and his fiancée Faith (sitting on her 314H) along with the rest of our family. We started taking these Christmas tractor pictures 11 years ago…a lot has changed since that first picture. I’m so thankful for the many memories made through the years. As Tiny Tim observed, “God bless us…every one!”

This morning a balmy 8 degrees predict 7 inches of snow starting after lunch

Before someone mentions it, yes the 8N came out unofficially in 1947. While most will tell you the 8N was from 1948 through 1952, the first 8Ns were sold in 1947 and there are a few design characteristics that a 1947 has that a 1948 doesn't. They are explained in my youtube video here, and also explains why this is not a 1950-1952 side mount tractor: I got this tractor in the summer of 2021. Since this came out of the factory as a front mount engine, things were done to it to convert it to a side mount engine. Different timing cover, different cam gear, i.e. that allowed the front mount distributor to be thrown away and a side mount distributor to be added. As explain in the video, the front mount engines had the generator (in this case alternator) on the right side, but to convert this to a side mount, the distributor goes on the left side. So the alternator was moved to the left side with a funky looking home made bracket. A true side mount distributor had the oil filler tube moved rearward slightly to make room for the generator, whereas this one being a front mount engine, the oil filler tube was just smashed against the engine block to accommodate the alernator. Being that this was a homemade side mount conversion, when I got it, it didn't run right. So we put it in time and now it runs good. The fan shroud was trashed, so a new fan shroud, as well as a new radiator. Also new steering wheel was added as well as a new grille. After power washing, the first coat of red went on in the spring of 2022. Light grey was added to the wheels and fenders and doglegs, as well as the new grille. But since I don't do body work and my bil does, he took the hood and was supposed to work on it. He had it for 3 and half years, and I finally got it back a couple of weeks ago. So, now the hood can be painted. Along the way, I replaced the pto seal since it was leaking. It still needs the left rear axle seal replaced. And I want to get a new battery door latch. The almost finished product is more of a 50 foot paint job (maybe 50 yards....). It is almost there. Since the red paint was added, it sat in the garage so, it now needs powered washed to get the red to shine again.

Put some bushing in a hydro belt take up. The old ones were shot. Got some bunting flange bearings at Amazon. reamed out the hole with a 5/8 drill, but started in straight with a step drill first. Worked okay was trying to keep it simple. I did add a keeper bolt threaded in the end to keep it all together due to eliminating the e clips on the shaft to accept the thicker flange bearings. Bearing were $3 and change each.

This is a good spot for this. You may remember me struggling to get a lug bolt out of a wheel a while back. It was a regular 7/16" bolt apparently driven in with an impact wrench WAAAAAY too tight. It was from a 68 Raider 9 that I have parted out. I tried everything up to welding a nut on it that was my last attempt at failing before I just set it aside to regain some form of sanity. Even though I doubt that I will be needing them I try real hard to save wheels that have the correct setback for Wheel Horses. They are a bit of an oddball. The same goes for saving hubs. These especially as they are the heavy hubs with factory double setscrews. Over the weeks of it just sitting in the garage I decided that the hubs were more important if I couldn't save both. I already had the bolt drilled out to something under 3/8". This morning I went ahead and drilled it to 3/8" which was as far as I wanted with hoped of not damaging the threads. It looked like this. I set it on 4x4's and smacked the hub opposite of the stuck bolt. It actually didn't take much. It snapped off clean and the culprit came right out. The hub threads didn't look bad at all. I chased them all with a 7/16" tap and a 3/8" for the setscrews and these hubs are in dandy shape! An added bonus is that the wheel is fine as well. You can see where the jammed bolt was but it's not harmed. Bottom hole. My only New Years resolution is to never make resolutions. But I'd say this is a good start. Happy New Years!

Grandpa, you can choose to not give me what I want to eat today, But remember I will be making the decision for your long term care!

Rearranged my horses in the garage in order of likelihood of them seeing use. Mounted a set of tri-ribs for the C-141 and stole the front weights off the C-120 and put on it. Moved Johnny over to the cold side of the garage until I get some hydraulic lines for the lift. First time all 3 tractors have been up and going at the same time!

December twenty eighth is Pledge of Allegiance Day. On this day, the calendar lights up with Pledge of Allegiance Day. It’s a special time to reflect on the powerful words that bind the country’s ideals of freedom and unity. Pledge of Allegiance Day is not just about honoring these words. It’s a day to celebrate our collective identity and the principles that define us as Americans. It encourages us to delve into the Pledge’s history, understand its significance, and appreciate the sacrifices made by those who serve our country. The story of Pledge of Allegiance Day begins with Francis Bellamy’s creation of the pledge in 1892. It was first published in “The Youth’s Companion” magazine to encourage patriotism among young Americans. The original text was simple, focusing on loyalty to the flag and the country. Over the years, the Pledge saw changes, like the addition of “the Flag of the United States of America” in 1923 and “under God” in 1954, reflecting the nation’s evolving identity and values. The idea of a dedicated day for the Pledge ties back to its significance as a unifying and patriotic statement.

Got only 6.5” and the blower made quick work on clearing most of the driveway, followed it all up with the plow and viola, all clean! Definitely need the sun to come out

85 416-8.

Off the trailer and a quick hoon up and down the driveway. Forward, reverse, and now brakes! Starts after a few cranks, and cranks every time now. (Also stuck the tail sticker on)

day after Christmas storm here in Hudson River Valley, NY - plus further upstate into Adirondacks ( and NYC ) -- and apparently moved into Connecticut, Mass. and moving through New England - fairly light snow - 6 inches from 6 pm to 10 pm with more expected overnight -- so more plowing will be needed in the morning ( C175h with 48 plow ) -- a storm of 5 inches couple weeks ago no chains needed --- but for this storm choose to add the chains

1986 417-8 Older pic out for a trail ride. Getting a hankering for a Winter trail ride, thanks Mike . Now I may have to put the Kwik-Way weight box back on. Usually don't need chains just need to keep the revs up and stay on the pipe.

Today I towed the C-141 back home, from my brothers next door after the battery went dead. Everything went fine, and it just slid along on the snow. The gradual hill beside my brothers house was a bit tricky with brakes that stopped but the tires still slid, no mishaps though. The 308 with the plow came in handy getting it in the basement garage/workshop once I got there. Tomorrow I'll charge it up and test it out. I might get some seat time plowing on the 308 as we got a significant amount of snow since yesterday.

January 1, 1959, Johnny Cash played his first of many free prison concerts at San Quentin State Prison on January 1, 1959, a pivotal event that inspired a young Merle Haggard, then an inmate, to pursue music, kicking off Cash's lifelong advocacy for prisoners and leading to iconic albums like At Folsom Prison and At San Quentin.

Changed out the powered worm gear snowblower chute with a powered chain drive.

Happy New Year everyone !!! With the day off I figured I'd take advantage of getting paid to work on my own stuff. A little progress report for y'all. First off I degreased the parts so that they would be ready for the blast cabinet. With the dishes done it was time to move on to repairs. First off get the drag link that a PO welded to the fan gear removed. Hood stand had some fatigue cracks that needed to be addressed. Tool box also had some fatigue cracks. Drilled some holes at the end of the cracks, beveled them out & welded them up. @AlexR was recently asking about spindle repairs. The spindles on this tractor had some pretty severe wear. I welded these then trimmed them back down to size with a grinder & a file. Bearing now fits snug on the spindle. That's all for today.

Put juice to my new headlights on 1257 today. Halogen bulbs and pretty bright, 2nd pic is in shop and pitch dark. Dont remember what the watts are. Thought about going with led bulbs but IDK if it would be worth the extra coin.

Don one winter on my old 854 after snowplow. I checked gas tank and it was a lot lower than when i filled 3/4 up. Started looking around and i felt under the two piece gas tank and found a leak. i bought this 854 from a guy i knew and i helped him fix the tank! So i kew we sealed good and i recalled we pit bigger sheet metal screws in the bottom with the new seal. i got real luck as only two or three loosened up. I placed in garage and warmed tractor up and retightened the screws. By some pure luck as i added no more permatex or other sealant it never leaked again! At least for the three or four more years i had it! I sold this one at the Big Show this year!

Finished the fuel pump job. I had the oil drain on the tilted tractor open all night to be sure all the tainted oil was out of the crankcase. Closed it (per “note to self” since the threads were already well lubed ) and filled the case. Ran it for about 10 minutes and no sign of leaking. Whew! Noticed the voltage was a bit high (14.8 - 15.0) so while the hood was off anyway, I tweaked the regulator back to 14.4.

Got a different tire and new tube waited a day to make sure everything held air. Getting the 68.5lbs weight back on is a real PIA. Came up with this based on something posted here a few weeks ago. Worked great. The wood plate was what I used to use for WH tranny swaps before i got a tranny jack.

Soaked it with Sea Foam Deep Creep a week before trying. Roll pin drove out easily. Turned the wheel all the way to the left, gave an extra nudge and it spun on the shaft. Spun it a few times on the shaft & it pulled right off. Easy peasy.

Yesterday I brought the 314-8 into the garage, after not wanting to start or run right. Didn’t want to throttle up or move at anything above idle. Had it running outside the garage for a bit, then it cleared up. First thing I did was check the fuel. Almost empty. Well that was probably it. That tank went fast in 2 plowings. Dumped half a can of seafoam in the tank. Ran it back over to the shed and filled it up with non ethanol gas. Ran great since. Greased the tractor, and oiled up all the moving parts of the plow. plowed the driveway today with no issues.

When plowing driveways I'm crossing the state road a lot. I like lights on day and night.

Transmission is back together just working on getting the old paint off so I can paint it and have to do some welding on the frame

I bought this commando 8 back in 2015 at a auction it was my second wheel horse to own I did parades and shows with it until the rod went through the block so I sold it to Oliver 2-44 years ago and just bought it back from him can't wait to enjoy some seat time again it will be a spring time project

I don't know what "GP lube" is but you're probably better off cleaning all of the sticky stuff and go with a dry lube like graphite or one of the dry lube sprays. https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/crc-dry-graphite-lube-10-oz-03094/11318483-P

I made the belt tensioner last week. Originally was using the existing v-pulley from the factory belt tensioner but then decided to use the flat pulley from the mower deck tensioner to get a better wrap around the drive pulley to prevent slipping. I have 3 different drive pulleys to try, 4” that matches original engine, 3-1/2 that I have installed, and a 3” pulley.

Bad news. Good news. So-so news. Yesterday only a couple minutes after I started up the tractor to do some touch-up plowing, I saw something leaking from near the carb on the 854. I quickly parked it and shut the fuel petcock to await time for diagnostics. This afternoon I had a couple of free hours (company went sightseeing in NYC!) Bad news: Started it up easily and within a minute or so saw gas-laced oil dripping from the breather and the governor shaft. Fuel pump diaphragm was the suspect. Drained the crankcase and stashed the output for the hazardous chemical pickup day. (Also the dots connected: yesterday after the 1st session I had a little fuel on the bottom of the tank but when I went to top off before starting the second session, it was dry. Duh, it was dripping into the crankcase!) Removed the fuel pump and with output plugged could easily blow through the (definitely holed) diaphragm. Good news: Had a spare diaphragm and put it in after touching up flatness of the mating pump halves. Garage was 30º but with the heat gun I was able to gently warm the fuel lines to get them back onto the pump without damage. So-so news: Went to grab the 30w oil off the shelf and I only had 10W-30. Yeah, that’d be ok for the next cold months, but I’ll just as soon be patient for a day until I can get my preferred stuff.

I grew up about a block away from an old gentleman who was supposedly a model train legend. He had shelves and shelves of collectible engines, cars, miniatures, etc. They removed a wall between 2 upstairs bedrooms, where he had a fascinating layout. Us kids were allowed to look but NOT TOUCH. His name was Ed Crismore, from Uniondale, IN.