Introduction and Manual Request

[Frenchy 0]

Hello from a new member. My name is David and myself and my girlfriend recently became proud owners of an 1987 Wheel Horse 312-8. I'll have photos to post in the near future.

Our Horse was purchased new by her grandparents in 1987 and has been in use since then on their farm. It has quite a number of hours but it runs great.

As we have a new (to us) house with a large yard, they gave it to us as they were looking to upgrade to a new Deere.

There are a couple things I would like to fix on it as her grandpa liked to "fix" things his own way but in order to do that I need to come up with a parts manual for both the tractor and the mower deck (it has a 300-400 rear discharge deck). If anyone can help me out with that it would be much appreciated and I look forward to learning a lot about our new acquisition as time goes on.

Thanks,

David

[smoreau 658]

hello and :WRS:

[AMC RULES 36,945]

Original owner who gave it away?

To upgrade...no less...lucky you.

Might check the files section here on for the manuals you're looking for.

Google 312 parts, service, operators manual might work for you too.

Glad you joined us David.

:WRS:

[rmaynard 14,865]

:WRS: Glad to have you. As Craig said, check the files section; Wheel Horse Manuals/1985-2007 for the OM, and Implement Manuals/Mower decks & reels for the deck manauls.

[Tankman 3,515]

Try Yahoo Groups, search "Wheel Horse."

Every manual you might think of for Wheel Horse products.

Enjoy the old Horse!

[Jake Kuhn 1,547]

:WRS:

[Forest Road 594]

Welcome to RS! Congrats on your new house and horse. Best place for a manual is the Toro website. You'll need the actual model number of your tractor and deck, located under the seat and on the deck. Or you can.find them here in the picture gallery there is a complete list of model numbers. The parts are pretty much the same on yours front the mid 80s thru 2005. Lots of parts new used easily available. Change the rubber boot on top of your shifter if its cracked.

Next up check your trans fluid. You may or may not want to flush it.

Make sure all 3 deck spindles are greased as as all the tractor grease fittings.

Hope you like it cause they're known to go 40+ years!!!

[tunahead72 2,335]

Welcome David & girlfriend!

Just being careful here, are you certain your tractor is a 1987 model? It wasn't unusual to buy, for example, a 1986 model in 1987, and there are some fairly significant differences between the 1986 and 1987 models, especially in the engine and electrical system.

As Forest Road mentioned, look for a VIN plate on your tractor and deck, and on your engine. If the tractor is actually a 1987 model, it should be model 21-12K804, and the engine would be a Kohler Magnum M12S, spec. no. 471527 (assuming it's the original engine). If the engine is a Kohler K301, either the tractor is a little older than you think, or somebody's replaced the engine.

Likewise the deck. I believe the rear discharges from that era were either 36" or 42" wide, you can measure the length of one of the blades and multiply by 3 to figure out which one you have. The deck is probably one of the 05-36MRxx or 05-42MRxx series.

Bob (rmaynard) has pointed you in the right direction for what's available here on this forum, I'll let you poke around in there to find what you need. I know there's an owner's manual and wiring diagram for the 1987 tractor, plus operating & maintenance instructions and a parts manual for some of the mower decks from that period. Your deck may differ a little from what's in there, especially in the spindles, and especially if anybody's done any significant work on it.

And in addition to the other sources that some of the guys have mentioned, some of the online parts suppliers have good diagrams on their web sites. My first choice is usually PartsTree.com.

Have fun!

[Don1977 604]

Welcome to . :wwp:

[Frenchy 0]

Thanks everyone for the welcome, I have been playing around trying to get the photos to work so let's see how this goes:

[redhorse100 4]

hi looks like you have a 42 inch deck. if you have only one black roller in the middle up front it is a 36 inch but it looks like you have more than one roller in front it is a 42 inch deck

[Frenchy 0]

Just being careful here, are you certain your tractor is a 1987 model? It wasn't unusual to buy, for example, a 1986 model in 1987, and there are some fairly significant differences between the 1986 and 1987 models, especially in the engine and electrical system.

As Forest Road mentioned, look for a VIN plate on your tractor and deck, and on your engine. If the tractor is actually a 1987 model, it should be model 21-12K804, and the engine would be a Kohler Magnum M12S, spec. no. 471527 (assuming it's the original engine). If the engine is a Kohler K301, either the tractor is a little older than you think, or somebody's replaced the engine.

Likewise the deck. I believe the rear discharges from that era were either 36" or 42" wide, you can measure the length of one of the blades and multiply by 3 to figure out which one you have. The deck is probably one of the 05-36MRxx or 05-42MRxx series.

Ed & Others,

You do bring up a valid point regarding the year. Since my GF's grandparents bought this new, they also gave us the paperwork they had on it which included the Operators Manual for both the tractor and mower deck along with one for a "Lambert" grass/leaf sweeper that I imagine has long since kicked the bucket (anyone interested?). Also included were the invoices from the business they bought it which were dated in 1987 and why I considered it a 1987.

Unfortunately the S/N sticker on the tractor has faded considerably so I had to consult all this paperwork to find out that the tractor S/N is 2112K804 20059 6232 so this means it is a 1987. The S/N I was able to find from the paperwork on the deck is 0542MR04 71282 7252. I know it is a rear discharge but assume it is a 42" deck based on the number, correct?

As directed by several people I did some digging in the files section and found this parts manual:

Even though it is 1988, would the part numbers in this manual be the same for my tractor?

In regards to the mower deck, I also found the following manual for the mower deck:

Would this one also work for me?

Many thanks in advance!

David

[tunahead72 2,335]

You do bring up a valid point regarding the year. Since my GF's grandparents bought this new, they also gave us the paperwork they had on it which included the Operators Manual for both the tractor and mower deck along with one for a "Lambert" grass/leaf sweeper that I imagine has long since kicked the bucket (anyone interested?). Also included were the invoices from the business they bought it which were dated in 1987 and why I considered it a 1987.

It looks like your photo posting went just fine. That does indeed look like a 1987 model to me (the horizontal muffler is a clue).

I'm just going from experience here. I bought my 1986 310-8 brand new from a dealer in May of 1987. At the time, my dealer gave me an operator's manual that he said was "not quite right, but close enough". It turns out the manual was for a 1987 model, and it took me several years to realize what the differences were, and that some of them mattered.

Just for reference, check your operator's manual for a part number at the lower right corner of the cover page. If it's 810473R1, that's the same one I have and you should be fine there.

Unfortunately the S/N sticker on the tractor has faded considerably so I had to consult all this paperwork to find out that the tractor S/N is 2112K804 20059 6232 so this means it is a 1987. The S/N I was able to find from the paperwork on the deck is 0542MR04 71282 7252. I know it is a rear discharge but assume it is a 42" deck based on the number, correct?

Those stickers do fade, I can't read mine either. The older I get, the more I realize how smart it is to write this stuff down somewhere.

Those stickers actually include the model number, serial number and build date, I think in that order. And yes, that is a 42" deck.

As directed by several people I did some digging in the files section and found this parts manual:

Even though it is 1988, would the part numbers in this manual be the same for my tractor?

In regards to the mower deck, I also found the following manual for the mower deck:

Would this one also work for me?

The tractor parts manual is probably close enough for most of what you need, but be aware there might be subtle differences between what's shown in there and what's actually on your tractor.

The mower parts manual is exactly the right one for your deck, but even there keep in mind that it's just a piece of paper with some drawings on it. Errors do pop up every once in a while.

When in doubt, I usually refer to PartsTree.com or one of my local dealers. Just a tip, if you're looking online for parts, you'll usually need to include the dash when you specify a model number, so 21-12K804 for the tractor and 05-42MR04 for the deck.

--------

One final thing -- I'm getting a kick out of your deck height adjustment setup, I'm guessing that's not factory, right?

If that clamp is there because the mechanism is sloppy, check out this thread. It was one of the very first topics I ever read here, and the first thing I was able to fix with the help of the good folks at RedSquare :

I should note that most of TT's first post in that thread is missing, probably corrupted during one of the conversions that the forum went through a while back.

But fortunately, a complete version of the thread still exists on the "old" RedSquare.

Here's the full text of TT's first post (I've edited very slightly):

"If it isn't a broken spring on the handle, 80% of the time the selector quadrant gets pushed or bent away from the gauge wheel "channel"/ handle.

Remove the quadrant and bend it back to 90 degrees so it fits tight against the channel, or loosen it and slide it tight against. (if it isn't bent)

The other 20% is the square (looks like keystock) stops welded to the gauge wheel cross bar getting worn enough to let the entire gauge wheel assembly push away from the quadrant."