How Much For A Full Restoration?

[HorseFixer 2,012]

How much do you guys figure for a full restoration? I'm talking good rubber, every thing fixed mechanically, tires replaced if needed. All rust repaired, All dents repaired. Engine Freshened up, New Paint. Basically a tractor is show room shape.

My average price for each of my roundhoods after adding the cost all up and deviding by the QTY I have has been around $ 350.00 ea. I think I will be putting approx $ 650.00 to 850.00 in each tractor that would be engine freshened up, rubber, paint decals everything complete. Some more maybe some less. What I am driving at here by the time all are complete in cherry shape is $ 1000.00 to $ 1200.00 to much to invest in a tractor in that shape.

What do you guys think about all of this? :hide:

[COMB2 0]

What I am driving at here by the time all are complete in cherry shape is $ 1000.00 to $ 1200.00 to much to invest in a tractor in that shape

I havent really did a full resto so I cant give you a $ nymber.

I think if you like the tractor and enjoy doing the resto then it is well worth it. Also got the pride that you fixed and you didn't buy it that way

[wallfish 15,921]

I think restoring these tractors is more a labor of love than a labor for profit. Personally I would not spend that kind of money for a cherry machine that someone else built. I would however spend it in a machine and parts to do it myself but that's just me.

[BairleaFarm 339]

Not knowing first hand but running those numbers in my head sound fine. It all depends and will vary depending on what you have outsourced. Me personally - i dont have 1000 to spend on a tractor nor would I buy one for that. Now if you restore it to NEW and only have saw 1500 Dollars invested that would mean the tractor should last another 50 years. In the long run 1500 doesnt sound bad.

[daemon2525 5]

Well, I'm gonna try because I think that this is a good topic.

I made some mistakes in my first and only restore. so here goes.

Original 1967 model 1057 engine knocks and rusty $245

$30 on ebay for steering wheel

$30 on ebay for air filter and cover etc, original had homemade one

$20 on ebay for axle pin

$30 for front attachmatic and steel to weld up thing to adapt to old tractor

$20 for mid attachmatic (did not have one)

$20 for used seat

$58 for GENUINE KOHLER gasket set (do not do this)

$30 for new rod (because it knocked) because the damn crank was.20 under

$165 for new ag tires (millertire 70 x 2 plus 25 ship)

$20 for tubes for the front (save the origianl cracked tires)

$50 for Rustoleum paint (12x?)

$30 for belt guard (did not have one origianlly)

$35 new battery

$20 for new wires and connectors

Fire it up and engine still knocks because I put a standard rod on crappy crank

$200 for used 12hp kohler. (check it this time!!!)

$48 to turn crank .10 under

$48 to bore cyl .10 over

$120 for entire rebuild kit from ebay (piston,rod,rings,etc)

$200 for mower deck (did not have one origianlly)

$25 for new belt

$25 for used hub (old one had bad keyway)

I think that adds up to $1469,,, wanna buy it??? (for a $245 tractor)

I am sure that I forgot something, but I am tired of thinking.

Yup, I forgot yinylguys decals at $30

On the good side... It's not for sale!!!!!!

[TJ 171]

I have a 654 that I am just about ready to put back together again. I haven't added it all up, but 1,000 to 1,200 sounds about right. Not bad for a tractor that will be worth 400 or 500 dollars. It's definitly a labor of love. I'm already looking for the next WH. :horseplay:

[saguaro 0]

It's like it'll end up being about $600 for the ranger.

[HorseFixer 2,012]

Here Is Mine When I Do A Complete Rebuild Restore! They Will All Be Done Complete No Holds Barred!

Tractor Price 701 $ 350.00

Sand Blast, Primer, Paint, Fillers, Prep Materials $ 250.00

4 New Tires Tubes $ 250.00

Misc Parts?? Always Something $ 100.00

Engine Boring, & Crank $ 250.00

Engine Rebuild Kit $ 250.00

Total $ 1450.00

Well Maybe I Was Low

I guess the whole reason in me asking this is because If say ya kick the bucket

and the Mrs had to sell yer collection naturally you would want her to get a fair price for your collection! Or say you had a stroke of bad luck and needed to liquidate or sell off yer heard Is $ 1450.00 for a cherry tractor done correctly in perfect shape worth it? In my opinion yes sure would be nice to find a tractor that ran and operated perfectly with absolutely nothing that need to be done to it! So what ya guys think? :hide:

[bowtieguy 334]

Duke, I look at it this way....even with an employee discount I can NOT buy a new riding lawn mower for 1500 bucks at TSC that will do everything that a Wheel Horse can do...and I have neighbors that spend that much at Vega about twice a year but have nothing to show for it!!!

So if ya got the green stuff and ya got MJ approval...just do it...and when ya check out of this ole world I'm bettin MJ can sell your restored collection and get at least half of your money back!!...wha do ya think??

:hide:

[Butch 194]

You can pretty much always buy something already restored cheaper than building one yourself. But nothing feels better than seeing the final product of what you have accomplished. :hide:

[Butch 194]

daemon2525 that's pretty funny. I bought the engine rebuild kit on Ebay also and had the engine bored .10 over. The crank was fine but I had them do a valve job. But when I put in the piston I somehow scored the cylinder walls....badly. I took the block back to the machine shop. He said it can't be honed out. I gotta now go .20 over. I was sick. So I gotta buy more rings. I just went out and spent $180 for a OEM Kohler piston, rod, wrist pin and rings. I also bought a ring compressor. I used my fingers and a small screwdriver to pinch the rings to drop the piston in. I somehow must have done some damage to the rings to create all the scoring. I had everything lubed well or I thought I did. I was too lazy to drive 15 miles and buy the $10 ring compressor. I haven't touched the engine since. The piston is still in the cylinder. The engine is gonna wait until I get the tractor painted and put back together. There is a big difference however between the rebuild kit from Ebay and the Factory Kohler one. But I have about $1000 in the engine and another $1500 in the tractor. I get sick when I think of what I could have bought with that $2500. That was never my plan to sink that much money in this thing. But one thing led to another and another and another. It's too costly to scrap the project and it surely isn't getting sold. After I kick the bucket my kids will probably sell it for $200!! :hide:

[wallfish 15,921]

I'm bettin MJ can sell your restored collection and get at least half of your money back!!...wha do ya think??

I'm bettin she would be lucky to get half.

I've restored some other machines in the past and never got what I thought they were worth. To much labor involved.

As far as the tractors I have now, they will continue to have the "character" they have now. I use'em as the work machines they were meant to be and repair the mechanical issues. As long as they're not beat up to bad and mechanically sound, I kinda like the look of an old tractor that looks it's age. You can kind of see into it's past a little instead of your reflection in the paint. Just another $.02

[JimD 3,345]

How much do you guys figure for a full restoration? I'm talking good rubber, every thing fixed mechanically, tires replaced if needed. All rust repaired, All dents repaired. Engine Freshened up, New Paint. Basically a tractor is show room shape.

My average price for each of my roundhoods after adding the cost all up and deviding by the QTY I have has been around $ 350.00 ea. I think I will be putting approx $ 650.00 to 850.00 in each tractor that would be engine freshened up, rubber, paint decals everything complete. Some more maybe some less. What I am driving at here by the time all are complete in cherry shape is $ 1000.00 to $ 1200.00 to much to invest in a tractor in that shape.

What do you guys think about all of this?

maybe we should ask...ontoyou.

[Brian1045 28]

Counting my $800.00 rebuilt motor, I'm going to have between $1300.00 and $1500.00 in my first resto. The paint alone cost m over $400.00. But the tractor really didn't need a whole lot of anything else done to it besides the motor and paint.

So I would say it depends on the shape and how many things need replaced on the tractor. I won't spend near as much on the next resto as I did on my first one. Then again...Who knows maybe I will... :hide:

[Suburban 550 28]

Duke, Believe it or not there is about $1600.00 dollars invested in my 550 between paint, primers, new rubber, decals, total engine rebuild, and many little miscellaneous items. People think I'm crazy but it's all mine and NOT FOR SALE. I'm currently redoing a 702 and hope it turns out as good.

[Lane Ranger 10,495]

Restoration is always ongoing!

Parts wear out and use begats more use!

I an sure my $132 dollar Lawn Ranger has over $750 of new in it in the last year.

But where can you buy anything like it or anything that you can enjoy for that kind of money-mowing, hauling, riding and bucki :horseplay: ng up in third gear!

[Raider12 13]

The number of $1000 to $1400 sound like a real figure if you have to get into the engine futher than a gasket kit or something minor and add tires . BUT! When it comes right down to it, if you looking to do restorations to make a little extra money then you will need to sign up for unemplyment! If you really do just luv the WH's and luv the hobby and all that goes with it. Then it is a small price to pay to have a reason for all of us guys to hide in our shops from our wifes! My self, I do luv working on these tractors and I know I have a smile on my face from ear to ear when the guy next door runs over and ask "Dam did you BUY Another NEW tractor" I respond, Yep it's a brand new 1970 model! :horseplay:

Denver

[Suburban 550 28]

Raider 12, we must be married to sisters, but at least she knows where I am and what I'm doing and accepts it as my hobby.

[HorseFixer 2,012]

Duke, Believe it or not there is about $1600.00 dollars invested in my 550 between paint, primers, new rubber, decals, total engine rebuild, and many little miscellaneous items. People think I'm crazy but it's all mine and NOT FOR SALE. I'm currently redoing a 702 and hope it turns out as good.

Ray and All I can say it looks it! The kinda money Ray has put into this tractor was not squandered! This is the cleanest suburban I have ever seen! And in my honest opinion an example of the way a tractor should be restored! Ray on yer 702..... theres not a doubt in my mind!

[Michael Bullington 5]

I think your numbers are about right ,,,i spent about $1000 on this 654 which was given to me free,,,but it was a basket case to start with..The bad thing is after a restoration it seems to be kinda of a break even point on a sale,,,no profit...here my 654

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[Duff 206]

I've got about $650 in parts/paint in the rebuild of my 312-8 with no plans of ever selling it. Even at double that amount, given the price of the "big box" POS out there it would still be a good deal. For me, I've got a terrific machine that works well, looks good, draws more than its share of favorable comments from envious neighbors, will likely outlive me, and gives me a ton of personal peace of mind and satisfaction whether Im getting seat time or wrench time on it. In this crazy world there's no way to put a price on sanity, and my WH is my sanity!

Just MHO, my friends.......

Duff :hide:

[linen beige 14]

A few important things to consider when looking at restoring any machine.

One of the most important things is how much of the original machine is there and in working order? Worn out parts are almost as good as missing since they will cost a bit to rebuild.

How rare and hard to find are the missing parts? Parts that are unique to that model are going to cost more to replace. Can you find another one to copy? Sometimes that is the best route.

When looking at finishes, don't go by the surface appearance, look critically at the substrate. A dull finish will require pretty much the same amount of work to restore as a peeling, cracked, badly faded one. As long as the underlying structure is sound a cleaning and refinish is a cleaning and refinish. Badly pitted parts require a bit more work to refinish. Although small amounts of heavy rust are common to almost all restorations, if the whole machine is covered in pits it will cost much more to redo.

How many of the "trim" parts are in good condition, and do you know how to refurbish them. There are very few plastic parts on the older 'Horses, but if you need control knobs or a steering wheel redone can you do it at a reasonable cost? When I get into the restoration on my 400 I hope I can post a thread on repouring the steering wheel plastic (Something I picked up from the Model A crowd.). It's really not hard to do and doesn't cost a lot, yet is not a well known process.

Do you realistically have the time, patience, skill, space, tools, and what all to complete the job? Starting a restoration when you aren't capable of devoting the needed resources usually leads to half finished projects that are a let down.

Will it have value when finished? That is subjective to say the least. If the machine is something that you have a need for that can only be filled by restoring it, then it should be done. If it is something you have always wanted, go for it. If, like most of us, you just simply enjoy doing the work, dig in.

In the case of our Wheel Horses, putting $1000 or even $2000 into restoring one back to like new condition may sound foolish to some, but try to find a new machine that can do what these can for as long as these can for less than 10 times that much money. Can't do it can you?

There's your answer! You may not sell a restored Wheel Horse for what you have in it. But you can't buy anything close for anywhere near the price.

[Raider12 13]

Raider 12, we must be married to sisters, but at least she knows where I am and what I'm doing and accepts it as my hobby.

Mine is all good with the hobby as long as it doesn't cost anything!

Na, she isn't that bad, she just doesn't know everything I buy and have hidden out in the shop. :D

[BPjunk 184]

DANG DUKE!

Good thing THIS subject do not come up when you called the other day or we would STILL be on the phone!

You seem to have two subjects in this post.

1) Cost of a good restoration.

2) Can the money spent on a restoration be recovered completely in a auction/sale.

Like has been written already in this thread the cost of a restoration depend on the what your starting with and what your abilities are.

To me if some thing has to be sold quickly you can count only getting back 1/3 of the items actual value and when I say "sold quickly" I mean a auction.

On my Lawn Rangers ...... to me the L-157 and being the first Wheel Horse autographed by Cecil Pond and one of my better restorations this tractor will not be sold but will be donated to a museum. The cost was astornomical to restore as it was done long before the service of the internet. Now my Mighty Lawn Ranger Six Speed that was another costly restoration will be buried with me in my grave ..... as will the secrets of the Unlimited RPM TECUMSEH engine!

Wild Bill in Richmond, Va.

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[bluetuna08 0]

full restoration for me costs between 700 and 1000 bucks including the price of the tractor.

this is a labor of love and I dont like to ask myself the money questions because it kinda takes the fun out.

if you buy a little bit at a time maybe 200 bucks a month worth of parts its easier on you, your wallet, and your wife :hide: