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bds1984

312-8 followed me home!

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bds1984

I picked up a 312-8 yesterday for a song. It has 1200 hours on it and a really nice 48-inch deck with her. The only issues are it needs a bath, new front tires badly, ignigtion switch, and some grass to mow! I don't think $300 was a bad deal for it!  One thing that gets me is the 6-inch tires on the front! Why?!?

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pfrederi

The 300 series had 6 inch fronts and narrower rears..probably to save money.  I swapped spindles and put 8" fronts on my 310-8 .. rides smoother

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bmsgaffer

The 6 inch wheels were on there for the 37" deck. That deck would hit a tire if used with the 8" wheels, so they shrunk the wheels.

I think they presumed not many people would want such a small deck on the higher horsepower machines, so they kept those equipped with 8" wheels.

Edited by bmsgaffer
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slammer302

bmsgaffer is right most of the 300 series horses ive gotten my hands on have the smaller front tires on them except the 314H i just bought. although none of them had the 37" deck deck on them. 

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muz123

Great find!

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bds1984

Well, that would makes sense to why my grandma's 312-8 hits the deck when turned hard left.  Her's must have the 8" wheels on in.  I suspect my new machine had a 37" deck to begin with and was later upgraded to the 48" deck that you see on it now since the deck has wheel horse ID tags on it and the tractor says Toro Wheel Horse.  Also, the deck is way too clean for that many hours compared to what I've seen; there is NO rust and hardly any wear on the deck compared to the minor rust of the foot rests.  For now, I am waiting on a new ignition switch as this one appears to have had a screw driver jammed into it... 

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bds1984

The 300 series had 6 inch fronts and narrower rears..probably to save money.  I swapped spindles and put 8" fronts on my 310-8 .. rides smoother

When you swapped the wheels, did you just use spindles from a machine with 8-inch rims? What is the difference? Aren't they all 3/4-inch spindles?

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bmsgaffer

The spindles for the 6" wheels are taller to make up for the difference in overall tire size, keeping the tractor level.
 

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cdsl810

Nice.

Those Kohler Magnums are underrated. I loved the M10 that was in my 310-8. It was even easier to work on than the K series. It was strong enough to inch a motorhome along a flat driveway.

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bds1984

Yes. Magnums are definitely underrated and so is the K341. All great engines. I'll finally get to test out the 312 on the lawn tomorrow. In the mean time I said goodbye to the 6-inch wheels and installed a set of 8-inch rims with new turf tires and buffed the hood and fenders. Gotta look good while mowing in a subdivision full of green, white and yellow!

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buckrancher

314's came with 8" front wheels

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Tankman
Excellent find but, doesn't the Ms. know the truth? She still buyin', "Look what followed me home!" ? :rolleyes:

Magnums are the bestest!
Edited by Tankman

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bds1984

This is where I benefit, I have no Ms. or Mrs! :ROTF:
 

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Wheel-N-It

300 dollars is a great price for that tractor, especially with the 48" mowing deck. That was a $3500 tractor and mowing deck combo when brand new. 1200 hours is nothing to worry about as long as the engine is not knocking or smoking, and even if it is, that tractor is worth the investment of a good running 12-16hp Kohler to keep it working and spinning that 48" mowing deck. Don't lose any sleep over it even if the engine throws a rod tomorrow!

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bds1984

I felt like I got a pretty good deal. Yesterday I cut two acres with it and was quite impressed at how '12' hp handled everything; didn't even bog down once. The only noise that I find worry some is the starter. Does it ever sound shrill when cranking! My grandma's 1988 312-8 with 500 hours sounds the same. Is it just a characteristic of M12s to sound like that? Even if it threw a rod tomorrow, I could have it up and running in a few days... no sleep will be lost!

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Wheel-N-It
I think  you need to remove the starter and lube the bendix

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DennisThornton

Like Wheel-N-It  said, great buy considering the 48" deck.  I wouldn't be surprise to see someone ask $300 for the deck alone!
But I did expect the deck to rub on your new 8" wheels and tires...

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Wheel-N-It

Like Wheel-N-It  said, great buy considering the 48" deck.  I wouldn't be surprise to see someone ask $300 for the deck alone!
But I did expect the deck to rub on your new 8" wheels and tires...

Dennis, since the avatar pic you see here was taken, I upgraded the wheels on my 312 -8 TORO Wheel Horse Classic (just like the one in this thread) to 8 inch with new tires and have not had a minutes trouble runing the 48" SD deck it came with new. Truely I'm at a loss for knowing why some WH tractors with 8" wheels rub a 42 or 48" deck and some do not. I seriously welcome any enlightenment on this subject.
I will say off to the side I think I like the old 6inch wheels and tires better for manuvering around the grass for mowing duty. The tractor seemed to steer a little easier. But it was not enough to change back to the 6inch setup. And then again it could have been the profile of the tire. The 8inch tires are sharply angled where the tread rolls off to the sidewall, and the 6inch tires were more rounded where the tread rolled off to the sidewall. I think the next time I purchase 8inch tires they will be of the more rounded design for this reason.

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