help.thinking of buying my first Wheel Horse

[papah 1]

       could you check this out and tell me good or bad,,thanks     

Edited January 28, 2017 by T-Mo
No linking to active Craig's List Ads per rules.

[N3PUY 1,031]

I have one like it.  Love the sound of the Onan.  It's worth the $750 but less would be better.   It appears to be in very nice condition.

Go for it!  

 

[AMC RULES 36,945]

The  looks great... 

but, linking to C/L ads is bad. 

   

[SylvanLakeWH 24,113]

[953 nut 51,625]

   Linking to a CL or Ebay listing that is not yours is a NO-NO around here;  but since you did I took a look and must say it looks great. If it performs as good as it looks you will be doing well with that .

[AMC RULES 36,945]

  Even if the ad is yours Richard.    

https://www.wheelhorseforum.com/guidelines/

[ACman 7,505]

Looks to be a good deal (nice and clean) , but as always try talking them down  .

 

 yea , got to play by the rules...just say something like found a 416-8 in Des Miones area ,most of us no what to do .

 

good luck ! 

Edited January 28, 2017 by ACman

[jay bee 817]

 to Papah.  Glad to have you here.  Another way to research the price is Click on Classifieds on the Home Page then look in Wheel Horse for Sale or look in the Wheel Horse Sold Archive section.  Good luck to you on your  pursuit!!!

 

Jim 

[daveoman1966 3,610]

the 416-8 was made from 1985 thru 1997.  Serial number will tell you the age.  IMHO, the Onan is the weak point...others will say different.  Anyway...this should fetch anywhere from  $500 and up....anytime.  So, if you negotiate to ...say $650...you are really only at maximum risk of $150 or so.  The other risk is, of course, the addiction.  Once bitten, it becomes almost genetic. 

   

[Daddy Don 889]

[benji756 341]

the hub caps alone are worth $150, I say go for it 

[DennisThornton 4,769]

Looks great to me!  Rather see a 48" deck for that money so I'd offer less to start and see what happens. 

[evanloock 216]

The appearance of the deck belt guards (bolted to the deck reinforcement plate) seems to indicate that is a 48-inch deck.

[Digger 66 3,476]

8 hours ago, ACman said:

 

 

 yea , got to play by the rules...just say something like found a 416-8 in Des Miones area ,most of us no what to do .

 

 

 

Or just take a screen - shot of the pic in the ad , post it here without the text .

Like so ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 28, 2017 by Digger 66

[W9JAB 156]

Sorry, but if it was me I would steer clear of this one.

1- never cared for the Onan, I had them on large commercial

pressure washers(when in that business) had problems with

carburetor "searching", points and timing. and manufacture help was nonexistent.

2-If it says Toro it's not Wheel Horse (in my book)

3- NOT a fan of "hydro's"

That said it very well may be a good tractor, but if your looking for a

"Classic" Wheel Horse, this is not it.

JUST MY 2 cents.

JOE

[richmondred01 2,205]

Can't go wrong with a 416-8. Like joe I'm not a fan of hydro but the 8 is great. Yes I would rather have the kohler 16 but if you keep up with the onan maintenance and keep those back fins in the cylinder clean you will be fine. Keep the valves in adjustment, and decarb the heads. I also made louvers in the drive belt shield. That gives the back cylinder extra air for cooling. 

Every onan I've had on a Wheelhorse, I off load it and pull it directly into the garage. The engine gets pulled, at minimum it's fully cleaned, decarbed the heads,  lap the valves, adjust the valves new head gaskets, valve cover gaskets, valve seals replaced and carb rebuilt, new intake manifold gaskets and exhaust gaskets. If I'm going to keep it, while it's out of the tractor, I pull the mag and replace the ignition module with a new one.

It takes me a day to do the work and about 100.00 in parts but you are starting fresh with no doubts. 

I would buy it for 750.00 just make sure both cylinders are operational. The tend to break rods and pop valve seats. 

Edited January 28, 2017 by richmondred01

[rmaynard 14,888]

My 1996 416-H, with an Onan P-216 has 1600 hours on it. Other then puffing a small amount of smoke on startup, the engine is strong. I too am a fan of Kohler, but love the sound of the Onan twin. As far as things with the name Toro, I must say that if not for Toro, Wheel Horse may have become MTD . At least Toro kept the Wheel Horse name for a couple decades, and still maintain a stock of some parts for us.

[bmsgaffer 2,043]

 x 1000

 

If not for toro we would have MUCH harder time in this hobby. They saved wheel horse for 20 years!

[richmondred01 2,205]

9 minutes ago, bmsgaffer said:

 x 1000

 

If not for toro we would have MUCH harder time in this hobby. They saved wheel horse for 20 years!

100% agreed. Just look at cub cadet in 1981 when ih sold out to mtd. Within 3 years they were trash.

look at the great tractors and improvements made for 20 years after the toro merger. 

[W9JAB 156]

14 hours ago, bmsgaffer said:

 x 1000

 

If not for toro we would have MUCH harder time in this hobby. They saved wheel horse for 20 years!

Oh I agree that Toro saved the Wheel Horse name, and did a fairly decent job in the parts department.

BUT (big But)  To me if it say's Toro it's not a Wheel Horse, that's just me.

[bmsgaffer 2,043]

2 hours ago, W9JAB said:

Oh I agree that Toro saved the Wheel Horse name, and did a fairly decent job in the parts department.

BUT (big But)  To me if it say's Toro it's not a Wheel Horse, that's just me.

 

Even though 95% of the parts for the classic series were the same exact parts they had been using for a long time? (Starting i think around the very end of the 60's or early 70's the frame has remained mostly unchanged, along with MOST of the parts that make up the core of the tractor). Toro bought it in 1985 or 86? and used the same parts all the way up until 2005 or 07 when the classic series stopped being made. 

 

So basically the only thing that truly changed was that they put a new logo on it.  I just want you to know that it IS a wheel horse all the way to its core. (This does not account for the 200 series or any of those side series')

 

And don't get me started on the XI series. Toro took a wheel horse and other than its appearances, actually made it better!

 

Most people don't give the Toro brand a fair shake, sure they made some junk, but they did great with wheel horse. 

[Racinbob 10,276]

On 1/27/2017 at 11:55 PM, DennisThornton said:

Looks great to me!  Rather see a 48" deck for that money so I'd offer less to start and see what happens. 

 

Actually, it has a 48" deck. I just looked at it on CL. The seller listed it wrong. Don't worry about the Toro on the side. It's a Wheel Horse all the way. As long as it runs good it's worth the price.

[artfull dodger 329]

Onans are just maintaince hogs.  But stay on top of it, use the correct oil, valve adjustments and decarbon the heads every 200 hours and they do ok.  They do drink the fuel though.  The most bulletproof horse will have a single cylinder Kohler engine, either the older K series or newer Magnum series.  They are much easier on fuel, make plenty of power and are much easier on the wallet for maintance or when a rebuild is due.  Easiest way to post is to save one or two of the pictures from the ad to a photo hosting site like photobucket.  Then you  can link the pic, and just ask what others think of the tractor without mentioning where its listed at.   Also if you have an idea what you want, put a wanted post here.  Many times guys have stuff for sale but not listed yet and are in your area.  I found my Horse on that site you looking at but its a clean older Commando 8 with the K181 cast iron Kohler engine and a gear drive instead of a hydro.  Mike

[JeanUKWildcat 15]

Looks arent everything, Its all about whats under the hood and how it runs. If they say theres nothing wrong and it all works fine, thats never the case. After you get it home or after you use it something always comes up wrong with it. If they aint the original owner of it, you dont know how the previous owner(s) treated it ( like the up keep on it) nor what they done to it repair wise. Buy at your own risk. 

[artfull dodger 329]

Onans to not tollerate abuse or lack of maintance, period.  Most are long in the tooth now, unless its been rebuilt with reciepts to prove it.  I would look for a nice single cylinder Kohler powered horse.  There is a nice 315-8 classic in our area for sale, not cheap but one of the last Wheel Horses built before Toro dropped the line.  Mike the Aspie