Jump to content
EricF

Found a 520H for my first Horse

Recommended Posts

 
T-Mo

:WRS: and to Wheel Horses in general.  It looks like you got the whole package, good for mowing and snow removal.  Looks like someone mounted some lights for you on the blower.

 

Again, welcome to WH and RS.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
farmer

:text-welcomeconfetti: Eric F,

I don't know what you paid, but as you say compared to a new 'ride on' it was cheap. With the help (if you should need it ) from the members here, you will likely have a machine to be proud of and will last you many years. :handgestures-thumbupright:

You will thank your lucky stars you were off sick!

  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
Blasterdad

:text-welcomeconfetti:

Make sure to check the GEAR OIL in that blower, grease the deck spindles, & change the oil & check the fluid in the hydro... (when you feel better).

Also a good Idea to check the air flow across the cylinders, especially the rear one, mice and/or grass like to get in there over the years, & the belt guard hinders the air flow on the rear cylinder.

 

  • Like 6

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
elliot ness

Sweet, You just made a life time purchase.:text-bravo: One of my all time favorite W/H's 520H and you got all the good stuff with it, enjoy friend and welcome to red Square where a world of knowledge on these wonderful Wheel Horse's is at you finger tips, just for the asking.:text-welcomeconfetti:

  • Like 4

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
1995 520H+96+97

:WRS:  :wwp:

How many hours are on it?

 

  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
Tankman

Very nice! A Horse is a Horse of course!

Please do update your progress, we "need" to know. Of course we do!  :handgestures-thumbupright:

  • Like 4

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
jellyghost

Buying a package is the way to go! I see that you got wheel weights and chains too.  Great buy.

 

  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
Ed Kennell

:text-welcomeconfetti: to the :rs:               Congrats on your new toy, I am sure working on it will be good therapy to help you over your illness. 

 

The 520H is a great machine that will handle any task.  With the hydraulic lift, it also has the stronger Eaton 1100 transmission.    The one area of concern is the excess heat build up in the rear cylinder of the Onan P220 .   When these tractors are used for mowing duties, they tend to suck a lot of grass into the engine.  The front cylinder is quite open on the right side, so the air flow is high enough to blow the grass through.   However the rear cylinder has less flow due to the belt guard blocking the air flow and the grass clippings tend to collect in the cooling fins.  If this is allowed to happen, the high temperature will cause the block to expand enough to cause the valve seats to loosen.

So, follow Blasterdads advice in the above post.      I would definitely remove the tins to do a good cleaning of the fins. With the tins off, look closely for any oil leaks around the oil filter base plate.  It is bolted to the block with two bolts and has a history of leaking.  If there are any small oil leaks, this oil will be blown across the fins and contribute to the grass build up.  When you reassemble the tins and the new oil filter, make sure the rubber grommet between the tin and filter is in place.  This also improves the air flow.

I also highly recommend venting the belt guard if these tractors are used for mowing.   Although I do not use mine for mowing, I have vented the guard and the amount of heat that comes through the guard is amazing.  It heats my cab 30-35 degrees above outside temperature.

Get well, and best of luck with your new horse.

IMG_4139.thumb.JPG.699cf9b77bc5d227999c60bf65bf363f.JPG

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Ed Kennell
  • Like 7

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
WHX??

I welcomed you in your other post but will do so again here.

:WRS:

There are threads & guys here that explain in detail what Ed said above & other great mods you can do to improve the performance of a :wh: so feel free to browse them and ask questions for more info or if you get stumped. Maintenance is key to your equipment and lots of good tips here for that too! .

I think you are going to need one of these to upload more :text-coolphotos:!

http://www.wheelhorseforum.com/store/product/2-1-year-redsquare-support/

 

Oh yes and be sure to add the 520 club badge to your signature!

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
cranman51

Great score! That tractor will last a lifetime!

 

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
KC9KAS

@EricF :text-welcomeconfetti: to :rs:

You got quite a lot of goodies with your 1st horse....Wheel Horse of Course!

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
Wishin4a416

Looks like u got a nice machine. Good Luck!!!

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
SylvanLakeWH

:text-welcomeconfetti:

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
BaySide1

I saw that same ad on CL. Called the guy to see if he would sell the cab separately. He said someone was actually on their way over to pick it up.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
EricF

So many responses, thanks for the support, guys! I'll go cross-eyed trying to quote individual posts, so I'll try to hit the high points...

 

I didn't expect (but probably should have!) to be in competition with any one here to nab this one or any part of it. I just knew as soon as I saw the ad that if I didn't jump on it, I'd miss out and regret it. I'm not one to call off indiscriminately, though with the, umm, persistent persuasion of my wife ever since I had a small "warning" stroke a few years ago, I've learned to take a bit better care of myself. So, guess I wound up with a "reward" for doing the healthy thing. :rolleyes:

 

The price was fair, if not darn good for all the attachments along with a solid 520H -- $2000 for the whole kit 'n kaboodle. And nearby, too, so it didn't cost much in fuel or time spent to pick it up. I'm sure folks have found better deals, but I'll count myself fortunate on this one. It's a fine tractor and the mower deck and snowthrower have done plenty of work but are in fine condition. I need to replace the sacrificial chain guide/tensioner block in the snowthrower -- the seller handed me a brand-new one with the sale; he just hadn't gotten it installed yet. I'll tend to any little maintenance issues on it and put it away in the shed ready for next winter. The mower deck is basically ready to mow -- I'll just make sure the spindles are greased and the blades are sharpened. The dozer blade could use a fresh coat of paint, but it's not bad and will probably look better after a little cleanup. And the seller tossed in a very sun-faded red dump wagon that's either the Wheel Horse one or one made by their OEM supplier. It's a fair bit sturdier than the plastic-tub dump wagon I've been using, and I've got some projects around the yard that it should be well-suited for. And, it will give me something to practice painting on. The Horse doesn't need a full restoration, but it's due for a little sprucing-up. The wagon will give me a nice practice piece to work on, then I can move on with confidence to the faded paint on the hood and some other places.

 

Hours? Just a bit over 900 on the 520. Ought to be plenty of life left in the Onan powerplant. I plan to go over it this weekend to clean it up and blow any dirt and grass clippings out of the deep corners, and take stock of where it needs any TLC. The seller pointed out that the gas gauge isn't reading correctly -- seems to be stuck near full. It could be a stuck or bad float/sender. I'll test that and the gauge, although it's not a huge priority. It's got some light bulbs out in the instruments -- either loose, dirty, or need to be replaced. All the other gauges are working, so nothing too bad there. Fluids and filters will get changed before mowing season gets underway. I expect I'll be spending some "quality time" with her to get started off right for the season.

 

I've read some of the information here about the Onan's rear cylinder airflow issues. I'm keeping an eye on it. I only have about 1/3 to 1/2 of an acre to mow, so it's not going to be run too hard in the summer. Also, I've always wondered if that big plastic shroud over the belt and PTO was really a good idea or not. Sure, it's a nice modern safety feature, but the Wheel Horse design did without it for decades. And without the shroud, there's got to be better total air flow across the whole engine. The seller still had the shroud with the tractor, but I don't intend to use it. (No small ones here yet -- my kids are all in their 20's, and if they can't keep from sticking their fingers in the PTO belts, well, there's some bigger problems going on...) To me, the wide-open PTO assembly has always been part of the Wheel Horse "look" anyway. I grew up during the switch from farm machinery with big, menacing exposed shafts and pulley/belt systems to the all-enclosed safety-shrouded stuff. I still like the old ones better... And I got in the habit of wearing sensible clothing and respecting the machinery.

 

This weekend promises to be a busy one! I was hoping to get some time with the 520 as soon as I unloaded it on Monday, but life had other plans. I'd cleaned up after the ridiculous snowstorm on Friday and Saturday, then on Sunday I went to change the oil in my daughter's car and discovered it had developed an internal head gasket leak. Not worth the high cost of repairing it, and no time (or much inclination to punish do it myself), so Monday after unloading and taking the trailer back to U-Haul was spent starting the search for another car. As it turned out, I found her a two-year-old Subaru with low miles at a great price just because it had gotten shuffled around a large Chevy dealer's lot and sat there long enough that they realized it was costing them and they just wanted to get it out the door. Guess that made for two good deals in quick succession -- I want to quit while I'm ahead! ;) So, after a week of rain, this weekend I get to catch up on giving my daughter's car a thorough going-over and get her all settled in with it, then take the radio she'd just had me install in the old car back out and drop the factory one back in, and get it all set to blow out on Craigslist along with my old lawn tractor. (A little Bolens Suburban) And it's Yankee New England, where we don't pay for trash pickup, nope, we haul it to the town dump "transfer station" most every weekend. Looking an awful lot like I'm going to push a lot of work with my new Horse into Sunday, but that's when the weather is expected to really turn for the better. Which means some good pictures, I hope!

  • Like 7

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
WHX??

Sounds like you have a good handle on the quirks of a 520 Eric, main thing is that you enjoy tinkering with it and like said use your shout out should you be stumped. Don't fret about scoring a nice tractor....around here it's ya snooze ya lose!:lol:

  • Like 4

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
JimD

That's a really nice looking 520-H. Some light cleaning and she'll look near new. Price seems reasonable for such a complete package deal too. I'm jealous. lol

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
EricF

Had the time and good enough weather to begin getting acquainted with the new Horse. Got the snowblower off and tucked away in the shed, along with the walk-behind tucked in beside it perfectly, which helps clear some space in the garage. By the way, is there any good way to attach/detach the snowblower belt shield bracket -- the one that holds both the guard and the pin for the anti-sway bracket? It goes on with two bolts, but the front one in particular is a pain because the engine mount bolt gets in the way of a socket, and the axle gets in the way of putting a wrench on the nut on the back side of the frame. I had to hold the nut with an open-end wrench just right, and work the nut off with a wobble adapter and long extension out past the left frame rail. Getting it back on promises to be interesting...

 

Washed the dirt off, and took a few more pictures...

Cihbb80.jpg

cGxAyhq.jpg

yyT70y4.jpg

No mouse nests in the engine, thankfully. Plenty of dust and dirt caked on, though, that I had to carefully wipe and blast away with the hose sprayer.

Moved her into the garage where I could get a better shot. Hardly any clouds most of the day, and made it too bright outside for good shots.

ty45Kos.jpg

I did find some rot on the footboards -- all the way through in a couple of spots on the left side, in fact, and a lot of rust where the plastic treads fasten through the metal with molded-in "pins". It looks like the plastic treads let a lot of mud and water go underneath, where it stays and rots them out. Looks like I'll have some metal repair in my future, and if I can get them filled well enough, I may fill all the holes and switch to the older style rubber treads. Or maybe work up some nice diamond-plate treads. I'll have to think about it and take my time.

 

Here's the underside of the deck after I got it cleaned up and scraped off some lingering grass clipping residue. One of the spindles looks a little chewed-up on one side. I'll have to keep an eye on that and replace it if it gets any worse. Got the blades off to sharpen them -- with a bit of PB Blaster and a few thwacks to the wrench from a rubber mallet. I don't think they've been off for a couple of years.

ubCZDIZ.jpg

 

Now that everything's off and out of the way, it's time to go through and lubricate all the pivots and get grease in the zerks on the tractor and the deck. I also need to clean and adjust the hydro drive control cam -- it's loose enough that it slips and won't hold faster speed settings, and reverse doesn't always pick up smoothly because the cam wobbles. It doesn't look like anything is really wrong -- just seems to have crept out of adjustment. And a hardware store trip is in order to replace some rusty fasteners on the dozer blade. Won't be long before she's all set for yard work!

  • Like 5

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
jay bee

Looks like you have a good handle on things.  I'm betting you're going to be real happy with that :wh: 

 

Jim

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
EricF

Weather is good, an I've been putting the 'Horse to work... Put the blade on and graded the sandy edge of the yard just off the street where the kids' cars park after it had been churned up by tires and snowblowing all winter, then moved some day lilies planted alongside the driveway that got in the way -- divided them and re-planted them elsewhere and gave a bunch more away to the neighbors, then filled the holes and smoothed it all down... Then the wife brought back one of those gas-fired firepits for the deck -- Those things are heavy. Slid it into the wagon and brought it around...

 

OCB6uix.jpg

 

And then swapped the blade out for the 48" deck to do the first mowing of the year...

 

XuFbawC.jpg

 

I have a few places in the yard that grow really thick, and those always gave my old machine (a Bolens ST125) fits with lugging the engine, uneven cutting and bad wind-rowing with the clippings -- even with a three-blade deck. The 520 just powered through smooth as can be, and I can't even see the clippings. :thumbs:

 

Unfortunately, the rest of the yard is too thin and downright bare in a lot of places. So I re-seeded today, but that means I can't get any more seat time mowing until the new grass gets going. :sad-bored: I'll be limited to tip-toeing around to get the 'Horse into the flowerbeds that need to be cleared out of old over-growth and some shrubs that have to come out. Back to scraping and grading for a while.

 

 

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 
WVHillbilly520H
On 4/9/2017 at 9:31 PM, EricF said:

By the way, is there any good way to attach/detach the snowblower belt shield bracket -- the one that holds both the guard and the pin for the anti-sway bracket? It goes on with two bolts, but the front one in particular is a pain because the engine mount bolt gets in the way of a socket, and the axle gets in the way of putting a wrench on the nut on the back side of the frame. I had to hold the nut with an open-end wrench just right, and work the nut off with a wobble adapter and long extension out past the left frame rail. Getting it back on promises to be interesting...

ty45Kos.jpg

I did find some rot on the footboards -- all the way through in a couple of spots on the left side, in fact, and a lot of rust where the plastic treads fasten through the metal with molded-in "pins". It looks like the plastic treads let a lot of mud and water go underneath, where it stays and rots them out. Looks like I'll have some metal repair in my future, and if I can get them filled well enough, I may fill all the holes and switch to the older style rubber treads. Or maybe work up some nice diamond-plate treads. I'll have to think about it and take my time.

Most just leave the frame mount for the belt guard/sway bar attached to the tractor once it's installed (that's why when we pick up a 2stage it's missing) it doesn't get in the way of the mower PTO belt just can't use the plastic belt guard, on those floor boards I have an Anniversary 520H I bought new as well as a '95 I prefer the thicker pads over the older thin style just have to remember to used compressed air to blow out grass/dust/dirt and after washing or melted snow after blowing to help with the above floor board rot, but on the older Cub Cadet Quietline wide frame models used diamond tread metal overlays on the floor board but do get slippery after worn, also skateboard tape is another alternative, Jeff.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...