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Today I got up and was really excited that it was Christmas! I made Mom drag my older brothers out of bed at about 8:20 so I could open presents. I got lots of cool stuff. I was playing a video game when Dad said to get dressed because we had work to do. I went to the shed and saw Mom in there and got curious. I looked to the left and saw a little Wheel Horse! I was speechless! I could not believe that I got my own 'Horse! Dad let me get on it and showed me how the controls worked, so it was time for a ride. I loved it! My 'Horse loves to push snow. My Dad had to move the cars so I could plow the driveway. I had a blast! I will try to get him to let me plow more later. Have a nice Christmas. And a special thank you to Dave! ** I typed the above as Chop is not 'puter savvy enough yet, but those are his words. I was just the secretary! There are pics from the Wife's camera, but too big to download.

I personally would get tired of pushing an NOS tractor on and off my trailer bringing it to shows just so I can say its never been started. I wouldn't work it but I ain't gonna push it around either. I get more enjoyment out of riding them than I do looking at them so fire in the hole.

Here are a couple pictures of the GT 14 after I finished plowing tonight. We had 7 inches of snow out in the middle of the driveway. Not counting the drifts.

And when he passes you have to print out a official looking licence and laminate it for him, if he hangs on to it in 20+ years it will be a memory of the times spent with Dad and the tractors.

I know this is a bit but its amazing that no one has been injured at the WH show by a young-un. There are kids of all ages and skill levels tooling around the show grounds weaving thru the crowds and displays with little to no adult supervision. Hopefully no one ever gets run over or injured as that will change the whole show. Mike.........

I have both a 522xi and a 523Dxi. Even though my diesel presently has injection pump problems, I'd still choose it over the air cooled gas tractor. Fuel economy is better and the engine has more power than the 1hp difference would suggest. The biggest mower I have is a 52-inch and the diesel doesn't even know it's there. These daihatsu diesel engines are supposed to be quite reliable. I will say that at least in my part of the United States that finding a shop that specializes in them is difficult. They were used quite extensively here in the US in equipment other than Wheel Horses. Toro used them in some commercial mowers, simplicity used them in their Legacy XL tractor, Exmark used 'em, Cub Cadet...I've watched eBay for them and they do show up being parted out from time to time, but certainly not any more regularly than a Yanmar or Kubota. I say it over and over again and it looks like other guys agree too: The 5xi's were the best tractor to bear the Wheel Horse name. They are very comfortable to operate and are incredibly durable machines. It's a shame they didn't catch on. It's not obvious from photographs, but they are actually quite easy to work on. Sure, the engine is enclosed in sheetmetal but the hood opens wide and the side panels remove without tools. There is a removable access panel on the transmission "hump" and the air intake screens under the steering wheel and on each side remove quickly with a couple of Torx screws. The entire seat and fender assembly is quickly removable too in case you need to access something in the transmission or fuel tank. You can tell these things were designed with solid modeling software. The only frustrating issue I have encountered so far has been on my 522; I needed to access the ignition modules on the engine and that required removing the engine from the tractor. Not a big deal, but certainly not as easy of a job as it would be on a classic C160. You're in Sweden, so this may not apply to you. Implement/attachment availability isn't as great on the used market as for the older types of tractors. So if the seller of either machine has optionally available equipment that you may need in the future, you should consider that as part of your purchase too. I'd go with the diesel. But the gas tractor is a fine machine too. Buy 'em both. Steve

Just a comment, last winter, I rebuilt my first unidrive (5053) trans with the help of steve's video. First off, the job was easier than I thought it would be and the trans now runs and shifts almost perfect. It really surprised me how well it ran with just a diasemble,clean-up and bearing replacment.( all the internals appeared to be good on this trans) I really believe new bearings is what made the rebuild a sucess because i think ,if the bearings are worn things may not line-up just right and cause performance issues.

I will have to say right now im suprised at the number of people that would use the tractor. I feel that if you guy the tractor you are more than likely paying a premium so why ruin something that you can never find again? I would be crazy to say that i am only a Wheel Horse Worker collector. If that were the case i wouldn't need a third of my tractors. I simply own some just for hte joy of owning them. I own signs and other memorabilia from the era and what would be the best display piece but an untouched, unmalested NOS tractors. No matter how great a restore you will never duplicate that piece of history and it simply becomes like all other tractors the moment you start it. Low hours or not its not NOS.

I would be taking it to the shows and I'm not pushing it around ether but I would not be working it also . Unless your starting up a wheel-horse museum I would fire her up I believe it still would be a fine example of a NOS wheel horse Brian

This is a good poll. Its funny to me not to use it. I do not spend my hard earned dollars on anything I am not going to use. Last year at a swap meet I was lucky enough to find a NOS,NBF Golden eagle bow in the box (never been fired) It hadn't even been strung. I probably should have hung it on the wall and just looked at it because it too is a piece of archery history. BUT, I went straight to the archery shop, had them string it up, tune it, and ran several arrows through it. For me it was exciting to shoot it. I mean, I was 6 years old when this bow was first made and I am 51 now. I remember my dads hunting buddy buying one when they first came out and I have always wanted one. To me it is a tool. I wouldn't buy a new $200 dollar torque wrench just to look at it. With a tractor? The first thing I would do is gas her up oil and grease her up and put it to work. I know they are also a piece of history as well. BUT, Imagine in 1958, or 65, or 75, 84, or even later, the elation of that new owner getting it ready. Being the very first person to put his or her butt in that seat and driving that awesome machine for the very first time. No one could ever take that away from them. I guess that means I am not a collector. I am a gatherer. I may even be considered a hoarder. So, if there ever is an intervention, and you guys see me on TV? It won't be for newspaper hoarding. If you ever do see something like that I am sure you all will graciously volunteer to help my wife clean my sheds and house out because there will be alot of used "TOOLS" as I call them. Just be gentle, they are old and USED. JMO Pat

if it was a NOS rj , i would put it in a glass case and use it a coffee table In fact i dont think i could use a NOS tractor , i would have to leave it as it new and just use one of my other ones although the temptation would be so great i dunno if i could contain myself

Oh sure...I just got done wishing you a Merry Christmas and now I want to wish you a Happy Birthday. Keep this up and I will catch Craig in Post Count. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JIM :happy-jumpeveryone:

I too am planning to attend the show all the way from UK, so I hope to meet up with all the other members of redsquare

Here he is on his new tractor! He looks very happy. I like the idea about the tire chains might have to build him some. Now i will have a helper when i haul wood. Merry christmas!

Guys, I recently found a product offered on eBay EBAY LINK REMOVED that I thought was pretty neat. I needed to add some weight to the rear of my D-200 to offset the weight of my snowthrower. I didn't want to spend a ton of cash and finding the WH wheel weights is a little tough. Then I found this product from Mike Grubb. I contacted him for verification on fit and then ordered the kit. I will install it this weekend. At this point I can say the parts in the kit are very well made. They are heavy duty and of bquality material. Now I'm on the hunt for the round weights to add to the wheels. Some of you may already be familar with this product. For those of you who are not this looks like a good solution to adding weight inexpensively. KT If you're interested, search Garden tractor wheel weight system on ebay.

I'm in Knightstown. Kinda east central Indiana. It might have been deeper in the driveway than in other places. But I checked it with a yard stick. How much did you get in Greencastle?

I will disagree with Scot on this. P'Chop started on a battery tractor at 2yrs old, on slow speed. I put out jugs for him to aim for and around and talked him thru the coridination to operate it. He quickly figured it out. When he was about 4, we started on the danger situations and how to avoid them and how to react. He learned to maneuver by the drop off out back safely, watch for traffic by the street, dodge around the dogs and kids in the yard, and back his little trailer around to help Mom with yard work. He has been driving with me on my tractors since about the same time. At nine, he has his own tractor. He knows it is not a toy, how to operate it and how to take care of it from fluid changes to knowing the brakes need adjusting. I have taken the time to teach him, and feel very comfortable letting him operate it. I think a test of basic operation and some what if situations would cover it, like having him driving in the yard and you and mabe a helper toss jugs out to simulate people or dogs in his path. Nothing too complicated. If they drive with their head on a swivel and know what's around them, then they will be fine.

Look what my wife and I just opened for Christmas to wear to this year's show!

I like the "Chain Drop" game" (as a part of the test): A 2 or 5 gal empty bucket is buried to level with the ground, a hole. A 10' or 20' chain is hooked to the back (or front) of the tractor, then the tractor is slowly driven forward and back to gradually drop the whole length of the chain into the bucket. A lot of motor & visual skills, plus good judgement & patience. A year or two ago, someone had Wheel Horse Licenses or Certificates for sale on eBay - would be easy to make up a nice one.

Going by the replies here, I would never pay the premium for a supposedly NOS tractor if it is out of the crate. It was probably run at some time which makes it just Old Stock with low hours to me. I would leave it in the crate and display it that way. How many people have actually seen a NOS tractor still in the crate? I do buy dumb $&!T all the time to just collect and look at or display. Hmmm, wonder why there's a storage problem here? I can certainly understand the thrill of running it too so the correct answer is: Buy TWO, run one of them and keep one NOS. Best of both worlds

There is no box for me to check either.... I'd sell it! Let some one who wants to leave it "perfect" pay me the big bucks for it....so I can buy a good tractor! If its in my barn, its getting used!

Hi, Mike, and welcome to ! Aside from advertising for what appears to be a nice product, don't be a stranger! Duff

I know they're expensive but I think they're worth it. I run these in both of my pulling tractors. They're a little smaller than a garden tractor battery. They're dry cell batteries, won't boil dry and can be mounted upside down if you really want to. They hold a charge forever, aren't affected by the cold and they seem to last forever. I bought my first one used, 3 years ago, the guy said it was at least 10 years old at the time, it still works as good as new so I bought another one just like it for my new puller. I don't have charging systems on my pullers, the battery has to run an MSD ignition, Toyota starter and electric cooling fans. Even with all of that draw I have gone 4 runs without charging and the battery still has plenty left, I think I could go 8 runs but I don't like to take chances, no battery= no spark.. It will charge in 1 1/2 hr on a 2 amp charger. http://www.performan...m/batteries.htm

Back when my kid was just learning to drive on an MTD rear engine rider I made panic/emergency stops the top priority. He had to be able to stop the tractor as fast as possible with the brakes and turn the key to "off". Mike..........

:occasion-birthdaymulticolor:

Happy birth day Jim! Who's Craig??? only the "Shadow" knows. :bow-blue:

I'm way up in Michigan, Zone 7: in 2001 we planted 20 peanuts, and 19 grew up and produced very well, maybe an average of 10 double-inshell peanuts/plant, of the normal size you get in the store, we roasted them and they tasted OK (not as good as store roasted, but I'm sure we made errors in roasting temperature/time, just slightly raw taste & unsalted). Planted some peanuts last Spring, and not a single one grew out of the ground, (I suspect my source had old peanuts, from eBay). We planted them a foot apart, 2" deep & out-of-the-shell but in the skin, there are lots of kinds of peanuts for growing, follow the "required number of growing days" & planting guidelines from your source. When the plant is a foot tall, it blooms, pollenated blooms send down a taproot, 10" down into the ground (grows down 2"/day), then 2-3" deeper, the peanut or two forms quickly, then we waited for the first frost (Sept 20) to pull. Was a lot of fun watching it grow, we pulled the SOFT soil away often to look at the developing peanuts, then reburied, they didn't seem to mind. Buy from a good seed source, not just some individual like I did last Spring. We grew a cotton plant this Summer, it did very well up here, 4' tall, 20 cotton balls did form and mature (was a very hot summer here), that was also a lot of fun watching it grow. Good Luck, and I think soft organic or sandy soil is important, at least for the top 4-5". Glen

in the beginning, there was nothing. And God said, "Let there be light". And there was still nothing, but you could see it. We've come a long way. :)

OK, the last of my Christmas guests have just left, so now just getting back to the computer. I have no clue on these games outside of the Big 10, so here are my picks... TEXAS TECH, AIR FORCE, ARIZONA ST., WEST VIRGINIA, TEXAS, TCU, N. C. STATE, SOUTHERN CAL, TULSA, CLEMSON, OKLAHOMA ST., NORTHWESTERN, GEORGIA, MICHIGAN, WISCONSIN, FLORIDA ST., FLORIDA, KANSAS ST., OKLAHOMA, PITTSBURGH KENT ST. BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: NOTRE DAME Jim, I can't tell which side is your backside ?? -BK

It helps having a few tractors here and tearing a few apart, doing so you learn a little bit now and then, and it helps when you sell parts to know a few things.

Calendars all spoken for. Thanks

I'm with 6Wheeler and Ken. I don't buy things to look at. The only exception would be a WH that is too small to be of use, say a lawn ranger. In that case I would sell/re-sell, and buy me a worker. Jeff

Happy Birthday Jim!!!! My neighbor to the east!!!!!!

I would go with the 523Xi everytime. That diesel is made by Briggs & Stratton/Daihatsu. These engines were also used in Massy Ferguson and Simplicity Legacy tractors with a very good reputation. The best thing about these little diesels is they are excellent in fuel efficiency....I mean crazy good. I have a 3 cylinder Yanmar that uses less than 1/2 the fuel as the 20hp Onan on a 520. The 522Xi is a great machine too. It came with a V-twin Kohler Command. Both 523Xi and the 522Xi have power steering. If the price was even close, I would go with the diesel. Thad (Ohio)

Happy birthday Jim

You dont use weights or chains? My tractors wont push a thing without weights. Mike........

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JIM and I wish you many more Brian

Exercise the ! Sparingly, parades, show 'n tell. Enjoy the Stallion and do show it off! Let everyone see the engineered little ! No work though, a semi-retired old-timer! :ychain:

Ed...good question for sure. There is one thing common with all of these transmissions that I have recently worked on...they are not mine and I have no previous knowledge of them. That warrants tearing them down just because of that. The ones you are talking about are yours and you have a feel for how they are, what they have been doing and how long they have been sitting. That means a lot, but it is no guarantee. Two or three of the seven I had were locked up, two had a growling noise or grinding just turning by hand, one had water and clumps of oil draining out when I pulled the plug...one was OK (no water, oil looked OK, everything turned nicely by hand). The first transmission that I ever got into was my 702 with a # 5025 transmission. I started it up in the garage one day and was letting it warm up when I heard a ping come from the trans. I immediately shut it down and knew that I was going into this one. The #1533 bearing had come apart and the gears were shooting the ball bearings around inside. So, you just really never know. About the only good thing I will say about flushing a trans at this point is...it makes it a lot easier to clean the parts if you can slosh some kind of cleaner around inside and then drain it out. You do not keep a transmission running for 60+ years by being lucky.

Just picked up this blower for my D180 about a month ago and spent some time doing some basic restoration to make it usable this winter. Plan to take it all the way down in the spring, but this will do to get me through this winter. Looking forward to some snow!

No brainer there...fire in the hole. :text-woo:

12"+++++ here and I have to work also. May end up coming home and putting the blower on the 160 and taking the blade from it and put it on the 704

I fabricated a tool that fits into the two holes on the pulley and the use an impact wrench from underneath. This method has never failed me and never damaged a pulley or bearings. They tend to spin off as opposed to pulling off this way. Some very small cracks have been discovered that I may not have seen otherwise. A good wire brushing with a wire wheel helps make the small cracks show up. Good luck.

It's a good place guys and gals.

Definitely the only thing I miss about not being on FB anymore!

I just performed an experiment a couple of weeks ago. I had a transmission that I was going to tear into and fix anything that was wrong. I drained the oil (it was in good shape...not like yours). I turned the input pulley of the transmission in each gear by hand to determine if anything seemed amiss...it seemed OK. I then put in about a quart and a half of diesel fuel and ran the transmission on my work bench (using an electric motor with a fan belt). I ran it in each gear for about a total of 30 minutes, the speed of which I estimate to be around full throttle. I then drained the transmission and took it apart. The gears, bearings, shafts and casting came out clean as a whistle. There was still a small amount of sludge layered on the bottom of the casting...which wiped right out with a couple of rags. Of the 7 transmissions that I have opened in the last few months, this was the only one that did not have internal problems. The others have had broken or disintegrated bearings, chipped axle gears, chipped bull gear etc. I feel that if I had used the method above on these transmissions, I would have caused more damage and would have inferred more cost. As it is, these transmissions are "averaging" around $75 to $100 apiece to fix and replace broken gears and old seals. There is no labor included in this cost, just cleaners, rags, parts and oil. In conclusion, flushing does clean out a transmission, it also loosens everything and throws it around. It does not fix things that are broken or cracked. I still recommend splitting the transmission, if you really want to know it's condition. Only then can you guarantee yourself another 60 years of service. Kelly is right about members not feeling comfortable tearing down one of these transmissions, but I have been able to help walk people through the process by using posts, PMs e-mail and good old fashioned phone calls. Actually, I think the hard part of doing one of these trannys, is dropping it from the rest of the tractor, the second hardest thing is the cleaning of the inside...electrolysis (if needed), soaking gears and blowing and wiping down, wire brushing, etc...not really hard to do, but may be labor intensive. Putting it back together is a piece of cake and very satisfying. Taking that first ride on the horse when you are done...priceless. :)

Two years ago I paid 700 for a 93 two stage that was mint, and I run it on my 416-8. The two stage weighs 380 lbs, so you will need wheel weights and maybe some extra weight on the rear, unless your a big guy. Be sure it includes the the anti sway bar and all the heavy duty lift spring. You can down load the manual from the Toro site. I read the manual cover to cover before I bought my two stage, and glad I did. The seller didn't know that the belt guard bracket and anti sway bar fit together and he hadn't removed them from his tractor. The anti sway-bar keeps the drive belt from rubbing against the hood. To keep the steering from being a bear, I grease the spindles at the start of the season,and inflate the front tires to about 20lbs.The first year I used it we got over 70 inches of snow here in SE Massachusetts. The 44" two stage is a beast and made lite work of clearing my 400' paved driveway. Joe in Norton,MA

Excellent Brian...this needs to go in one of the save this thread sections for sure. :)

They are the HL-22 light kit from 1961-62 I have a pair that I was thinking of putting on my 701, if you are interested in selling them let me know, one of mine is pretty chipped around the edges.