Leaderboard

Karl is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, 'If I were any better, I would be twins!' He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Karl was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation. Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, 'I don't get it!' 'You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?' He replied, 'Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or...you can choose to be in a bad mood I choose to be in a good mood.' Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or...I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life. 'Yeah, right, it's not that easy,' I protested. 'Yes, it is,' he said. 'Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations You choose how people affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life.' I reflected on what he said. Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it. Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.. I saw him about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, 'If I were any better, I'd be twins....Wanna see my scars?' I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place. 'The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter,' he replied. 'Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or...I could choose to die. I chose to live.' 'Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?' I asked. He continued, '...the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'he's a dead man'. I knew I needed to take action.' 'What did you do?' I asked. 'Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,' said John. 'She asked if I was allergic to anything 'Yes, I replied.' The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Gravity'' Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.' He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude....I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself Each day has enough trouble of its own.' Matthew 6:34. After all today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday. You have two choices now:

We all try to get together for a group picture, but it's hard. Maybe we need to get some name tags made. Since the unofficial RedSquare meeting place is on the corner near the food stand, one of us in the group of red canopies could have some of these to give out. That might help with connecting a name to a face. It's just an idea. Feedback is welcome.

The Onan 16 hp in my 316 has 1750 hours on the engine clock. I got the tractor last season as a runner though in poor cosmetic condition. No complaints - it did run and I instantly fell in love with the sound of an Onan. The one issue that reared its head that was that when it heated up working hard the engine would start to hunt. Annoying at first then it got to be so bad it was like riding a kangaroo. Weak mixture I hear you say, well I checked the carb and found it clean like new inside but used liberal amounts of carb cleaner anyway. You have to dismantle a lot of stuff including taking the inlet manifold off to get the carb off and having read in a thread that the manifold can cause the problem gave it a close inspection. It consists of two diecastings sealed together. There were no visible signs but I spread some sealant along the seal line anyway. Reassembled everything, fingers crossed, seemed better but the hunting when hot didn't go away in fact it seemed to get worse. Discovered that a PO has fitted the wrong plugs i.e. ones with the sealing gasket rather than chamfered fit but that made no difference to the hunting. Job for the winter I thought and finally got round to it this week. There's been many comments about the importance of valve clearances on these engines so thought I'd do the full works but stopped short of head decarbonising on this tour. There was a request for photos in one thread so I've taken a few. This is not a quick job but it's not particularly difficult, just time consuming which tends to be the case with twins. To get to where you want to be means first removing the air box. Two bolts + three thin ones that secure it to the carb. There's a couple of small engine tins to remove, then the muffler burn guard. The muffler is secured not only by the exhaust manifold bolts but also a plate that sits behing the top pto bracket so the two bolts securing it have to be removed also. With all this out of the way, disconnect the throttle linkage from the cab, choke cable and fuel line. Now finally the inlet manifold can be removed complete with carb - two bolts at each end. I've started to clean things up round the rear cylinder block - the front area shows what it was like, years of dust build up. Both ends cleaned up and both valve cover plates exposed. There are three cover plate gaskets and as there was a chance they might not be reusable I'd ordered in a new set just in case. The rear cover plate popped off without splitting the gasket. As far as I could tell there's a good chance this had not been removed since fitted at the factory 1750 hours, or if the clearances were checked at 1000 hours then it's been another 750 hours since. The inlet was spot on, the exhaust was wide by about three thou. Easy to adjust with two wrenches. The front cylinder top cover plate popped off cleanly, again without splitting the gasket but this reveals the crank case vent valve plate. I've put the bolt and spring back without the top cover plate in the photo to show how the breather valve works. The little spring steel valve was inspected and showed no signs of damage to the critical surface. The lower valve plate came off cleanly by getting my finger nails under it. This time the inlet was a thou too close and the exhaust valve clearance perhaps three thou too small, The plates with gaskets still attached were degreased and reassembled with some gasket sealant - I use Hylomar Blue but each to their own. Didn't need the new gaskets after all but I wasn't going to risk it. The carb was detatched from the manifold but before opening it up I tried tapping my way round the edge to see if a change of sound might indicate where the seal was broken. It was inconclusive but if there was an issue it sounded as though it might be at each end. The two diecast halves were factory bonded together by silicone sealant, exact locaction achieved by tiny roll pins visible in the photo above. Couldn't find a way of pulling them out so drilling them appears to be the only solution unless you know different. Trouble is that they're hard and the slit in them causes the drill to go off course. Tried drilling from the blind side which seemed better though not perfect. The drill size was 1/8th in prep for using bind rivets for reassembly. Actually splitting the halves wasn't easy. I used a stanley knife to begin at each port end and a spare blade to act as a wedge to keep the slit open. It was easy at each end possibly confirming that this was where the issue was. Got much harder as I worked towards the centre from each end. The silicone separated from one side only, the reason is that there is a grooved cast into the other side giving it more surface to bond to. Removing the old silicone took an hour or so of patient work. The next step (above) was a dry run assembly to ensure that all the rivets would go in - didn't want to discover any probs after silicone RTV was applied. It was at this stage that it became apparent that some warping had taken place. With the two halves pinched together in the middle there was a small but visible gap at each end - reason for the seal failure perhaps. Bolts were added at each end to ensure a proper seal once the silicone was applied and the halves reassembled. I also bolted the carb back onto the manifold with a new gasket and a smear of silcone sealent at this stage before leaving it to cure overnight. Manifold back in place next day with new manifold to block gaskets again with a thin smear of silicone - a belt and braces job! If you're wondering about the zip ties in the photo, these were insurance that the warping didn't strain the silicone bond once the temporary bolts were removed before final instalation and tightening down. They were then removed. Reassembly was then the reverse of disassembly, I didn't clean the carb as I'd done this last year. And........... she started so took for a run round to get it nice and hot - there wasn't a hint of hunting wher it had reached a point last year when it would start misbehaving after only a few yards so fingers crossed. Hope I haven't bored you and that this is of use to someone else. Sorry about not going for the full monty i.e. decarb as well, perhaps someone else will photograph that process. Andy

This is THE BEST forum on the internet!!!!!!!!!!!! WHY???? Because I have never been made to feel like a piece of SH** on here!!!!!!!!!! Long story short, I belong to a forum that specializes in a certain car and I asked a simple question today, and although a couple guys were helpful, there were two guys on there that rode me pretty hard!!! Needless to say I bid them adieu and won't be back on there...I am very disappointed because there was a LOT of great info on that forum, but I have a bad taste in my mouth now. This place is AWESOME....SOOOOOO many GREAT people on here I thank you kind people!!!!!!!!

And by the end of the day, that happens...because that's not coffee in there...

My Official Red Square Coffee Mug and I are never far apart. It's got my name on it...in case I forget who I am.

It's only a little tractor paint. I don't get upset over these types of things. Life is too short and I've made my fair share of mistakes too.

Hi , I bought my first GT last year, it was a Bolens 1886-01 but I was forced to sell it. Yesterday I bought 2 wheel horses and I hope to somewhat restore them so that I can use them in the yard and look good doing it I have no knowledge whatsoever about wheel horse and am hoping to learn a few things with you guys and to get some help repairing those horses Heres the c160 and c120 a picked up, anyone got a guess as to year they are?

Little Red Wagon Check this video for a different kind of 'little red wagon' ... http://www.youtube.com/embed/-1w48qPF5hc

E15 What should we do about this new gas in our Wheel Horses ??? If your CAR IS OLDER THAN 2012, you need to AVOID THE NEW E15 GAS that is just starting to show up at gas stations. Most car companies will not honor the warranty on your car if you use this new gas. Watch video to see why. http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/2000862202001/ you can also check out: http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/e15.asp

This is another reason to buy and Wheel Horse logo HAT, Shirt, Decal, etc Someone you may know or who sees you and your WHEEL HORSE LOGO may have something you just have to have !

C'mon, get off the ladder Steve.

Here...hold my beer and watch this.

Two awesome tractors you've got there.

How do you leave a redneck in suspence......I'll tell ya on Wed..

I bet you broke that mug and super glued the handle back on and got you hand stuck as well. When you pass on, the undertaker will have to cut it off with a saw to get a suit on you! :)

You said it straight brother, we are in like an ocean of info filled with fine folks who share, and ain't ashamed to do it. Most have fabulous machines and don't bad mouth or cut down the ones that don't, and give moral support to a guy who just found a extreme restoration project. Don't have any expertise myself but am proud to be allowed here>

The only thing I ever found...was my way home after cruising around the block.

Put a test light on the (-) coil terminal. When the points open the light should come on. When the points close the light should go out. My guess is it will not go out because the points need to be cleaned. The contacts are not making a connection because of invisible corrosion on the contact surfaces. Garry

That is one great story, what a world we would have if we all lived with that attitude..... Thanks.

I let them play with a couple tractors today. Good time had by all. They even laid claim to a couple of my projects. Sorry for the cell phone pictures.

The Subdural hematoma has increased slightly in size but has decreased in density. It appears that it's being absorbed which is a positive thing. Appointments are now being made to schedule the surgery's to repair the broken bones in his face. At this point the biggest concern is the nerve which controls the left portion of his face. Inside his skull, a bone broke which very possibly severed this nerve. He's on high doses of steroids to try to coax the nerve to work, but as of now, he still has paralysis and complete hearing loss in his left ear. It looks like it will be a long journey to recovery, and will have several surgeries to repair the damage. We're getting a lot of support from our neighbors and friends and appreciate all the well wishes. I am sure we'll reach out to the local folks who can help get the Wheel Horses ready for warm weather and the snow removal equipment put away, and we won't be afraid to ask. Will keep everyone up to date, and thank you all again.

I can't believe how friendly and help folks are here. This is the best of the forums I visit.

OOPs! I guess three pictures are better than one. Once you ge to the website go to the second diagram headed clutch, brakd and speed control and scroll down and find part #18.Thanks to JimD and puddlejumper for there input.

Excellent write-up and good job repairing it.... Now with that out of the way... I went out and gave my K341 Kohler another hug and reminded myself how good it felt when my 520-8 (yes one of those) left and I never had to look at or screw with that Da** Onan ever again! Tony

I can't understand why anyone would have those ugly, troublesome, expensive weights instead of loading the tires which gives better traction anyway. Just my humble opinion. LOL

Nice setup there.

My wife suggested that I GO ON A DIET for the same reason!

Unless it was put in the basement BEFORE the house was built I'm hoping it went through a walk out!!!! Tony

Well, the Cubs are home safe and sound. Thought I would post some better pics. I am really looking forward to having them to tinker on in the years to come!! 149 Before it's bath..... Sure makes the garden look even smaller!! After it's bath! I love the hydraulic lift! 122 1250 is engine-less for the moment. Making memories!!

The 1410 is about 6 bucks cheaper than my Toro dealer. Just for the heck of it, I cut open the last Toro filter I removed. They have good filter material but a crappy tin spring. I'm going to cut open the 1410 when I change it and compare.

My mower wasn't cutting worth a damn so I pulled the deck today to sharpen the 3 blades. And to my surprise? Two blades were missing! Wow. I couldn't believe it. I can't believe I didn't torque them down tight based on the size of the nut and shaft. I did manage to find 1 blade in a bunch of leaves I cut up with the deck. I couldn't find the other blade or any of the hardware. So off to Ebay for new blades and hardware.

That was also used as a mount for a ballast box. I kept the box that came with a 520 I flipped last year.

1958 Wheel Horse Ride-Away Jr. RJ-58, s/n: 101916 Started with essentially just a rolling frame (first image below), and ended up here after !3 calendar months, a lot of parts searching, and a whole bunch of hard-won restore work. First shown at the 2010 Wheel Horse Show in Arendtsville, PA. This machine has been restored to 100% correct mechanical configuration. Shown with the RJ-58 is a fully restored and functional 1960 model CBR-32 - 32" Sickle Bar Mower. Enjoy!

That makes me want to go see whats under my wheels