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First, thank you all for the kind thoughts and wishes. I am alive but have a long road to recover. Today I saw the plastic surgeon who will very soon be operating on my facial fractures. This will allow me to fully utilize my mouth which I am sure some don't want me to regain. I am beginning to hear out of my left ear, but still not great. My face is still paralyzed and I will hopefully see some specialists in the next couple of days. That's all for now, as I have an eye doctor appointment.

I say we get a couple of members together and make some wheel horse branded wheel chocks to sell at the shows, and donate the money to a good cause like Back Yard Mechanics Anonymous or at least Karl's medical bills.... All kidding aside keep up the healing.

I have to disagree, I built a 30+40 last spring, the new hasnt wore off it yet and I am trying to be particular with it even thyough I am somewhat of a slob myself. The oldest boy completely disassembled his dirt bike this winter and it set to the point of me going off the handle without him carrying on with the project but instead I gently ribbed him occassionly and here a month ago he went out one friday night and put it all backm together and fired up about 530 in the morning and went for a ride so all the neighbors would know he had his bike back together. Now I have a friend of his dirt bike scattered all over hell. took engine to somebody to rebuild, Havent seen any progress in about 3weeks Kids got a little longer and I'll set all the pieces out in the driveway they will get the hint. Also got a magnum 500 4 wheeler that belongs to one of his buddys tore apart in there waiting on a fuel pump for a little over a week now, Its supposed to be gone this weekend. I am talking about a group of 16 to 17 year old boys. Its not pretty sometimes. With that said there learning and thats one of the main reasons I built the barn I wish I could build one big enough every Kid in town could have room to work on something if they wanted to, Guess what I am saying Is I will tolerate it, It will be worth every bit of aggravation in the end.. Yup! Nobody else gets a key . Stand firm.

So I’ve decided that my 654 is in need of a rewire job. My grandfather had been using it for the last year and I have noticed that besides wiring it has some charging issues. This has the H60 engine in it and uses the half wave rectifier with no regulator in it. I’ve found that with two diodes it appears to over charge the battery and if I run it on just one, the battery doesn’t seem to charge well enough. My thought was why not build a new custom rectifier regulator with a fixed voltage output of 13.75 volts to the battery. Since this is only a 3 amp charging system I was able to use an off the shelf bridge rectifier from radio shack (rated for 4 amps) and then ordered a LM338 regulator which is adjustable and capable of 5 amps. Add a few resistors and a fuse and we are in business. Below is my schematic. The main reason I am posting this is to ask if anyone thinks this could do harm to the charging system in the motor. Is there any other protection I should add other than the 3 amp fuse I plan to use between the regulator and the battery? Not sure how many electrical gurus we have out there. I’m hoping SOI will chime in on this. Justin

Hey guys I couldnt resist this little gem thought I was done buying but I am a sucker for the one yr models! they are kinds unique same tractor different badge sorta. well its the last of the short frames. HH60 fires right up no smoke and hasnt been short blocked!

Haven't got much done lately since the weather change. I did get the tranny split in half and cleaned up. I got a new gasket and seals and a needle bearing on the way. Thanks to Steve for some info!!!! I still haven't got that pesky little broken off screw out that holds the shifter but have some cobalt bits coming from a machinist friend. A little progress is better than none I guess.

See you at the food tent then steve. My buddy is putting new rotors and brakes on the shop van now and I am trying to get some promises done so I can leave early. Bringing my good camera and tape measur this time. I had a great time in 2011 at Scotts meet and greet. I was wore out from the drive though. the cold wind was the only reason I stayed awake. going to come rested this time.

" Hey Sergeant Major, How was hunting?" "Not too bad, got 3 squirrel and a rabbit" But Sergeant Major...where is your gun?" "Well, Let me tell you my secret. I don't use a gun...I creep up real slow and quiet like and when the critter turns and looks at me, I just ugly face them to death." "Sergeant Major, that's amazing!!" "Yeah, I used to bring my wife along but she tore up the meat too much when she tried it" an old joke that I heard back in the 80's at Ft Bragg, hope it brightens your day!

Karl, you beat ole man reaper at his game; he's tufferin nails. Keep kickin' his butt; ya got em on the run. Keep up the recovery!!!

If it would ever stop raining here , I am ready for some major field work. Just a couple pics I wanted to share. And one sad image of when it came here not running with a broken piston and flat tires.

Everyone's favorite couple up the road just got their Christmas tree and the fake snow matting back. Those two pieces, plus a nice large plastic tub were blown down the street and into my back yard. Another neighbor spoke to the couple and informed them their tree blew over into Chuck's yard. They said they "really didn't need it back" and never bothered to retrieve it. Tree and trim were lovingly relocated and zip tyed to their mailbox. The bin "spoke" to me and wished to become dismissed from cheesy Christmas decoration duty and take it's rightful place as part of my e- tank collection! Being the big-hearted polypropylene philanthropist I am, how could I refuse?

Thanks Lane Lola just booked rooms in Gettysburg too so I guess TT was right after all. He said I would become a Wheel Horse Fanatic just like the rest of us. Found a pet friendly motel for the Puppy. Better find out if they allow a leashed Golden at the fairgrounds. Is there a vendor fee for the big show?

I Found the hairpin, Thank you very much, David

Use clear silicone.....it will hold great and you won't see it (if you do it right)

I have a set of 420lse reproduction decals for hood seat pan and maintenance that I have had and they will be very reasonable.Along with a few slightly damaged sets that will also be nicely priced if you dont mind a few flaws. Also will be bringing some redSquare decals for cheap. If anyone has a request let me know and if time allows I will try to bring to the show. Looking forward to seeing you all there.

I am putting new brakes and wheel bearings on the van tomorrow and if all goes well will be heading to Mentone Friday evening. Looks to be a bit cool in Indiana but no rain. Is there going to be a good attendance? I will be bringing some stuff also. checking into a motel right now. Can't wait to see the Coffee/Rock&Rye Mug.

We live on a gravel road that is fairly heavily traveled. In the 7 years I have been here I have found. 3 pliers, 7 screw drivers, a Makita 12 volt drill (in the case), a Dewalt circular saw (in the case), 1 cell phone, a seed hopper from a JD corn planter,( I found the farmer that it belonged to, he was very happy to get it back as I guess they are worth about $600.00 bucks), And an engagement ring that was lost while jogging (also returned). Also, several mufflers, gas caps, a few tires and an old washing machine. The funniest thing though was a Polaris snowmobile that had apparently fallen off the trailer. The key was in it so I just rode it up to my shed and called the Sheriff. They ran the sticker number and got the owners name. I called him and as it was around 10:30 pm, he asked if he could pick it up the next day (also returned). I just wish someone would claim all the garbage that ends up in my ditch as well.

What do you think real or not? Original dealer tag on my 1054 Check the phone number Pierce C V Co Inc, Pleasantville NY lawn mower and outdoor power equipment sales, repairs, parts, yard and garden tools This is what I found Googling the dealer so I guess it's real

I can remember 25 yrs ago I backed my 69 Charger into my Dads BRANDY new Plymouth. It was the first new car he ever bought and only a week old. I busted the grille on his car and crunched the hood up on it pretty bad. My Dad was a giant back then with arms that were twice as big as my legs and when he got pissed, it wasn't always pretty. I dreaded going inside to wake him from his nap. Well, I woke him up and when he came outside he just shook his head and calmly told me this, " Son, I'm gonna buy the new grille, the paint and everything you'll need but I sure hope you can do good body work and paint. Man talk about pressure! It came out pretty darn good if I say so myself as Dad was a happy camper. All I can really add is stuff happens......

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

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

If you have any trouble downloading or deciphering the list, the Briggs uses 30W SC, D, E, F or higher in temps above 40 degrees, or 10w-30 or 40 at temps from a range of 0 to 100, and 5w-20 or 30 a temperatures 20 degrees or below.

The specs will be in this file Garry

" once you exceed 8mph you start losing cut quality rapidly. With all of these high end zero turns at my disposal I still love my horses" Great to hear. 7.5mph with my 520HC is about as fast as I want to go when I am mowing and I usually do not go that fast. I only go that fast when i lift the deck up and head back to the base for refreshments. I love my 520HC and the stick on the floor hydro for mowing.

if it were easy everyone would do it! lol, looks like you got it by the tail though. progress is progress. all looks good!

Nice to hear you have a wonderful collection of rare and sought after wheelhorses. What I have learned on red square, is people don't look at someones tractor and judge the people by what they have done with it or how they have changed something on it. Everyone has to live within there means, I get just as much enjoyment looking at something someone has poured there heart into even if it is not the most good looking piece. Its about the effort. My opinion on redsquare is members try to help others by finding a spare part, or give some free advice on how to fix something. It sounds like to me your looking for a ata boy good job. Well here is one from me. Nice collection and glad you got them but I will go chit chat with some helpful caring redsquare members that cheer everyone on with their projects no matter how old, how young, or how wealthy or poor or how bad they spell. Hope you enjoy your collection, but such a wonderful collection of wheelhorses can be pretty lonely if you dont have any buddys to share them with. Happy collecting to you!!!!