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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPi_m-sMfEM

Turning a hobby into a real business sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. You'll have to give Uncle Sam and your state a cut of what you bring in and I can't imagine there really being that much general demand for parts or fixed up machines. A typical homeowner is more likely looking at a new sub $2000 machine at Home Depot than at an older, cruder, heavier duty tractor. I don't feel that those of us in this wierd hobby are very representative of the general demographic. Most people don't repair things. Many don't even mow their own grass anymore. Wheel Horse is not a widely recognized brand name either, so you'll have to cast a wider net and incorporate other colors immediately. The parts business is likely the more viable option. You can advertise and ship things to customers at great distance rather than service only those in your neighborhood. Corralling the junkpile and complying with local nuisance regulations will be the biggest hurdle. I'm not in agreement that prices for old junk are disproportionally up. Milk, gas, and bread cost more than they did 10 years ago too. I think pricing peaked in the 2007 timeframe. I've never owned a business, so don't know of all the pitfalls. You'll certainly get more advice here and please take what hbrooks has to say seriously. The thing that prompted my response has more to do with your future education plans. If you're going to college, some majors are much more time consuming and demanding than others. You may not have much - if ANY - freetime to devote to running your business and maintaining whatever assets you accumulate before you matriculate. It might make more sense in the immediate term to look for a job where you're letting your employer take the risks instead of you. I worked while I was in school and had an amazingly flexible and accomodating employer. And, I was lucky enough to have found a job where I made decent money compared to most of my friends. You may get lucky. Jobs are harder to find now than they were then, of course, but as an entry-level employee you're probably more employable (and cheaper) than a veteran. Push yourself harder in school so that your make yourself either better prepared to start a business later or a better candidate for the limited jobs that exist upon gradution. Chances are, you're not going to college to become a scrapyard proprietor. Follow your interests and dreams as much as you can, but also pay some attention to what is in demand in the job marketplace. Enough of my preaching. If you start any kind of business you've earned a great deal of respect from me and I suspect everyone else here. Just do the math and PLAN everything as extensively as possible before you jump in with both feet. Best of luck, Steve

Ah to be young again .... let me give you my own personal take based on 50 plus years of playing with all things mechanical and running a couple of very part time businesses (actually hobbies - more later). These are just my opinion and hopefully a few members with more tractor specific information will chime in. First - before you do anything - do the math. Plan A - how many tractors would you have to flip a year and how much profit per tractor would you have to make to make a living ???? The math doesn't work - not enough hours in a year - not enough tractors available. It might work as a sideline to a "small engine" repair shop where you repaired all things small and mechanical - but not standalone. Plan B - First, you need to expand your horizons to include all makes and models of old equipment - not just Wheelhorse. Second - in order to make a living you have to become large enough to turn over a lot of parts. What you will basically be running is a salvage operation. Look into local and state laws regulating salvage operators. Some states will require you to inventory each part against the purchase price of the tractor - you will spend a lot of time on bookkeeping if this is the case. Second - in many areas this type of operation is a magnet for local authorities in regards to everything from storage conditions to waste disposal - nothing will shut you down quicker than a cease and desist order from the local authorities.Third - you need to keep everything above board from an accounting standpoint - the IRS can shut you down as quick as local authorities. It's one thing to have a part time business dealing in restoration or parts. Even in the old car hobby few "restore and sell" places make a living solely from sales of cars - they have to supplement with repair work on the side and/or a going parts business. Second - very difficult to run as a one man show - a supply of fairly talented, cheap and reliable part time labor is essential - family preferred. Nothing is impossible at 17 - but crunching a few numbers should convince you that Plan A comes very close. It is extremely doubtful that Plan ""B would work as a standalone. In running numbers do a quick calculation on start up costs for equipment and inventory - tools are not cheap - not even at HF. Honestly not trying to throw cold water on your ideas - but "do the math" before you invest a lot of time in the process.... More experience than I care to remember ....

Hello all, these are a few of the pictures I got whilst at the UKs 2nd wheel horse round up. It was a great weekend with the sun shining bright ranging from 28-34 Degrees, sadly I caught the sun abit, suffering now lol, Hope everyone has/had a safe journey home, it was brilliant meeting all of you, and seeing your machines in person, they all look fantastic, especially Ian's 6X6 not only did it look brilliant it sounded absolutely amazing, well done for all your hard work with it,.. Huge thank you to the show hosts for making it happen, it was really an enjoyable weekend, Also a big thanks to Mark, Neil, and Chris for the stickers I got here and there, only problem is now I've got them all, I don't know where to put them, Here's the pictures I took I'm guessing others will upload there's as well,

My grandson loves to mow with me but as you can see he doesn't make it through the whole place, but when I stop to have his grandma take him he wakes up, he will sleep the whole time, through all the bumps and all. Just thought you guys might get a kick out of these.

If they want to put him on the cover fine. I think it should be a before and after Pics. Before as seen now and after of him hanging from a tree with a stick of TNT shoved up his *&#!!. Come on Really Rolling Stone, give publicity to a sworn combatant of the US.

To honor Mr. Ron Hough from TN, who sadly passed on some years back, I'm posting these pics of his crawler. I have no idea what happened to the tractor. Perhaps someone else can speak to that. These are pics from here on the forum at a past WHCC show

It's been a month and a half sense I got over to the farm to mow. Been raining here almost ever day for the last three weeks, can hardly keep my yard mowed. The last three time I had to mow my yard wet. Had a couple of days with only a small shower so I loaded up and went over to the farm. Here is a couple of pictures. We had another gully washer around an hour after I finished mowing.

Yep--- the wheat is in ---the beans are waist high ---and the corn is tasslen up at 10 ft. Best year I've ever seen for farming. My little working 120 Tecky keeps the roads open. Thanks to all for looking.

Somehow I wonder if I got this right or not?

Don't know the name yet, but I can tell you that these pictures are from the parking lot of Valley View Diner just south of there. (The photographer told me the Wheel Horse rigs picked up and delivered just off the next exit north on I-91)

Been looking for quite awhile and have been torn between an open or enclosed trailer. Both have their positives and negatives for my intended use, which other than hauling a few red ones around the place, I sometimes need to haul lumber/building materials, maybe a car, whatever...... I also needed to consider the possibility of a larger full size tractor in the future, (maybe)... I've liked the fact that the enclosed I used was secure and kept everything dry, but it was like towing a brick wall behind my old red Sierra, gas mileage sucked, Been using an open just recently and it's like there's nothing there. Well, I've gone and dragged an 18 ft flat bed car hauler home for future hauling duties. It's staying open at the moment, but may end up getting some tractor height front and sides, sort of like the low height motorcycle haulers..... At least I can take 3 or 4 comfortably now, the enclosed would only fit two and it was a pain in the rear to load.... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm coming up on my 1 year anniversary as a Wheel Horse owner, and also nearing completion of a refurbishing project on the 854 I bought a year ago. While I'm waiting for the paint to cure before I put it all back together, and since it's too hot this week to work in the garage anyway, I thought I would put up a thread documenting the progress the past year. I always find motivation and some good ideas from other people's project posts, so I hope I can return the favor. Some of this is repeat from a few of my other posts, but I thought it would be nice to have it all in one thread. I will add to the post as I track down the pictures and get it written. To recap, late last July I bought the 854 as a non-runner. It was all original, complete, and other than surface rust, in pretty decent shape. It had a mower deck, rear slot hitch, and snowplow bracket on the rear axle. I had admired the round hoods for a while, and hadn't seen that many come up for sale on Craigslist in the area. I paid $200 for it, which I felt was a little risky not really knowing what it was going to need to get it running, but I convinced myself I had to have it. After getting it home and getting it cleaned up, I did a little more detailed inspection. It didn't have any major signs of abuse, but the hood was cracked at the seam on one side, and the seat was cracked too. I got a different seat for it from the seller, so the seat wasn't really a problem. Getting it running also turned out to not be too difficult, it just needed some fresh gas and the spark plug wire connection cleaned at the coil. Once running, however, it did smoke. It would somewhat clear up if sitting idle or cruising around the yard, but under load the smoke was persistent. Also with fresh fluids and gas, I could could see that the gas tank seal leaked (surprise, surprise) as did the axle and brake seals in the transmission. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlFowHy9zjY I like all my tractors in my collection to have a purpose, and this one was to be my "garden tractor". Part of the attraction of this one was the slot hitch and Wheel Horse attachments that could be used in tending a garden. My initial plan was to stop the leaks, and eventually rebuild the engine to clear up the smoke, but otherwise leave it original. I liked the patina and original decals it had, and I knew I wouldn't feel guilty about using it if I left it in it's "work clothes". The axle seals were easy to get from my local Toro dealer (Part No. 100863). Getting them installed was not so easy. One hub came right off, but the other was stuck. This explained the chunk it had out of it, likely from an earlier, unsuccessful attempt to change that leaky seal. It took alot of heat to get it off, but it did eventually come off. While I had the torch out and the rear of the tractor partially disassembled, I replaced the pin for the slot hitch. It also took alot of heating and beating, but it did come out. New seals on the axles and brake were successful in keeping the oil in, and I put on a new shifter boot to keep the water and dirt out. Following the advice I found on here, a 6" hitch pin did the trick as a replacement for the slot hitch. As luck would have it, around this time I found a Commando 8 come up for sale nearby for $100. I bought it mainly for the decentbar tires it had on it and the hopes that I could just swap in the K181 Kohler from it to resolve my engine smoking problem. As it turned out, the engine on it was a K161 from a 753. It ran OK, but smoked worse than the engine I already had. Still, the tires were good, and it provided me with a drawbar and a good hub to replace the one with the chunk missing. My repair of the leaky fuel tank resulted in only limited success. Fortunately, all the screws came out without breaking any. A couple were missing, and there looked like some kind of caulk or form-a-gasket on there, so obviously this wasn't the first attempt to fix the tank (nor would it be the last). I could have bought the tank gasket (Part No. 4452) from Toro, but since I already had the supplies on hand I decided to make my own gasket and seal the tank with Red-Kote. I traced the tank and cut out a gasket on 1/32 gasket paper. After installing the new gasket, I coated it with the Red-Kote. Despite my best efforts, it still leaked. Gas was no longer cascading down the side of the pedestal, but it was still slowly seeping out. Still, that was enough of an improvement for the time being to feel comfortable using it. Working this tractor is what I got it for, so I was extremely happy to find a plow and cultivator for it to go with the disc I already had. A fall plow day nearby provided me a good opportunity to give the old 'horse a little workout. It didn't impress anybody there with it's rusty complexion, smoking engine and yellow wheel weights, but I was pretty happy that the little 8HP tractor could plow with the "big boys". Shortly after the plow day, I plowed up the garden at my house. It was still fun, but neither my wife nor the neighbors seemed to appreciate the engine smoke much. The hood also was rattling some, and I was concerned about the crack getting worse. I decided my next projects on the tractor would be to address those issues. I took the hood to a local weld shop to repair. They did a decent job, but it had obviously been repaired. So much for that all original appearance. I also inspected the engine. Tolerances were within spec, so I planned to just do a hone, new rings and new valves/guides. Before I got around to that though, Christmas came and the 854 slid to the back burner for most of the winter. That's probably more than enough for now. I'll continue my story to cover the work on it since then in the next few days. Dave

I could do that.

I got this at a auction couple days ago. I'm thinking fix it up a little and repaint, not a full restore. I have always wanted a WH should be a fun project. I got the engine running yesterday, it was stuck when I got it. 01-16K801-15930 Kohler K341AS Are the rear wheels tires factory, they look a little small? Is a new rear fender still available? It is busted up on the other side.

Thank you for the acceptance in. This looks like a great forum!

Hi all! i am new here and just got first wheel horse D-180.

Hi all, I have got a little 1960 suburban 400 and I'm having problems with the transmisson. At first it was all very seized and stiff obviously due to the previous owner letting it sit outside. However it now selects all gears and works well except the right hand side hub(as you look from the back) is very stiff. When in neutral the left hand side one spins fine as it should however the right hand one is very stiff and I can only just turn it by hand but it takes a lot of effort then when in gear the left hand one spins fine again and obviously then spins the drive pulley however the right hand one you still can't spin very well. I have filled it with diesel numerous times to try and help however it's still very stiff. I have tried removing the hub however it is very tight on there and I can't remove it. What could this be? I'm not too great with transmissons so any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks, Tom

Hey all, Picked up another 401 last night. This one came from a facebook tractor group. The guy wanted to part it out but luckily I stopped him. It was complete other than a engine, foot rests, and fenders. Its in really nice shape too! The previous owner said it had been repainted a couple times in the past, but it looks like they used close to the correct color. It has a nice mower deck and snow plow too. When I told the guy I would take it he didn't tell me it had a belt guard, he showed up the the tractor and it had an original belt guard! That was a big plus. I probably would of paid more for the tractor if I had known it had the guard. It is the narrower style guard like the 551 had but I will still use it and put it on. I spent about an hr this morning and had the tractor driving around the yard. I still have to hook up the throttle cables and put the belt guard on. But other than that it is probably done. I may end up painting the wheels, and I am thinking about repainting the engine blue. The transmission is in great shape, it still has a nice rubber boot on it. I don't plan to paint this tractor, I will keep it the way it is, I really have missed my 401 before I redid it, and having the snow plow like mine did was a real plus. I wouldn't be surprised if this one ends up with duals in the future. Here are pictures of it when I got it last night, and after I got it going. Jake original belt guard anyone know what these pieces are for? Here it is when I got it. The hitch is welded to the transmission! Not sure how I will fix that! after throwing a trusty k91 on it.

First, how I came upon this old Mercury and vintage Homelite chain saw. Knowing that I'm into old outboards and chain saws Steve offered me this 1949 Mercury Rocket and a vintage Homelite chain saw free for the taking. I happily took him up on his offer, he even delivered them to me at the BIG SHOW. How cool is that! So..... this past weekend I decided to dig into the old Merc. Some old Mercs come apart easy, and some don't. Luckily this one came apart real easy. First thing I like to look at is the water pump impeller. The pump cover came off nice and easy. As I expected having sat for so many yrs. the impeller was in pieces. I figured I'd order one up. This is when things got a little weird.... As I was walking over to my tool box I stepped on something. I look down and what do ya think! A friggin Mercury water pump impeller! (Now, my garage ain't a mess, but wherever the hell that thing came from is beyond me.) Its been at least a yr. since I've messed with a Merc. Anyways, I reach down to have a look at it and what do ya know, its used but I can tell its a newer impeller with about an hrs. time on it! 50 bucks saved! I cleaned things up and installed the impeller and put new grease in the lower unit.. Next I cleaned the carb real good and blew it out. I then moved onto the ignition system. After checking spark one plug looked a little weak so I pulled the flywheel. Sure enough, one bad coil. No biggie, had a good used one in stock. The other coil looked new. Cleaned the points up, check the gap and put it all back together. I put the old Merc in the tank, pulled the choke and gave it a yank. almost fired on the first pull. push the choke in (all Mercs this style start this way when things are good) gave it another yank and were off and runnin. It pumps water like a fire truck, great acceleration, idles nice and restarts easily. All that in an hr. I hope to have this old girl out on my boat real soon trollin for some fishies... The Homelite is a nice old vintage Homelite, built when a Homelite was a mans saw, not a Home Depot cheapo. I decided to work on the Homelite on my lunch break a few days ago. Clean the tank and carb out, check for spark etc. In fifteen minutes that sucker was screamin like a scalded cat wide and purrin like a kitten at idle. Thanks again Big Guy!

I would say, "Great deal!" You already, not going to, really like the Raider. Mine is a '68 12hp, manual, runs like a champ. I've been through a lot of seats. Tractor Supply has a sixty buck ($59.99) seat, high back and steel pan with numerous mounting bolt patterns. I do like the seat, some kind of rubber, doesn't crack, cleans very nice. Have fun! Good for you! PS. Tractor Supply also has on the shelf drive belts. I mention TSC twice 'cause one is only 15 minutes away and my Grandsons love to peek-a-boo at all the "stuff." Pic of my Raider in my gallery.

Operator manual http://www.wheelhorseforum.com/files/file/1077-tractor-1965-1055-om-ipl-wiring-a-5101pdf/ Garry

Take a look at my edited post above.

The simple answer is the model number ends in a 5. Model year is 1965. Take a look at this file: The year of the tractor was coded into the last digit of the model/ID number until 1968 when the whole ID system changed.

In "Manuals">Misc Items>Chart Wheel Horse by the Years: posted by Trouty56 has the modle number and year data! I believe that's one thing along with the other from Garry, it gives all available/approved attachments and replacement models. You can free download these manuals and others at no charge and save to your PC file. I carry them on a flash drive so can access anywhere PC avail.

Nice score Jake. I'd probably wet sand it with some fine paper add a decal for the one that is missing and then clear coat it with a matte finish and call it done. You might even find some original red tins for it....

Thanks. I actually milled out the side shield for more air flow. I used an old Bridgeport milling machine. It was tough to get it secured in the vise but I got it to work. Okey look really good The black belt guard was it original on your tractor? I like it found it at rcpw, but i allready has orderd part from rcpw.com. Anyway, it would be next time Is Any body have the front swept axle kitt? I want to upgrade My 520h to heavy duty Yes - that is the stock belt guard...partstree has a lot of "Toro/Wheelforse parts" too....

I guess I need to address my threads as Guys AND Gals too.. Thanks AmandaRae.

Welcome to RedSquare!

Hello and

Isn't it amazing what vision, time, ability and available spending money can create?

That is really wild. Thanks for sharing Jim.

We'll said

That is the coolest thing I have seen in a long time! The dude did a real nice job making it look like the real deal. Tonka should get in touch with this guy, that is one wicked promotional truck! I still have quite a bit of my old Tonka's from the very late 60's to the late 70's all still in excellent condition, that I won't part with. Thanks for posting!

Not rare, but very desirable by Wheel Horse collectors. If you search the forum for "Top 5" Wheel Horse models, the 701 come up frequently in those lists.

Welcome to RS...

Welcome to red square :)

Welcome to red square!

Howdy ! Just joined myself . I've already learned a boatload of stuff from folks here . This place is pretty addictive .

If you want to know what attachments fit a specific tractor the Toro Master Parts Viewer is the quickest https://lookup3.toro.com/partdex/index.cfm?xCaller=Toro You can enter the model number or for later models a model name like 312-8. They will all come up in a list and you select your year or model number. The link to the attachment list is on the right side of the page. They list the original attachment number, the one that replaced the original and the one that was available when the list was published. Often there are many models between the last two but no room to post them there. If you want to know what an attachment fits this searchable list in this forum's library is the best An older one It is best to use a model number and in later years it contained a dash that may be required or not required at Toro. Try them both ways like 8-5211 and 85211. Garry

For all the information you could ever want and a lot of good reading buy a copy of Straight from the Horse's Mouth. You won't get the chance later at this price. The "Gallery" tab at the top of this page will show photos of nearly every model. If you post a few photos and the model numbers you will get replys for sure.

If your tractors still have their ID tags, list the numbers and we will be happy to tell you what you have. If not, post pictures. In the manuals section should be a list of what attachments fit what tractors.

Always glad to have a new fan. Let us know if you have a herd or single stalion. When you need information or help you will find it here!

Thanks for remembering us Vets. My custom is not exactly patriotic but I have been a street rodder for years and just couldn't resist;

Actually I have been thinking about doing something different. But then again I can get kind of carried away when I go on a paint binge. I have never done a Wheel horse yet but I have done a few as evidenced by my old Craftsman hot rod. It was back when the Iraq thing had everybody patriotic that was Desert Storm. It also was almost the 4th of July. Once you get started it takes on a life of it's own.

I put up a Shelter King brand 12x20 many years ago and the steel frame has been fine. I built a 12x20 pressure treated frame with 3/4 T&G plywood for a floor and its also been great. My tarps roof generally last me 4-5 years before the suns UV rays weaken it to the point that I can poke my finger thru it with no effort (and they leak ). I ended up with 3 extra covers so I just do a swap when it gets weak. I suppose I could cover the weak tarp with a hardware store tarp when my final top is finished. The poles seem to be thick-walled pipe and not the flimsy painted white poles that the Harbor Freight kit gets you. I have had no issues with sagging or bending. I did not have any extra ends or doors so when the one end/door that I used gave up (zipper) I ended up building a wood front with double hinged doors. With the framing underneath its a nice clean place to work if need be, plus it never turns to mud inside. Mike............

You could put a JD 210 -212 -214- 216 axle in it. The JD's have 1" factory axles. The axle pin is the same. It is rear swept on the JD but you can turn it around and make it forward swept. Only this I did on mine is weld on tabs for the tie rods to match the same distance on the W. H. Probably way cheaper and easy-er than the proud WH. parts owners. I have a post on here of putting one in my C160. Awesome axle that I won't switch back. Worked great on my Ark 550 loader.

To do the belt guard, I put the sturdiest 90 degree fold of the metal into the table vise on an old Bridgeport milling machine. I supported the overhanging part with some wood and held it with my free hand. I used a single 1/2" end mill and plunged through and made single passes. Filed the edges and de-burred the slots. I've seen other guys do something similar and I thought the slots would not only be functional, but add a cool louvered look. This tractor is a grass cutting beast and in great shape so I want to keep it nice.

The only problem is he spelled IGNITION wrong. Ha ! made you look ! Great job Mike (as usual).