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Saturday was my youngest grandson's 2nd birthday party. He is fascinated with tractors, and every time he comes to my house it's always "Papa's tractors" as the first words out of his mouth. So my daughter suggested that I bring my 701 to Grant's party. Since Grant's other grandfather was here from Wisconsin, and he is a tractor nut himself, we decided to have two tractors, and two carts so that all 11 kids could ride. So I loaded up the 701 and the Commando 8 along with one bathtub cart. My son-in-law had a cart already. Here we are. Two tractor nut granddads having the time of our lives. That's me of course in the funny hat. This is Hank, from Wisconsin on the Commando. We even had 3 young ladies from age 10 to 13 who wanted to learn to drive the tractors, so driving lessons were in order. After that, it was hard to keep them off the horses. An absolutely great time was had by everyone, especially the two old guys.

A mystery to myself and many collectors is the unusual kill switch on the very early Ride-Aways. Where did it come from? Well, Clay Brooks was kind enough to send me several pictures of his original switch for me to reference during my research. After about 40 hours of research I have discovered the source. I am 100% confident in the accuracy of my findings. Believe it or not, the stop button was actually used on prewar bicycle tank horns. It was manufactured by the Delta Electric Company of Marion, Indiana. During this era, bicycles often had simulated gas tanks which had a battery operated horn inside the tank. The push button is what Elmer and Cecil must have found on scraped bicycles in the local scrap yards. The reason I believe that they installed used switches is because all of the post war Delta bicycle horns have a concave button which is different than the convex button used on the prewar bikes. As you know, the tractor in question was manufactured in 1955. I also believe that the oval, brass mounting plate was manufactured by the Ponds (please note that I am not 100% confident on who made the mounting plate, but Clay is kind enough to send me a template) so the switch would fit the tractor application. Keep in mind that these prewar Delta bicycle horns are fairly expensive on Ebay, but since the little switch is over 60 years old, I don't know of any alternative sources. I hope this information makes you as glad as I am. If anyone can contradict my findings, I relish your results as my goal is to provide accurate information. Here is some company information from Wikipedia. The Delta Electric Company was an American electronics manufacturer formed in 1913 in Marion, Indiana (after moving from Chicago, Illinois) that produced lanterns, flashlights, automotive and bicycle lighting, battery tubes, horns, horn buttons, light switches, other battery-powered electrical parts,[2] and bilge pumps.[3] Delta was purchased in 1965 by the Novo Industrial Corporation.[1][4] One of Novo Industrial Corp.'s subsidiary companies, King Bee Manufacturing Co.,[5] was moved to Marion, and its line of automotive lighting and safety equipment, including headlamps, safety lights, directional lights, mirrors, and reflectors for trucks, buses, trailers, and farm tractors, was merged into the Delta line of products.[1] United Air Cleaner (UAC) was a division of Nova Industrial Corp. that produced air cleaners.[3] Delta Electric was a division of Novo Industrial Corp. until 1968 when Novo became part of United Filtration Corp.[1] Delta continued to operate as a division of United Filtration.[1][6] After selling off the line of bicycle accessories, Delta continued to produce accessories for the automotive industry such as truck side-view mirrors and various automotive switches.[1] By 1976 the company's main line had become warning buzzers for fire and security alarms.[1] Halle Industries Inc. had acquired Delta[6][7] in 1977, and on March 31, 1978, shut down production of Delta Electric due to losing contracts for their smoke detector alarms to Japanese imports.[1]

kent on the right with one of the guys that adopted him for some of the day! kent is on the far right here..... we will definitely add this one to the calendar for next year, some of us for the tractors, some for the army display....... since this one wasnt a kids ride around all day show, mom and dad stayed somewhat sane by having that......

I can't talk real good, yet. So my PaPaw is doing this. Ya'll know him as Gunny. He got me a WH, it's a 1056 and needs some work. Mom won't let me ride yet, but she said when I am a little older, I could ride with PaPaw. Don't tell Mom, but PaPaw already let me sit on some of his WH's. I don't really like it when he starts them up, but I will get used to it. My Dad has a C100, and my Great GrandDad has a bunch of WH's too. UhOh, we hear Mom coming, we got to go. She keeps talking about a nap or something..... Maci

I've had my eye on this thing for several years. It belonged to a friend who didn't want to sell it a few years ago when I asked him about about it. I knew he didn't use it much and it was just sitting there starting to rust. Well he finally said he wanted to sell it due to moving. He's down sizing and getting out of some of his hobbies. So we settled on a price and I brought it home yesterday and set it up. It,s a bench top combination lathe and milling machine / drill press. A couple pics... After some cleaning and lubricating the ways... I know this machine is limited but it will serve my purposes nicely for some small projects. I have one Wheel Horse project in the planning stage for it as a first project. We'll see how that goes. Hope you like the pics.

I feel like a black sheep with my 1982 red hood . This is a unrestored 1982 SK486 with 1300 hours I bought new. I use it about 20-25 hours in the fall to clean up leaves. I use and old 42" deck for my vacuum system. I mow with a 99 314-8 Bowtie in Ohio

Sycamore really is a nice show... haven't been there for many years. Thanks for the pictures! See you in two weeks up here!

Firstly, I'm doing this on my kindle fire HD, so I Hope it all look's ok and the pics appear. Image quality not good, as it only has a forward facing camera (for Skype), but I still tried it. Last couple of weeks, I've been shifting my dismantled Lathe over to my other place up in Horley to where my Horses are while I still had the Van (selling it soon). Now fully reassembled on a proper stand. Just to make it feel at home and not get lonely, it has company-- Needed a decent Drill Press & the larger Milling facility is a handy bonus. It's not the best quality in the world, shame it's not a Bridgeport, but will serve my needs for Carb & Fuel pump work. Lucky to have had my neighbour bring his Mini Digger around to lift it onto the Stand. Yes, I've had a lot of it apart and meticulously cleaned,greased, adjusted and checked for tolerances etc. Just need to finish Tramming the table-column alignment, then it's playtime. Actually, I've already used it to mill several flats on a newly made Counter Shaft for the Lathe. Lots of jobs I can get on with now. So if you like machining pics , I'll do some when I work on my front Rims and Carb Throttle Shafts etc. Regards

Well I after months of work I bought out an old WH dealership that probably closed within the last 10 years and had been open since the 60's (I prefer to keep the name private). The building was collapsing on itself water everywhere, mold. just horrible. So my father (shynon) and I went to pick, pack and load everything that we could save. It took two days, my truck packed to the hills, my dads truck packed to the gills, a 5x8 trailer, and a 16ft car trailer! In the end I got the parts inventory (haven't looked through 10% of it yet) although it was in a wet environment and boxes were damp, wet and molding the parts look to be in pretty good shape. I got seven tractors all in some need of repair (most were a,b,c series) three of these had kohlers on them (8,12,16hp). Several kohler motors in some need of repair. All the WH literature we could save, manuals, brochures, dealership info, awards, and two microfiche machines (hopefully we can make one out of them). I also got an electric rear engine rider that I plan to restore for the fun of it, and a porter cable mower from the late 50's, Dealership signs, etc...... I'm probably forgetting some things but here they are the reasons we opened this thread for PICS!

I have been working on this for a few weeks now and have finally finished it. It was pretty much a basket case when I got it but I had enough parts to get it back together. It has a K-321 14hp. in it but it runs good and doesn't smoke. It has some new parts and stuff I had in the shop. Enjoy the pictures. There are more on my web site.

I've had this boat for about a year now, just layin on the ground doing nothing. I've had such a problem trying to get motivated to work on this one. I've actually done quite a bit of work on it but I haven't been able to stick to it. Stevebo just picked up a Duratech and after spending some time at his house working on his this past weekend I think I'm finally motivated. Mine had no seat backs in it as they were rotted and taken out long ago. Steve gave me a seat back to use as a template because he is replacing his as well. Today I made both seat backs and covered one of them. If the weather holds out I'll buff it out this weekend nice and shiney. Hopefully, in a few weeks this boat will finally once again ride the waves.

Look at millertire.com for tires. Terry the vinyl guy on this forum is the go to guy for decals. Marvin

Working on the belt guard and shroud. Need to get this thing finished! I just have to paint the hood, these, and fix the gas tank. And it should be just about done.

Call me "Crazy", Craig, but it could be painted up to look just like a 300/400/500 series Wheel Horse. Heck its already RED!!!

Geez! What do I have to do to get one those Wheel Horse outfits in blue?!?! Now, if only I can get these dang oven mitts off! What do they think I do all day? bake bread?!?! Crue (born 7 Aug 13)

Can't talk real good... but Maci can type like the dickens.

Hory Cow what a haul.... I am always too afraid to ask just in case I get one of those deals and then I have to haul it all... and find a place to hoard it...

No wife with me this time...because of the golf on Monday. Shynon...we play 18...starting around 9:00 am Monday at Shoreland Country Club in St. Peter...nice course, golf carts, not expensive (I think around $50 with cart) and a very nice 19th hole. Actually, I am only good for about 15 before the old back starts giving out...if you can break a hundred...you are not welcome. :)

I really like working this d200 backhoe!!

I look at the assemble drawings it's a spline shaft. Keep soaking it with PB Blaster, are you using a steering wheel puller to keep from damaging the plastic wheel. A sharp tap on the puller bolt will sometime jar them loose.

Haha! Funny but true!

Now that's what I call yard art. That "MaryAnn" steam shovel is sooo...bada$$.

Got it figured out. I made L brackets from heavy flat stock. Welded them to the Mule drive already in place and drilled holes to match the holes in the frame. So it still clicks in the mule drive mount to hold while I put the bolts in . Works like a charm. Loader no longer moves any where.

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Ok, this is just the farmer in me coming out. When talking about implements, it generally means, something that is attached to a farm tractor. Now if that is what we mean, then the moldboard plow. If we are talking about "attachments" then that would be the snow blower. Sorry guys and gals, just the farm boy being a little to anal.

yes lane, had the truck since memorial weekend. got the trailer in june sometime. was a real nice trip yesterday to sycamore and back in the new ride. the 6 speed trans is great for towing. heres my pics from yesterday. was a great day, lots to look at. kent is armed forces crazy right now, he spend a good amount of time at the army display. even ended up doing some marching in formation. was great to see steve, joebob and marci, (did i spell that right joe?)

Congrats on your Ark purchase, I have the same identical one and it has become the most use tool/piece of equipment I have. Beside using it for it's intended use I have found a million more other chores it is good for. Just remember to use it within it's limits and you will enjoy it for a long time, Over use it and you will be opening a can of trouble that will do nothing but cost you a fortune. Great find enjoy!

Friday night I took it to Virginia to run at a County Fair pull. There was 13 tractors in the Open Super Stock class. I was the test hook so I brought it out easy the first time, only turned it 9500 rpm. Made a nice straight run and the motor sounded good. Only thing I noticed was the O2 reading was kinda rich. So I dropped the test hook and told them I'd come back last. On the test hook I pulled 212 feet. Leaned the carb out and waited for my turn. This time I brought it out harder, was turning over 10,000. Tach only goes to 10, need to get a different tach lol. Was making a nice straight run till I was about 10 feet from leader cone and the engine skipped twice. Glanced down at the O2 gauge at it was pegged on the lean side. Just that quick it popped and shut off. Then I realized...I never turned the fuel pump on! It was all good tho, I had so much ground speed that when it shut off I drifted two feet past the leader cone. I'm pretty happy with that. First time out and it gets a first! Especially since I was going to the pull just to get a few test hooks and get the bugs worked out. Wasn't expecting to win it. I have another pull today, have to see how it goes today.

looking forward to the show tomorrow. got the trailer all sorted and loaded up the tractors we are taking. planning on being there around 9 am....... will be the maiden voyage for the new truck and trailer as well........

I picked up a motor today for my boat, a 1958 35hp Johnson Super Seahorse. This is a pretty rare model that is seldom seen. The paint is all original and it is in real nice shape. I bought it from the guy that I bought the boat from. He confirmed my boat is a 1958. I managed to get one side of the boat 85% polished today.This is roughly the 8th boat that I have polished. You can take it to the bamk that it will be the last. My fingers have been numb all week due to either carpal tunnel or arthritis and this has only made it worse.

is that good or bad? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

Yes sir! Going to try and do something a bit different this year, but nothing real crazy. I will post information once I approve the logo and can display it for everyone.

I'd like to thank everyone who responded. The opinions were certainly varied and most were quite interesting. Although I have seen many Wheel Horse tractors at shows and in print, I have no real background in them. I had no idea about the problems that you gentlemen face with this brand and upon learning about those issues, that explains a lot about the replies given. When companies like Wheel Horse began manufacturing garden and lawn tractors, I think it fair to say that they never imagined that their product would be "collected" in the future. Therefore, accurate record keeping did not seem very important. I face that problem with my choices of GT's and I find it very frustrating on one hand but also intriguing on the other. I am constantly on the lookout for "old paper" that will help me unravel some of the mysteries. Fortunately, paint colour is not one of those mysteries. This foray of mine into Red Square was done with the best of intentions to find out what this groups thinking was on a couple of key issues that are close to my heart. I hope that most of you found my questions interesting and that it gave some of you pause to reflect on what you do and why you do it that way. I make no conclusions nor any judgments. As always.......your tractor, your dime and your time. And I totally agree that this hobby should be about having fun and sharing good times over a common interest.

I dont know what I do is called I call em a Refresh and Rebuild mostly because how can I do a restoration when I cant even get the exact paint Wheel Horse used which incidentally in the early years of the Round Hoods came from Niles Chemical Paint here in my Hometown (still in buisness here today) I have an old 78 year old friend of mine who is retired and worked in the coatings lab and was involved in mixing the paint. I was a stern believer of using Automotive Type paint Like Dupont or PPG but the past two tractors I spruced up 417A and the 520 Snow Chucker were done with 100% Valspar. Like Kevin, I have done some modifications along the way that I feel Improved the tractor. The way I feel about it with the condition I get most of my Tractors in. Anything I do to them is an Improvement. The main thing is like has been said already is, Just Have Fun and Enjoy Yourself. Cheers ~Duke

Here's where my head is at...... People need to quit over-thinking these tractors and have fun with them.