Leaderboard

I'm sure a few of you have been watching my project C4 thread. Today was a big day, finishing the last pieces and the test drive... I'm grinning from ear to ear - so can tell you it has gone well I'd done a lot of calculations on gearing and working out the correct ratios. So was pretty confident it would just work. Just how do you test a 4WD tractor? mud? pulling? ploughing? Well after a quick run to check nothing was falling off here are a few pics. I'm thinking of a new sport - extreme tractor rock crawling, because I want to drive over things - is that wrong? missus seems to think so... Here's a few pics, my son did some video too, will try pull something together asap. The answer to the question was driving up walls and stairs! and some of the aftermath her indoors won't be happy! mark

Hello Santa. Nice to see you again. Not much needed here myself. Mrs. Bob says I have too much already. So here is a partial list of some things I'd like. Send a little thank you to everyone who helped raise money for Childhood Cancer; Help our Admin Karl keep the database from crashing in 2014; Help Zane get the paint problems solved on his 753; See if you can do anything to help Charlie get back in the good graces of eBay; Chasm needs a modified clutch/brake for his horse so he can get back in the saddle again; Help the Cleveland Browns...uh, never mind; Craig needs a Techy carb? I don't know about this one, but to each his own; I know there are many more things that I can't think of at this time, but I will add them as I remember. Most of all, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.

Hi, Wheel Horse guys. Jolly Old Saint Nick, here. I been going over my naughty and nice list and see that most of you are on the Nice List. For those who aren't, it's time to make amends and reverse that trend. Only a few days left to Christmas. I have a few letters from some of you, but not all. I have a feeling most of you will want something nice and red, but a few of you just need some tools to keep your red things working like they were when they were new. My "red" transport, at times, needs some TLC, but my head elf mechanic does a good job of keeping it "flying". For those who forgot to send your letters in, please use this thread and this forum that was so generously offered for us to use, to send me your Christmas wish lists. Keep in mind, old Santa's back ain't what it used to be, so try not to fill your lists too much with a GT-14, and especially a D-250. I know how some of you feel about the D series, but it's all good as long as it's red. Myself, I have been wanting a round hood (I'm hoping Mrs. Claus is reading this). I hope you all are aiming to stay or get back on the Nice List. For those who aren't, you might find a old yellow and white thing under your tree. Santa.

It's been some time since I've visited this thread, and I have to tell you that I've really felt the need lately to get back to counting my blessings. You see, life has gotten back to normal by this writing, and it wasn't that long ago that I was wondering if I would even be here now. The every day tedium and little aggravations that annoy us all in our daily lives have crept back to the forefront. You know how a situation or a person can get to you and make you feel anger, animosity and disgust at times. That, coupled with job and family pressures and commitments at this time of year can be devastating to us, causing even more angst. But it is this time of year that sometimes makes us reflect on our lives, and interactions with friends and family, and to see what really matters. For me what matters is not stressing out over people and things I can't control. Those things will be gone from my life as much as I can make it happen. Family, and real friends who are as genuine as I would be to them are what's important. My impending retirement has also given me pause to reflect on a career that started in high school working at Howard Johnson's on the turnpike to make gas money, to a summer in a cement paint plant, and then on to a box shop for 23 years, then to my electrical contracting business, and finally on to three different machine shops to finish up. I'm so grateful for my wife Karen and my kids who love me no matter how much I embarrass them at times. And you of course, my friends here who encouraged me and also gave me strength to fight and get to this day. I know I'm not perfect no matter what Stevasaurus tells you, and I will flounder and be a grump now and then. Just ignore me when that happens. I promise I'll come back refreshed and ready to make you laugh. So again, I would like to take this moment to thank all of you who were there when I needed you. Thank You, Jim

Apologies for the rough cut video, but still think I should share my first 10 minute test run! Still smiling (a lot). Missus thinks I'm nuts! Here you go - a spot of extreme horsin'.

Unless you get it just right, it can damage the 1/2/3 gears in the trans. The one I worry about the most is 3rd as it is the one that is most easily damaged and leads to the jumping out of third problem. On the Hi/low shifter, shifting on the fly is VERY BAD. The fork isn't that strong to start with, and the change in speed/torque from Hi to Low is huge. I NEVER shift Hi/Low while moving, and very very seldom shift the other gears while moving.

OMG...I just looked at my Magic Pencil...it was made in Louisiana. It is tied up in knots over the LSU vs IOWA game...

I heard a rumor that Tecky carbs are on Back order! Santa, please send Steve some colored pencils and a Hello Kitty pencil case for his football picks and some new Mickey Mouse boots for ice fishing! OH AND SOME SOCKS TOO!

You see that Jim...nobody likes you... Seriously, you are my best friend and an inspiration...I am proud to call you friend. It is good to go back through threads like this and remember (I have a couple of them myself). Be talking to you Mate.

Jim ... Thank you for sharing your inspiring thoughts. I can't tell you how much it has helped / inspired me to deal with all the everyday day ins & outs that you too have dealt with this past year & half. I thought it was just me that had these thoughts & feelings dealing with the trials & tribulations of life after surgery , but you have helped me to see better things are to come...one day at a time After what I've gone through these last couple of months hearing this lets me know that in a years time I can look back with a positive attitude and be as thankful as you are today It is good to hear things are going better for you after what you been through and taking time to share your thoughts. Jim, we never met or spoke , but I consider you a friend for helping me through this with your words. Your a good man... again Thank you Merry Christmas Chasm

As promised. The pictures aren't the best and I didn't get pictures of everything. But I bet most of you see stuff that I don't even know what it is.

Blower, weights and chains, the 310-8 tank Is ready for the 6 plus this weekend!

I dabble in some photography every once in a while too.

Thanks for the comments so far guys! Here's a vid, apologies for the quality.... It was filmed on a decent SLR at 50Mbps by my son. Unfortunately I do not have PC hardware or software powerful enough to work on the 2GB of footage filmed over 10 mins... I had no choice but to re encode to 1Mbps windows style! :/ Enjoy

Craig...carbs are not good for you...you should be on the Atkins diet if you want to be healthy...

Yes...it is a thin piece of flat metal acting like a fork sliding the gear...doesn't really take to much to bend or break after time. Remember...these trannys are usually around 30 to 40 years old...parts do get some wear. I know some of my gears started to show signs of wear when I was around 30...a little more wear at 40...I am 60+ now...and with the right lubrication, I just keep going. I also stop first before I change gears...very important.

Santa, I know its a tall order but Peace on Earth would be nice! Oh, and Stevasaurus needs his WH Red Rhinestone Tiara

Better than your magic undies! I shot from the hip got all my picks in before all of the coaching rumors and star player arrests are in. I"M GOING TO CLEAN HOUSE!!!!!!

Creep up on the full mark... Techy's don't like too much oil.

College football is great! Where else can you pick the Champ 53 weeks before the title game is played! B Green NIU Marshall Minne BYU ND Cincy Louieville Mich Mid Tenne Ga Tech Oregon Ariz ST BC UCLA Rice Texas A&M N Texas Georgia S Carolina LSU Mich St Baylor Alabam OSU Missu Houston Ball St AUBURN!!! Luck is on their side!

I'd say something nice but you don't understand "Squonkenese!"

Boom shak ka lak ka, well ya you know first in the Big 10 picks low and behold here comes round two. Can you guys handle it if you get whooped again!!! As always, Go HawKeyes!!!

I'll second that Bob!!! Was just talking about you today, and I wasn't talking to Duke.

Ebay is absolutely ruthless in evaluating their sellers these days. I have been a user since 2008 and in July I was permanently banned from selling. Their reasoning was my shipping speed was below par even though I stated in my listing it would take up to 5 days to send items! I had several sellers evaluate me as slow shipping speed mainly because what they bought was a heavy, cast iron part that I have to drive an hour to ship. I had a feedback of 98.5 percent which isn't exactly awesome but I had excellent ratings in item description and shipping charges. I guess buyers expect Ebay to be like Amazon where the item will show up in two days. I must say, when you have other commitments and not a full time job on Ebay, it is hard to get a package out in the mail that was auctioned off an hour ago LOL. Not to forget I'm somewhat old school like my dad where we don't use online postage. My father has been with Ebay for 14 years and I'm waiting to see where they beat him up next time he wants to sell some Mopar parts. Sellers, do yourselves a favor and check your seller dashboard. DSRs will kill you. Also, as a buyer, remember how harsh they are on sellers so when you fill out the DSR (Detailed Seller Rating), giving less than 5 stars may cripple them. Ebay won't even take 4 stars as good enough. For those of you who want to see the examples I found of others in my situation: http://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Trust-Safety/SELLING-ACCOUNT-RESTRICTED-All-my-listings-are-removed-and-eBay/qaq-p/1283347 Ebay is just ridiculous these days, check this out: http://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2013/8/1377220683.html Pretty much sums it up. I'm not even going to bother calling them for further explanation or a resolution. I GREATLY miss the times when buying was at your own risk and people had to read discriptions so they didn't get pulled around by a seller. I'm not implying I would pull a buyer around and take advantage of him but it seems NOTHING these days is something that is assumed at your own risk. I can still remember sitting with my dad after Kindergarten was let out and he had to work for 2 more hours so he would stick me on the computer next to him and I would browse on ebay. He would just say, don't buy anything from someone with less than 95% feedback. Seemed to make perfect sense and was a much better way for a buyer to evaluate the decency of a seller rather than cling to the shirt of ebay when the item they received was not what they wanted. Also, think of this, next time you are buying a tractor part, look at the number of feedback transactions the seller has. I guarantee most of the people we buy tractor parts from have a feedback of less than 5000 transactions. These are the people Ebay obiviously doesn't care much for if you read the second link. Ebay behaves as if you were driving 5mph over with no other violations and your drivers license gets permanently suspended. Please spread the word! This kind of nonsense won't last long as the sellers are what make Ebay the place that it is! Charlie

Once again I'll be offering at cost Wheel Horse wall calendars professionally printed off of Justin's pdf file. Those of you who don't have a good printer, just want one extra nice or maybe your tractor is in it this year and want a keepsake this is for you. I sent out close to 40 of them last year and no one was disappointed. Best news is the calendars themselves are the same price but shipping has changed some. They are as follows: Calendars shipped to your door (including shipping:) US $ 22.00 CANADA $ 35.00 INTERNATIONAL $45.00 GOOD NEWS IF YOU WANT MORE THAN 1. I CAN FIT 3 CALENDARS IN AN ENVELOPE SO IF YOU WANT 2 OR 3 JUST ADD $15.00 FOR EACH EXTRA CALENDAR. ORDER BY P.M. ONLY. DO NOT ORDER THEM ON THIS THREAD! I WILL ACCEPT PAYPAL (USING THE GIFT OPTION) OR PERSONAL CHECK. I WILL NOT ORDER ANY IF NOT PAID IN ADVANCE. Ask any one who has one of last years calendar they are TOP NOTCH! I will be accepting orders up until 2 weeks after Justin's file is done and is on RS so everyone can see the pics and decide if they want one. THANKS, MIKE

You guys catch this yet? I was going to post it in the how-to section but I figured it'd get squashed there : http://www.wgrz.com/media/cinematic/video/3963207/

That's a good sounding machine. It handles that snow with no problem.....nice job and have a ball with it.....Wayne

You want to see some crazy crashes? These kept me entertained while was at home recuperating! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ5_Cn5qAu0

alright, good news and bad news......... before the good and bad though, an update....... cleaned up the head gaskets and a spray with silver paint. new ones will come when its running. let them dry and installed the heads and torqued. filled the engine with diesel and let it soak into the sludge in the oil pan, drained it and filled a couple times. bolted the engine on the hydro tractor instead of the 8 speed it came off. will install all the parts on the engine sitting on the hydro tractor. dismantled the starter motor and cleaned it out. put some fresh grease in the outer bearings and freed up the gear. installed it on the engine and made sure that i had power and it spun over. right, now the good news..... since i had the starter good, i thought id install the flywheel and turn the engine over and see what sort of compression the engine had.... front cylinder.... first bump 50 second 75 third 100 fourth 110 rear cylinder......first bump 50 second 75 third 100 fourth 110. checked both twice, dry, no oil put in plug hole. so 110 on both cylinders is good for me, engine sounds good turning over, no unusual noises so far........ now the bad.... tested the ignition module and its bad, couldn't get it to drop voltage as i rotated the engine, constant battery voltage through the engine revolutions. i read a thread on here about how chuck (soi) used a test light to test the module. tried that and also used a magnet and passed it over the eye from both directions, flipping the magnet over to make sure n and s poles were passed over it. no change....... so more $$$$, ordered a new one from onanparts.com along with a new rotor and some carb kit gaskets and condenser. also ordered another 3 ohm harley dual fire coil from the same place i got the one for my 1st 416. at least i have spares for the 1st 416H if this engine doesn't work out.... the more i get into it though, the more it looks like the p.o. had a no fire issue and gave up on the engine. then it got picked for parts. the engine has less than 600 hours on it, the same as my 1st 416. so hopefully in a bit more time and money it will become the engine for my next build......

I just got done plowing out the neighborhood...some driveways and the sidewalk around the block...I love winter...got to meet some of the neighbors. It does not get any better then this. Merry Christmas every one. The B-100 with the newly painted snow blade...no chains...just my dinosaur body on the horse...WOW...what a riot...beats the heck out of mowing grass. Santa...I left some snow on the roof...cookies and fudge are waiting...stop by and say HI...

I waited for the ones with helium also and wouldn't you know it, one of the kids got ahold of it. MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone.

I tried that Steve, then learned... there's no amount of protein, fat, and fiber that's gonna fix my Techy.

I have the '83 GT-1848 set up with the blade this winter. Patiently waiting to give the "new" Vanguard V twin a workout.

I have one. before after

I'm sure glad you're feeling better Jim. I love your humor on here.

Awesome Mark...can't wait for some video.

A new Techy carb would be nice... then again, some coal would heat the house.

Very nice looking setup there Glenn. I'm in the short chute group too. They are calling for a good amount of snow this weekend here. It will be the first time I've been able to test it out , but I'm confident it'll do just fine. The videos I've seen of them working show that.

I would not get too over excited about a two stage. I have both a single high chute and a 2 stage. The 2 stage works great if you got a lot of power and snow up to your waste. The bad side is they are heavy, and pain in the butt to store and move around. Taking them on and off the tractor is not near as easy as a single stage. Plus way more moving parts which equals more maintains and chance for break down and cost. Most of the parts have to come from Toro and who knows how long that will last. The single stage parts can come from outside sources. Now I know there are some on here that will disagree with me. Then there is O'l Duke he and his chucker are in a total classification all to there own and too hard to describe without seeing it in action so I won't even attempt it. I have only used my 2 stage for about 30min in the last 4 years. I mainly use my blade because the snows here come off the lake and are wet and heavy. Unless you are constantly buried by 3 to 4 ft of snow I would think that single will do just fine.

Really GREAT thing you are doing. It reminds me of my shop class days. To this day 30 years later I am still very good friends with my shop teacher. A couple things I remember was him starting up a 265 Chevy V-8 in the class room. The flames shot out as he would rev up the motor on a engine stand. The other thing is the first day of class every year. He would get out this huge chunk of hair and tell the story how this kid lost it in the metal lathe. This looks like a really great project. Those skills will last a lifetime for those kids. They are learning things that only hands-on can teach.I give you TWO THUMBS UP!!!!

A neat trick that works, put in or take out a little air from the back tires to level out the blade...have to do it to the back tires. You can turn that scrapper bar over to use what is the top edge, if it has not been done already. I also set my blade height a touch off the concrete, with the star wheel, this saves some wear on that edge by taking the weight off the blade. BTW Welcome to Red Square...

Hi All, In Vermont, all we need is snow Here's our fleet of snow equipment, we're ready for anything! I just repainted the hood on the C-85 and I'm really happy how it turned out. I used PPG paint with a hardener. The Vinyl Guy was a super help in getting the decals. I plan on doing more painting in the spring after it warms up some. C-85

Where the picture are terrible from my phone. but here is what i ended up doing. The reinforcing channel on back was packed full of rust. i probably should have replaced it too. i also added a UHMW (plastic) cutting edge that made wider and sandwiched in between teh new steel cutting edge to try out on my asphalt drive. seems to work pretty good. Back on the trail again! thanks for all the help.

Here's my 4x4 C-101

Can't beat that price.....or quality.....good job.... Napa sells a socket and spring/wire/insulator setup for these bulbs... I have bought sets and just used the wires and insulator but have also used the whole socket on occasion... Might be part # ECH LS6427....just looked on the website but I think I have a box for reference in the garage.....probably that one I just threw out though....

Bigger update this time Can you tell what comes next... It lives.... :D And the new hood decal, just in case the all wheel drive wasn't obvious Next step is to start on the rear transfer box.

My future son-in-law.

Just because I dug it out today, I thought I'd post a picture of a 1961 dozer blade when not mounted on a tractor: