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Stevebo gave me a call that his cousin Toddbo was looking to sell his Commando 8. I really didn't know where this tractor would fit in with my collection but after thinking about it over night I decided to grab it. Besides it was only a two mile trip to Toddbo's place to pick it up! I decided to part ways with my 657 wood hauler. The Commando 8 has factory lights and a charging system with a battery, something the 657 lacked. Though the factory lights aren't the brightest they'll do when I need to clear snow at night with it. No need to light up the neighbor hood, just a few feet in front of me will do the trick. I'm only going to throw a new seat at it and call it done.

After a few months of tinkering I was finally able to hitch up my rebuilt tiller to my trusty 310-8 today, worked great! Special thanks to Kelly for the dial-a-height and Dennist for the hitch, pulley, and input shaft. Tillers seem to be a bit rare in Missouri so I had to convert a RT-366 to work with the newer style tractor (hence the hitch, and input shaft). Can't believe how well these tillers work! Now that everything is in working order it will get tore down once more for a fresh coat of paint!

Yikes!! That's not what I was thinking you were doing at all!

Pull off the air filter so you can see Carb Throat. Have a can of carb cleaner or (gas in squirt can ready). Then start up engine run it till it starts to die then squirt carb cleaner or gas in the carb throat, If it try's to run then it is most likely lack of fuel ie: (Fuel System Problem). If it dies right out then it is most likely (Electrical Problem). Doing it this way is your cheapest systematic start, as your not just replacing parts. You will also know which direction to go, then follow every ones trouble shooting suggestions that are mentioned. ~Duke

I just bought this tractor earlier this week. It was said to have a bad motor , major leaking, and needed a rebuild. The deck was just rebuilt 2 years ago with all new spindles , paint, blades , and reinforced. I have since fixed the leaking and have her runnin really well for the most part. Just a little miss when revving up to different RPMS. I got the engine back in today and presher washed the tractor. All gauges work and the hydro seams strong as well. Im looking forward to using this beast. It was garage kept all its life except for this winter because the PO bought a zero turn and had no room in the garage. I am glad he sold it , instead of leaving it rust away. Its safe to say I got an awsome deal considering the shape shes in and the engine now runs. What do you guys think... Sent from my Event using Tapatalk

well as we all know the winter has been long and cold, so buying stuff has been limited for me, but now with the weather warming a little (it was 23 deg today) and snow melting, I'm getting calls from people wanting to sell stuff, this is a deal I picked up today, nothing great but still a good deal. Tractor needs a head gasket that is why the PO stopped using it, it has been spray bombed but don't look to bad from 5 feet, deck has been patched, but works. I havent ran the numbers yet but I know it's a 76 or 77 B-80 8 speed with 36" deck. This was the bonus part getting a box of goodies, blades, chains, PTO parts, deck parts, and more, a very nice homemade set of weights about 75lbs each, extra set of ag tires, weathered but good tread, the orig. rear tires and wheels and a mid grader, that we found digging stuff out of the barn. All in all a good deal, even though it was COLD and windy out.

C-125 brought some logs from my wood store today.

I'm not sure I would touch any of the things you mentioned unless you are having a problem. I'd have a good look at everything while it is apart, and do a thorough cleaning of the cooling fins, but that's about it. I would fit new valve stem seals on the inlets while putting it back together. Not sure what you mean by the gasket on the oil cooler? Do you mean the filter? If its not leaking now, and the bolts are tight, I would leave it alone. The 2 piece intake manifolds can leak, but if your engine is running well then I probably wouldn't screw with it. Martin has described how he did his in one of his threads. I've never had to buy a carb kit for an Onan. I have always managed to remove the top, clean out the bowl and blow through the jets without destroying any of the gaskets. Mind you I have never had a major carb problem either, if your motor is running OK now, I wouldn't get too carried away.

Nice plows, both of 'em! I used a plow with my slot / sleeve hitch years ago. Worked like a charm!

Heck, I'd be happy with" What are you using to clean the yard" thread

So I got home tonight and fired up the 520 to run it some..... and maybe just to play a little I only ran it for a few minutes yesterday because of my nieces Birthday party. Today it ran much better. No more miss at all. It was missing and would puff a little ploom of smoke when it would hiccup. It must of been the old gas. I drained the fuel and put non ethanol gas in it yesterday. It must have worked its way through. Now shes purrs. The planets must have lined up in a row today. My girlfriend said can I drive..... "me" ofcoarse you can.... "her" I dont like this leaver to make it go, I want a gas pedal. Do they make a tractor like that? ..... "me" Well its funny you say that .... There is a kit you can buy just for that, its only $200. lol Its really hard not to get some seat time on it but I must be patient I guess and pull the heads and adjust the valves. Thanks again guys. Great group here. I am a member of other forums and it can get pretty high school. Kyle

Yikes !! is right. Here is how I hooked up a slot hitch on my 12 /8 spd. I bought 2 5/16" yoke ends from TSC. Then I went to Lowes and bought some cable, crimp ends and cut loose and bought the crimp tool. I crimped on an end ran it through the rear yoke and then through the tube. Slid on the front yoke figured out how long it had to be and crimped that one. Secured the yokes to the hitch and lift with clevis pins and clips.

Here are a few more pics of assembly. Since I was going for that Big Tractor look, I had to put an exhaust stack on it as well. Just for a size comparison, I took a couple pics of the 444 next to my C-160. Matt

Im still watering my garden

Live by the 3...die by the 3.

One more for Regal Red. I found that it took a little while to harden up for me. Wish I had been a little more patient. Don't look too close.

the 875 is a great little tractor. i picked one up a couple years ago. it now belongs to my son, Kent. we spent some time doing a full rebuild on it just recently..... heres how it looks now..... heres the thread on it and a little about when i first picked it up...... got any pics for us?

If there is a guy out there that will put a front blade on his Senior when it snows for a little fun, its the Duke.....

Sorry, too far from the show to make it. Here is a picture of just one shelf of "stuff" the other side of the shed has a larger shelf that is also filled up. I also have shelves full of parts and engines in my shop.

Hi all: So I wanted to share my most recent acquisition, a 1972 Case 444. This is a beast! Came with a 48 inch snowcaster and auxiliary hydraulic valve. I will start tearing into this over the weekend

I saw this on the news this morning. Sad to see.

It might be time to start talking about what will we be using to mow the grass !!!! Come on spring! Mike...........

If I remember right the cable clamp bags say do not use with coated cable

Thanks Denny! I didn't have any experience with Case until recently when I was given a 222 by a good friend. I was very impressed with that machine, and I really enjoy using it, so when this 444 turned up a couple hours from my house, I jumped on it. My dad owned a small dealership when I was a kid, which is why I'm so partial to my Horses, but one of my dads close friend ran the local Case Power And Equipment, so I spent some time drooling over these as well, when I was a kid. Thanks Thanks for the kind words. This hydraulic tiller works very well, although it makes the tractor very light in the front end, but I'll be dealing with that very soon. Thanks Matt

I love it!! I am kinda partial to these machines too. The fact that yours has the 3 point set up is great. They are built like a tank and will push anything you need to.

Nice haul !

That's sad news . I have to say , it's kind of strange seeing your avatar in the same pane with such a tragic event .

Bought a new multi-meter and hurried straight home. Got the ol' honk running and sure enough!! 17-18 volts DC with the engine running. I am going to replace the R/R to bring the voltage down to hopefully 13.5-14.4 volts DC or so. Lesson learned, my old multi-meter is going into the trash. It has had a long and useful life. Chuck, thank you so much for your help and support!

I feel some upsets coming on today and can we say pepto bismol for my upset brackets/glad I played college football

Very sad to see this happen to anyone. Glad there weren't any injuries. In 1984 we lost a furniture factory to fire. We had around 20 fire departments assisting in one form or another. One department had a 6" pump at the city lake about 1/4 mile from the fire and kept us supplied with water, but a furniture factory without sprinklers is way to great of a fireload to save.

I don't know where to start so I will sit back down and have a ~Duke

Sorry , Jims post wasnt there when I started mine. Suffice to say there was a massive effort to surround and drown. Sent from my SCH-S720C using Tapatalk 2

What a shame to see those old buildings destroyed...let alone those peoples lively hoods we have had more than a few large fires in local communities here in the last few years. Im startin to wonder if its not the new sign of rebellion or something

I had a real nice 72 Case 444 as well. It was a beast and would push a ton of snow. Sparky is right, it does have a big tractor feel. Just be careful going down hills as it will run away if its not equipped with a holding valve. Mine didn't have a holding valve but I did take it down hills but you need to know this in advance so you can pull back on the hydro lever. Experiment on a small incline first.

I've hated everything from Vermont-American that I have ever used, whether its a drill bit, a saw blade whatever. You need carbide burrs to attack that, you can buy them from most tool suppliers. You can pay a lot for them, $30 or $40 apiece is realtively normal for a quality US made one. I buy them when I see a surplus bin of them at engineering supply places, usually around $5 apiece.

Here is another 07-36TL03 Looking at other years these 60093 and 60329 serials appear to be 1989 models so that would make the build date 919x or 19xth day of 1989. Have discovered the build dates are not the date they actually built the unit but the day they scheduled that lot of units to be built. It appears they did this once a week as it was often the same day of each week but not always. Have seen Saturdays and Sundays also. It must have been quite a challenge to determine what they had enough parts for to build. Garry

steve a sucker is born every minute and I am one of them.I have always liked duke for some weird reason lol.they get me everytime.

Scott Chuck McColley said he is interested in your GT2500...:-)

Here's the Regal on my "freshened-up" worker :

I'll try to do that in a few days, gonna need some technical help posting a video on this site.

Like Kelly, I also use automotive paints on most of my Restorations but in the case of this Suburban I figured why not use Rustoleum Regal red. Afterall, this was going to be my fun go to tractor that see's a ton of use (and it does) and at the time I really didn't care if it got scratches or faded in a few yrs. (and I still don't care) Whatever. After a full yr. since I painted it no fading and no scratches and anyone that sees it can't believe it when I tell them its Rustoleum. I've been using Rustoleum since my early teens, I'm almost 46 now so I have a pretty good idea of how to lay it on. The bottom line is you can spend ten times more for paint but if you don't know what you are doing it will still come out crappy but with a lot more money down the toilet...Kelly is our professional painter, I agree with him. For the money it is good paint.

Thanks again Chuck, and I agree. I think my multi-meter has out lived it's usefulness. I must confess though, this experience was a good learning experience. Also, would an analog multi meter be susceptible to RF interference?

Well, Aussie came back first with the pic, so he gets the free kick, but I am assuming he won't be at the "BIG SHOW" to collect. But Aussie, and If you ever cross the pond, look me up. Thanks Martin, Guess My subconscious told me the coil wire didn't matter....yaeh right. I did mark the trigger and condenser wires, but thanks for the info.. I will do the discount dubble check . GMAN, The PO says he bought it new and says the engine was never apart , But who knows ? The meter shows 438 hrs, but I didn't check if it was working before I tore it down. Looking at the tin on the seat pan and hood , I would guess It had a lot more hours.....But I know the PO's daughter mowed with it for several years, so that may explain the body damage..OOPS....there I go again....sorry fems.

On a further note I've come to the conclusion that it would be an excellent idea to bring along a multi-meter to check the charging system when looking at old tractor's.

Chuck, I thank you again for your support. The madness continue's! This is what I've done so far. Yesterday afternoon I disconnected the R/R from the stator and still have around 190 volts DC across the battery with the engine running. I measured the AC voltage coming off the stator at 28-60 volts, flucuating. I then reconnected the R/R. Today I installed a new oem Kohler coil and plug wire. Still reading around 190 volts DC. Through this process I cleaned uo the spade connector's that connect to the R/R. Also cleaned up the terminals on the R/R. The ground is nice and shiny, bare metal. The engine has been run about an hour or so through all this and no ill effects seem to have occured to the battery. I'm starting to think hard about the RF interference you spoke of. It is my thought 190 volts going to the battery would have damaged it by now. Also, the points and condensor are new. The engine starts and runs very well throughout it's rpm range. As far as RF interference goes, the battery is located right under the coil and my multi-meter is going on 20 years old and was not an expensive one when new, so I'm guessing the shielding is poor.

Well, some good news! The fuel shutoff valve was seized in place. I twisted it back and forth a few times and it broke loose. When I cranked the engine over I noticed the fuel flow through the fuel filter was constant and had much more volume than before. The engine fired right up and ran like it should whether at idle or full speed. Regardless, I am going to have Scott's dad go though this machine completely. It has oil leaks, the fuel lines are old, the plug wires look old, and it needs a brand new paint job and body work. It should be neat to see what it looks like done.

Maybe they should consider moving it to your place for a HUGE sell-a-thon!!!

The above for me comes after changing oils and servicing hydros. Also add in there a smiley face with a string trimmer and a smiley face on a Mahindra 4025 with a 6' Bush Hog.

To do list Sand down and paint bodywork put on new stickers from meadowfield (mark) http://www.wheelhorseforum.com/user/3321-meadowfield/ as he is the owner of www.restorationdecals.co.uk Paint rocker cover Drain oil and replace filter with new K&N filter replace oil with sae-30 Fit newly arrived gauges on new aluminium dashboard (still ned to buy oil temp) For kill switch (because I like them) Drive and drive and drive If you want to see my pics either go to my euro thread (hi I'm James from England ). Or go to my profile http://www.wheelhorseforum.com/user/12410-jparkes43/

Don't forget the photos....