Leaderboard

During the couple of years I've had the 316 it's been undergoing a program of gradual improvement rather than a full on resto. The dashboard project began over a year ago with me sending some photos and dimensions to Mark for the decals. Didn't want the tractor out of action during the mowing season so perhaps in Autumn (Fall), which turned to Winter, and two dump cart restos later, finally Spring. The decals came with the dump cart order so having completed the trailers thought I'd best crack on with it or the tractor will be out mowing again. First thing was to test that the tachometer would work with the Onan, which it did, just needing to be calibrated against a hand held optical tacho (just out of view to the right). The next step was to fab a new dash panel from a piece of recycled WH. I really can't recall what it came from but it was the right thickness, the right width, and it was even possible to utilise two of the holes already in it. A bit of drilling, cutting, filing and painting later things were taking shape. My original intention was to reuse the engine hours meter and voltmeter but visually the original voltmeter looked out of place so I got a matching Durite voltmeter from the marine range. I also fitted a new ignition switch to replace the one that a PO had added a screw in eye to relace a lost key - result a key wouldn't operate the switch any longer. It was always going to be a tight fit but the measurements taken said it should. and it did (just) though adding the connections to the main wiring harness was challenging given my chunky mechanic's fingers (sometimes a blessing, sometimes a curse). The net result is, I think, good - just got to do the top panel with all the warning lights next but I suspect that will have to wait till Autumn now. Re the ignition switch, having had an aftermarket switch fail after little over a year on another tractor, I ve taken to getting these from the US. Choose the right supplier and even with shipping its no more expensive, and they're by the OEM, Indak - even have the correct letter codes for the terminals. Andy

It is a 2014 Silverado...2 wheel drive...8' bed...regular cab...v-6 (4.?)...Tungsten Metallic... Getting the cap put on before Mentone. This truck was on the lot and was pretty much what I would have ordered. It came with power windows and mirrors...I would not have ordered that. It was half the cost of Brrly's Land Yaht...

I remember you (Craig) having success with your aftermarket Tecumseh carb, that's why I thought this might be a good way to go. By the time I buy a genuine used carb and invest time and money into it I could have unpacked this one, installed it and be off and running. I really want this 1054 to be my tractor show putt-putt but with work and travel have very limited time to work on it. Once again I'll be in Georgia Monday for a two week job so nothing on the 1054 gets done. Before I know it the Zagray show will be here and I wont have it done. This carb could be a great time saver! Mike........

So I picked up some goodies from bowtie guy today got a blade for the lawn ranger it was missing the mounting plates 4123 so here are sum I made

Had my new 1277 FEL tractor out for an oil change today.

For those of you who throw away those sealed ball bearings , I thought I'd include this little how to : These bearings can indeed be saved if you're careful . In the first pics , I'm using a jewelers screwdriver to gently remove the seal(s) . First apply some light machine oil to the tip so it wont bind on the seal , then start pushing inward & down on the inner part of the seal then push the screwdriver in the other direction as to get " under " the seal: Then clean the bearing & seals in your favorite solvent & blow dry : Then repack with your grease of choice . I'm using Mobil 1 synthetic . It has great protection against water wash out & this is one of the bearings from the one way assembly in the primary clutch of my Outlander 400 but the principals are the same ; You'll be surprised how easily the seal slides back into the grooves of the inner & outer race ! Here's one all done & ready to go back into the stock sleeve . This bearing in this application allows for engine braking upon deceleration on a C.V.T. belt drive system . I hope some of you guys will try this & see just how easy it is . Thanks for reading . -Gene

Five or six years ago our oldest daughter called me up saying a neighbor had a a lawn tractor for sale. I ask her what kind, she said she didn't know but it was red in color and there were items to go with it. I said I'd be in there in shortly. I didn't even get to her house when I saw a red Wheel Horse sitting in the neighbor's yard with a for sale sign on it. I'd seen the Wheel Horse there many times before with an older gentleman mowing the grass I picked up my daughter and went back to the neighbor's place. A knock on the door followed by a nice young fellow coming out on the porch. He and his wife had just bought the place, the previous owner, the elderly gentleman had passed away. I asked about the Wheel Horse. Turns out is was a C-145 Automatic of 1983 vintage. The young man was wanting to sell it, saying the battery was always dead when he tried to use it. I asked the price, he said $150 and everything went with it. The "everything" turned out to be a 42" deck, a like new snow thrower and a hard to find Wheel Horse winter cab. I forked over the cash immediately then made arrangements for a buddy with a trailer to pick up the C-145. The Horse arrived at my place the next day. I jumped started it and it ran fairly well. Long story short, I swapped out the voltage regulator, rebuilt the carburetor and replace the rubber hood hold downs. Also changed all fluids and the transmission filter. My daughter used it for a couple of years then left it set in her garage. She's buying a new mower. I picked up the C-145 a few days ago then changed the oil, put on a new front tire and deck drive belt. With some good gas in its tank and a quick priming of the fuel pump, the K321 Kohler fired right up. Next up will be a transmission fluid change and some engine tune-up work. After that it will be my back-up mower in the summer and my prime snow removal tractor in the winter. The classic Wheel Horse tractors are great pieces of equipment.

Found this picture a while back. Hope it helps. Not my picture.

Yes I got one - and actually it was also for a 1054! This was last summer and when it came in I was very pleased with appearance/fit/finish etc it and bolted right up and went to install cables --- uh oh, the choke butterfly was backward! Oh well, the butterfly/shaft off the old carb was good and I just switched them out. I see from the pics that they must have addressed that problem since theyre showing the other shaft. Oh, and the 1054 apparently could care less that a Chinese product was giving it fuel - it ran perfectly... and hey, the cost was real easy to swallow compared to other brands!

I worked at a Chevy dealer for ten yrs thru the 90's. Things were pretty clean and simple under the hood thru those yrs. Now, under the hood of some of the GM vehilcles in the 80's were a mess. I hated working on them, Vacuum hoses everywhere (usually leaking) and just an overall mess to work on with carb's etc. Steve's truck is a Chevy so Steve won't ever have to work on it other than oil changes.... I think overall it would be a breeze to work on if it should ever need attention. I have always been a fan of regular cab short and long beds. An extra cab for me only means more room for crapola. Besides, I think the regular cabs make it look kinda mean and macho.. Very nice Steve!

Looking under the hood makes me remember why I don't work on cars anymore!

Nice lookin truck, Steve!............ One of these in your receiver would look pretty good too. Terry made the decal.

Now, the only option it's lacking is one of these.

I would have bet it would have taken at least a week but guess not. Jason I can't believe you listed it on Ebay already! Feel sorry for the new member you bought it from. Let this be a lesson to anyone else who is selling something. Be careful WHO you sell to and please ask for advice on somethings value before you do so! It may be worth a lot more then you think.

After leaving the hospital, the endless doctors appointments began. Primary concern was the facial fractures which needed to be surgically repaired before the bones fused incorrectly. Second is the damage to the nerves controlling my left eye. My eye was able to look right, but there was no signal to move my eye left which resulted in double vision. It was also the same side where my face was paralyzed so not only could it not move properly, the eyelid wouldn't close either. After a 3 1/2 hour surgery, metal plates and screws placed in my face aligned the bones back to where they're supposed to be. The skull fractures were fusing perfectly, or close to it anyway. I still had considerable numbness on the right side where the surgery was, as well as swelling. During the first month of recovery, I didn't notice much improvement. Still had double vision and even though the surgery was successful, the swelling and bruising made me look very poor. My facial paralysis was not improving and in fact, there is now a noticeable drooping on the left side due to the lack of muscle movement. Electrical stimulus tests showed that the nerve wasn't severed, but was damaged and recovery would be long. There was talk of decompression surgery, but the neurosurgeon didn't think that it would be as beneficial as they could have hoped. The second month, I began to notice that my double vision was lessening. If I looked to the right, I could see a single image. This was terrific news because it meant that the nerve was healing and there's a strong likelihood that my vision will return to normal. Not much on the facial movement, but the swelling had gone down and I was beginning to look somewhat normal once again. During the subsequent months, my vision was finally returned (month 4) swelling was gone (month 6) and my face was showing the beginning signs of moving once again. While still mostly paralyzed, there is not quite a bit of movement and best of all I can close my left eye. I wouldn't say that I can blink, but it is a significant improvement from before. While I am still not a good looking guy, if you didn't know that I was run over by a truck, you really couldn't tell by looking at me. There are some indications that I'm not quite right (visually ) but for the most part, I have regained muscle tone in my face. I have a long way to go, measured in months to years, but I am alive and functioning. Every day I am feeling a little more like my old self and I am thrilled at the outlook. That's all for now...

As you may or may not know, Neil (moderator) is coming over for the Big Show in Penn this year from England. He is planning on being in the states for about 3 weeks. The part before before the show, and the show is already planned out. He and his partner is going to be around for most of the next week after the show. He is looking for some things to do in the area before he goes back later in the week. I have a few ideas, but I am not from that area. Here is the deal...I have Neil on Skype and have talked with him about this. What I would like to do is get some of you guys on Skype in that area of the country this Saturday around 2 or 3 o'clock (because he is 6 hours ahead) in a group conversation with Neil and talk about what is possible to see and do for about 3 to 4 days in that area after the Show. He is not looking to get locked into an itinerary, but he is looking for ideas so he can make choices and not just travel around in circles with no idea and end up feeling like he has just drove around. If you are on Skype, let me know if you can be on Saturday...if you are not on Skype...please post some web sites in this thread of things to do and to see. We were thinking south-eastern Penn...Maryland...New Jersey. I will say this after talking with Niel the other day...not really interested in populated areas (Philly..DC..NYC..Gettysburg)..he is looking for Amish country sides...back woods America...etc. He and his partner and I and my wife were thinking that going to the Strassurg Stream Train Museum on Sunday or Monday..after the show (about 50 miles east). RWilson expressed some interest in going with us to this. I am looking to spend a few days after the show in that area with Neil, but like him, I am at a loss of the expertise you locals have in things to do and see and eat...both Niel and I are into eating excellent cosine form the area. I could show Neil around Chicago, and I may get to do that in a year or so. Well, anyway, I ramble. Throw some stuff out there (web sites...favorite places...etc). Also...let me know if you can be on Skype this Saturday...let's say 3 eastern time...9 PM for you Neil!! Hope this works...we are flexible. :) .

Saw this on another site, a nice 'better-idea' to control plowing depth.

I bet the mid grader blade has only been used a couple times! The tiller has hardly seen any use either!

Found a surviving 1075 on Craigslist a couple weeks ago and pounced.The gentleman I purchased it from bought it in 1966.It came with a Snowblower,tiller,snow/dozen blade and a nos deck.It has the factory headlight option as well!It's so hard to believe he used this for 49 years and its still in this condition!He had the motor gone through a few years ago and the starter/generator rebuilt 4 years ago.I said I would never own another hydro but I couldn't pass this gem up!I paid a respectable price of 500 dollars for all and I'm happy to be its caretaker from here on in!The deals are out there,Be patient!

Smokin' deal there.

Your a BLESSING! I just ordered. Thank You For Your Kindness ; )

You wont catch me doing that to any of my tractors.....for sure I would knock into a tree cause I was staring at those awesome gages and not looking where I was headed! Great work! Mike..........

I hated working on Ford's. What leak, I don't see no leak! As far as my least favorite GM motors to work on it was the Quad 4 (headgasket no fun) and the Olds 307 gutless wonder boat anchor...

Joe, it is entirely possible that it was just condensation from the rough winter we just had. There is a couple of threads here in the transmission section that talk about flushing out the trans. Not a big deal...check them out.

Welcome Dave to ...have a few lawn rangers myself. Nice little tractors .

Can't wait to follow your custom Ranger resto thread Dave.

If you will flush it out mix diesel and ATF 50/50 it'll clean it up and give it lubrication while driving it to flush it.

to . In the manuals someone posted the pics of "Final Assembly", I would have just loved to have touched some of the stuff. Like all professions it looks more fun/enjoyable outside; I believe I'd gone home satisfied everyday, though. Also have a Lawn Ranger roller, have the engine, but not ready to scratch it up till get more done on LR. Morphing it to a tall boy with intentions of 8 spd conversion. For the restoration end I've committed sacrilege, but I look like an elephant on a pea otherwise, ha! Good luck and speed with your project and please save/get some pics!

Welcome to RS Dave, one of RS's forms is called Restorations, Modifications & Customizations that would be a good place to start. We are looking forward to hearing some stories about the Wheel Horse/Toro factory and we always like pictures. Welcome again Ron

is the rubber shifter boot still there? maybe it got in that way. Koen

you could also use empty gas bottlel/tanks as an aditional airtank Koen

I combined two smaller air compressors to give me enough capacity for a hand held sand blaster. You can save a lot of time and get all the nooks and crannies that sanding misses.

Good deal in getting set screw out Now align the shift rails ,may need to use a flat blade s/d to pop them in place, install shifter & new set-screw. Turn set screw in till it stops ,Back out 1/2 turn, & lock the nut. Run threw the shift pattern to see if all is OK ...

I know the 10 and 12 HP Kohler knockoff carbs have been good operating ones (we have two of them) and I have been waiting to see how the 8 HP ones work that came out late last year.

Nice ride Steve, that'll get you back for some more golf Tom

James ,,you should be able to download a manual for that tractor from the download section

Thanks Neil I'm gonna burn the mid night oil on this one and tru and have it ready for Newby tractor fest if I can , Cheers James

WoW that's a Beauty! That aught to haul plenty Of Rock N Rye! ~Duke

You pass them driving fords.

Where do you add the nuts? Looks nice for a chevy. Lol

Real nice truck Steve! I love the grill, has a nice tough look. I think that motor is a 4.3 V-6. Mike..........

we know you didn't take the money from march madness to pay for that.nice truck

i thought i would be ok with the heritage blue i picked, but its just as bad as any black vehicle I've ever had. i think the dark colors are basically all the same pain in the a** to keep clean. they look great for about a day and then the dust and dirt settles like a magnet. then you get some small amount of rain and it looks like you never washed it at all...... one thing i really hate is the bird bombs...... leave them and they will stain the new paint badly. even with a good wax and sealer on there they leave marks if left too long.......

the tank size is another one of those advantages with the long bed. its one thing i miss as the last 2 trucks I've had have been short or mid size beds. i can't get a crew cab long bed in my garage though. ( even though i can't get it in there at all now for some other reason or reasons, 12 others i think.....) the 26 gal tank in mine gets me 520 miles now we are out of winter..... the six speed is awesome for towing Steve, you are going to notice the difference over the old one......

This story is kinda sad.

Condensation/moisture

Just an off the cuff suggestion but try surfing the tourism chamber of commerce and state park sites for Pa and the surrounding area you should be able to go into information overload mode pretty quickly and then you can try for more detailed information from the locals/natives about the things that interest you

There's one at the Steam Pageant we set up at and he camps near us. Always talks our stuff down and tries to buy it from us for cheap. He's about 8 ft tall and weighs like 50 lbs Has the same flannel shirt on every day for the past 4 yrs.. We call him Slim Pickens

As you can imagine an F250 Diesel is quite heavy and I sustained numerous life threatening injuries. The impact broke my skull in 5 places, broke my temporal bone on the left side injuring the 7th nerve, paralyzing my face and 6th nerve damage causing severe double vision. On the right side I sustained multiple fractures to the facial bone and internally suffered both epidural and subdural hematoma's. ALL of this was immediate. It was mentioned before I was home alone when this occurred. The damage was severe, as was the internal and external bleeding. I was mostly unable to see because of the damage to the 6th nerve, but the rest of my body was functional. I ran into the house, grabbed the phone and thankfully able to call 911, then got back outside. I went outside because I sincerely thought this was it and I didn't think that I would make it. Since my kids were at school, they would also be the first home, and I would much rather have a passerby find my body than have my children make the discovery. First on the scene was a occupational health manager for IBM Fishkill, who heard the dispatch while passing by my street on his way to work. He stayed with me, keeping me calm until the ambulance arrived. Mind you, I was still fully conscience but still thinking I would die. At this point, I couldn't see, my left ear was completely deaf and I was losing a substantial amount of blood. The ambulance arrived, and I heard them talking about what to do with me. They wanted to air lift me to Westchester Hospital who's trauma center is better, but they didn't think I had long to live so they elected to transport me via Ambulance to Danbury hospital. It took almost no time before they had me in the ambulance, and I remember them asking permission to cut my clothes off and my reply, are you serious, please do what you need to do. I heard the rumble of the tires hitting the gutter rumble strips on I84 as the ambulance passed on the left and right, and we got to the hospital in record time. There was a team of specialists waiting for my arrival and they began to prod, poke, examine me in every way possible. By this time signs of external bleeding had stopped, and they were interested in the internal head injuries which were severe enough that the head of Neuro Surgery was called in to examine me. Numerous CT Scans later, the decision was to place me in ICU and monitor me with CT Scans every 4 hours. I'm sure I glow by this point.