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My new hitching post!

The local paper had an Auction Listing for a property about 10 miles from me, with a bunch of tractors and attachments for sale. The auction was happening about a mile from a steel supplier I was visiting this afternoon, and I noticed there was a 1056 and an 856 listed. So I call in and take a look, the 1056 is a little ratty, but turns over freely, has a really good seat, a solid 42" deck but missing the starter generator guard. All in all, pretty much meets all the criteria of the ones I drag home. The 856 is a reasonably tidy little tractor. Complete, with a deck, a new battery and obviously has cut some grass recently. I figure that the 856 will sell pretty easily, the 1056 might go pretty cheaply. So I leave, intending to come back when the auction starts. But its a nice day, I have a bunch of stuff to do at home, I am finally down to 10 tractors in the shed, and why the hell do I need another one? So I go home, drink some cold beer, and feel really good about walking away from two tractors I wouldnt have walked away from before. Maybe I am not a horse-a-holic anymore?

I moved everything out to clean the garage today so I circled some of my collection for a quick pic.

Running out of space in the garage (yes, need a shed). Dad's B-80 is retired from chores, just taking it out to run around. garage dolly's are big buck and over kill, as I'm not pushing around a car. Got these dolly's from Harbor Fright. were on sale at $9.00 a piece with Gold Customer (not sure how I got that ranking) coupon. limit 4. I did lube them up with bearing grease and removed the deck and bungeed it against the wall. I wouldn't try this with a heavy D or such. Better than a Hover Round!

I think those 2 Wheel Horses sold as a package deal for $50....

It's a 1998 314-8 with 957 hrs. One owner, bought on 10/14/98 for $4171.93. She is beautiful! It came with all the receipts and original paperwork, including the paperwork for the 42" RD bought on 7/28/12 for $1402.92! I really lucked out with this one. It showed up at my local dealer about 20 minutes before I got there. I am really surprised at how quiet the Command is. Are the Commands as good (or almost) as the old cast kohlers? Any things that I should be on the lookout regarding the engine? The tractor runs very well, no smoke from the motor, and looks real nice. Oil change, tranny change, and tune up is on tap for tomorrow. Something that I need to address is the steering is skipping teeth when I crank her hard to the left. Other than tightening the nut with the cotter pin thru it, is there another way to remedy this? Almost forgot to ask: is there an easy way to access the eye bolt on the middle rock shaft? When I lift the deck there is about a half inch between the rubbers on the deck and the frame. Also the front wheel on the deck barely lift of the ground. I am thinking that the eye bolt needs to be adjusted.

remove the valve core, blow up the tube, let it go flat, install it in the tire with the tire halfway on the rim and fish the valve stem thru the hole and hold in place with a valve tool or a metal truck tire extension, finish installing the tire, if you are using a valve tool you will have ti remove it ti air up the tube, at this point I get out my old school chicken pliers, with the bent tips and plastic insulated tips for pulling sparkplug wires and use them to hold the valve stem without damaging it while air up the tire, while still holding the valve stem let the tube deflate and relax and then reinflate and deflate a second time so the tube can get comfortable in the tire then install the valve stem and inflate to pressure. I know it's a lot of screwing around but it will give you the best tube life

That's not your fence ??? That drives me nuts when people put up stockade fences b a c k w a r d s . Nice collection though .

Pretty cool idea, and great minds behind this. I can't make this years show, but perhaps can catch some of the show in this manner.

These pics crack me up! I took them out of a couple of brochures I have: "Hey honey, How's my garden coming?" Hey honey, Are those mulch bags heavy?"

Denny, copies of those pages should be posted in the Memorabilia Section...check it out. Very cool. Notice, the guys are not wearing ties in these photos...kind of time dates it. Makes you wonder what they would be wearing now in the pamphlet.

This is a 1952 Wolverine Wagemaker 14 ft boat. It spent most of it's life on lake Michigan then the original owner's nephew brought it back to the Scranton PA area where he used it for a few years then sold it to his neighbor who basically stored it in his garage for 10 years and never took it out. It came with the original 25hp Johnson with a rare electric start motor that runs great but needed the typical water pump, coils, condensor, carb clean etc. I have to thank my pal Kenb for "locating" this one for me. He was going to buy it but knew I was interested so we worked out a deal where I bought this one and he bought my Duratec. Ken also helped get this motor running and did the water pump. He gave me some tips on what paint to use etc. You are the man Ken!

Google is your best friend. https://www.google.com/search?q=tire+tube+puller&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=RyeRU-LVL82ZqAb464HIDA&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=887

A couple of you wanted to see my first car I got when I was 15 (I am 41 now)... I did not have any recent pics until today. I did some heavy duty spring cleaning in the garage this morning and had it out for a little ride. I had the truck out too so thought a few pics were in order...

In the past several weeks I've been reading, researching and educating myself on three dimensional printing. This is some crazy stuff. You can literally create objects/parts from a 3D CAD file. Essentially, the printer uses liquified plastic (ABS, polycarbonate and/or various blends) vs. ink as we're used to in conventional printers. So, having a need to re-create some parts I decided to give this a whirl with a company I found and researched online. My first attempt was to re-create a Hiller script emblem for YardHand tractors. I did a good deal of work scanning, photgraphing and taking every concievable measurment known to man to generate a 3D CAD rendering of the original emblem. I then had them professionally printed in a ABS/poly blend and here's the resulting product. The original was cast and chrome plated. I can have these plastic chrome plated if I want - for additional cost of course - or just paint them. But the bigger take-away here is the fact that it can be produced...with a printer! I'm in the process now of gathering specs on a strength poly offered to see if I can build drive gears and pawls for these tractors too. But certainly, this can apply to Horses as well!! Get thinking boys! What else can we make? Let me know.

Doesn't it just frost you when you see all these posts about how excited everyone is about going to the show? Well this is another year of that right? Everyone's going but me.... So you going to do what you did last year? Yeah you remember, you came here, right here to waiting anxiously for....... pictures... Yep the generous guys who take the pictures. When those first pictures start to roll in, how do ya feel? Well a little better right, but still wishing there was more so you wait for the next one and the next one..... This year in conjunction with Terry from ReDoYourHorse.com will be streaming LIVE from the show! There will be at least one web cam established at the show which will be broadcasting live right here on RedSquare the show. Miss the parade? Not this year, we'll be streaming it live to you! Now don't get too excited, this is a first time trial effort, and we'll certainly do our best to get your show urges satisfied, but it will be the first time that the WHCC show is brought to you live!

Found this 414-8 suffering out in the weather with the hood up and no rear rubber. Stopped knocked and wrote a check, ran home got trailer. Worked on her for about 30 minutes and threw on some rubber. Then yes I mowed the yard. Im still not sure what was wrong with her, I threw on a push button to start it. Not a good idea I know but well I just had to see her run. I gave $250 for her she runs and mowed decent. Also put on a new choke cable the old one was rusted up and frozen. More pictures

Over Memorial Day weekend, I took a road trip into Iowa with my Dad and we had a blast. We visited relatives, ate too many pieces of pie, and brought home a nice tractor. The trip had been on our radar for over a year and we finally achieved mission accomplished. This week, I dissembled the tractor and the engine, and I found two parts that I need to locate. First, the camshaft on the k161 is in two pieces and one rear hub is cracked. Before I replace the camshaft, I was wondering if old age was the culprit or if I need to give attention to another matter that might have caused the camshaft to fail? I know about enough of rebuilding a kohler to get me in trouble. If someone would have these parts for sale, I am interested. Also, I do have a square wheel horse seat and I was wondering if a 753 originally had a square seat? Thanks, Scott

You may also have to re-level the deck once you adjust the eye bolt

Thst's a nice find! Easiest access to the rockshaft and lift linkage is by removing the black panels between your legs. I would get rid of the machine screws holding the panels on, and replace them with stainless button head bolts. They dont rust, look great, and won't strip. P.S. I sure miss Dave Bolland. Gotta love a guy whose nickname is "The Rat"!

You can also add additional spacer washers behind the big nut to remedy the steering issue.... Nice tractor...hope the 416 is treating you well! As far as the command....make sure you blow out the cooling fins and intake housing..these seem to gunk up as much as my onans have. My 314-8 gets cleaned out atleast once a year. I have and have had a couple commands with no compliants. Just be sure to change oil/filter and clean the intake housing. Really nice tractor....score for you!

That really looks good Martin. If I came to your garage, I'd be like a kid in a candy store! Matt

Well, he might listen if the Mrs calls.

Yeah...I have 2 more horse heads but they have a very large (5") base. Not sure what I can use as a spacer for these. Photo...

Code??? In Pawnee? My brother's the mayor, think I should call him and raise heck?

I've got several of those too... I put my tiller to be able to roll it around and in/out of it's storage spot under some shelves. Just put two under while it's raised, unhook and roll away. Makes it nicer for realigning when you hook it back up too. Keep an eye on coupons... every other month or so they're on sale for $7.99. They have a larger one too for a few more dollars. I picked them up on the reasoning that four swivel casters and the 15 minutes to make each one is worth more than $7.99!!

Looks very nice indeed Denny... I'm thinking about upgrading my collection with a fence too.

Duh! That's right, no points. I tend to look at all Kohlers as K series engines.

What? you guys don't have a white belt? Probably don't have a double knit leisure suit either.

Don't forget the "What's in your mirror" thread Kevin. +in +your +mirror

Nice find. want to part with the disc don't think it will cut real well unless you run it in reverse

Now that's funny Denny! I was going to make a comment on that pic like, "Here's Steve in his younger days" but I thought I'd be nice! Probably had "The Doors" playing on that hood mounted radio!

Nice find! Price was great too. Don't you feel a little guilty infecting the young lady with Wheel Horse Addiction?

About the time I started feeling cured, Grandsons! We how have a Wheel Horse Addiction (WHA) epidemic! Oh Deere! PS. Terry's decals look great on my last find a '90 520-8 too!

You did it right you had a few beers. Then I would found an excuse to go the store buy something and that would been on the way. OOPSS #12. Gary B...

Pull the plug on a cylinder,do a regular compression test,then put a squirt of oil in. I recommend marvel mystery oil. And do the test again. If the compression goes up you have a ring issue. If not it's a valve issue. Repeat on other cylinder. Hope this helps

Speaking from experience I agree 100% with jay. If the tiller idler is off just a hair it'll pop belts all day long. I recall using washers on one tiller to shim it out. On another I just gave it a slight bend. If the bearings spin freely they're typically fine. Easiest way to check is to stand behind tractor with pto engaged and watch the belt track over the pulleys. A slight bend can make a world of difference.

Update to my original post. Well it's been two weeks since I swapped out the 42" RD deck and put on the 48" SD deck. I couple of observations. The extra cutting width is obvious, get done mowing 3 +/- acres a bit quicker. I notice absolutely no bogging down of the 12 hp kohler, my initial concern. Two things I do not like, the side discharge on the right side means I cannot get as tight to trees as I'm used to. The deck creates a whole new "vortex" of clippings that end up on top of the deck, the foot rests and me that did not happen with the RD deck. Neither a deal breaker as the added width is nice. All in all though this is one tough little grass cutting machine. It goes over and through wet places on my land that my JD 400 had to wait until the fourth of July to get to.

Well I got the rear fender mount made.I used the old seat mounting frame section and cut it to the inner profile of the blade.I cut it to where the blade will rest on it and will be welded to it eventually.Also got the jackshaft mount finished and tacked on.My keyed shaft will only be a little longer than where it sticks out the pulley.Waiting on the man in brown. I will have two idlers holding the belt below the floor and the engine to jackshaft belt will have the release pulley for movement.The rear belt will be under tension at all times. More to come..........

...or worse.

This should be better or at least as good as watching paint dry. I just hope I don't get caught picking my nose!!!

I'm speechless......

John, I can trash a hood for you...just let me know which one and what model!

Not showroom quality, but super nice to drive and pretty darn tough.

Heck, I even search for Wheel House in case of typo's

It has been a while since my last update on this project. Now that that nicer weather is here I am able to get back to working on it. I put the bed back on. I started to install the new wiring harness today. It was one made for this truck so it is going together pretty good. I will need some help with the final wiring since this motor is set up for 12 volt and there will be a few mods that need to be done. I also got the 4th rim painted and tire mounted and balanced. I decided to go without the hubcaps and install some longer chrome lugs which I think got the look I wanted. I may end up installing some trim rings too. My goal is to be able to drive this truck to the Kent show in the fall with an RJ loaded up in the back!!

Today with the snow falling I was able to get some more done on the truck. Had to have my neighbor help me as putting in the windows is a complete NIGHTMARE !!!! The first picture will show you how I made out on the back window....

Had to use the horse to haul the trailer with the 49 motor and tranny!!

Last project of 2012

In case some of you are doing a little , this is what Eric is talking about: Photo courtesy of ? - displayed at the 2008 WHCC show.