Leaderboard

I don't believe there is anything bad about splash lubrication. All of our one lung kohlers are splash and we all know how they perform. And second, the KT series 1 is not splash lubrication in any way. It has an oil pump but only feeds the main bearings and cam. The cam is suppose to drip lubricate the rods. The motors are good up to 2000 hrs as long as oil is kept up with and not operated on steep hills for an prolong periods of time. Series 2 has a filter and drilled crank for feeding the rods with oil. Besides for the price, this one was coming home with me regaurdless. I would like to have a series 2 but I believe I can keep this one running a long time if it is ok from the start. kyle

Picked up a Suburban 1961 which has a Clinton in it. Looks original, but not sure yet. Came with original wheel weights, snow plow and mower deck. Oh yea this one has the serial number on the tractor and the mower deck. I'm tickled about this find. I already cut some grass with it. enjoy!!

Thanx for all the welcomes guys, That is soooo funny Lars. Great song Haven't quite got over the time differences yet at I am writing this at 4 am as it would be 10 am in UK. Had a day in Downtown Manhatten yesterday , Liberty statue, Ellis Island etc Also went to World Trade Centre Memorial , that place literally brought tears to my eyes. What a beautiful memorial they have given to those that lost their lives in 911 The new WTC building is just awesome . Was hoping to go into the 911 museum but there was a 3 hour wait in the waiting line. So we swerved past that for another time. New York City is an amazing place to visit, this is my second time in the Big Apple & it just gets better each time. Wonderful food, Amazing architecture And the size of the trucks is just mind bowing

Ok , I am starting to feel a little nuts but I couldn't help but go and pick this thing up. Once again a late night. We where on our way to play at an open mic and it just so happens, this thing was on the way.... Very solid tractor. I am keeping this on for sure. Seat is in great shape. I sure hope this runs. Its full of grass from last years mowing and I believe it was there only mower. More later.... Here is a teaser shot.

Well it took awhile but sure turned out nice.

Not sure yet. This might be a good one to clean up and leave alone

Yup, probably cast steel. The cross sectional area of the arms is really too small to be cast iron, and the slot pretty much rules a forging out. Steel. Cast steel, in fact any cast metal, tends to be brittle. The rolling process in a steel mill tends to align the molecules, and impart toughness. That said, cast steel, stainless, brass and bronze, etc, will more readily bend, hot or cold, than cast iron, you just don't want to bend it very far. When looking at a part that appears to be cast, there are a few easy tests that anyone can do to determine just what the part is. If magnetic, it is ferrous-based, and either iron, or any number of steels or stainless (your lower grades of stainless are indeed often cast, and will be magnetic). A forging will many times visually resemble a casting, but will almost always be steel. Also, forged shapes tend to be simple, think U-joints, wrenches, hammer heads, tie-rod ends, etc. If you have determined the part to be a ferrous casting, grind a little off with a sander, bench grinder, etc., and look closely at the spark pattern. Steel will emit a copious shower of bright yellow sparks. If cast iron, the sparks will be much more muted, shorter in length, and duller. The difference is easily discernable.

OK....NOW!!!!! The new gasket material arrived, got them cut and slapped everything together. With all the practice I've had I think it takes me about a minute to get all the parts in place. She's spinning free!!! Finally, I can move on to actually accomplishing something. Another big for all the help. Steve, you're the man! Time for a beer or 6 and go watch a transmission spin.

Enjoy us Neil...

Definitely going to show Neil a good time. He may not want to go back. He will be following me on the roads, so he should be OK.

Do a google image search "argent silver paint" for examples...everybody has it. I get mine from Eastwood...automotive restoration products. http://www.eastwood.com/silver-argent-rally-wheel-paint-set.html

Spent a few hours in the shop tonight. More re-assembly. I think by tomorrow I should pretty much have it all back together minus the hood, fender pan, seat and tires and rims. I have to head over to Steve's to use his D/A to sand down the hood and fender pan. I want those to come out really nice. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

I haven't had twenty Horses, maybe over time I did. Who's counting? Sons, grandsons, even the Ms. loved mowin'. Maybe just the riding around, relaxed. Lawns were always well kept. One day after my two sons were teens (now in their 40's), neighbor said to me, "I don't want to get involved but, your sons drag race your Wheel Horses down the road when you're not home." I told him, "Oh well." To this day, 'bout 40 years, still admiring the Stallions. Don't you just laugh, tickled, when you see a purchase goin' down in a BIG box store? Enjoy your Stallion! Many more to come, one to till, one to sweep, one to mow, one to tow, another to push, one or a dozen "work in progress." Are gnats really the New Hampshire Air Force?

Steve, Thanks for the encouragement during what could have been a bad day. Everyone's input is greatly appreciated. The Wheel Horse community is great! Semi-retired. On the input pulley freeing up, I had the case rotated 90 degrees from normal on its side and gave the input pulley quick left and right rotation force. I think a needle dislodged from the gears somewhere. There were are a couple of needle bearings in the bottom of the case with bends in them. These transmissions are heavy duty by any standard. After the rebuild, I would not be surprised to see another 40 years of service out of it.

I vote that the for the RS picture..the members who travel the farthest..are up front! Neil, Did you bring a Union Jack?

Give it a rub down with some light sand paper and some oil and paint the wheels it will look awsome

I'd give you 2 thumbs up if my I- Pad would let me!

Great job... turned out really nice.

This is the next one I have started. Its all tore down and blasted, primed and half painted. I will post more pic shortly.

if your hub isn't damaged you could build on like I did from an angle iron,a 3/4 inch nut and bolt and 5 grade 8 bolts,ive not had a hub yet that didn't come off no damage

Is the fuel tank vent somehow clogged

Yes, I did see a full transmission service manual .PDF somewhere. Thanks! The hitch pin popped out like it was installed yesterday. The transmission input pulley is not parallel to the case by a degree or two in the direction that the belt puts tension on it. Preliminary guess without splitting the case is the needle bearing cage fell apart and a single needle bearing is wedged in the gears. Hopfully the casting isn't toast.

OH GEEZ!! NOOOOOOOO!! With all that's gone on I don't want to be too quick with the woo hoo. Let's just say I've got the mouse courser pointed to the emoticon.

Did you check with our vendors ?? Kelly is in OLIVET

Should have mentioned ductile and malleable tarcoleo, that would work in this application too. You used to often find malleable in things like "C" clamps. Good call.

The Argent silver can be found, but it will most likely be with an automotive paint firm. When Craig posted the name, I thought it sounded familiar, and sure enough, it was used to paint the grille of my 1949 Ford F2 pickup. Dupont, PPG, and others have it. It is probably one of those silver paints that perennially crop up for use in a variety of applications.

Wow! - 30° Thats a pretty steep angle! While I have a couple ditches and smallish grades I dont think I have a situation that steep. Good stuff to know. Thanks Craig... Roundhouse, I bought 2 C-175's that had been sitting outside for YEARS, one useable with an Eaton 700, and the other an 8 spd with no tranny, but good engine. I've got the Eaton up and cutting grass, and am presently adapting the other KT-17 to a C-165 that had a blown engine. They are my first KT's and as I said I've really taken a shine to them. Also my first black hoods and I've take to their style also.

That tractor looks to be very clean, must have been kept inside - and sounds like you got a good deal on it too. On the subject of the KT-17's series 1 and their oiling method, I seem to recall reading somewhere Kohlers recommendation of the maximum grade to operate the engine at, anybody know what that was? I have 2 of the series one and both are in very good condition and I like them and the sound of them - I'd like to keep them that way!

It has steel fenders , but that's ok. I like the steel fenders. Yes. The C-125A and the C-175 8 speed. I need to update my signature.

I would look for bigger rims if you want to put 8.50 ags on the tractor. I would leave the narrow rims and tires alone . Put some chains on and use them for when the kids want to push some snow around. My sons 854 ain't great with the ags only when pushing snow, its almost useless if its his weight on the tractor. i have the tri ribs on the front of his 854 and they really help, and they look cool.

I'm glad you revisited the topic of cleaner additives in the oil. I failed to address your concern on my initial response. My personal choice would be NOT to routinely use cleaner / additives in the oil. The only reason I might consider using a "sludge remover" in the oil is if you ( or the previous owner) were using non - detergent oil. Non-detergent oil allows all collected contaminants to settle to the bottom of your oil pan. I might consider a once a year cleaning of the bottom of the oil pan by draining the dirty oil, closing the drain tube and putting a pint or so of "sludge remover" into the oil pan. I would NOT start the engine but let the sludge remover sit for several hours and then rock the tractor back and forth to remix the cleaner and the sludge and let the cleaner sit for a few more hours. Then drain the cleaner and sludge from the pan and refill with clean engine oil. Again, this process only applies to engines fed a constant diet of non detergent oil. If you use detergent oil (which I'm thinking 98% of us do), the contaminants stay suspended in the oil and are drained out with the oil change. Please feel free to ask questions. Chuck

Thanks Craig, am going to have to re-do my wheels at some point, beginning to get some surface rust.

I bought a 418-8 on E-Bay from Cincinnati a couple months back. It completes my 418 series. 418A 418C 418-8.

If I may sneak this in here Toro lists the 1-0140 as using transmission model 5084. The transmission service manual lists model 5080 and 5084 for the 1-0140. 5080 uses 2-piece pinion gears and was previously used in the 1971 WorkHorse 800 model 1-0100 5084 uses 1-piece pinion gears. Which is correct or did they use up old inventory first? Garry

Have fun Neil!

Alaska is wonderful this time of year!

You might be able to get to 3600 RPM's by adjusting where your throttle cable sets with respect to the carb. I had another color tractor with this same problem and that was the fix. IMHO - you should run at full throttle, 3600 RPM's. This gives you maximum blade speed, maximum lubrication and maximum cooling potential. When you hit a tall patch of grass, your engine's governor will try to maintain the 3600 RPM's. At that point, you are maxed at the amount of fuel that can go into the engine and are truely making your engine's max hp. Once the engine starts becoming overloaded, the RPM's start to fall and you start getting into the torque curve. Think of torque as a baseball bat and the amount of torque when you swing it is based on your hand position. So when you're no longer choked up on the bat, your swing slows, but when you hit the ball, it will hammer it. Same with your engine hp's torque. RPM's slow, the engine has the big lever to muscle through the tall grass. When it's over, the engine returns to 3600 RPM's and your gold again.

Here's what I think of seafoam. Does it work - IMHO, can't hurt. I use both seafoam and MMO. I think of seafoam as a cleaner and MMO as an upper cylinder lubricant. I use seafoam occasionally and MMO in every tank. Does it work? Again - don't really know. The BIGGEST reason I use the stuff is, again, it can't hurt, but for me it's part of the fun of kind of checking out of the real world and back into the past, along with the old iron tractors. I'm sure if my grandfather would have bought a Wheelhorse, he'd be dumping something in the gas. I have a friend whose grandfather worked at a Ford dealership for about 40 years and swore my MMO. My friend and my self think - well if it was good enough for them, it's good enough for us. So - I say, use the treatment you like and don't look back! It's all good! Bill

Welcome Neil. See you at the show.

welcome Neil see you at the big show Brian

This all depends on what you are trying to accomplish. Are you trying to clean the fuel system? Yes sea foam is a great cleaner of old varnish and stale gas. But so is ethonal fuel. Alcohol is the cleaner. Are you trying to eliminate water in the fuel? then NO, isopropal alchohol will attract water. Are you worried about your fuel lines? Then No, Naptha will soften the lines. I suggest replacing all of your fuel lines with a good quality gas line rated to accept alcohol. You might also want to rebuild your fuel pump and carb needle to a Viton style. For fuel we use Star Tron fuel stabilizer for extended down time. ie a month or more. Or you can use at every fill up. This help eliminate the harmfull effects of ethonal on many of the fuel system parts. Good luck with your decission. Al

Welcome Neil!

I had to drive a postal truck with the steering on the WRONG side when I worked on them EGAD!!! Nice to have you aboard Neil. Watch out for guys with Chicago Bears jersey's on!

nice to have you here,Neil!!!! driving here aint that bad, i guess it took me a day or two to get out on the road without taking the left side instead of the right! (right, but really its wrong...) its been 15 years or so now, every now and again i find myself thinking and sometimes second guessing until i remember where i am. but I've never pulled out on the road on the wrong side again since that first day! i still remember the look on the drivers face in the car coming towards me..... hope you enjoy your stay here. Im sure you will enjoy meeting some of us midwesterners at the show this year as well. sorry i won't be there to meet you though...... I'm sure Steve will more than make up for it though. Hey Steve, show the Englishman a good time, ok?

Good luck

welcome to the USA ! you will love flipping the windshield washer lever instead of the turn signal! have fun. I guess at the show we just have to look for chap with the jellied eel!

UH oh...clear the roads.

this is cast steel not Iron there's a big differance

In my sleep? Today that would have been called a nightmare. I did start getting frustrated cuz things just weren't making sense. Then I discovered the problem with the rod holding the diff in the side plates. I do need that shim on the brakeshaft at the mushroom gear end. It's rubbing just a fuzz but wasn't causing the issue. The diff was the only thing I had in place. I got the axles and pinions back out but I need new stones for my hone. I'll get those tomorrow. I had already smoothed the pipe thingys the bushing ride on but I did some more this morning, I did gain a little bit so I agree that it's headed in the right direction. I'm going to use 1/32" gaskets instead of the 1/16" so the fit to the frame will be better. There's still going to be plenty of room for the shims on the input and brake shafts. You would have had to refill that cooler several times today

you can check your RPM's with a hand held tachometer , like the one Stewart Warner sells. anyone who messes with small engines should have one. they are a bit over $100 new , but can be found used on Ebay for a lot less