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Back in 1993, I purchased my first Wheel Horse, a 1977 B-100 8-speed. I bought it from the original owner. Today, 21 years later, almost to the day, I was sitting with my wife on the patio when a car pulled in the drive. My wife asked if I knew who it was. I said no. Then a gentleman got out and asked if I was the person who had bought a Wheel Horse tractor from a man over 20 years ago. I said yes I was. Then he introduced himself as the son of the original owner of my B-100, and believe it or not, his dad was in the car. His dad could no longer walk, but wanted to know if I still had the tractor. Well long story short, I said yes. I went and got the B-100 and brought it to his car so he could see it. His first comment was "I wish I had never sold that thing. That was the best tractor I ever had." So after a short conversation, he told me how that had been his second Wheel Horse, that a Lawn Ranger was his first. "Best damned tractors ever made" he continued. Then I went to the shed and brought out the other B-100, Commando 8, 701, 857, and C-120. His face lit up and he said, "well you sure caught the bug didn't you?" Turns out that his son also has a Wheel Horse. It's for sale. I don't know what it is because he couldn't remember the model number, but he knows it's a 14 HP 8-speed. I am going to look at it tomorrow. The sickness continues...

Well its just out of the shop for the first cruise around the yard. Pretty happy with it, overhauled the whole steering system including axle pivot pin. New piston, rings,rod, crank ground, and valve seats, three ribs on the front and the seat. What y'all think? Anybody got an earlier serial number? Hoping to see several of you at the Northeast Indiana Steam and Gas Association Show in Lagrange Indiana August 7th-10th Denise and I will be there with this 953 her Stitchin' Chic Cruiser and a few others. Hint hint , Horsefixer, Martin, Steveasauras, sousakerry, smoreau, Kelly, Perry and others I am sure I am forgetting.

Does this count? I've got the decibals .... so say the neighbors . Kohler 12.5HP. Joe

Charlie, Mentioned in the tag for this post is the serial number it is 304. Jake, Surely hoping you can make it as we were looking forward to some blueberries Lane Ranger, Hoping to see you too. ol550, Cant leave you out, think its going to be good. Bob, Here is the steering wheel and dash, I do have one of Terry's decals on it as are the hood decals.

Hey Fellas.. i was bored here for a few days a go so ill went out to my shop.. to see if there was anything i could do LOL.. Hmm found some stuff.. then ill got the to make me a wheel horse sign. since i prolly never will find one here in norway. . so here are a few pict of what i did.. used as back side same stuff as they use in light sign (opalwhite cast acrylic) a board I cut slots in to acrylic stickers I had lying around that I put on then it was time to make a frame for it ... mounting the led light is about 240 of them Then it was time to try it and se how it worked.. wow it worked but the horse seems to be black.... well time to try it on the wall.. much better can se the horse head is RED but ill think it is a bit to bright.. well this was a test!! the bottom of the frame is bad so i have to make a new pice to put in there..but it light's up the shop really good..

Picked this at the Rinley Pa. Annual Community yard sale today. $ 50 for the plow and they threw in the clevis hitch, blower flag and color brochure for free.

All the good budget Wheel Horses must now be in Virginia. Theres not any left in North Carolina. Good Theft (Ahem) Good Score!

Do I carry ramps all the time??????????? Yes, in the van but not in the Geo Metro! The van has hauled a B80, Commando 800, 416-8, 520HC, GT1200, GT14, RanchKing, Husqvarna and a MTD. And a few others.

Not really a "score". More like a "theft"!!!!!!

Does the dual coil on a Kohler K482 deliver the voltage to the two plug wires simultaneously or sequentially? Thanks, Mark. P.S. Would this arrangement {note reverse mounting of ignition coil} work if the spark is delivered simultaneously?

glenn you just have to keep looking no matter where you are. they are out there. paul...........................awe do i sense a little sarcasm there? neener,neener,neener ROTFLMAO.

Boomer is like oz the great when it comes to engines I hear he is to engines what chuck Norris is to bad asses lol The wolf

What's in the weight box?

Then there is this one, wife says its hers. What!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Probably better than no wheels.

For all you do Martin.

They fire at the same time - one piston is down when the other fires (Harleys are the same)

They WOULD sound good with the acoustics in your living room!

I have got to have one!!!! B-)

Well.. too late for me, I am already an old guy. Of course, I hope to get a LOT older before I get horizontal and room temperature. Great story, and good luck with the other tractor.

Desko, agreed my friend.

Someday, ill be that old guy. I love my 657. Great story!

Now THATS a blinking good idea Craig. Would really like one to hang in my garage, and another to put in the machine shop. Already have Farmall and machine tool pics. and the like hanging around.

Love those Onans and Techys too! I believe my phone had carbon monoxide poisoning when that pic uploaded! Lol! Because I waited til now to pickle the rest of the batch! Haha! :-P

Hi Cutlas, Here are some pics that our members posted for a filter setup on their FEL. Complements of Pfrederi in Pennsylvania. This I believe is on a D series Ark Loader. (Correct me if I'm wrong Paul). Here is another Ark Loader on a D series complements of stevebo: (Real Nice)!!! There are others with setups but you get the idea. I'll have a filter on mine by the end of August!

maybe you were enjoying a little too much exhaust when you took the picture ??

And its done... now I just need some attachments

Humm... I wonder if Terry could hook us up with some custom transparent vinyl overlays, so we could make our own signs too.

My Onans, and Techys sound pretty good too.

A good friend of mine runs a company with manufacturing in China and South Carolina. They make the paper elements for air and oil filters. Just the paper no metal at all. They're the primary vendor for most filter companies. They will build to whatever the customer specs. So in theory all these filters we're cutting apart probably have paper from the same plant! FYI all over the next 2 years all of their manufacturing will be done in SC. Bah BYE China!!!

I would like to take a moment to thank Martin for his taking the time to steer me in the right direction on several occasions by answering my private messages. He is a one of the kind type of person who goes out of his way to help when ever he is able. I know that his forum is full of guys like that but Martin is special. My hats off to him. Nick

Finally got it done just need to finish the mower deck and I will be looking for another project again

Squonk, As a Bears fan living in Packerland, I must object to your video. It has been a hard decade. Many of us are also Cubs fans, making it a hard century. That video is just rubbing it in! Why can't we just bring back Eddie Lee Ivory and Lynn Dickey, and all get along?

Not sure Geno. Just looks tough to say the least. I love it.

That's a great deal for a working loader. The paint is the first thing to go once you start using it regularly. If you really hate the look, blast it with rattle can black a couple of times a year. It isn't worth the effort to do much more. If it is shiny, you aren't using it enough!

That is a nice bunch of tractors you have there Dave...kind of Christmasy...but very nice.

PRAYER

Had a better day today. Really needed it. Did one rear wheel and hub. Can you ever see the difference just a little WD40 and steel wool makes. A toothbrush is my new best friend. Can't wait to work my way around to the hood. I'm saving that for last. I'll post an update when I've finished. Everyone must be getting tired of all the photos. I'll tackle the engine - Kohler K-90? - when she's finally clean. John

No worries all I'm never going to pain it Last photos going up now The first in a long line of questions... So WD40 to remove grease and grime and very fine steel wool to??? What's the steel wool supposed to do? Get off the older dirt without damaging the finish? I would have thought anything even mildly abrasive would start removing what little paint is on it. John

O.K. anybody know where I can get an owner's manual and parts list for 1957 RJ35 And I'm going to need some help but....... Naturally the first thing I did was shoot a bunch of photos I'll upload more files tomorrow after I make them smaller. Quick backstory - apparently it has been down the street from me not 5 minutes away since the late 1950's It was used as a trade-in at a boat/ snowmobile dealership and has been there ever since. The business closed many years ago and the guy I bought it from - antiques dealer guy - was able to get in and rescue a few things. Guess it was stored indoors. The engine mounts/ bolts are missing and the carb and fuel system are in a box. I'm guessing over the years different people have tried to get it up and running only to be thwarted by a lack of resources. Resources like the great people on this forum. So I'm really going to need a parts list and a primer, no pun intended, on restoration. And no, I'm not going to paint it even though I really want to. 1. Because I don't know how and 2. My 1953 General Electric beer fridge is worthless because I put a coat of bright yellow paint on it. For now just WD40 and steel wool. But I really want to. John

As Chuck says (of course) , this can be done but it is a complex design challenge. For my jeeps which have a 24 volt electric system I developed a circuit to exactly replace the three coil electromechanical regulators which are NLA. I built two for myself and one for a friend and all three are still working after about four years now. Of course suddenly the world and his wife wanted me to build one for them too but I didn't have the time to get involved. It's very time consuming to build them one at a time and would have required significant investment on my part to get boards made and populated commercially. A 12/14 volt circuit is actually easier when it comes to power MOSFETs than the 24/28 volt challenge but the route I took (much simplified) was to use the field MOSFET as a switch that was driven by a quad op amp that sensed voltage, current, and generated pulses to drive the MOSFET. Regulation was by the pulse width varying as the op amp compared battery voltage with a reference voltage, I even set things so the frequency of the pulses mimicked the frequency at which the mechanical contacts in the old regulator buzzed in normal operation. There is a simpler approach and that is to adapt a regulator from a 12 volt alternator by adding a few components to drive the field coil. I rejected this to develop as an idea as whilst it would regulate voltage it would not have any current limiting features. It is the method (I believe) used by some of those offering solid state replacements for old motorcyles and cars etc. Limiting the current output from a dynamo is important whereas an alternator has an inherent self limiting feature by design. Andy

Hey Justin, just saw this post. I.m not sure exactly where to start with my reply as I don't know how familiar you might be with the operation of an SG charging system. In relation to using linear regulators and devices (transistors, MOSFET's etc) for replacement of the mechanical relays, please understand the SG mechanical regulator provides 3 independent functions. The CUTOUT relay provides a one way street for current to leave the SG and not "backwash" from the battery to the SG motor when the SG output falls below the battery voltage. This function can be easily replaced by a high powered diode. Really simple actually. The second function of the voltage relay is to ground or unground the field of the SG motor to charge or stop charging the battery around a 14.x volt level. This is a pre-historic version of voltage regulation whose action is to constantly slam the relay on and off several hundred times per second. This slamming is what causes the relay contacts to "buzz" and pit over time. The third function of the regulator is to lift the ground from the SG field coil when the SG motor produced more than 15 amps of output current. The regulator does not simply "reduce" the output of the SG - it controls it. Both voltage and current regulation is controlled simply by either the voltage or current sense relays grounding or lifting the ground on the SG field coil. I think your assumption may be to use a bank of 5 amp regs to knock down the SG output. And you could do that if you forced the SG motor to a full output state by permanently grounding the field coil. BUT ,,, and it's a big BUT - you would have to user the linear regs to dissipate the power from the SG by converting it to heat in the heatsinks of the linears regs !!! That's some big heat sinks on the linear regs !!!! Each linear reg would drop at least 2 - 5 volts at 5 amps (20 + watts each in heat), each would require a high power balancing resistor to equalize the current draw thru each reg (so one doesn't take more current than the next, burn out and force others to take a greater share, have them burn out , etc resulting in a chain reaction of thermal destruction). You now have lots of linear regs, lots of equalizer resistors, big heat sinks and no real gains. If you would like to pursue some investigation on how to control a DC generator by field current, consider a MOSFET operated in its linear resistance region. The MOSFET could be placed in series with the SG field coil and vary its resistance to just enough to excite the field coil to maintain 14.x volts from the SG. Keep investigating and pursuing your ideas but approach it from a standpoint of GENERATING ONLY THE POWER YOU NEED, not CREATING AND THEN DISPOSING of excess power thru linear regulators.. Chuck

Wheel Horse Power!!! A GREAT WAY TO REMOVE SNOW

I'm just getting my feet wet in another interesting, to me, hobby - model ship building. My first attempt here in the planking stage. I'm having fun with it.This is a pretty small one here - it will be about 15 inches long when finished.

Throttle and steering would be easy enough... shifting gears would be the challenge.

i've been thinking about that for a while now. maybe gonna do that some day

That doesn't mean that it doesn't get dirty though. I don't consider any of my tractors " trailer queens". They were brought and fixed up to enjoy. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know:

well heres the last chapter in this saga, the seat.......i constantly hear about the lack of seat on this one, that ive gone onto other tractors and dont care about the seat.to be honest the horse blanket served me well, but i must admit the seat that i just installed looks awesome.im very happy with it, i wanted red and white instead of the black and white and i also didnt like how the lines for the colors go on the back rest at an angle, so i asked the trimshop i got it done at to change these few things. i made up the plywood bases and fitted the backrest with hidden nuts to be able to bolt it to the backrest frame....anyway heres how it looks, jeanine hasnt seen it yet,(its now her tractor) but i think shes going to be happy with it........ seat bases cut out and fitted..... seat all finished........ alright, i think i should be done with the seat now, maybe....... i could probably put the blanket back on for special occasions, hey mike? (ol550) right after i post this i think i will upload one of the seat pics to the gallery, just to get the word out that the blanket has been retired........ :handgestures-thumbup: