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Our town "Street Fest" is the 2nd weekend of September and it is our towns 155th anniversary. Every 5 years it is a bigger deal and we have a parade, A couple of weeks ago, my wife said, "You need to get your horses ready for the parade"! Well, we have been working on that and I had the D-200 out today stretching it's legs and she snapped a photo. When I have all of them "parade ready" I will get plenty of photos.

That is funny Rob. Sounds like you have a cool neighbor to "go the extra mile" to make a point.

Northern Tool. They have the Michigan Seat mid-back, which is identical to the original Wheel Horse mid-back without the logo. Right now it is on sale. http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_7687_7687

Makes it much easier to steer Is a bit bulky if you have tight space to maneuver The trip bucket on the M is for rougher work.

Got a little more done lately but not much. The grass has started growin again just like it was Spring. Wheels blasted and painted and tires on. I must say I am a little disappointed in the fit of the tires for 10.50's. On 520 wheels they look small. I think I did read on here where Deestones run small but the price was fantastic. On to the sheet metal next I guess.

...and the mailman was mad.

All good stories.... My wife and I moved just 2 blocks away from our previous address. Previous address was 4500 Broadale, new address, 4505 W. 14th. We did all the right things, put in a change of address 6 TIMES, to be precise. Got to be pretty comical. Our old neighbor who lived next door at 4500, who still is considered a neighbor, got into the routine asking for our mail. She would then walk it over to our house that was just 2 blocks away. The mail man was the same mailman we had/have today, but he could not bring himself to alter his thoughts enough to bring us our mail when he walked our block. So Linda would ask for our mail while he walked our previous block, then she would time it just right, when he came to our new block she would walk up at the same time as our mailman would. He did not find it too amusing. It only took 4 months for the USPS to finally get our address corrected in the system. Rob

...a recent C/L score I made in an effort to be nice to my back from now on.

Well, in short, I cut grass with the 876 today! Earlier this week I got the transmission drained, new filter put on, and the new drive belt installed. I am really pleased with how easy it was to install the drive belt. Gotta love a simple machine! On my first drive, I was surpised with the lack of power that I had, but then I realized I didn’t have the tow valve screwed in all the way, haha. Also, I had it in my head that I was going to be using the deck I got from Craig at the PA show (it was the deck that came on his 875 from Scott). But when I got ready to transfer the cast iron spindle holder from the bottom of one of my parts decks, I realized that the deck I got from Craig was a 36â€. I was excited, and disappointed at the same time, haha. I ended up making one of the parts decks work. I was supprised at how well the mower cut! I guess I wasn’t expecting a 48 year old lawn mower to cut as well as it did. The two things I am still a little concerned with is: 1) At full throttle seems to run the little kohler too fast. It just sounds like it is running at a really high RPM. And 2) I have to hold the control lever in order to keep it from increasing ground speed. I feel like I am always holding it back. If I let go of the speed control lever, the tractor accelerates to max speed. Out with the old and in with the new: A straw wrapped in 'merica duck tape made for quick fill of the transmission fluid. Since what came out of it was ATF, I figured I should just put ATF back into it. This is what the bottom of the deck looks like. I am planning to take the deck back off and POR15 it. just took this picture as a before type picture. The lift bar was bent so I had to help it back to its original shape with the pry bar. This is a post mowing shot. It was definitely an interesting experience driving this thing. As I mentioned before, I am going to have to figure out why the transmission is accelorating to full speed without me touching the lever.

I finally got a chance to rebuild a transmission with a hi/low mechanism. This is a 6 speed #5060 transmission with the 10 pinion limited slip differential. Notice the brake shaft comes out the hole closest to the axle housing. The 8 speeds brake shaft comes out of the cluster shaft hole. I did a series of videos for this thread along with some pictures. The videos are split up between different phases of rebuilding...ie...the differential, the hi/low shift mechanism, the rest of the gears 1 & 2 (my batteries died in the camera). Most of the information will be in the videos...be advised that I did some struggling while doing these videos and I left them as is because it is not always easy. Hope this helps you guys. correction... According to the manual the bolts that hold the differential together are in backwards in the video. The nuts should be on the input shaft side (right side) of the transmission. Sorry, I missed that. Just got the trans split. I use a 1" old wood chisel to start and then work the case apart with a pry bar. A couple shots after getting the case half off...trans is in neutral. The trans case works as a work bench for the differential...very cool Here is the reason the trans needed to be opened. An axle gear lost it's teeth and the pieces were lodged in the pinions. Finished and back together. The rest are the videos...1st on is the differential... Next 2 are dealing with the hi/low mechanism...1st one taking apart and the 2nd on putting together...be nice...it was my first time. Now, 2 videos putting the rest of the trans together...batteries died just before I finished the first video. Thanks for looking

The title say''s it all really. I hope some of you will find this video handy.

Here is a series of photos showing how I mounted three pairs of new tires on new rims for my Gravely Walk-Behind tractors. Instead of using screwdrivers, etc., to align the rims, I made a jig using 3/8"-16 threaded rod, 3/8"-16 coupler nuts, and 3/8"-16 T-Nuts to hold them in-place. Apply a liberal amount of talcum powder to the tube and inside of the tire. Use Ruglyde to lubricate the bead and rim. With this arrangement I mounted four 4.80-8 and two 16X6.50-8 tires in about two hours. It went quicker with each one. You do need to be careful not to pinch the tube though which is probably the most time consuming part.

I have both the small and the large cabinets. I first bought the small one and while it had some features I didnt like, I quickly found that a blast cabinet was a HUGE help in cleaning parts. So I started watching for the big cabinet to get at or below $200 and didnt have to wait too long before it was shown for $189 and armed with a 20% coupon I jumped on it --- OH it is SWEET!! Better fit and finish, has a light and changing media is a breeze and is a fair good bit larger (the small cabinet has no light and changing media is a bi***) Mind you, my cabinets are some 4-5 yrs old and there could have been changes made - YMMV. I did have one glitch, the gun in the big cabinet was different and I could NOT get it to work - on inspection I found that where the nozzle seated in the gun it was creating a venturi and compressing the air causing moisture and thereby causing clumping of the media quickly stopping it up. Went over to the small cabinet and borrowed its gun and worked perfectly - its one of the simple bucket siphon type and sell on ebay for about $20. I use a Black Beauty from TSC and glass bead.

I have one. It is the one that has the legs on it. It works great. We were able to fit most of the D-200 parts in there. I also got the air drier from them and mounted it at the cabinet with a quick coupler. It takes about 2 hours to assemble it. Make sure you seal all of the seams so no dust escapes while you are using it. There is a port on it for a shop vac that will keep the inside from filling with dust.You want a vacuum just strong enough to suck the dust and not the sandblast media.I started with harbor freight sand @ $35.00 per pail but switched to black beauty medium grit @ $6.00 per bag...works great.

Be careful Rob. You've heard of "goin postal" haven't you?

Rob, I couldn't agree with you more. In the military it would certainly work because there would be penalties to pay for not obeying orders and safety procedures. But out here where "Boy Meets World" things are sadly different. Grown men and women who know better continuously jeopardize their jobs to take short cuts. I've seen it my whole working career and have been guilty of it myself on occasion. The first time a driver had to crawl under a truck and remove pins and put them in a toolbox while he operated the roll off or dump bed that's where they would most likely stay. You can fix trucks and bridges, but I don't know, maybe you've thought this through further than I have.

especially when they are in front of you!

There's nothing like a parade with Horses in it.

Kristi, I live in Felton and will be in Red Lion mowing some properties on North Main St. Monday morning. If you want, I could help you connect the solenoid.

The hardest part might be getting the hubs off. Once you do that just carefully pick the old seals out. Before you install the new seals make sure your axles are free of nicks and burrs. Pay special attention to the hub key slot. You don't want to damage the new rubber. Lightly oil the axle and slide the new seal in place and, the way I do it, slip a large washer over the axle and tap, don't beat, the seal in place with a short piece of pipe. PVC works fine for me. The seal should be flush and the washer will 'tell' you when it is.

This is such a tragedy Neil. My prayers go out to his family and friends. Everyone involved in the hobby should use this as a lesson. Earlier this summer I witnessed a farm tractor roll over off a trailer onto the operator. Luckily, he survived. I would really love to see more rules implemented at the WHCC show. I have always felt that it is a matter of time before something bad happens. 1st, a fire extinguisher should be mandatory at each display. I would love to see one way traffic around the loop, and of course no speeding or passing. I always worry about tractor traffic at the snack bar area. Things can happen so suddenly and unexpectedly. It is easy to poo-poo my thoughts until someone, especially a child is hurt or even worst.

Brought home big lot of 401 parts from the big show... in there was a trans that was all but locked up, could only get it to spin over 1/8 turn. Flushed, and filled it with diesel for a week, spins like butter now. Never know...you can give it a try first.

this where I am at so far with the 1257.I pick this up in NY in May. what a jewel all original just a clean from the frame up. all is left is a good compound on the paint. I so wanted to do a video but my sound on this computer is not cooperating. I did want to keep it original that is why the car battery with the round post. Enjoy Gary B.

Thanks for all the nice comments guys. I drained the oil and cleaned the carb, tank and sediment bowl on the 401 yesterday. It fired up and ran real nice. Had to solder the float in a place or two that had pin holes. The rear end seems to be a little tight. Have any of you gents had any luck flushing it out with kerosene or fuel oil or should I take the tranny apart, clean and inspect?

They had one at the Mansfield auction. There was a feeding frenzy on it.Really wanted to bid on it but I knew it would go high and I have no real room for one. I have a HF hyd lift table that I slid under the 704 when I redid that. Just remove the foot rests and belt guard. Nice to have the wheels hanging free. Lifts about 3 feet. As you can tell, Lots of paintin has been done on it too! It will work on the RJ too but I have to raise the tractor a little to slide it under it.One of the best things I ever bought

That is absolutely beautiful. Don't think I'd do anything to it but admire it.

I'm just a little fish... in a big ocean. Nice shop there Geno.

Onanparts.com is where i got mine, part number is below. you can get them through toro i think, but not 100 % on that, not sure on the toro part number though.....

Gary, that is a very nice looking original there. you are doing right by the tractor by just cleaning it up nicely. would be a shame to loose that original 'character' by restoring it....... beautiful condition!

Gorgeous there.

Ditto what Geno said.

Gotta love this new day and age we live in. If you want something done right you gotta do it yourself! That's why most of us are here right?

Last year when I was selling shifter knobs, I sold a pair to a fellow about 50 miles from me in central PA. When he didn't receive them in a timely fashion, I checked the tracking and found that they were in a post office in Honolulu, Hawaii. After a week there was no movement, so I sent out another pair. This time they went to a post office about 15 miles from the destination, turned around and went back to the air sorting center in Baltimore. From there they took another week to get to the destination. The knobs finally left Hawaii (after a nice vacation) and ultimately were delivered to the customer. He refused delivery and one day later I had them back.

And after all the problems have been corrected, I would be looking for a different machine shop.

And a glass of White Zinfadel

Must be some good paint holding those patches on the deck. That pigeon poop poured around the edges surely isn't holding anything. The tractor doesn't look bad, but the deck repair begs to question the quality of the tractor maintenance. I would think $300-$400 if the engine starts easy and runs strong with no smoke or surging, and the tranny is strong.

A little cheese should help. Sorry,I couldn't resist

This tractor is all original except the front tires, deck wheels, blades, filters, spark plug and carb. All paint, decals, seat, deck, every other piece is completely original, my dad bought it new. There is some touch up paint on the left deck side where it gets into the fence sometimes to stop the rust.

You got it Geno. After seeing all the crud that was in the fuel pump, My next step will be to swap out the carb. I have several clean # 26 carters on the shelf. Those I never sell.

I have always liked to tinker with anything with a motor in it. After I retired I started picking up various brands of garden tractors and fixing them up. I started trading them for others after a bit and eventually ended up with a Wheel Horse 417-A. While I still own two Case 444's with 3 pt hitches and a tiller and a 220, plus a very strong MTD 995, which is a very nice machine with a 3 pt hitch, oh and lest I forget, a Ford LGT 165 with 3 pt and plow, I found that the Wheel Horse had great curb appeal. It is a beautiful machine and always runs strong. I now have five of them and still look for more daily. They just seem to grow on you. Another thing I like about the Wheel Horse is the disappointment in others when they find that you beat them to the punch and got a new addition to the heard. A Wheel Horse is a beautiful thing and very easy to love.

And this is how it begins

It all started in 2005. Having only seen another one before we came across the 753 for sale in the local mower repair shop. It was love at first site. The beginning of many happy moments and of a further strenghtening of the bond between father and son. Once home, research about Wheel Horses started and shortly after we came across Michael Martino's first edition. That basically sealed what was already a sure future with these tractors. To me the story behind them embodies what is great and possible in this great land. It is an example of family, resourcefullness and survival just to name a few. Here is the first one in the first hour it came home still with the sellers sign attached wich basically says it all.