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Heres all of our restored wheelhorses including a electro 12 raider 12 854 with sickle mower and my a-90 special that was extended 14''

Looks like Fall is harvest time for old horses. I really did not have room for this but i like the look of these GT14's and figured worst case, I could clean it up, get it running and resell it and the price was just more than I was able to pass up. I can sell the Kohler for more than I paid for tractor. If I decide to restore, its going to need a lot of the plastic stuff which seems to have suffered badly from the elements. Might even take a crack at getting it started before winter but likely I will focus on tearing down my C161 and repainting it. This thing felt much heavier than my C161. Wonder how these things are for working rather than just mowing? Love how stout the front end is and the way the hood works like a cars. tilting from the front backwards.......and the size of the rear tires..... Aldon

A picture of our 520-HC with 60'' deck

NO need to be scared of an Onan. These horrors need to be put to rest. Bottom line is these Onan's require PM to last the long hall. They where made to be serviced/rebuilt for commercial applications. Sure, you dont change oil, let the engine fins get clogged to S***, let them sit for years with bad gas , dont change filters....sure these are terrible engines I guess. Treated in that manner , any engine will be. These are filtered, pressure lubricated motors, and built to last. Within in 5 miles of my house I have counted 4 520H wheel horses that are their weekly mowing machines, yard tugs, and snow removal machines. Putting in reliable service year after year. I run no funny additives in my tank , just non ethenol fuel that I run in all my machinery. It starts every week, no surging to speak of. No smoke/ or knocks and is approaching 1100 hrs. No one seems to mind the infamous " Kohler Knock" or rods making windows in the block. Numerous posts in the engine sections of carbs blowing gas. Or missing and carrying on. Repair costs are about the same when you figure part for part with kohler. And dead on if not cheaper than the twin kohlers. Oh and the valves are adjustable on the Onan unlike the kohler kt17. I am not trying to sound rude or nasty, just stating how I see it. There is plenty of issues I see pop up with Onan, Tecumseh and Kohler. Some how Onan developed a reputation of the black sheep and Tecumseh for that matter. It reminds me of growing up and the reputation my brother paved for my last name...... lol Get a good running unit and take care of it and you may be surprized. I am not trying to force Onan on anyone. I like them all. My Raider 10 with the Tecumseh has been on my nerves lately though but I will get it all worked out. My opinion is you seem to have a sound running engine with some dirty carb issues. Easily fixed and then you can really enjoy that sound the Onan pumps out. You will be happy to pay for the extra gas and we are only talking a few bucks more a week really.

I was in the Municipal Parks and Recreation field since I was in high school. In one of my positions I ran a year round recreation department, among other things. When I left that job in the late 90's one of my coworkers gave me a t-shirt at my going away party that said Fun Engineer on the back. I thought it would be an interesting screen name and get people wondering. I use it for almost all my online forums.

The thermal expansion rates of aluminum and steel are fixed. 0.0000123 and 0.0000073 in/in/deg F resp. So it is easy to design the correct interference fit to keep the seat tight at a given max operating temp. So the problem is clear, the rear cyl temp gets above the design temp. and the seat gets loose. So the solution must be to keep the engine (front and rear cyl) within the design operating temp. Vent the belt guard, make sure the oil filter/tin seal is installed, and clean the cooling fins. BTW, I doubt if a steel seat could be cold pressed into a aluminum bore successfully. The bore would need to be machined with the correct interference with the seat. Then a temp differential created so the seat could be dropped in the bore.

I find this completely bizzare but my name is my train repair business. Even before tractors I have been repairing trains from all scales and vintage. But I specialize in LGB trains made in Germany. I find this most wierd that someone elses handle is based on the same thing. Small world I guess .... lol The Roundhouse RnR = The Roundhouse Repair n' Restoration. The Roundhouse is where the ole steam loco's would come for maint. and minor repair. Would be sent to the back shops for major overhaul. So there you have it!

Everything is at least in primer. Now we have to figure out how to mount the pieces then we can make those modifications then paint.

Here is my suggestion for the group... We all get to pick just 1 week where we turn in our picks, at half time. At least we would be able to all have at least 1 great week of the season!

Yeah whatever NO ONE STINKS AS BAD AS ME! I AM SO TIRED OF THIS CRAP IM GONNA TAKE UP PLAYIN CHECKERS!

Bad??? In my profession, that was a DISASTER! I have never, in work or picking games, had such a disasterous week.... If I were standing in a room, and a skunk walked in, he would smell better than I do! Rob

I had a Motor Home with an 7 KW Onan generator and it had 1500 hours on it when I sold it. It sat in an enclosed compartment. Of course that generator was designed to run at 1800 RPM. Gino, Harbor Freight has a 23 HP engine for $699.00. You could be the first to try one out. That would make you a pioneer.

I don't remember, I was really drunk at the time... Seriously, long-time Jefferson Airplane / Hot Tuna fan, first saw Tuna live in 1972, I was like 3 years old. Great thread, Geno, thanks for getting it started!

I did repairs on Lionel trains in the late 80s and early 90s before the electronics took over and made train repair impossible,"taycotrains" was the name of my side business. TAYlor COmpany TRAINS .....The name just stuck.

Finally finished the chicken plucker implement. Okay, it ain't purdy, but it's going to be put to use tomorrow. Will take video of it in action. It's a bit on the heavy side, but it attaches in two parts. The primary frame attaches to the tach-a-matic. The secondary frame slides from left to right into a receiver on the primary frame. The secondary belt is installed at this point, the secondary frame is then slid left to take up the slack in the belt. A hand knob on the bottom is tightened to secure the secondary frame and secondary belt. The primary belt is the tiller belt, repurposed, threaded from pto to the mule drive to the 10" pulley on the primary frame. The secondary belt further reduces the rpm 5:1. I designed the gear reduction to be approximately 12:1. For the C-125, that should result in variable speed of the feather plate between about 175 to 280 rpm. I put a photo tach to it and got a reading of about 100 rpm at idle. At WOT it was about 275 rpm. Low end was out of line. Either the engine is idling too slow or I've got some slippage. I'll have to check it more thoroughly as the numbers were jumping around quite a bit. I may not have had the best conditions for accurate measurement. Anyway... here it is! After I use it tomorrow, maybe I'll knock off some of that rust and give it a paint job. Or, maybe I'll just start the next project!

I BOUGHT A 1992 310-8 WITH A 1992 42" SD DECK AND 1980 42" PLOW FROM THE ORIGINAL OWNER. I GOT THE DECK,PLOW AND MANUALS TODAY. I WILL PICK UP TRACTOR TOMORROW. TRACTOR WOULD NOT START BUT HAD SPARK AND COMPRESSION. I BELIEVE IT IS A FUEL PROBLEM. IT RAN WHEN PARKED LAST YEAR. I WILL POST PICTURES SOON. I GAVE $250 FOR THE PACKAGE. THANKS BOWTIE IN OHIO I GOT IT RUNNING TODAY, THE FLOAT WAS STUCK. POSTING SOME PICTURES NOW.

When that rig pulls up in front of the house... kinda hard to hide what you're up to.

It really depends on who the buyer is. I have never owned one nor would I want one unless it was REALLY nice. IMO due to parts being so hard to find and so many things can and do go wrong with them I would rather have another smaller horse. IMO it is kind of like owning an old car that needs to be repaired a lot. My buddy restored one and when it was done EVERYTHING worked on it as it should, even the dash lights. (see pic). I believe he sold it to a well know member here for around $2000 +/- a few bucks.

If you tell us the price maybe we can give you our opinion

Went to look at the tractor the fellow called about on Tuesday. It is a 1975 C-100, and is in perfect shape. I will show the photos, and you tell me what you think it is worth. I will tell you what he wants for it later!

500 Bucks are you kidding me! I'd buy any D-250 for that price! I don't care what shape it was in!Did you see what "Joe's outdoor" was asking for individual parts!What a shame to take a tractor apart and sell it for pieces. Does anyone know how many D-250"s were made??

My 1054 is my favorite tractor right now. good luck fixin her up! Mike..........

PS the P220 and P216 are the same block with different crank, rods, cam, and carb. The feared valve seat issue could be found in the p216 as well. I look at it as,the hardest thing my tractor will see is the 48 inch deck. So the p220 will work alot less to power that deck then the p216 = less heat and wear on the engine. My answer to the poll is give the p220 a good once over and take care of it.

I only have 3 tractors,, so far. If I was limiting myself to 1 to do my lawn and yard chores "cart" and snow blowing the driveway. I would stick with a kohler,,,,,16hp size minimum. Bigger is more desireable. Since your going to use it all the time, no restoring or refreshing. I would pay the money for the cleanest, lowest hour unit I could find. Buy that and be done. Footnote for the onan crowd. One day, dont know when, you will see me drag a onan breathing 520 home with me. Allways wanted to try one, the onan scares me. Glenn

I made mine like 8 years ago. I had two guitars, a fender Stratocaster and an Ibanez roadstar. So I just blended them together, and at the time the number 250 just sounded good at the end of it and it stuck! Although after my new wheel horse hobby, maybe I should add a D right before the 250 XD

Thanks every one. I drained the first batch out looked like chocolate milk. so one more mix with Bob`s idea a little oil about 1/2 ot. will put it to the ground tomorrow. T/care all. Gary B....

That thing's great. My wife has 60 plus chickens if I show her that video it could be my new excuse to get another tractor

Nice ... needs a bath.

Here is the Kohler service manual This old manual for the C-Series has a lot of service info that applies to the 300, 400 and 500-Series - excluding the C-195 Twin and wiring ?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent> Transmission service manual High resolution copy ?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent> Low resolution copy This file is 523 pages and where the detailed wiring diagrams came from that you were linked to earlier in this thread. There is much more content in it that is very good. If you search the manuals using your long tractor model number 31-16K801 or 416-8 model name some service bulletins should come up. Change the Submission date to Title and then change to Ascending order so it makes more sense. Garry

1480.00 was a heck of a lot more money in 74 than it is today so to compare 1000 bucks asking price today to 1480.00 new sale price back in 74 might be a little unfair.

I'm going to near eastern PA in a few weeks to see Bob (Trouty), I better start searching up there, wouldn't want to come home with anything less than a full trailer load. Where did the rest of the tractor go?

Try running the engine wide open with the lights on. They should brighten up. The Briggs has an unregulated power supply for the lights. The faster it runs, the more voltage output.

Looking forward to getting back out in the barn after school tonight. So much to be done, yet we are so close on both machines. The kids are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Tonight will be a little different as well as this is our first time adding some new club members. There will be two young 6th grade boys who are just great kids that will be joining us. They are very eager to get their hands dirty! I don't think they have a clue what is about to happen! Last night I hooked up the open trailer and loaded up the tractor that was won through the essay contest. After going over all of the safety rules, procedures, expectations, etc. the disassembly might begin tonight on the B-80. The other kids in the group will be plugging away on the other tractors. Things are about to get interesting to say the least. Tune back in and check how we are doing!

At one point in my wheel horse life I thought teckys were useless in till I got my lawn ranger now I don't mind them its a new challenge for me it don't take much to get a Kohler to run good because there awesome but once you get a Tecumseh running good you feel like you accomplished something

Well mine goes back a long ways to the first days of the interweb thingie. 1995 I logged into a BBS for the first time and it asked for a screen name. What the heck was a screen name? At the time I had a 2 year old nephew who was obsessed with my tuba that I played an a local community band. Every time he saw me he called me Tuba. A few months later I messed up my account and had to create a new one. So I decided to jazz up the name and call myself Sousa after both the sousaphone and it's inventor John Phillip Sousa. A few more years go by and Sousa is an account name that is often already taken, I guess some people actually have that last name...sheesh. Anyways I added the Kerry as it is my first name and ain't nobody gonna have Sousakerry already.

I enlisted in the Coast Guard in '69. Coasties have a number of nicknames: Holligans Navy, Puddle Pirates, and Shallow Water Sailors (probably thought up by a Squid ). The two jokes that I remember were: We wear the US Treasury seal on our right sleeve (long history of the service.) That was the indicator of how deep the water could be to sail on. We had to be six feet tall in case the ship sank - so that we could walk to shore. With all of that, I chose "shallowwatersailor."

Well I must admit that I have dropped the ball on updates. For our loyal followers, we are still plugging away and making progress. The end is in sight!!!!! We managed to meet the entire summer and only took a couple weeks off. We didn't miss a beat once school began again in the middle of August. Things have been very hectic on my end and I apologize for not sharing the updates that many of you look forward to on a weekly basis. I will try and pick up the slack! We have been lucky enough to show off our projects in two parades, received many compliments, and a group of kids that don't understand the word "quit" Thank you to everyone that has supported us......who would have ever thought things would have turned out the way they have. We are truly blessed! Here is one picture I snapped tonight. The past two days the tractors have been on display in the front entry way of the school so the entire student body can admire the craftsmanship of the kids. We will be rolling them back in to the club barn tomorrow to work on getting these closer to completion. I will try and get some other pictures posted soon! Here you go...........

5' 19" tall and been answering to Shorts for 40 plus years, I cant tell the whole story on a family forum

A dad from Maine

Been my nickname for a long time. Went to get personalized license plate for the bike, Burly had already been taken by some woman in Cleveland who already had the plate, so we improvised, came up with Brrly1 and thats me and has been since I landed the first computer that my kid sister gave me, with her thinking I needed to be knowledgeable about computers. So here I am Brrly1 P.S. Some woman in Cleveland with a nickname of burly scares the daylights out of me just thinking about it.YIKES!!

Well am a Journeyman lineman and I am old and retired workes out to oldlineman

Mine is very very simple; my wife and I first learned the web together, so my first screen was just both our first names together, ( GlenJeri ), but then everyone started calling me Jeri or Mr. Jeri, so now I just use just my real name; GlenPettit ps: it's very interesting to google & search your own real name and then check out some the other people with the same name.

After stuffing my brain with data for 70+ years, there was not much storage space remaining , therefore I knew I needed to select 1 user name that I would be able to remember for all the twenty plus accounts. So Ed Kennell chose ekennell and so far I have been lucky enough to remember it.

I was dubbed 'Racinbob' by my friends way back in the early 70's. One night, at Indiana Beach, they got the stick on letters and put it on the rear window of my pretty hot 66 Nova. It's just stuck with me and is my user name for just about everything.

I wanted a name that Steve would have trouble pronouncing.

From the age of 20 up till I was 44 I was an electrician and on the bigger construction jobs where no one knows your name you get called Sparky. Mike............

I don't have electric start....

rmaynard - Robert Maynard. Not much thinking went into it.

Well, here is what has worked for me, in the past. Casually take your horse for a stroll, down the street, to his house. Make like you are thinking about purchasing one of those POS's. Put yours along side of his. Ask him all kinds of questions about his vs. yours. Look it over real good, usually about this time, I spring the final question. Do you mind if we test their HP strength? I have never had anyone turn this opportunity down. They are usually so pumped about all the questions and now, "he can really prove to ME" just how much a POS it is. Course he has no idea that just becasue his has 26hp and only weighs in at 480lbslbs. that 26hp LT/POS will be in for the fight of it's life against your's that is nearly double that in weight, but only 14hp. Once you pull him backwards, and probably hear something snap in his transmission, you can just sit their, smile and say whatever comes to your mind at that time....

heres the foot control video...... at the end of the video the engine started hunting at low to mid rpm, choke helped, so i knew the idle circuit had picked up some more crap from somewhere. must still be some in the carb as i have a filter in the line before the pump and before the carb. pulled the top of the carb and here it is...... i pushed a tip cleaner through the tube and you can see the junk on the end....... eventually it will either clear up or i will get sick of cleaning it out and soak the thing instead..... heres #1 and #2 together, what a happy couple......