Leaderboard

Just had to include the rustic minibarn

I consider it a miracle in today's world to be able to find original parts for a 24 year old tractor from a long out of the Wheel Horse business company. If Wheel Horse had not sold out and remained in business, many more parts would still be available. What gets me though is the fact that this dealer had a NOS part collecting dust on the shelf. He probably only paid about 10 cents on the dollar when he bought it, and now he has the nerve to try to sell it at highway robbery prices. Just my 2 cents worth.

there are other ways of getting oem parts and not paying those prices. for example the headlight is just a GE 4411-1 sealed beam. the Onan spark plug wires are still available new under an Onan part number for half that price if i remember correctly. (even that was too much for a basic plug wire......) research is your key here, this forum is a wealth of info with some searching, and the internet is full of oem parts with some searching too. most of the time the original equipment supplier still has their part number on the part and you can find sometimes the parts are still being manufactured.....

A couple of years ago, one of our Maryland members, Redbird and her husband Dave, had a meet & greet. They had a great off-road trail. Hills, streams, etc. I will try to find some pictures and post them later.

NO. The skinnier the tire, the better for snow. More surface area = more floatation... bad on snow.

Here is the tractor that I picked up off CL locally. I swapped the front and rear tires off another 520. It came with a very low hour 48" deck, tiller and 520 long snow plow. It has 650 hours and runs really strong. I mowed with it today and the deck is the most quiet and smooth deck I have ever used. I hope to paint up the wheels and buff it out and maybe new decals from Terry.

If you LOVE something let it GO... if it dosen't come back to you...Buy another one just like IT !!!!! or something like that...

Here's a few of my original condition machines! Enjoy! Most of these I bought from the original owners, mostly old folks!

Just returned from a vacation with my Wife. Visited my oldest Son, Daughter in law and Grand daughter. Thought I would share some sites. A great time was had by all. Saw the tallest building, a Mall with an indoor Ski Slope and a vast amount of sand and rode the dunes. Really never thought I would be there again and was glad to be back. Definitely no WH's could be found.

Still get jealous when I see that tractor.

The friction controls have to be kept dry...don't lube them in any way. If they are greasy and nasty, clean them thoroughly. The motion lever should stay put by itself, under tension of the adjustable friction cone and components. There is also a control shaft TAB that may be broken. It protrudes thru the left side of the hoodstnad tunnel and locks the friction shaft in place. If broken or cracked, the motion control lever and tension cones / spring will flop about wildly. On some models, there is a secondary friciton control flat spring on the right side of the hoodstand. Here are a few pics to help explain. IMHO...I have a '76 C-160 and a '72 Bronco 14...both auto. If the Hydro is working as it should, I prefer it over a manual...by far. While an 8-speed is better for tillers, a tiller stil works very well with autos. I have 50 or more "in-the-way" trees, shrubs, planters, etc to mow around and, with the auto, all is done simply by moving control lever back and forth while steering with other hand. I further like the "Battering Ram" effect of the momentum build up when attacking that deep snow drift...again, and again...until its gone. Of course, the BIG advantage is the hydraulic lift not afforded the manuals. Via hard-link to the dozer blade, I can lift the front wheels 3 or 4 inches air-borne....that REALLY digs into the hard-pack snow or ice (soft blacktop too). There is an electric lift for them but it leaves a lot out.

So... it has been less than a week since my brother and i pulled off our trade of my C-161 for his 417-8. Today I was SUPPOSED to be just sneakin out of work for an hour or so to take a look at a 520 Steve might be puting on the block and to check out THE BARN. Little did I know that a Block Buster was about to take place. Here is a little history on what a Block Buster is according to my brother and myself. It is when there is a creative swap with MANYplayers involved to even things up. I walked away with a 520 and a nice 1958 18 hp Johnson.. Steve got himself a MINT 1957 18 hp Evinrude, a very nice 42 inch rear discharge deck, some outboard repair work on two of his outboards and a little cash on top.. (I hope I haven't forgotten any details?) Keep in mind we put this all together in less than 15 minutes! Now that is how its done! The 520 I walked away with is on the right less the deck and leaf vac that Steve is keeping. Its funny because the 520 on the left was mine that Steve got in our very first Block Buster deal. I have wanted another 520 since giving that one up, nothing can push the snow like a 520.. This 520 will probably get a nice worker refurb..

I don't root for any college team. I'm here to watch Steve and Brrly go at it and hopefully get someone else to have to clean the Boiler room.

Here is last nights pick up. Got this one from Mark (Saber) here on the board. The first 2 pics are what he sent me that he took. I was amazed when it was getting cleaned up the water was beading up everywhere. He kept that thing waxed! He and his wife are just great people.

If you're still waiting....you're not paying attention.

Another down-side to having dual wheels when clearing snow is the extra width of the dual wheels can end up being wider than your snow clearing device (plow or blower).

That is in very nice condition im a hydro guy though. But the main thing I wanted to say is holy crapola look at all the other tractors in the background Im pretty sure from other posts ive seen your wife is into this hobby with you. I mentioned to my wife yesterday how some forum members are women and some of the guys wives are into it with them and her response was........sorry your not so lucky most of the time, and not just with the horses, she thinks im a weirdo I got her on my 312-A this summer to try and mow I tried to just watch and guide her at first and that did not go well. She was zigging and zagging with no concept of mowing in straight lines. Then I got on my 312-H and told her to follow me and try to get a grasp on what I was doing. By the time we finished the yard was mowed and she did a small portion herself but that was the last time her butt touched the seat. Now if I even mention the notion of a 3rd horse she just gives me the look.

Got a new pic for this thread.. This was the day after Scotts M&G. Turns out this is a Frankenstein 704.

I have dismounted dozens of tires from Wheel Horse rims. Seems there were no two alike when it came to colors. Just go with what you like and it will look 100 times better than what's on there now.

Geno It's the nature of this forum. It gets to you and makes you want to help any way you can. I have received so much help from others here I just want to return the favor any way I can. It's the same for everyone else here. What a great bunch of guys and girls.

Ya know Geno it's awfully hard to talk a guy down on price when you show up in a rig like that. I think if you showed up at my house the price would go up.

Heres the finished product...a 5 footer at best but once the paint dries.....(at this rate it may be May of next year).... and I wetsand the run out of the hood it will be a 2 footer. My lil guy helped me take it over tonight. I finished it last night around 7 and then proceeded to hook up my 42" deck to it nd mow fr an hour around the pond and pig barn in good heavy grass to give it a workout. It ran flawlessly which sucks because I can't complain about those stinkin' Onans anymore. Jeb helped me wash it tonight and load it on the trailer. My Dad loved it...said he's afraid to even sit on it but he's gonna give it a shot Thursday when I can spend some time with him going over the controls. A picture with him was completely putt of the question.. and he was serious when I asked him...lol. The decals are customs by Terry (Vinylguy)... and I must say, I love them compared to the Toro factory ones.He did such an amazing job when I told him I wanted different and original Im still waiting for the custom 50th anniversary special edition from a local guy but that will go on after the hood gets sanded and buffed anyhow.

Post 'em if you got 'em...if you ain't got 'em...why not?

Well, I was cruising CL and found this which I previewed in "What's in your Mirror?" I do like bee-hinds. This plus the Little Guys Show in PA next year will feature Wheel Horse and Walk Behinds. The beauty is they do take up less room. Currently I am centering on the Midwest manufacturers (and Chicago-based retailers in this case.) Now don't get me wrong as I am always on the lookout for a Pond. This is a 1951-52 Montgomery Ward "Chor Trac" with a Clinton 2 1/2 - 3 hp engine that was built by Simplicity. What I have deduced is that it is identical to a Simplicity Model M-1, only for the difference in engines. The Simplicity came with a Briggs. Just like Sears Roebuck, Montgomery Ward sourced "evening farmer" equipment from different manufacturers. Sears with David Bradley and MW with Midland and Simplicity. The "Chor Trac" name was also applied to a Midland model when they were the supplier. Midlands' can be identified by a wide single handle. The sickle is totally frozen and the engine is questionable, especially since a tree fell on it and broke the Carter carb elbow at the head plus the Vis-O-Bath downdraft filter. The name plate is in very good shape with just some oxidation. Surprisingly the original MW "Riverside" (MW headquarters was located on the bank of the North Branch of the Chicago River) Power Trac tire is in better shape than the Mansfield replacement. Worse case it becomes "lawn art," but the mechanical portion seems good and I may just try and re-power it. I'd like to find a snowplow as they were 30" wide and could be angled, perfect for walks with snow. Garden equipment isn't much use to me currently. The color is questionable. I thought that they were Burnt Orange like Simplicity (Midland tractors were dark red with green wheels) but the underside of the paint chips shows red. The wheels seem to have been red as well. Of course, I have already ordered Burnt Orange paint before I picked it up! For nostalgia, I parked it next to the "competition" from the other big retailer. Interesting are the different approaches taken with size.

Since getting my 1st wheel horse allmost a year ago,,, then another one a week after the first. Then a few months later the 5xi. Well sir,,, I start looking all over the place on other brands to. Right now I am looking at a ford 8n and 9n. What great machines these are. In particular the last couple years of production,, the ford 8n jubilee, wouldnt want a belly mower, but a pto driven brush hog or finish mower off the back. Also,,,, I came across the International cub lo boy......the 154 is sweeeeeet,,, but,,,, the 184 is the cream. Allllllll I see on those tractors are woods belly mowers. I cant understand for a 1500 pound machine why the low horsepower. But whatever. who would like to tell me about these machines? I see my garden tractors growing soon. I really like both, including the ford 8n ,,,,, looking for pros and cons on each,,,,, matter of fact,,, I bet some of you might know where some of these are. If you know of one,, please pass the info to me. thanks guys,,,,,,, will be interested hearing on these picks of mine.

well didn't make it to geno,s today...looking like rain here but it didn't rain a drop yet but I will make it in a couple of weeks....just need a sunny day....

I think having some trails to ride at the big show would be really cool too.

You got it KyBlue.

That looks about right!

What squonk says makes sense, since, scents, cents??

Getting the tree baler serviced for the holidays. . .

Did you get the guys name with WH, mita been specialwheelhorse Jim. Guy on left, by trailer, pacer Bill, center specialwheelhorse Jim and his tractor, and groundhog47 Gerry on right during last EasT Tex tractor show. Bill has a growing herd of heavy duties, Jim has a massive herd, and I have 2 workers and 1 in progress. I for sure will keep you in mind for a prospective buy, and if you want some roller (no engine) to partial roller (front or rear missing) there is a guy in Many that may still have some left. I am sure he still has the early 60's on (all there) but was burned. Also has 1 of the huge walk behind WH tractors with tiller attached. Bill got 4 or 5 there and I got 1 and a 1/4 ton of parts and implements.

I have been looking non stop and guess what, I found one that I can restore. It's a model 854, it runs and is complete. Its in Missouri and I'm heading out early tomorrow morning to pick up this bad boy. I'll post photos when I get it home.

One sharp looking tractor. Congrats Geno !!

Looks like it just left the showroom floor. Really nice tractor.

What a great night back out in the club barn! The kids started the night watching the video from the past weekend. They absolutely loved it! From there we headed out to the barn. Before we pulled the tools out we talked about how blessed we are from all of the generous folks that have made donations to keep us going. I shared with them that without the extra help then there is no way we could function without it. We truly feel blessed. A big thank you goes out to Mike (ol550) and his wife for their generous monetary donation. You guys are awesome and Mike has one of the best sense of humors I have come to know. Don't share that with him, he might get a big head! Paul (shorts) and his wife Sharon are great supporters of the St. Baldrick's foundation and our show. They purchased many raffle tickets and were given some by another individual in attendance. All of the prizes they won were not kept for themselves but instead they graciously picked and donated items that will benefit the kids in the club! How cool is that! When we made it to the barn all of us went through the box of goodies together for the first time. One club member said: "this is like Christmas morning!" I couldn't agree more. Here is a photo of them showing off the new goodies! We then turned our focus to disassembling the B-80 that the kids won in the essay contest. Much learning was taking place and persistence was used in freeing up some stubborn, rusty bolts. Next week we will not be out in the barn but will be taking a field trip to the Warsaw Buick and GMC dealership for a behind the scenes tour. We have already been talking about many of the skills we use transfer over to what the mechanics use in the service department. The difference is they work on a much more complex animal. During the tour the kids will be receiving a very large tool set that will be just for the club. We are all pretty excited! Here are a few pictures of the kids standing behind the new project and getting to work on it a couple of weeks ago! Tune in next week to hear about our exciting field trip!

Monkeying around in another mans post......

Oh boy, here we go.

I see it now after blowing it up on an I- pad. Jim, i didn't think you'd put your pic on the forum!

Might be a few hours before I can get some. Take a look through my 416 thread on the 416-8 speed rebuild, I have a bunch of pics of the engine, you should find different views to work out the path it takes. That's all I was going to do, look at that and then repost the pics here for you to look at. Easy for me if you just go there and look at them. The thread is linked to in my signature below. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Still cuts grass in the back yard on occasion. 1961 Suburban with original Clinton motor.

We'll apart from the stack & a different fuel tank & seat , although I still have the seat but is the base is toast , my gt 14 is original

Well, its off to Vegas for my daughters 21st birthday and time is a bit short. If anyones interested in a short 5 minute video I threw together of Scott's North Central Indiana Meet and Greet Have at it. Not my best work but the pressure to provide quality pictures and video to keep all of you happy is killing me! :*****: Enjoy------

Well the fruit on the parts tree finally ripened ...Red fruit this time just waiting to be picked. Tomorrow is Dads birthday so its going to be right down to the wire. I actually dont think its going to be ready. Tuesday looks like a better day for delivery. The pics make it look much better than the tins really do. I bought all the stuff to paint this thing it was 80 out still. They gave me medium reducer which is good for 70 degrees according to the can. Today I painted it was 51..that coupled with my inexperience has led to some pretty serious runs. I see why fast reducer is better for colder weather. Heres where Im at now...Its a shame the runs are going to ruin an otherwise pristine restoration. Maybe I should have done this one with spray bombs like I used to do. I wish I knew how to get these runs to go away...

My intention wasn’t to just let this thread die, but updating this has taken a back seat to actually working/playing with the tractors. I’ll try to get this caught up with my progress. For replacing the 1533 bearings, I thankfully had resisted scrapping the rear end out of a Commando 8 with broken-out axle keyways. The bearings weren’t pristine by any means, but definitely usable. They came out without too much trouble. I soaked them good with penetrating oil and then used a combination of a slide hammer and mechanic's pry bar to get them out. After leaving the bearings in the freezer for a couple days, they went in without too much difficulty. In fact, pretty much all the putting it back together went smoothly. A few things to note: Got the 5999 gasket from the local Toro dealer for $9.00. Probably could have made it myself, but it's nice to support the local dealer, and keep some demand for these old WH parts. I ordered several of the 11124 Chicago Rawhide seals and one of the 6449 seals from my Toro dealer. CR seals were $6.50 from Amazon, the Toro one was $9.50. As noted by others, I think they will both work OK, but the Toro one is wider and fills the full recess in the end of the axle housing, whereas the CR one only goes half the depth. After assembly I filled it with 10W30 and replaced the filter with a NAPA 1410. After getting it all back together… Drumroll please... It worked! Well, mostly anyway. It did make a couple strange noises. The first one took me a few minutes to figure out. It was the PTO pulley floating on the PTO shaft and sliding in and out of contact with the friction material. Took it off for the time being and that noise is gone. The second noise only occurred under load and was a rattling sound that seemed to be coming from the belt guard near the tensioner pulley. After seeing me putting around the yard on my test drives, the boys begged me to let them drive it, so I let them get a little seat time idling around the yard. The lady I got it from had the seat mounted way forward, so it's a little tight for me but perfect for them. They had a great time, and it was a great way to circulating the transmission oil, to get it ready for another fluid and filter change to hopefully get out any residual contamination.

They never come off.

My weedeater tractor: 6.00-12's with three Sears wheel weights on each side for spacers. :handgestures-thumbup:

Those are both some beautiful tractors! Of course I have duals. I have two tractors with them now and guarantee someday I will probably have another. Jake

Well Craig, I don't have duals, but when Danny's Bantam grows up it wants to look just like this. That's a sweet 653 you have there Craig! Matt