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Just finished her today. Pulled her into the front yard and took a few photos. I am lacking the parking brake lever but thanks to Kelly from this forum I will have one in a few days. Thanks again Kelly. I also have a set of red grease caps coming from Glen who is also on this forum and they look like a real nice product. The 854 runs great and no leaks to be found, so far. Thanks everyone for answering questions , without this forum it would be difficult to restore one of these guys. Looking for the next one...

It's only going to get worse with the total lack of mechanical knowledge of this new generation. The emphasis on "new" instead of "tried and true" is much better in today's society. Forget the fact that the average age of vehicles on the road it 11 years or that the average cost of a new truck is $31,000. You know a friend of mine brings up the fact that the high school he went to was a technical school. When you went there you learned a trade and got an education at the same time. Of course that high school no longer exists. Seems like teaching our sons and daughters something they can actually use later in life has gone out of style today. With all the liberals controlling the schools and curriculum it's more important to be socially aware and tolerant than educated for a useful life. It's just a sorry statement by those who control our educational system.

Here is where I stand as of today. I was able to spend some time getting a little over 1/2 of the siding on the front. Tomorrow we should be able to pop the upper and lower windows in the front.

68 commando 8 with 42inch blade. 87 312-8 with 42inch snow thrower and 77 b80-8speed with 48inch blade

Mine is tolerant, but she doesn't completely understand. I tell her that it is similar to when she collected Longaberger baskets. She replies that she never had to build a new barn to hold the baskets. Guess she has a point.

Followed up on a craigslist post today and came home very happy! Here's the haul, C-120 with near perfect 42" deck, 42" snowplow, snowblower, and rear moldboard plow. Everything is in really nice shape, even got all the manuals. All for the tidy sum of $400.

I saved it from a trip to the scrap yard. The 3 point is a plus.

Been there done that...recently!! but she is ok with it..she said its taking up to much room in r garage but said if I had a "horse barn" she'd be fine with it. Does that mean I've got the green light to build a new shed?

...and the baby of the family stands alone.

Got my new decals in yesterday and got them on right away.. As always, fantastic work Terry! I think I might order Matts foot pedal kit for this one... Last week I made a wood haulin trailer out of an old sulky that I had layin around.. Onto the next one, whatever that may be...

I'm blessed. My wife goes to 99% of the shows with me. supports my habit 110% and has her own tractors. She likes the cute little ones. The pink one was her 1st tractor & the 2nd tractor in our collection.

I can remember the day I took this picture.. My wife just pulled in the driveway while I was in the middle of taking it, She gets out of her car and strolls over to me and says, you have five of these? I thought you only had one! I told her nope, there are more than five because the other half is still in the garage! She then replies that they all look the same to her and that must be why she thought I only had one. My wife has ZERO interest in tractors. The only thing she can't stand is when gas or exhaust fumes find their way into the house. I used to have a 69 SS Chevelle. Now, that she really enjoyed! We would often take it to car shows and she would quite often take it out on her own...

We got the rest of the front sided and the 3 upper front windows installed. Also got the bulk of his tractors into the barn and the RJs up on the shelf.

She uses one of 'em to hold the laundry.

It doesn't say Ford on it anywhere... so, it's sure to work John.

Jess I am going to ask this question again. When it dies, is there 12 volts at the positive side of the coil with the key on?

Probably NOT!!!!

Mine has gone out and bought her own WH's to teach me a lesson. Worked good I learned a lot, was upto 42 at one time

I'd have to say I'm pretty lucky. When we lived in Indiana and I always had a herd of 8-10 my wife didn't get involved but definitely appreciated the work and fun I had with them. It helped that I had 2 dedicated to mowing in the summer, 1 dedicated to a sickle bar mower, a parade 854, and in the winter 1 with a blade and 1 with a blower to handle 800' of driveway smack in the middle of the Lake Michigan lake effect snow belt. After moving here I had sold all of them but the 854 and that was sold down here because we were traveling around in our motorhome. After getting tired of traveling we bought a house and I bought a big box Junk Deere because Wheel Horses were so hard to find down here. After a couple of years of fighting that thing we set out in earnest to find a real tractor. She looked as hard as I did. That's when we found the 2005 Classic GT on the gulf coast. She was thrilled that I got it because she knew how much better they were than the green and was tired of me at it. When I found the Suburban 400 and to restore she was quite happy that I had one to restore again. She also truly enjoys the fun I have on here.

Interesting you just said that Irv. I just got off of the phone with someone that called me about my CL wanted ad. He started off by saying I have a vintage B60 WH. I told him oh no, what do you want for it. It went south from there. If someone even says vintage or antique I'm ready to run!

Glad to hear you found it and saved it. Those Gt14s are beats and the three point linkage setup is a bonus! I'm not wanting to take the thread too off topic but I agree with what has been said about some of the current generation not being very practical or not having the desire to repair and fix something and instead just having the "We will just buy a new one" attitude when something breaks. Personally, I love repairing and preserving these vintage garden tractors and with my being only 16 years of age it seems quite rare people my age are into this sort of thing, which is a shame really as I think it's a very enjoyable hobby that can teach you a lot of useful skills. Tom

It's not just the education system that is failing. People just aren't exposed to anyone with practical knowledge of how things work any more. I learned just as much from helping my grandfather and father fix things on a dairy farm as I did in 27 years of school. Most people look at that ttactor as junk because thay have never seen anyone fix anything like it. Rustyoldjunk is one of a very small and shrinking tribe with the experience to know "Yeah, I can fix that!"

I agree with your sentiments about it generally being a throw away society. I'm 28 and love saving old iron tractors, but I'm forced to buy a new phone every couple of years because its how they designed it. And I know there are several younger than me on here that have an even stronger desire to fix and save than I do, so don't start writing off whole generations, its not their fault. It was the society that raised them (not any generation in particular, its always transforming!) All we can do is try to teach the ones that will listen about the value of saving and repairing things. Show them how, and give them the time to try. "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime" (and teach his children and friends how to fish too!) <The often missed part of that old proverb. My wife and I will be raising our kids to learn to fix, donate or reuse whatever they can.

I have increased my ownership to three 5xi this past summer. Being older and tall, I appreciate the ease to get on the tractor as opposed to the more classic Wheel Horse. No muddy footprints on the seat! I know that I appreciate the open station on them, and now that I have put the cab on my newest for winter it is even better. The only improvements that I would make to the 518xi is to find a 520xi steering wheel. The 1" inch larger diameter makes it easier to steer plus it is thicker. I only say this because of owning both ( and now the 523Dxi with power steering is even better) that you would appreciate the difference. The snowplow is probably the most common attachment (besides mower decks) so you should find one eventually. Toro did make the GT-series tractors for New Holland from 1997 to 2006 so that is another source on the used market. The spindles are the same for all five models of the 5xi. The only main difference between the five models are the engines; no cruise control and taillights on the 518xi; and the 518xi and 520xi with manual steering versus the 520Lxi, 522xi and 523Dxi having power steering. There were upgrades (or more cost effective manufacturing) after the initial years of some components. Problem areas are few. The axles seals seem to be an issue, although with my three I only suspect one may have a problem. The Kohler installation requires it to be pulled for cleaning the grass clippings after a few hundred hours of mowing. There is a long thread on this. You cannot go wrong with this model tractor

Lynn and MalMac,I agree with a lot of your sentiment but surprisingly,this tractor was owned by a older man for the last 20 years who fixed it "as he pleased" and obviously with almost no knowledge of how these things work.

546cowboy you nailed that one. I wrote a long winded reply about todays generation. I decided to delete it, did not want to open a can of worms. So I will say it again you nailed it cowboy.

Chains not installed yet but almost ready, my 1998 520xi:

Great tractors. I own a 520Lxi and I can't tell you how much I love this thing. As for parts, I have been able to get about anything I've needed for it. If your particular model number doesn't have the part, you can try to look up newer model year for the tractor. I rebuilt mine and some parts were discontinued, but I found model numbers for newer 5xi tractors and got the parts I needed. I will end with this, you won't be disappointed if you do buy it.

I never even knew such a tool existed . & here I thought I had "everything"

As some of you already know I traveled from United Kingdom to the WHCC show this year & had one of the best experiences of my life and got to spend some quality time with Stevesaurus & others , getting this set up would be an awesome thing to happen & I for one would most certainly make the trip . My only criticism of the WHCC show was that is just wasn't long enough & was over too quick If this thing was to get the green light I think it would need to run for a good few days so that everyone got a chance to visit & tour the seminars & I think people would be willing to travel further for the convention & kinda make it a vacation. I also like the idea of regional conventions as it gives others the opportunity to attend . I'm sure sturgis started in the stay way

agree 100% The fanciest tools available won't fix the issue if the user is ignorant of how to use them and what the tool's limitation(s) are. Understanding the function of the circuit being investigated is also necessary. Understanding how the circuit works will eliminate 95% of the wiring from suspicion before the test equipment is even powered on. Eyes, ears and noses are pretty darn good at diagnosing the vast majority of L&G issues. A 4 foot long jumper wire can usually get you the rest of the way. Garden tractors are 5 to 6 feet in length. The hood stand is Grand Central Station for wiring, the longest wire in the tractor is usually no more than 3 - 4 foot in length. Power probes get a big thumbs up in my book as they attempt to force more current thru a corroded wire or terminal than a standard ohmmeter. This principle has the distinct advantage of "asking more" from a connection before calling it good.

Now... the regional idea, I like. Kinda sorta like the Traveling Wilburys. Coming to a neighborhood near you.

...and NY too. We got our own border skirmishes going on over here.

I just paint the old ones.

My wife has been ok so far. As long as it's a good day for her. Lol Glenn

Wow that was actually pretty easy once I knew where everything went! Thanks again for your help you both!

Put fire in the hole on the new RJ today.

Theme? Sure, "Horse Play." What else could it be?

Looks the other way and says, "How's 'bout fixin' the bathroom light?" I need a 12" mower deck, "Honest Hon, soon as I finish mowin' the lawn." Only need a small three step ladder but, I have to do it! "Yeah right!"

Geno, if I can find another one before spring planting time I'll take your advise on this one. It's been fun. I'll post another pic with the decal when I get it.

With enough interest, that can be arranged. If I can get a plate with the words/symbols laser cut out of it, I can make it light up! I love making stuff light up.

It might be helpful if we knew specifically what you wanted to know. Your question is too open ended.

"I'm a Fierro, on a Wheel Horse I ride! And I'm wanted, Dead or Alive!" Eat your heart Bon Jovi!!! Lol! :-P

I do the same thing as Bob with the plastic ones (only highlighting the stuff used) but I can see a need for a metal replacement. A lot of the plastic dashed are warped beyond repair.

14 hours ... heck that is just a quick jaunt ...

I'm just admiring.

I can tell you that, without going in to details, there has some groundwork already put in place to have a show on site in South Bend at the old Wheel Horse factory. As time goes on I am sure there will be different things that will be looked at to be able to advertise a top notch show/convention on the actual grounds of where these machines came from.

For the official GRAND OPENING maybe a fire pit outside at night with some dancing girls on the balcony outside the Hayloft Lounge? Always nice to dream.... Seriously though, what a treasure! I know how hard you have worked to make the Iron Horse Barn happen.. I should be able to make it Saturday...