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Before you tear it all apart, pop off the SHIFT PLATE and have a look at the shift lever. If it flops around freely, the end of it MAY be broken off, or it MAY have come loose from its pivoit point, being the DOG POINT SCREW. Can you lift the lever up out of the trans? If so, then it MAY not be the shift forks but something simpler, like a broken DOG POINT. Here are a few pics to help:

I have gotten good kits from "cfamily10" and "bakt4kids" on eBay.There is another seller "debra0318" , but she is the same company as "cfamily10". All three have good reputations. The parts are all after-market, but they are much less expensive than genuine Kohler, and in my opinion, every bit as good.

Here's an update today, didn't get to spend a lot of time on it today, but got the engine back on now, hopefully for the last time and front tires mounted and installed on the tractor, will have to wait until next weekend to get the rears on as I didn't have any tubes. Still need to get the speed selector arm fixed and painted, a friend has had it for a while now, waiting for him to weld in a new piece for me, once I have that painted and back tires mounted its pretty much ready to go together the rest of the way.

Watch this YOUTUBE for the easiest understanding of the differential.

Well, a new Horse arrived in the stable today. 1961 551, and in really straight condition. I believe it to be an early restoration. I need to collect some parts, namely the fuse-box cover, belt guard, and muffler shield. It came with a straight mowing deck, and what I was told is an original seat cover. First, some pics: Mowing deck's tight, but I hope it will loosen up with fresh grease in the spring time. Now, first thing is first... to get the electrical system buttoned up: The tractor came with these parts: I know where the points and condenser go... but not the ignition brake? And can someone tell me what type of fuses I need? Next, why do the front rims only have one hole in them? I'd like to mount front wheel weights if/when I can find them... I assume I'll have to drill the other two holes. One the way here, is seems the trans froze up. I'm guessing water in it. Once it gets above freezing I'm going to drain the fluid. If the trans doesn't look good, I may replace it with an 8-speed. And I spent a little time cleaning up the hood once the ice melted off of it from the trip here... (Not too sure why this one uploaded upside-down, but okay...) Well, goodbye GT-14 and welcome 551! Now to find a brother for it... Thanks!

Same as Maynard - I have used 3 of their kits and found them to be surprisingly good, and the price sure cant be beat! Along the same lines, I just got my 4th after market carburetor and boy its nice to get a complete carb for around $50...

"Yeah, 220, 221. Whatever it takes." Michael Keaton Mr.Mom (1983)

That key board isn't the only thing that needs to be thawed out in Elgin !

I guess this installment should be called great guy in the great room...I super friend came down today to wrangle another one out from under me....but while he was here I used his labor to switch around a set of BF Goodrich Silvertown ags for a set of BF Goodrich All Purpose Garden Tractor tires.... We had a great afternoon my friend and I...I wonder if anyone knows him?

Dang...in 1964, I was walking 2 miles (up hill both ways) to High School...and that was to the YMCA , about 2 blocks from the school so I could practice on the swim team 1 hour before school started. My hair was froze solid by the time I got to class. If I had to do all that today, I would have quit.

Swapped out the tired and broken tecumseh for the harbor freight 6.5hp predator. I know it seems kinda wrong to put a Chinese motor on an American tractor but it's a great option to get the tractor back to work. The swap was pretty easy, here are some pictures. Feel free to ask any specific questions if you are thinking about doing this.

Well I finally was able to find a 318. Been looking for a while but the prices for nice shape ones were through the roof. The tractor has just over 900 hours on it and never had a mower deck installed. Only used with a plow blade. The tractor is super clean. There is no grease or grime anywhere. It runs like new and doesn't leak a drop. The frame and and associated parts are still nice and black. All the bolts and various linkage are shinny zinc chromate. It is in unbelievable shape. Now for the weird thing. The original owner painted the tins with a brush the wrong color green. There was no rust or body damage and neither I or my friend I got it from can figure why the previous owner did this. He wasn't home when my friend picked it up and the guys wife had no idea about it. My friend has already removed the tins and stripped off all the brush paint. All I have to do is give them a final sanding and prime and paint then re-install. When my friend got it, it only had the mount and hydraulic pistons but was missing the blade itself. He modified a Wheel Horse blade he had to fit. The seat has a few splits so i'll get a replacement. This is probably one of the cleanest 318 I have seen for sale and I paid about a third of what they are going for nowadays so I couldn't be happier. I picked up the tins today. I'll have to wait a while till the snow melts down a little till I pick up the tractor. My yard still has about 3' of snow on it and I have to jockey a few things around till I can get it into the work shop. That will give me some time to finish prepping the tins.

Have not looked it over well enough to determine if it is a 58 or a 59, but it is pretty complete and original excluding the hood decals. It has all the guards nice original tires that are not weather check, which is remarkable. It even has the, often missing, oil bath air cleaner and sediment bowl. Even has the original muffler. Lucked out on this one.

What could possibly make quicker work plowing snow with a horse?.... Plowing with two . That's my fathers 520-HC in the back and my 518H. We have a few inches here in Pa,and my old Hahn blower is working better for what I have to do at my house. So the 518 went back to my parents to make room and this is what transpired.

Hello everybody, new guy here, thanks for having me. Not new to Wheel Horse, have had a YT12A, 416H, and 520H in the past. Now, I have a chance to buy either one of 2- 314-8's, or, a 312-8. The 312-8 is a very late Toro. Has been sitting for 2 years, no deck. Needs carb fuel/system carb cleaning, ignition switch, battery. Looks great, only 109 hrs showing. One 314-8 has over 1000 hrs., no deck, will run, needs at least battery. Showing some wear. The other 314-8, no deck, threw a rod. Over 1000 hrs.. Does not appear to have come through the block. Will need at least an engine rebuild, or engine. Battery, fuel system cleaning. None have a deck. All need battery and fuel system clean. The 312-8 is nice, low hours. Paint is nice. Is the 312-8 a 4 pinion differential? Is it weak? Will the 312 spin a 48" deck? Tiller? Should I buy one of the 314-8's with higher hours that show wear? Is the 314-8 an 8 pinion diff.? Is the 2 hp that important, or is there more to a 314. I would restore the 314's if I got one, rough looking. But not too bad. What do you think these are worth? Again, thanks!

How far does your short chute throw it? I wasn't pleased with the short chute directing the snow so I took an 18"x24" piece of aluminum coil stock and attached it to the chute with self tap screws. It's not great, and I'm pondering how to fab up a tall chute for it over the summer, but it's a lot better than the short chute and it only took 10 minutes. It will throw powder 30 or 40ft anyway.

Unfortunately the wire colors are not included but there are not many wires Garry

C'mon, take the wheels off.

Just got home and measured...theres no way I can squeeze that down the hall an into the great room...just too darn wide....I guess Jebs all original Suburban 400 is the next centerpiece of the great room

I use 5/16 x 1/2" and they work fine. In the 30 or so trannys I have owned, I have never seen one with washers.

I would think 58

Looks good Denny, what you got there was the bread and butter for Wheel Horse. The C 's were no nonsense straight out workers. In my opinion they were some of best series made. You will enjoy the dependability of the C.

Nuts Up and Groove Down! Sounds like a Kool & The Gang or Earth Wind & Fire tune!

Looks good denny, I like the way those turfmasters look.

Got the new tires on yesterday, a new idler pulley and drive belt and finally took it for a ride. I also put new bearings in the mule drive pulleys, when it warms up I'll replace the idlers, spindle bearings and the belt on the deck and that should make this a pretty dependable worker.

I'll bet that was a real pain in the.. uh.. uh.. pocketbook. Couldn't resist Mike, but you knew someone would go for the carrot. And for GOSH sakes Lars we're in no way makin fun of your past situation. I remember that was around time of Chevy collapse also!

A NY Meet and Greet!!! Those CT. boys aint got nuthin on us! OOPS! Did I just say that!........

Awesome find , it is amazing how red the original paint. looks. Find of the year so far I would say,, would love to see more pics

hey guys. Yes the kids are Twins. The dog is a boxer...@95lbs. His name is Guinness. Ok so when it comes to the paint codes. We dont have any secret codes. I'm not sure but most of the OEMs have gone to powder coating over the past 10-15 years due largely to VOC regulations and transfer efficiency/cost reasons. Liquid coatings that folks in the field would use are hard to get from the standpoint of VOC regulations (depending on the state). Simple enamel products that would work well out of a gravity fed HVLP spray gun are simply too high VOC and its frowned on to sell without a spray booth. The best product that you could probably use from any SW store now is a product called "Sher Kem" .. Its basically a simple 1k product with a high gloss finish and fast drying properties. You can catalyze it to get better performance properties out of it you want. Any store should be able to get it...they may not have it on the shelf the day you walk in but if you give them a few days they can get it. I would think that the majority of the WH colors being a shade of red, they could take the International Red and "tweak" it ... being a factory red, you'll get better coverage even after its reduced. The Ultradeep base is the other way they may need to go (basically clear and they would dump red colorant into it). I'd say cut it 20% with Xylene and spray using a 1.4 needle setup. Should be pretty smooth. http://www.paintdocs.com/docs/webPDF.jsp?SITEID=STORECAT&lang=E&doctype=PDS&prodno=F75CC2 They'll need something to match...something that isnt faded larger than a quarter. Once they get the match the code can be shared on here and anyone can use the code from that point on. Initial matches are the hardest...then its just a matter of tossing the formula into the computer and having it spit out the colorants. HDPE is a ROUGH one.... Typically I would recommend a wipe down with Isopro Alcohol to remove any debris/dirt/grease etc. After that i would say use an adhesion promoter. UPO7229 is my standard "go to" for really tough plastics. The really hard part with plastics is that they can change from lot to lot of the plastics being used and the surface tension is the key to getting adhesion. Here's a link to the UPO 7229.... http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/SHW0/UPO7229QT/N1967.oap?ck=Search_N1967_-1_-1&pt=N1967&ppt=C0171

How cool is that? Ol' Jeb, the , and me... just hanging out in Jeff's "Wheel-Horse great" room.

That's awesome, but we need more pics!!!!!!! Guys what's the best way to differentiate a RJ 58 from an RJ 59? I am sure there are serial numbers on the transmition for build date, but I don't know which is what.

OK...when you push or pull the tractor...or anything else- for that mater...the differential (along with the axles) just all roll in the same direction. If you are going in a straight line, the pinions in the differential aren't doing anything...they are just going with the flow. If you are not going in a straight line, that is when the pinions wake up and either take in the slack or give up some slack, depending on which direction you are going. It is really hard to picture what is going on in the differential, but that is what it amounts to.

One helluva snowpile & yours truly . My buddy Dustin doing a little surfin '

Did I leave out a zero?? That was the temperature here today...that key is frozen on my key-board. Sorry mate. 0000000000

You had to get there early so as not to scare anyone out of the pool! SHARK!!!!!!

Just ordered a blast cabinet from Harbor Freight.....Now I have to get a BIGGER air compressor. Used my wife's debit card!! It's for my birthday.......shhhh

You got me on that one Ed. I am getting easier in my old age.

GOTCHA It's that time again .... out with SAINT VALENTINE In with SAINT PATRICK

Jane's Addiction - Jane Says: Monster Magnet - Space Lord:

Message me with your email address and I'll send you some links to download of my set up. I've got a D180, but it's the same.

Back in the day.

I know everyone likes pics,so here ya` go.

Mom's other little girl .(almost) 15 year old Cassie . Who has the appetite of an Elephant .

As the story goes, I've got a German Shepherd that goes by the name of Chance. He's kind of like my best friend who doesn't argue much, is pretty good when told what to do. One heck of a watch dog. He keeps Linda feeling save when I'm out on tractor runs or swapmeets.

Here is Mr. Sig... only 10 months old but acts like a cranky old man that lives in the basement... have to warn visiters he'll say hello when he's ready, LOL!

If this were my project, I'd still be standing there doing this. Great work Brian.

Thanks for all the responses. Hope I didn't buy a lemon. Sitting at work reading these is discouraging. I'll be back home around 2330 at which time I'll fire it up to see if it sparks or a wire that flickers. If not I will try the other things Saturday. I have a fuel filter to put on. Maybe I should just replace the fuel line anyway. No, I didn't put the grease on the plug. I'll get some of that too. Thing is, sometimes it sounds good. Wierd. If if is a valve issue, does that mean the motor is shot? Is this rebuild time?

:dunno: for all the great comments, and a Up date on the control valves. I decided to use 12 volt electric valves so I didn't have to make complicated remote controls to operate the valves, and so it wouldn't look bad. Don't want a big ugly valve hanging out the side of the tractor They will be mounted in front of the engine, and the ports will go through the bottom of the hood. The valves will be mounted to the hood. This is the best look I could come up with without a lot of extra work in the pluming of the control valves. You know KISS. Any how pics of the valves. Still waiting for the rest of the fittings to get here :help: