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Here is an attached pic of my tractor for reference.

Just a few pics of the rear tires sand blasted, primed and painted.

Everyone has an opinion, and that is what the above comments are, one person's opinion. However, since using ONLY ethanol-free gas in my horses and other small engines, I have eliminated the need for all additives, and I have ZERO problems with gumming or moisture issues. And in my OPINION, fuel stabilzers and additives were created and designed to put money in the pockets of those manufacturing and selling it. Again just my opinion.

What you found in your fuel bowl is not Ethonal, but in realilty stale fuel and varnish from years of build up on the inside of the fuel tank, lines, fuel pump and carb bowl. Ethonal is a from grain alcohol, alcohol is a great "cleaner" of the fuel system. What it does is loosen up the varnish from the metal tanks and lines. Then the bad happens, it gets sucked into the carb. We had many problems with this years ago with our customers boats. Add a good filter and change regulary. A few more tanks of fuel the entire system will be clean and easily run on Ethonal added fuel. Note only use up to 10 % Ethonal. Now the very bad, Ethonal since it is alcohol attracts water, is set and vented to the atmosphere it will naturally attract water and if enough water is introduced the molecules will seperate, This is called Phase seperation, you will get layers of water the lowest, then the alcohol, grey in color, then the poor fuel sitting on top. Just be careful and add fuel treatments such as Star Tron and change your filters frequently. Good luck Al

My 3 favorites of mine. Sorry,got a little carried away on pictures. My 57 I just got back together a month or 2 ago My 55 that I believe is still in its original paint, also has the cast iron nose weight And another 57 I have

Let's get this party started

A good way to clean that fuel bowl is to put it in the microwave for about 3 minutes on high. Listen carefully and remove when popping stops. Enjoy a healthy snack while admiring your clean carburetor bowl!

Now I suppose you'll be asking the federal government for subsidies and looking for bigger carburetors to increase your yield! PS.....how in the hell did Indian corn get in your bowl?

Why are you using gas with ethanol? You have the good fortune to live in a state that has not prevented you from buying the good stuff, take advantage of it. Go to buyrealgas.com, put in your zip code and it will show you where you can get the real thing.

Figured I may throw this out to my RS family. My fire department is in a contest to win a $1250 grant through Illinois American Water. I know it doesn't seem like much but with our budget constantly getting cut back due to falling property taxes it would help a bunch! You do not need a facebook account or to sign in, just follow the link and with one click you can vote. I'll post the direct link below please vote for Godfrey Fire Protection District. And I'll also post a link to our facebook page and the link is posted on there daily too. The contest runs through the 15th of this month and you can vote 1x a day so please keep coming back if you can and feel free to share or re-post! You can also vote per device you have(phone, tablet, laptop, PC, etc). Anyway, appreciate any help we're in 2nd place but not by far. Direct link to vote for Godfrey Fite Protection District http://bit.ly/1IFAfvU Or here is our facebook page and link is posted on there daily: https://m.facebook.com/godfreyfire?tsid=0.3300187070854008&source=typeahead Thanks so much for any help. Ben

for vince heres a couple I have

I'll take the liberty to post my brothers (VinsRJ) '54 prototype with hand built fiberglass hood. No picture I've seen yet does this thing justice.

That is crazy Steve....how much you want to bet she was texting while driving. Glad everyone is ok..........the old Dino can't be taken out that easily!

Ethanol is made from corn. I guess enough of the corns DNA was still in the product to create life once again.

That's a-maize-ing!

Take it apart - you know you want to.

Good to hear everyone is safe but look on the ironic side of things (It was RED );)

This is a 1957 RJ-35 project which is patiently waiting in the haymow, lots of rust, but lots of potential too.

You probably already know this, but be sure to have a structural engineer check out your foundation and sill plate. Depending on when that house was built the sill plate could have been attached to the foundation with nails (dont get me started on how this has affected my life) and even though it looks OK from the outside there may be some more serious damage that shows up later. Better safe (and paid for by her insurance!) than sorry! Glad to hear you all are OK! There is a tree next door to my parents house (30mph street, slight bend), it sees this once or twice a year:

here's a 1956 Brian

My Son made some Wheel Horse decals at school. They're a pretty good match to earlier originals. The r and s are slightly different. Finishes it off IMO. MU

This picture almost makes the tires look too wide... Is that possible?? lol

I'd use it there are no rare or hard to come by parts for them and the 8hp is a work horse. As for the patina or restore it's all about what you want to do with it. But of your looking for votes I'd vote for patina. It took almost 50 years to look that good and you'll never duplicate it. :)

my original 1956 Brian

I went to an old friends tire shop to buy 2 new tires for my van. He asked if I was still into old Wheel Horse's and I said yes! He had 2 for sale and was going to Portland swap meet this week with them. He said one was the type that had the motor down between your legs! I told him I was interested in it and he said the hood was missing and the motor was too. No problem, how much do you want for it? He said $75.00. We went to look at it and it was a nice little 1960 Model 400 that was in good shape, 4 good tires, front rims were nice, good steering wheel, rear hitch wasn't even locked up and still worked with the lift handle, one good foot rest and the trans was in good shape and shifted like it should. I told him I would take it and the deal was made. I took it home and gave it the once over, wire wheeled the rust off of it, added the dual rear wheels for fun and sprayed it with WD 40. Now it looks pretty good, I have a 4 hp Kohler in the parts shed and a friend may have a junky 1960 hood he can sell me. I think this is a early production 1960 due to the old 1958-59 small butt seat, old style of General front tires and the 58-59 style of foot rest's. Pretty cool little machine!

Well I thought I had a gas tank. Turns out it's the smaller version that used to come mounted on the Kohler engines. I remembered I had been watching a guy on Ebay that had NOS tanks that were the correct size but the outlet is at the wrong end and the fill opening is about 2" off. I figured it was my best option so I bought one. It fits in there under the hood just fine. Just have to have a little longer fuel line. It's perfect inside and out. No corrosion whatsoever.

Here is the link to the manual for your 856...just click on the link. http://www.wheelhorseforum.com/files/download/1843-tractor-1966-856-da-om-ipl-wiring-687pdf/ The #1576 is the original Wheel Horse #...the belt is a 70" x 1/2". It is worth it to get your belt from your TORO dealer. The belt is made with a different bevel then a belt from (say) NAPA. The TORO belt is made to slip on the drive pulley when the clutch is depressed. The tabs under the belt cover funnel the slack in the belt towards the drive pulley when the clutch is depressed, and this lets the transmission input pulley come to a stop so you can shift without grinding.

When's the next asteroid fly by??

As I read your post title, I thought...If you are looking for an argument, you're going to have to find another subject !

No offense meant Dad, just a humorous picture. You do realize that as a Browns fan I have to have a sense of humor just to watch em. lol

Is that what Brady uses to inflate his ego?

I see you are only a couple of states over, are you free tomorrow LOL

I recognize that hand...it is that Green Bay guy. You guys don't really think it was just the Pats doing this...do you?? OH RIGHT!!!...and this was the 1st time this happened too. I like the ring Jim...that is cool.

i use the water method and remove the ethonal from my fuel,my lawn ranger sat all winter and i just pulled it out last week to mow for the first time since putting it in storage and it started with 1 pull and runs great.absolutly no water in the sediment bowl or tank.

You got my vote, today and every day. I was a volunteer fireman for several years and know what you mean. When you save property or a life everyone loves you, but come tax time they all turn their backs.

Got you covered Ben.

i had the same brown crap in a used Honda generator i picked up...the fuel tank and the screen was very clean , just that crap in the fuel bowl. i blamed it on the ethanol fuel from the previous owner must have used. i use nothing but ethanol free fuel in all my small engines and cars. i do carry a bottle of Startron in all my road vehicles in case i get stuck using that corn gas

At my fire department we use TruFuel http://www.trufuel50.com in all of our 2-stroke engines. For one we were having a problem with guys not mixing the gas and oil properly. This stuff solves that problem and has fuel stabilizers in it and no ethanol. The chainsaws and rescue saws start first time every time! For our 4 stroke engines we use Tool Fuel http://www.toolfuel.com . Now this stuff is just amazing. Kind of smells like Cam2. It's pricey but in our business seconds count. Since we started using both of these products, we have had really no engine related breakdowns or hard starting issues with any of the equipment it used in.

I use Berrymans, no corn dogs here. http://www.berrymanproducts.com/products/gasoline/b-12-chemtool-carburetor-fuel-system-and-injector-cleaner/

Just be aware there are certain aspects of these drawings that are intentionally over-simplified. For example, the blue wire leading from the ignition switch S terminal to the starter relay is not a single uninterrupted piece of wire. Depending upon your particular model of tractor, there may be a single clutch safety switch in that line, a neutral safety switch and most likely a PTO switch too. My bottom line when I troubleshoot is to do so by FUNCTION of the wire - not necessarily by COLOR. Color co-ordination of the harness with the manual is a great gift but if you understand the function of the wire, you got the problem half fixed.

Brought Two horses home from their winter pasture. Changed oil in the raider and put him to work mowing the ranch.

The big block Kohler, especially the K341, needs all the amps you can provide to get them at a good spin. The cheaper lawnmower solenoids won't (for very long) have the a$$ to carry the load. I've been using Ford solenoids with no problems. Auto part stores carry them...just ask for a 1980 Ford solenoid.

Here's mine it's a 1955.

Anything is possible but first off the pulley covers will hit on your 520-H. You would need the complete hanger assembly from a C-Series or, 300, 400, 500 Series deck to bolt/weld on the 265-H's deck after removing the original hangers from it and filling holes. You would also need to check the drive pulley and how it would line-up with the 520's mule drive and your modified hangers. Your belts would need to be measured and bought since a stock belt would probably not work. You would also need to look at the rear wheel clearances from one tractor to the other since the 520 may have a different wheelbase and definitely has wider rims than the 265. As far as the snowblower is concerned, you run into the same things. The 520 has a different attachment setup than the lawn tractor does. It is really best to wait for a deck to come along that fits the tractor you have. 48" decks are fairly easy to find and snowblowers as well.

its all coming along now!! i know i haven't been commenting etc but thats because i'm sitting here stunned at your work. james

Great machines. Very similar to Grasshopper. As Navi stated, it will slap you, if you are not careful. But once you get the hang of it, you can drive it with one hand. Best tip I can give you, "JUST let go of the sticks" if it does start to slap you! Don't try and correct it, or you will be overcorrecting each time you think you are correcting it, creating a "left to right very jerky experience. BTW - those are made right in my home town, of Oregon, Il. Great company. RMC

Congrats! You should sell it and make some money

Your friend had two Horses for sale and you only bought one?????

Guys, Wanted to share my first attempt at a Wheel Horse restoration. Last fall I picked up this 48" deck from a fellow red square member. This deck was intended to replace the completely worn out original deck on my D-160 that has been passed down from my grandfather to me. I figured i would try to redo just a deck, before trying to redo the whole tractor. My ultimate goal is to do the entire tractor. It took me most of the winter to complete and i have to say i am pretty happy with it. I disassembled every piece and ended up stripping and sand blasting the whole thing to bare metal. The deck shell was first painted with Por-15 before painting it red. All of the hardware was replaced with new stainless steel. Now I am afraid to cut grass with it fearing i will mess up my new red paint! Deck before work. Complete with new decals Back on the D!