Leaderboard

First post here, and am enjoying reading up on WH tractors. I've always been of the green persuasion, and spent the past year looking for a JD140 to restore. I couldn't find anything I liked, and the other day I jumped on CL for the umpteenth time, and one of the first ads that came up was for a 1979 C141 in absolutely unbelievable condition. I didn't know too much about WH tractors, never having owned one, and from the pic, it looked like gear drive, which I didn't want. But closer inspection of the pictures showed it to be a Sundstrand hydro tractor with a 36" RD deck. After some very fast research, I decided to go look at it. Nice guy had it, and loved it, you could tell from the condition that he had really given it a home, but had too many tractors that he actually used, to take care of, and didn't want the 141 sitting and going to pot. I drove it, looked it over and found only a couple of very minor problems. A tire that wouldn't hold air, and a battery that wouldn't hold a charge. A quick multimeter test showed the system charging fine, and a battery that couldn't stand the load. After some discussion, and the seller more interested in the tractor finding a good home, that money, (yeah, go figure, how cool), we made a deal for $750, and my neighbor and I hauled the tractor home. I tubed the tires and bought a new battery, and it runs like new. I'm amazed, not a hint of smoke, hydro is as new, really cool. Needless to say, I'm a convert! I think the Sundstrand is smoother than the JD Peerless I'm used to, it seems more responsive, like it's connected solid. You can tell, someone took care of it, the guy said the old man he bought it from, had spray painted it often to keep it from rusting, and you can see a run or two, here and there, the oil in the hydro and engine looks new, air filter in good condition, steering tight, it's been greased well, and often. You WH guys must take a lot better care of your toys than the JD guys do, cause the 140's I looked at were quite neglected! Anyway, thanks for putting a great site and forum together, and you'll see me here quite a bit now that I have changed colors!

Toro got a bad rap from loyal Wheelhorse owners but it was Toro that saved Wheelhorse and the Garden tractor line. They could have killed the line and made Toro branded tractors changing every year or two so the attachments would not fit many consecutive models. As it turned out, Toro kept the Wheelhorse line going and were responsible for the incredible run of the C-Series through the 300, 400 & 500 series tractors and the compatibility of the attachments to extend decades of models. And as was touted earlier in this thread, the Xi line of tractors were built heavy-duty and were actually heavier in weight than the 520-H. Much heavier. Toro made many cheaper models that were riding lawn mowers at best but they were still far superior than the MTD junk sold in the box stores. Toro even kept making parts that were interchangeable to older machines. I've said it many years ago here but it bares repeating. We should thank Toro for buying Wheelhorse and keeping Elmer Pond's tractors going for the many years that they did. Toro knew they bought a great design with a loyal following. And it showed!

The quality stayed up there through their demise in 2007. There was only one model by that time which is probably why it was called a 'Classic'. This is my 2005. It now sports Terry's patriotic decals.

i think they keep their quality all the way to the end on their higher end wheel horses i know they made alot of cheaper models too but even compared to the cheap lawn mower market the wheel horses were still pretty good and better quality than alot of the cheap mtd mowers out their at the time

Just hooked the trailer up today for the first time. Hauled an RJ-35 to the scrap metal recycling center this morning. Now before anyone panics, the RJ-35 just went along for the ride. I had to get rid of some scrap metal and trash on the trailer before I head up to Olde Tyme Days on Saturday. The RJ is NOT mine, and is just being transported.

You know, @Jake Kuhn, that just doesn't sound right! <smirk>

Thanks. The biggest of the little tailgate buddies was my final inspiration for getting the 4X4. He and little brother are going with us to the Outer Banks later this summer, and he said that "somebody has to have a 4-wheeler for driving on the beach". I guess he meant me. Now if I can just get my hands on his piggy bank...

I talked to a long time dealer a few years back. He said when Toro took over Wheel Horse, the quality control went way up. Said many times a WH tractor would be shipped missing parts and that ended with Toro. I don't know, I was never thrilled with Toro. I bought a 210-H in 2000 and was skeptical but I saw enough WH features on it to take a chance. Had it for 20 yrs and only replaced a tie rod and a diode.

Here's a pic of a 1976 B-80 'converted' to a C-160. I bought it as a B-80 brand new. I bought the headlights when I bought the tractor. I installed a new K-341 and 23-8.50 rear tires. In 2000 I sold it when we moved here. Kinda a long story but about a year ago I discovered that the current owner was the neighbor of my daughter and her family in Walkerton, IN. It was still almost like new when I sold it in spite of how hard I worked it and it saddened me to see the shape it's in now but it was so amazing that I got to see it again. The Commando 800 (1972) in the background is my grandsons. I restored it for him several years ago. The rear tires on it are the 22-7.50 that were originally on the B-80. Also keep in mind the other differences between the B and C series in that era but yes, the 77 and older B's were just as capable if the horsepower was there. The 76 and 77 even had the 8 pinion diff and 1.125 axles. Not sure prior to that.

Up to and including 1977 the B's were basically the same as the C's. In 1978 the B's were lawn tractors. The B/C difference in 76 and 77 was, horsepower, low back vs high back seat, 13" vs 15" steering wheel, 22-7.50 vs 23-8.50 rear tires, optional vs standard headlights. The differences prior to 76 were similar but I didn't have first hand experience with those. I think some of the earlier B's had 4-speeds.

Wow ! Some great information, so it's a 1964 model 854. I ordered the carb kit yesterday from the ebay link and it was shipped today, so hopefully it arrives by the weekend. I paid 75 bucks for the tractor and my neighbor has offered me 150 already, ...not for sale...lol It sparked memories for the 88 year old, as he worked for the city of Buffalo and was the main man to order the new equipment, his choice of mowers was the Wheel Horse. I told him he could drive it around though when I get it running right or I'd attach my antique radio flyer wagon to the back and tow him around..ha ha ha

That thing looks real clean! Welcome! You will find this place to be filled to the brim with awesome people ready to help you however they can! (At least, that's how I found it, so I stuck around ) Beware. If left unattended for long, they will start to multiply and you will find yourself addicted!

i am also new to the Wheel Horse never owned one before last week.but always wanted a good heavy duty tractor for summer and winter work.i purchased a 1995 520h and it is very nice condition. He really took good care of it .it is a breast. I think it will pull a house down. Yes, keep us a breast of your progress. and maybe turn off auto correct

Somebody had some time to kill...and a beer in their hand.

Yes. Magnums are definitely underrated and so is the K341. All great engines. I'll finally get to test out the 312 on the lawn tomorrow. In the mean time I said goodbye to the 6-inch wheels and installed a set of 8-inch rims with new turf tires and buffed the hood and fenders. Gotta look good while mowing in a subdivision full of green, white and yellow!

Also, they never had a C-80. There was a C-81 which started in 1978 when the B's became lawn tractors.

Here is what it looks like now. Next time I get it out ill see if the wife will video it.

Welcome to Red Square. You got yourself a real nice horse for a good price. Got some wheel weights on those rear tires...you need to find a snow blade so you can use that horse year round.

to Always nice to see a green & yellow convert...... You are going see some neglected horses & ponies here too but here guys often go out of their way and at great danger to the wallet to find the neglected ones and fix them up.....part of the addiction I guess. Just remember here Don't forget to consider becoming a supporter and again

Mine is pretty worn. I really need a new blade but not like I use it daily. Lol. I have mounted mine on a round hood since the last pics. It works pretty well. These mowers don't chop like a mowing deck but rather cut the weeds at the bottom and drop them whole. I will defiantly get a few more pics of the mower for you. Nice score on a nos one ! So there is at least 2 of these in the world left.

Great find, and a good first horse. It may be close to 40 years old, but with proper care, 40 years from now someone will be saying "look what I snagged, a really nice 80 year old C-141"

I believe if you look at the engine, the extra hood length was necessary to clear the larger air cleaner.

Nice catch on the front axle! I have pics that are SUPPOSED to be a 702 that show a front axle with an indentation through out the center of the casting which I assume is what you are referring to as NOT "square". 63 thru 67s do but this is obviously not an 875 or newer square hood. I would like to do a study on WH axles. Not as readily changed as other characteristics and I think a good way to help ID a WH. But I'm not getting what you mean about the pedals though so please help me... I think pedals is another complete study to try to ID these guys! If you have a good grip on this please share and I'll take notes so we can share again later! Dennis... there are some subtle and not so subtle differences to the front axles for the 60s models. Here are a quick few.... 1960 Suburban, Cast iron V shape form with large indent in casting, flat plate at end of frame rails, single short tie rod, long flat drag link connected other spindle. 1961 701 same axle flipped upside down (inverted V) for taller stance, flat plate at end of frame rails, single short tie rod, long flat drag link connected other spindle. 1963 633/653/753 new design cast iron inverted V, new design offset bend front plate (note the 603 still used the previous version and the 953 was another completely new different design) Again, notice the difference in the plate at the front of the frame rails. 1965 changed to the wedge shaped square hood and the front of the tractor changed for the hood mount but not the axle. There were a few different hood mounts. The clutch pedal only had a few changes. Again... a quick few... 1960 Bent piece of flat stock steel. 1961 New cast iron rounded off point flag style 1963 New cast iron squared off flag style @swade41 I would agree with the other guys on your tractor being an 854. That being said, your engine is the original spec. Otherwise, it looks like the guys have got you squared away.

that thing looks very clean and original i say you did well

I did take a bunch of photos but they are before pics. I'll attach some and let you guys decide. I won't be able to take it out for a test drive until this afternoon, I'm on my way to help out at my local food pantry. That tranny wasn't too pretty when I took it apart. It got all new seals and bearings. Except for the 1533s, With a lot of work I managed to get them cleaned up and working.

I agree as well and you should try that test. Here's my thoughts on seeing if you can feel it 'lock' in to the detents in all gears. The shifter has the ability to actually move the forks past the detents but it doesn't because the gears physically stop it. The shifter doesn't do a thing to keep the transmission in a particular gear, the detents do. By moving through the gears gently you will feel when the detent balls engage. If you feel them engage as you shift to first, the shifter got them where they belong. I also agree that the 1st/reverse fork looks suspect in the picture and it's the area the shifter contacts to put it in 1st gear.

well i got the plowing done today it went kinda ruff the ground was hard and very rocky but i was able to move some earth i will say the old B-60 held up well it does need some more traction as i exspected i ran out of traction before the front end would try to raise up. And i also got to see my 314H that my brother has been using and he says he loves it the bad is that it has a miss when mowing under heavy load.

I think you are right...how can you not look good with these little guys? They already called "dibs" on the back seat riding to the beach with grandpa and grandma next month.

Thought you all would like to see a factory wheel horse mounted Bachtold mower. Tractor and mower came from the original farm. Even got a paper on setup / using the mower! Tractor is a 875 wheel o matic. There isn't much info I can find on these. If someone would like to share what they know about this attachment that would be awesome.

Hello everyone Im Josh and Im new to the wheel horse forum. Live in central IL. Just bought my first a couple weeks ago. Its a raider 12, unsure of the year. Its probably not like mosts style in here. Went into the purchase somewhat blind. I was in a rush since I needed it for an engine overhaul class. Not knowing that to look for, and definately not the original motor. But I asked a ton of questions and got a super good deal on it. The front is already lowered to about an inch off the ground. It needs redone which I plan on doing and then do somewhat of a body drop on the rear. I like my vehicles on the ground lol. I will post a picture of my blazer as well. But I will definately be using this forum to its full potential and getting all the info I can on it. I like it and I guess in the end thats all that really matters. But I will enjoy this wheel horse until the end.

Anyone else going to the show this year? I will be there on Saturday. I know that @buckrancher will be there all weekend, and I usually see @ericj, @jimt1971, @kthack657, @Cable, @Zeek, and others. Hope to see you there. Here is the link to the show info. http://oldetymedays.org/

This might be worth a try. Get the rubber out of there and replace it with urethane caulking. I get it at Home Depot and comes in white, grey and black for about $6 a cartridge. Dap is the make we get. The humidity in the air is what cures it. Once cured nothing seems to bother it. Garry

to Very nice machine!

That does a real good job of answering several of my questions about Bs vs Cs. And yes, I goofed, there's no C-80 listed anywhere that I can find. Though I'm hesitate to say anything definite about WHs anymore. Just learned about 754s! What about the vertical shaft Bs? Weaker trannys? Other cost cutting areas? Thanks!

No, not the exact same part. I think the pivot pin hole is cast in different places on them.

The chart I have shows the 2006 420 as the last Horse. My 93 416 looks like the older WHs and my 1998 520Lxi certainly seems quite well built. On the other hand my TORO (no mention of WH!) 2006 LX500 however is just another ridging lawn mower and pretty sure by MTD. It's not a bad rider, but it's obvious they were watching pennies everywhere and I have to keep fixing little crap to keep her going. What I've heard through the years was if it said Wheel Horse and Toro it was still a Wheel Horse! Now my interests are mostly limited to just GTs and I have no first hand knowledge of anything else, other than the LX500.

Your introductory story was just great Have a good time here and . Rick

Ed, I've done a couple of transmissions that looked that bad. It is a real feeling of accomplishment to take a trans like that and get it to where it runs again. Great pictures...thanks. In your bottom pictures, the larger fork gear is your 1st and reverse...the teeth on the gear, away from the groove are the teeth that engage with 1st gear. I am trying to determine if those teeth are worn from your pictures...actually, I think, they look like they are not bad. There is some bevel there, but it doesn't look like it is enough to cause your problem. With the cluster gear, not really a good look but, it looks like it is OK also. We would want a good picture of the small gear end of that gear. The fork gear would slide into the small gear end, from the inside, for 1st gear. Even from what I can see of the forks, where the shift ball engages, looks OK. At this point, I think it is your shifter. Let's see what you say after you take it for a ride. Thanks for the great pictures.

to the That is one good looking horse. The Cs are still my favorites and the 36" RD deck mows a neat lawn.

As far as I know all B & C of the early style (B/C-xx0) were under the hood. Later style (B/C-xx1 or B/C-xx5) were under the seat EXCEPT some 8hp models remained under the hood attached to the engine I think...

So back to the mag. The pto shaft measured to somthing like 1.435 or 1.425 inches diameter and i think somewhere in the diameter in the manual says 1 3/8" So one of my first questions is what would the cost be of turning down that shaft to 1" or 1 1/8" and where to do that. also would i have to re-key it or does that happen just from turning it? Also I imagine the crank would have to be taken out to do such, but is it worth it to take it apart just for that, unless i plan to use the mule drive? I don't need to mow with it or blow or till as i dont have any attachments. if so it'll probably be a plow and be used to tow and haul. Any other Pto options without turning the crank? No need to do anything with the crank, Just get a new pulley to fit that crank to drive the transmission since you are not going to power any attachments. So do you think i should get her running first, YES or just tear her down? Also the ignition seems to have delamiated? is that glue able or can be used as is? It can be used like it is BUT will continue to get worse over time. I would drill a hole through it and use a bolt and nut (10-32 ) to hold it together or tap threads into the hole. Also i went to my local shop to see about a carb rebuild. and a appears they are all discontinued for the M20 under wheel horse, gravely and Cub. So is there a carb kit that supersedes it or a different carb that will work with the motor and available rebuilds for? Pull the carb off and give it a THOROUGH cleaning and reassemble it with existing parts. Find a rebuild kit and gaskets if that doesn't work. AND there are some wires hanging around, and an oil pressure sensor. if those could be explained that would be cool. Anyways thanks and here are some pictures. Two wires come from the stator to charge the battery They are the wires going to the AC ports on the rectifier/regulator. That middle wire of the connector is your DC voltage to charge the battery. A wire from the coil is for shut down of the engine and grounds the coil for stop. (usually white) Oil pressure sensor, when connected and working properly, will shut down the engine when oil is too low

854 and 654 were the same year, 1964. Which was the last year before the square hoods. The 854 was their top of the line flagship round hood tractor (the 953, 1054 were much larger), I think the cast tanks were seen as a more elegant design with the ability to use an amp gauge with the dash, as on the years they were used they were generally used on the higher horsepower (thus more expensive) models. That's totally conjecture though, but its true the cast tanks were only on the higher horsepower models. Some years that was all models but the lowest one, some years (1964) that was only that highest model. Oh and the 854 had a hood that was longer than all the other round hoods by about 1" or so, but I dont know what the measurements are so that's another way to distinguish it.

how well the pads stick will ultimately be determined by how well your paint adheres to the sheet metal of the foot rests. The pads may be stuck to the paint, but if your topcoat of paint peels off the metal ............

"I believe" (which I intend to be my standard phrase from now on dealing with at least WHs! If that phrase is not there just assume that it is...) that the 854 was the last year to use the cast gas tank sitting on the dash tower. I have a 654 which uses a very different hood, dash tower and gas tank! (which "I believe" is an example of Elmer's and Cecil's frugality and at least one reason why IDing these is quite difficult!) You can't always use differences to distinguish years since those differences were used across years but on different models! So my 654 looks VERY much different than an 854 where a somewhat learned person might assume that the only difference would be the engine, but NO! Actually a very different looking tractor style! I'm guessing (which is even less definite than "I believe" ) that they used up the older style gas tanks/hoods/dash towers for the 854s as they switched to the newer styles on the other models based on on-hand supplies and new purchase contracts. I assume (even less definite than "guessing"!) that the newer combo of hood, gas tank and tower were cheaper and perhaps served just as well... So, 854 "I believe".

Glenn, The two stage is a wonderful beast. Buffalo gets as much snow as I do here. I don't know how you made it this far without one! You have most, but not all, of the oh-so-hard-to-find anti-sway support and belt guard. I don't see a lift assist spring, but it might be hidden on the right side of the thrower frame. If you need pics of the parts, let me know. I'm doing some work in the barn this weekend, and I will be tripping over the snowthrower often. That is a '96 I think. Grease everything, spin the auger and give a listen to the bearings, check your chain and the silly tensioning block. Look at your scraper bar--you skid feet are set awfully low, and your scraper bar may be getting beat up as a result. Prepare to hit your neighbor's house with snow this winter!

You should not have safety switches on the 857. You should be able to put it into 1st gear...close the seat...climb on and push in the clutch and start it...let out the clutch and take it for a ride. Can you see the face of the fork that I am talking about?? Is it just the light from the camera that makes it look chewed up? You could weld a little material on the ball of that shifter and then grind it to be correct. Do you have pictures of the gears from when you rebuilt it?? I don't think it is the detente balls and spring if you can shift it into the other 3 gears and it feels OK shifting.

On my way back from Cleveland. 54 inch blade and nice tiller for the GT14. The fella had quite a collection. i snapped a pic of a mower attachment I don't think I have seen before. image.jpg image.jpg image.jpg image.jpg image.jpg

What can a Wheel Horse do? Darn near anything you ask it to do!

Standard stuff. Put the video camera down and pickup the multimeter. Start by measuring battery voltage