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OK... let me catch my breath... I just returned from visiting "the barn" that he has all the 400 parts stored at. I drove an hour to get there so that I could carefully check everything out--myself. Everything belonging to the little 400 was kept in it's own small covered trailer inside the barn. He turned the latch, and I swear I heard an angelic chorus singing as the doors swung open. It looks like everything is there (except maybe some minor things like springs and belts). The parts that are not already installed are just simply not cleaned up and painted yet. And, tucked way up in the front of the trailer what did I see...? The original mower deck, in it's unaltered, unrestored--but looks to be all there--condition! BONUS!!! Regarding the front tires: they are not filled with anything (including air); the bead is not sealed on either rim. The liquid seen in the picture was just oil that he used on the spindle. That will be replaced with the correct grease when I turn around the front axle. Regarding the cut hood: yep... kinda sucks... and there is a little jagged section in the cut right near the bottom of wherre the ID plate goes. But certainly not a dealbreaker. Which brings me to my final point... There WAS a deal made. The 1960 Wheel Horse Suburban 400 is MINE! I will be picking everything up this evening. One quick question: should I put gear oil in the gearbox prior to rolling it onto the trailer? Or am I just overly concerned about rolling it a few feet dry--they obviously weren't, because they rolled it out of the garage? What type of oil is used in the Uni Drive? BTW, good thing I was smart enough to put a deposit on it yesterday. They have had 15 people today wanting to buy the tractor. One of them offered twice the asking price. I'm glad these nice people are honest.

Here is my Wheel Horse push mower I bought a few years ago when I got it you could hardly see the red paint & logo. It has a 2 cycle Clinton engine it runs and mows pretty good,heavy steel deck.

Well, it's 95% done, it will probably never actually be finished. Lots of little things, and some decent photos, these cell phone jobbers suck, but you guys are all up in my junk about seein pics, so .... hope you're not disappointed!! LOL

Someday, for me at least, is today. You know how you see something really cool and think to yourself... "someday". I picked up the Suburban 400. To my surprise, I think I scored BIG. This turned out to be the best garage sale find EVER! The tractor came with two big boxes full of of nearly every part necessary to complete the restoration. And the original mower deck. And a snowblower. And a plow blade.... And 200+ pages of documentation in a 2 inch binder containing every record of every part purchased for the restoration, even with a mapquest page for each purchase showing exactly where the part came from. He claims that he has a rear plow for it too, but it's mixed in with his other tractor stuff--he said it's mine when he can dig it out. He has parts diagrams, and a copy of the original owner's manual. He obviously cared about this little project. I guess I can stop bitchin' about my Craigslist Nightmares and all the $#!T I dealt with recently. The Wheel Horse karma has come full circle. This more than makes up for all of that. Here are the only pictures I can post today. I had to quickly unload and squeeze everything into the garage before a huge storm hit.

I got to do it again Doug, the gentleman who had the 701 and other stuff I hauled to the big show sent me a text yesterday. He wanted these out of his garage but didn't want to scrap them so he was giving them to a good home. I was more than happy to take the trip to Palm Coast. The rear tractor is a 657 and definitely worthy of saving. It has Wheel Horse branded tires in real good shape. I was finally able to get the ID off the one in the front, 1-3631, a 500 Special. The hood is straight but for a long frame, The pivot point has been modified. I'm thinking the hoods are identical on the 500 special and 657 (edit....nope ). I'll have to research that some more. At first I was thinking to fix up the 657 using some parts off the other one but now I'm pondering. I think the 500 Specials are pretty spiffy.

So i found an RJ to restore. Except I cant figure out exactly what it is, here are some pics. I have not seen any others with the choke and throttle pulls on hood like this...i know its not a 35 thats all i know though lol. It came with a seized up k91 which i think would be the original engine, I tore it down, the connecting rod was seized to crank shaft so i will see if i can get new rod and have a friend measure crank to see if he can regrind it...Excited about this project so any help would be great!

I picked up this lawn ranger last night it appears to be original and does run heres a few pics from last night i will try to most sum more pics later today

At $500, I'm inclined to say you're on the high side, but since you got the original engine, and the correct 1961 deck (which are actually kind of hard to come by) , I wouldn't say your out of the range... especially out there in the PA and east region. Lots of info here. Search for Suburban 401 and read up. Enjoy your project and ask questions. Keep in mind that for many questions it will help if they're accompanied by pictures of what you're talking about. Have fun and

So I finally broke into this tonight. Came apart with ease, which was surprising for a 48 year old tractor. I THINK the gears look REALLY good: Which is awesome. The pros will have to take a look and let me know if they see anything that I dont. But I was impressed with how it looks for its age! THEN i found this: Of course I would loose a 1533 and the needle bearing at the end of the axle. I dont have a press or anything and I was hoping to not have to dig into bearings. Everything was spinning smoothly, or so I thought. The other side doesnt look too bad, the brake shaft needle bearing might be a bit stiff. Thoughts?

If I can carve out the time from my crazy life...there are more stories to tell and many more pictures to share. The iron horse has been in our family so long that the memories abound! There is the time that I took the key as a little kid and hid it who knows where, there is the effect that a timed RD deck can have on a vintage Schwinn bike when accidently backed over, there is the feel and sound of using the same machine for years and years. After all this time, I've been at my own house for 15 years, when I get on that little tractor, it brings all those memories back.

This is your "official" spoiler alert, as they say these days! It is time for me to resurrect this thread and finish the story now that we have nearly finished the restoration! We have a little fine tuning to do to the carb and then "letter" it and this Iron Horse has a new life for the third time!!! It has been a great project to do with my dad and my boys, now we get to enjoy playing on it! ...more pics and story to follow! I just wanted to let you guys know that we hadn't given up!

I was hoping to put an 8 speed transmission on my 854 mostly for the limited slip diff, but it would be nice to have low range every once in a while. Before I knew anything about the differences in transmissions (input shaft/pulley size especially) i happened upon a pretty trashed 867. The transmission shifted smoothly into all the gears and I got it for a song (was at the persons house 3 hours after listed on CL!) so the adventure began. I learned after the fact that this was an excellent bit of luck as it was the only year of 8 speed to have the right input pulley to match up to the engine pulley on my 854! Got the rest of the 867 dealt with a few months back and never had a chance to really take a look at the transmission until tonight. I knew that one hub was welded on the axle and the other was busted up so I preemptively bought good used replacement axles and I have hubs from a C-165 I can use. Ground off quite a bit of really ugly weld, had to bite into the hub and axle a fair amount. Broken hub (with a leaky seal behind it, maybe an early attempt to replace?) Got both hubs off without too much effort... Well the axle keyways look... perfect.. what!? Lets check the hub... WTH!? Keyway is also nearly perfect... whoever welded this was a nutcase. I had to ruin the hub and axle to remove it. Was this a setscrew originally? Looks a bit cobbled. I had mixed in a bit of pure methanol to clean out the oil... Dumped out a gallon of mostly water. No oil to be found. All setup on my 'work station' ready to be torn into. To Be Continued...

Does anybody know if this is a suburban snow blade? If not what will it fit? Thanks in advance.

I'm in the process of rebuilding a 48" deck - about my 5th one! - and thought I'd share a couple fixes I've come up with that are relatively easy to do with common items from around most of our shops. The 'roller' wheels on back and front of the deck really take a beating and after I paid out a pretty hefty sum for new ones -- well I thought I could do something better. This is for the solid wheels that have a white bushing on each end that is almost always worn out. I had a piece of 1/2" schedule 80 PVC around the shop (my air line is run with it) and since it has the 1/2" inside is about 7/8" outside it makes an ideal replacement bushing. I chuck it up in the metal lathe - a wood lathe should do just as well - and trim the outside down to my worn wheels inside diameter for about 3/4-1" and cut it off. Here I measure every opening because of the wear, it will vary from .750 to .800. so I trim off what ever is needed to get a good snug fit. This will leave a slight shoulder similar to the original ones. So if the wheels are worn then the axles are more than likely worn too. I get a piece of 1/2' rod and a piece of sheet metal from the scrap pile and a couple minutes on the drill press and a quick spot weld and I have a new axle. My decks get a lot of abuse on the left side from rubbing against the edge of my concrete driveway where I try to get too close, so on my last couple of rebuilds I added a 'guard', Another piece of 1/2" rod from the pile and another few minutes on the welder and I should have enough protection.

The boys adopted my Pennsylvania and the Radio Flyer! https://youtu.be/MhlK4_4I4JY

Thanks guys for the positive comments! The future of this tractor will be noted right here. After all, the story goes on every day that we use it or give it rest! The Story: I looked through many old slides and pictures to find the ones that I have posted here. This is the first picture that I could find of me and the Iron Horse. I was about nine months old at the time of this picture. I've been into engines, cars, trucks, tractors, and pretty much anything mechanical my entire life. Mom and dad tell me that as a little child, every time I would hear that single cylinder Kohler fire up, I wanted to be on the machine riding. That tradition continues today with my youngest son who is now about 26 months old. He loves to ride on the tractor. I know that it isnt considered PC or "safe" to give a kid a ride on a tractor but... Notice the 1966 IH Scout in the background. That was purchased by dad as a means of transportation but also because it had a 6' plow for snow removal. It would be in our family until 1992. At that point, dad installed a light kit on the Iron Horse and modified yet another single stage snowthrower to clear the driveway with it. Dad wishes to this day that he had kept that old truck too. The only machine that he kept through the years though was the old wheel horse 875. Of course cutting lawn wan't the only time that I wanted to snag a ride! Here dad is busting the clods from last fall's plowing. "We" are getting the garden ready to plant. Don't I look serious about the task at hand? What is ironic to me as I look at this picture is the fact that dad here is a dozen years younger than I am today. The 875 was a tough tractor back then and it continues today. Although the wheel horse isn't in this picture (It was parked just to the left of the screen), this is where I spent my time as a little dude, with dad in the garage. I'm smiling because I'm looking at my reflection in the shiny Cardinal Red 1972 Pontiac Lemans right in front of me. Or maybe it is because I was just "helping" dad rebuilding the old International four cylinder from his Scout on the saw horses behind me. A couple of interesting notes to observe: the bolt rack behind me is the same one as you will see in the current resto photos (even though mom and dad moved about 20 years after this photo), as is the old Craftsman tool chest which a discerning eye will see the drawer just sticking in to the left of the screen, and you may also see that brown oil can in current pictures too! Dad put a premium on getting good things and taking care of them. They were built with pride and have endured my whole life, Including the Wheel Horse 875!

Unfortunately, I could not get this pic. For one, the little Suburban 400 is too short for anything but the top of the lift lever to be seen over the truck tailgate, and secondly, I had to rush home with the precious cargo before monsoon 2015 hit my area. So, I wasn't able to stage anything that qualifies. I guess that means I have to buy another one to make up for it

I still have a lot more cleaning to do before I oil her up but it does look better and the model tag says its a L-156 I used sos pads to clean it

I would say that is a fair price. Probably rare to find one like this.

Actually, those didn't clean up Jim. I was missing one lever but was able to straighten out the one I had good enough to use it as a pattern. I made a jig to hold the three pieces and went at it with a benchtop belt and disc sander. Basically letting cdsi810 not to worry about some of the missing items.

There was a local guy here that had the 420LSE that someone on this forum bought pretty quickly after listing. He left that darn thing on craigslist until the ad expired. I cant even IMAGINE how many phone calls he received on that ad.

Here's another control plate decal by Terry. The serial # was completely gone and I didn't want a random one.. I flipped the original plate over to get rid of the pitting, made new levers from 3/4" stock from Lowes, and new levers from Glen Pettit. You've got the heat shield and belt guard. Any other that you might need won't break the bank.

Really ... if the essentials are there go get it! Dip into your girls college savings if ya gotta, I'll bet they will love ya for it and you got plenty of time to put it back! ...Im In the tires are worth that group too. Guys here will help ya figure out the rest. Also check out the front wheel situation if ya get it and let us know. Don't fret too much about the cut hood.

Yes it is Ask if they have the foot pedal to go with it. It connects with a small chain and is used to release the pin which holds the blade in position. Not completely necessary to have but it's nice for setting the angle from the seat. A small rope connected to the top corners of the blade and draped over the steering wheel is used to pull the blade into different positions. Look on the tractor if they have it It'll fit 400,550, 401, 551 and an RJ but will need the RJ adapter mount to clear the front axle

When I first got my wheel horse the first thing on my buddys mind was tug of war. I just recently got it running and that was good enough for him. I am still fairly young and stupid so I agreed. I must admit my money was on his tractor a 69 cub cadet 104 he had me by weight, horse power, traction (tire chains), and the fact that my wheel horse isn't up to snuff yet. So we chained up, fired up our tractors,and to my surprise my wheel horse held its own. They both just sat there digging ruts. Needless to say it ended in a draw. Things might be different when I get it running right!

The Story: After a winter and summer of the straight pipe, dad decided he had had enough of that and bought an IH Farmall Cub tractor muffler. Remember, he was working for an IH dealership as a technician and received a price break on all IH parts. Coming from a farming family, he liked the "tractor look" more than the original canister look. Amazingly, this is the muffler that is still on it today! I'll have to take a close up picture of the embossed IH logo pressed into the rim of the muffler. He just cut the straight pipe down to the correct length and clamped the new muffler on. Here dad is plowing his garden in the fall of about 1977 and this is also about the time that I was born. He said he would've loved to have a set of AG's for plowing back then but money was in very short supply for them. One thing I love about my dad, is his willingness to find a way to make something work with the resources at hand. He already had the chains for snow blowing and that would give him the grip. He now needed weight for traction and so he located a used flywheel laying out back at the dealership and was able to acquire that very cheap! Now he had a 75 lb weight for the landside wheel. Here you can see a better picture of the "wheel weight" and the heavily modified Bolens plow. The plow itself has an interesting story. It was a trade in unit with a Bolens tractor and they were going to scrap it out. Dad asked if he could have it for his garden. Obviously, the Bolens attachment system was totally different than the WH sleeve hitch and so more modifications were necessary. Dad cut the long mounting frame off and welded on his own flat stock "tongue" to adapt it for use on his hitch. The only major downside with this plow set up is that, unlike a Brinly, the Bolens plow has no adjustment for suck on the plow beam. All the adjustment came from the frame that dad removed. He must've done a pretty good job when he welded the "tongue" to the beam or got really lucky, because the plow does a decent job as you can see in these photos. Remember, he is plowing here with an 8hp engine, belt primary drive tractor! I love that! In this picture, you can also see that the tractor didn't come with the SG belt cover, dad found one of those later on and installed it. Another thing I just remembered while looking at the first pic, dad would take the RD deck and back over the whole garden, kinda like a stalk chopper and chop everything up to prepare it for plowing. That deck was so tough and still is to this day. Dad said that he always wanted to make a disc harrow for cutting up garden stubble in the fall and knocking down the lumps in the spring but he never got that around to it. So, the method that he chose got the job done and the Iron Horse was built strong enough to handle it! It's funny to me that I plow with my garden tractors today for recreation, dad did it back then out of necessity. I'm sure he looked at it as a chore in those days but now we occasionally go together to a plow day where we are plowing a field for "enjoyment and relaxation" for the better part of a day! It will be so much fun to get the horse back out in a garden or a field, hook up the old Bolens one bottom, and turn some earth just like dad has been doing for over 4 decades--that's a well built machine!!!

Sweet indeed. Bring that to next years show and you will set the bar for custom rigs!!!!

Now that's impressive! Now we need a video.

Yes they did make that differential with cast (I think) cast caps (not turned)...has to do with identifying a year I think. The aluminum ones are fine, just do not hit them hard putting them back together. In the 10 pinion that I did a video on, that trans had a cast on one end and aluminum on the other...no doubt that some one was in there before me. You do not have to change out the bolts, just the nuts...they are the nylon lock nut type...that is why. 5/16" for sure...I am almost positive it is regular thread, not fine. For sure...show us a picture of the spring. It took me awhile, but I finally found that information about the cap types. This is from one of TT's posts some time ago. Posted 8 Jan 2013 · Report post ___________________________________________________________________________________________ The 1257 has the bevel gear differential, which is often considered to be the weakest of all. Some information purely from memory: The 5060 and 5071 have the pinion shaft-mounted brake drum (closest to the axle tube) The 5073 has the brake drum mounted on the countershaft like the newer 8 speeds. The 5060 has aluminum differential end caps and the 5071 & 5073 have iron caps. The 5060 does not have a dipstick but the 5071 and 5073 have dipstick holes at the top rear corner of the right case. The axle lengths for the 10 pinion differential in the 6 speed is 11 3/4" and 12" Given the above information, there should be no mistaken identity of the 5060 or 5071. The 5073 looks similar to the newer 8 speeds on the outside, but some claim identification is possible by counting the differential bolts by removing the dipstick tube and looking through the hole in the case. A 10 pinion differential has 5 through bolts while the 4 and 8 pinion units have 4.

Haha, hey now! I hit my bedtime and I was done playing in 40 year old gear sludge for the night! I will break into the diff. Do you know what size bolts and nuts they are (I'm at work and cant measure) I will pick some up on my way home. Did they make a steel cap 10 pinion? Should I see if someone has any steel diff caps while I'm searchin for parts? Thanks @stevasaurus!

You can't cure stupid

Then they get all mad because they keep getting calls. If the pumpkin head would take the ad down, everyone's happy!

I owned a body shop for 15 years. That's major surgery! Oh most anyone can cut up two hoods and weld them together, but dealing with the warping and having it look good is another level! Now the REAL test is also making it look good on the INSIDE! The trick there is to try to used NO filler, just hammer and dolly and a little flat filing! Tough! Time consuming! No matter what the inside looks like I'm impressed! Great job! And I'm guessing you won't need any additional weight in that bumper with the front end WAY out there!

That was Ken @chevelletown tagging him so he sees this. I don't know if he's still doing them, but he is still on RS occasionally. Here's an example, this is the one he made for me a few years ago. Ignore the arrow...old picture from when someone asked where the serial number was.

It uses 10W-30 motor oil. I use Mobil 1 10W-30 synthetic in my tractors. I would use a NAPA 1410 filter in place of the Toro filter. It has flats on the end that makes it easier to remove.

I didn't know we were playing tuscila this year. I will definitely be going to that for sure! That is a long ways for a show! But I've never been out that far east yet. Seems like it would be a cool show to see for sure! And thanks for the Info on the rear. Trying to find some wider rear wheels and I will probably be cutting on the fenders some. Paint wise it will stay copper, have some sea foam green on the accents, and some pinstripping to top it all off!

All those missing parts would be expensive to buy separate so make sure everything is there. throttle/choke contols ID plate that covers the controls Belt guard Gas tank steering wheel Clutch/brake pedal and all the linkage the idler pulley and related parts Don't be fooled by it's size for working. That thing can plow snow like any larger tractor and pull a land plough through the ground. It'll mow grass but uses a fairly small deck so it'll take a while if doing a large area. Tillers for them were a pull behind powered by their own H60 engine. Wonder why they got that far and stopped putting it back together if they have all the parts

and just realized that i had not taken any pictures or mowed with it yet , so today was the day. it's an older restoration with a few blemishes , but ran and mowed great the guy i bought it from did not restore it , but had bought it 5-6 years ago as it is. it was his only mower while he had it. he only sold it because he bought a new Cub Cadet with lot's of attachments and his wife said he could only have one riding mower. i think he was about to cry when i drove away with it in my trailer maybe that's why i'm not married

I put in a shift tonight, got most of the tractor back together. That was completely stressful, I wish there was a guide on how to fit the panels without scratching them. If I did it often enough I might write it myself. I can't get the bottom bolt hole to line up on the belt cover, everything else is fine but that one is about 4mm out?

I had a B6000 with the 3 cylinder diesel and 4wd. It is the ONLY tractor I have ever regretted selling - and folks who know me, know that I've bought and sold more than my fair share over the years. It was a fantastic machine. Someone made me an obscene offer for it and I sold it. I still think I should have kept it.

I did a little more tonight. The wheel took some time in the blast cabinet, and I still had to sand off some parts before primer. i also painted the coil bracket and one of the side steps. The top engine cover is going to take a bit of work, it's in poor shape. my collection of rattle cans is getting bigger, I think I'll have used around 12 cans of red by the time I finish. It's a lot of paint but I'm not going to lacquer so it's going on thick. I also started to reassemble some bits.

I'll be back in a few guys... I gotta go take an AC unit out of my trunk. And also throw away a For Sale sign. -Nate

I had a Wheel Horse for sale last month on a local classified site for $180. .... I got a call ... he wanted details ... he wanted the tractor ... says he's a little short on cash but has $35 ! End of conversation!

I hope that I can buy another WH without someone snacking on my brain.

Sort of related. I have one of those Thermos Grill to Go convertible grills for sale. It's on CL and I have it out front of my house with a sign on it. A guy stops today and doesn't even come to the door. He and his daughter proceed to take the grill apart without even asking if it was ok. They wanted to see how it folded up. I had a window A/C unit out front a couple of years ago. Big For Sale sign on it. I heard a car pull up. By the time I got outside they had it in their trunk and were driving away. They even took the sign!

I love my L3400 best compact tractor made Brian

Humm...eleven hours, 19 minutes due west... with just only, Pennsylvania in the way. 200 tractors huh?

Have you ever noticed how some kids just aren't satisfied, they begin to whine, and many adults around them just want to find a way to keep them quiet? Well in today's story, we will see a bratty spolied kid, a cute little blonde, and "play horse" that finally did the trick...I think! Mom and dad had some good friends over in the summer of '75. By now the Iron Horse was set up for mowing and it was doing a great job especially when compared with the alternative, a push mower! I honestly don't know how my dad didn't go deaf mowing for a little over an hour with a straight pipe but then again, we akk are young and dumb at some point in our lives. Maybe that is why mom has a hard time hearing today... Anyway, these friends had a young son about 4 years old that needed to be entertained every second otherwise he would throw a tantrum. We all know what he needed, including my parents but he wasn't their kid. So, when they had about run out of Aces, my dad came up with the idea to bring out the Iron Horse and give him a ride on that. Now he seemed to be happy for a little while. I don't know how you couldn't be driving that thing. How cool is it to be literally driving a piece of GT history--The very first model of a true hydrostatic garden tractor. Of course neither he nor my dad knew that at the time. Please note several things from the get go. First, the absence of the belt shidle on the motor. Remember this tractor was only ten years old at the time of these "slides" and with the exception of the straight pipe it was pretty much original. Please feel free to chime in and comment on any details of the tractor that you notice from the pics. On the lift arm there is a metal band at the top. Dad had attached a cable from the snow blower lift arm to the band and that is how he lifted the blower. Was that an original design or something that was adapted or modified? Also take note of the original throttle cable handle out and set. Next take a gander at the original K181 motor and the way that dad's modified straight pipe exhaust comes straight out and goes up at a 90 degree angle. The original seat and center caps are still in place and notice how the primary belt guard cover doesn't have any scratches on it. More about all this later... Right behind him in this picture you see the neighbors rather large garden. It didn't take long for the neighbors to realize the value of dad's little tractor. Soon he was doing some plowing and digging for them too. At this point in the day, the neighbors youngest daughter Tammy came over to see what was going on. She was a spark plug and in no time flat told that little jerk to slide back and let her show him how to drive a tractor seriously... Sometimes you just need to say, "Who made who?" I love this photo. Tammy finally ditched the bum and decided to have some fun. She looks like she is giving the old horse a workout. It may have been a working machine but every once in a while day would bring it out to play. It has earned some rest and when the resto is finished it will be used primarily for playing although I have no doubt that it could keep working for decades to come.

Just in case you are using a replacement three terminal solenoid you wil have to power the starter switch rather than grounding it.