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Personally I believe it is an original motor. I believe a few Clinton B-1290's made it on 1961 models. I have one like it too

I worked in a service station when I was in high school. We had a customer that was his own worst enemy; he was told by a relative that his engine was "varnished up" and that was the reason the lifters were clattering. Rather than coming to us to talk about it he went to the paint store and got a quart of Varnish Remover, do you have any idea how bad an engine smells after running it with that in the crank case! When we pulled the oil pan there was stringy stuff hanging from the oil pump pick-up and globs of gunk everywhere. I wish I had a picture to share with you. After we replaced the engine with a good used one we made him pledge that he would come ask us prior to doing dumb things like that again.

Within reason, them ol' 1277's can make for some beastly machines.

Here are 3 pics of a loader I built for a Case 448 for a friend. I hope my next one turns out as well.

I have to say that this is really a disappointment ! My goal has been to get my 49' Chevy finished and be able to put an RJ in the back and display both at the show. Now I cannot display it there????? I understand not being able to drive around but man that is what is it all about at these shows for me. I love being able to drive around on these tractors but I also think the people like to see these old tractor running and being driven. WELL THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT THE WEEKEND BEFORE I HAVE MY MEET AND GREET WHICH IS ABOUT 20 MINS AWAY FROM KENT. YOU CAN DRIVE AROUND ALL YOU WANT AT MY PLACE AND DRIVE WHATEVER YOU WANT (NO JOHN DEERE THO)

I want to start off by saying I'm a new member, and new to wheel horse family. I own a small tree company, and last year i was looking for a lawn tractor with some guts to skid around some small logs. I did some research, then stumbled across a 704 with a dozer blade and a mower deck. Completely original, down to the air filter by the looks of it. I purchased it for $300. I flushed the gear oil, oil change, spark plug, filter, etc. yesterday I pulled 12' long, 12" diameter logs for near 5hrs. Then my 3 year old son putted it around the back yard, smiling ear to ear. Thing is proving bulletproof, and special. No drop in oil level, and didn't go through a full tank of gas! I think I am posting in the correct place, but I'm learning how to navigate still. my only problem is 3rd gear slips under load, and my break is worn. Both of these were not my doing. I plan to use this horse like a work horse, and fix it as it needs it. Some advice on how to move forward would be great. Thanks, a lot.

The seat is to die for!

I wouldn't have a problem re-using any of those gears and the axles...a good clean up and back on the road!!

Finally had time to pop the diff apart (5 bolts, you would think it would take less than two weeks, yet here we are). And no, I have no plans on popping that spring ring out and making any futile efforts to replace it, all the diff gears look great . Added some more detailed pictures of the gears. Do the gear experts still think all the gears and axles look good enough to reuse? I bought pretty nice spare axles in the spring, but I think the key ways on the existing ones are even nicer. Would you replace them or not (forgot to get pics of the replacements but they have less pitting but JUST slightly more worn key ways. I am just going to order the 1533's from @racinfool40 Mike today if so and try to find some replacement needle bearings.

Making progress on the retrofit. I've completed the base for the new engine. Since the new Command is physically shorter than the original K, I had a local machine shop make me a spacer of sorts with four holes drilled to match the location of the holes on the flywheel. This spacer added 1 1/2" to the overall dimension. Then, I had them drill and tap two more holes so I could bolt on the stock rubber coupler that permits connection to the hydropump. My engine base was a little shy of lining up perfectly, but adding a 1/16' spacer washer under it made up the difference. Once I got it bolted in place, I went to work on making the stock mufflers fit. Took a little head scratching, But really, it was just a matter of measuring the distance I needed from the stub-outs, then cutting and re-threading them so that everything lined up. It's a pretty simple design. This weekend, I'm hoping to finish up the wiring to the engine from the ignition switch and get this thing fired up. Getting kid of pumped! I think it looks really good!

Having a truck from that era thàt looks that good why would you want to hurry? Sit back, wave at everyone with an ear to ear grin and enjoy the ride!

I made mine from another hub. Doubt it will work on what you have left. I think if you score the barrel shaped part where the set screws are (you could use a hand grinder with a metal cutting wheel) and score it parallel to the axle. Maybe score it twice at 180°then use a hammer and a cold chisel in the score marks and it would probably break right down the score line. To get cast iron bathtubs out of houses that's what they do. Score it then hit it with a hammer. It breaks and they haul the pieces out.

Well I made some progress this week in spite of work and family obligations. I managed to get the parts tractor torn down to frame. Degreased it tonight and should be able to get it blasted and primed in next day or two. I will lose a few days next week as I am headed to Indiana. My next step is will be to measure and fit the attach-a-matic brackets. Also take a crack and adding foot pedal hydro control in that has a factory look to it. Then I should be ready to start painting or and I am seriously considering at this point, taking it to have it powder coated. I will probably take it to get it quoted and let price dictate paint or powder coat. At the pace I am going I figure 6-8 weeks to be done with tractor. Looking like an early spring wrap up unless I go powder coat route which may also factor in.

Hard to imagine the day would come... when it's politically incorrect to ride a piece of antique machinery around at an antique machinery show.

My visit to see my grandchildren paid off. I got to spend an afternoon at Chucky Cheese with 4 precious children. One of which I have only seen in pictures for 6. years. I am a very happy grandpa. I also got almost all the transmission parts I needed. I have one gear oñ the way from a RS member. I also got a new shifter. I have new bearings and gasket ordered as well as shifter retaing bolt. And I also have a starter gen kit I received last week. I found a guy through a friend that is removing the broken screws frim the gas tank and will repair the bottom plate and bead blast it. I should be able to pick it up next week.

For years now... I've been wanting one of these ol' Studes... ...and the crustier, the better too.

Sea Foam is good on your cornflakes too!

Cruising the regional CL and came across this picture on the Topeka list -- Says it was an 857 or a Commando 8 with a replacement Predator This is giving me flashback to the K-State B-Ball uniforms back in the late 70's -- Exactly same color scheme (pale pink jerseys with purple shorts) -- Ugly ass uniforms on really good teams

Now, if you can document that jimi hendrix owned it to. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ skys the limit. Glenn

If you decide to go the manual PTO route, you will probably need a drive pulley also as the clutch bolts to it.

I definitely prefer manual. Like Paul I hate the violent engagement. Tilling is one of the times I really liked the manual. Rather than lifting the tiller at the end of each run I would just disengage it and it would raise out of the ground and pull like a trailer as I turned around. It would have bugged me to operate an electric like that.

That's really sweet treehorse. Just about as nice as you'll find and a great price. One of these days I'd like to run across a 704 because that was the second new Wheel Horse my Dad bought when I was 9 years old. I missed where you have already flushed the transmission. You're gonna want to get it really right with what you're planning for it. Once you get a list made up send it to racinfool40. He should have most, if not all, of what you need. Once you're done it will go for another 40+ years.

My Electro 12 was converted to a manual at some point in the past. Manual works just fine is cheaper to buy and cheaper to fix... Also I do not like the sudden almost violent engagement of the electric PTO especially on something like a snowblower

NICE Dhodge! I would never say with any conviction that it's not original nor would I say it is. Who could know for sure unless they actually bought it new. I remember my Dad bringing home our first Wheel Horse. It was a brand new 1960 Suburban 400. That started my addiction at the ripe old age of 5. I sure as heck don't remember the details that always come up in question about what was original. Clintons were big players way back then and very popular. I can't help but believe that Wheel Horse used up their stock in 1960 and who knows if they happened to find a few more so they put them on 61's. Or, maybe an out of box failure for the Kohler and the dealer had a Clinton on his shelf and used it. Growing up a stones throw from the factory we knew many folks that worked there. But it wasn't a hobby then and many of them got a kick out of this young kid who loved playing with little red tractors. During the 60's and 70's who's to say with certainty what was done to them. One factory worker that was just down the road could have opened up a Wheel Horse parts business with all the new parts in his garage. Yup, probably brought home in his lunch box. Many times my Dad would call him seeing if he had something for the 400 and then a 704. Who knows if it was correct for the year but we didn't care at the time. Again Dhodge, I'm certainly not saying your Clinton isn't original but I do know I wouldn't change one thing on your 61. That's one of the finest era correct Wheel Horses I've seen and I love it.

You can download the service manual right here. You're problem is going to be the Hi/2nd gear, part #3523 and the input gear #3522 may be an issue as well. It's a common problem in these transmissions caused by grinding the gears over the years. The nice thing is that they are really simple to work on. Steve's videos are great so definitely take a look at them. Flush the transmission first and then disassemble. Inspect the gears, bearings, etc. to determine what you need then post it here. You'll definitely want to get all new seals for it. Note the pinned information at the top of this section. It has all the info you'll need for the gears and seals. Your 704 has a 5046 transmission. The brake will be a simple fix by either adjusting as Craig mentioned or, if you need new lining Rmaynard has them in the vendor section here. In any case, when it comes to Wheel Horses you definitely came to the right forum for help. Here's a picture of the 3523 gear. In 3rd the inner teeth mesh with the input gear. The left one is a NOS gear and you can see the teeth screaming to be ground off. The one on the right is worn but still usable especially on a non-worker. I'm betting your gear will be worse.

My thoughts are that Toro didn't take the development of the 5xi further because of the way the market was moving. The SCUT market was still a small niche and the ZTR market was just taking off when the 5xi was introduced. Wheel Horse even sold two 1st-Generation ZTR mowers before being bought by Toro. The pricing was high by today's standards for "just" a tractor. It was sold on the International Market as I always enjoy seeing the European 5xi with "hard" tractor cabs and being licensed to travel on the road. I believe the 523Dxi was developed more for Europe than the USA. I do enjoy the way that the 523Dxi sips diesel compared to the Kohler Command Twin appetite for (my choice) premium. But the SCUT and ZTR markets have basically replaced the need for a good GT. A second generation 5xi may have seen additional hydraulics and a 4WD option. There isn't a Category "0" hitch available, although one RS member did fabricate one for his tractor. Lowell used a clevis hitch that I previously had on my 523Dxi, to use as a model to fabricate an improved 5xi clevis hitch that DougL3 mentioned. Last year I installed a Johnny Bucket Universal Sleeve Hitch on the diesel which allows me to use two attachments at the same time. Having only one hydraulic attachment system is another shortcoming. http://www.wheelhorseforum.com/topic/51761-new-sleeve-hitch-on-523dxi/#comment-476535 I personally wouldn't buy a new GT if I needed to today. JD is more hype and plastic, and Simplicity has questionable engines. I would try to find a used (or two) 5xi. That said, today's Kubota BX1870 is what the 5xi should have become but even then most consumers move up to the next model of a BX2370. Try to buy a used 5xi-era Kubota 4WD B6100D/HST or a Kubota BX1500 and they are, most of the time, sold before you call. I know, because I have tried a few times. But I have tried a few times with the 523Dxi before finally getting lucky as well.

Its hard to believe its been almost 2years since i rebuilt the suburban. I went over to shop tonight to fix the water lines and i couldn't resist taking it out and mowing around the shop with it still one of my favorite workers even though i keep it on light duty these days

Something has been following me for a while.... It's a 1996 520-H with 414 hours. There's a 48" deck, 2-stage snowthrower, and snow cab in the back too. Needs cosmetic work and a thorough maintenance session, but the price was very good. It shouldn't take a lot to get it back to "like new" condition.

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...

So that brings us up to the past month or so. The B-100 auto that I bought, in all reality, fills the role that the custom hydro project tractor was supposed to. I debated on just killing the custom project all together, but in the end I decided I had collected too many good parts to quit on it now. Before I spent any more money finding additional parts, I decided to finish hooking everything up and at least make sure it ran and drove. I recalled that the engine seemed to run well, and the hydro worked, albeit with a few minor issues, so combined, they should work. Unfortunately it had been long enough ago that I tested them that I couldn't quite remember all the particulars. The first task was the wiring. I found the key switch bad so I had to replace that. For the electrical system, much like the rest of the tractor, I decided to pick the best attributes of multiple tractors. I kept the S/G on the engine, but wanted the safety switches and the starting solenoid from the newer electrical systems. It wasn't hard, but did require a little bit of though on how to merge the two. The fuel line was pretty straightforward. I used the 8-4 plastic tank, which just has a barb on the bottom so I used the shut-off valve mounted on the left side of the pedestal. The throttle cable was installed as normal, but the choke on the JD carb had to be activated by pulling up, so I ran the choke cable over the top of the engine. I had to use a series of pipe elbows to route the exhaust to clear the hood, and ran that into a Gravely muffler. I left the air cleaner modification for later until I was sure the tractor was going to work like I wanted it to. I started bolting all the rest of the sheet metal back on the tractor. The belt guard for the 8-4 didn't work with the auto trans, and the belt guard from the Bronco was hacked up. I went to put a better guard on that I had collected along the way, and found why the Bronco guard was modified. The engine had a non-original pulley on it that stuck out farther than the original. I found an original one from my parts collection and put it on. The belt guard fit much better, and I'm sure the belt alignment was improved as well. Just out of preference, I used the Bronco steps with punched tread holes instead of the 8-4 solid steps with tread tape. With everything bolted back together, the moment of truth arrived to see if it would actually run. After sitting for over a year, it took a bit to get the engine fired, but once it did it ran great. The hystat seemed to work good although it made a terrible noise, which I later found to be the belt guard rubbing on the PTO clutch. The bracket on the 8-4 frame doesn't line up with the lower front guard bracket on the hydro belt guard, so the guard could move and hit the pulley. For now I took the PTO clutch back off until I can weld another bracket for the guard. With the clutch out of the way, the noise was gone and it was much more pleasant to drive. Before driving the tractor too much more, I figured I should get a functional air cleaner on it. To do this I had to relocate the holes for the carburetor so I could rotate the air cleaner to make it fit inside the front of the hood. The air cleaner is shaped like a camshaft lobe, and on the Deere there was a hose that took fresh air from the blower housing on the engine into the "lobe" part of the air cleaner. In that orientation, the lobe was in the way of the hood closing. I was able to fit it inside the hood by rotating that lobe to the top part of the engine. It was tricky to get just right to clear everything, but I eventually found an orientation that worked. I drilled new holes to bolt up to the carb, and filled the original holes with washers and weld (and lots of grinding). While I was at it, I covered the fresh air opening on the back side of the cleaner, and drilled holes in the cover to draw air in through the headlight opening. With that, I had a fully functional tractor. Now the fun could really begin…

More here http://4amazingthings.com/17-questionable-things-people-have-actually-brought-to-the-mechanic/

ok chorusguy making headway I tried to heat it with my torch but not enough grip with 3 arm puller so I had to cut hub , started with drill new drill cuts like butter in this cast iron, (by the way I never touched the axle with the drill or grinder wheel ) and then cut with wheel on my dewalt grinder, I cut on the keyway slot so less cutting . 41 years old hub did a good job finally got a 2 arm puller to hold as I cut it popped and I knew it will come used chisel and taped lightly to open it and puller did the rest. now the key wont come out, like its welded from rust but its not bad rusty or pitted on end of shaft . any ways I got it off and axle looks good I think the left side was replaced it came off to easy, and I think you were right on in the upper post, I think someone tried to fix it and broke the clip trying to get off left hub, It has been replaced and they couldn't get the right off to fix it so he parked it. I know the guy that had it was a old man like me he died 2 years age so it has been sitting outside for that time or longer. any ways here are pictures that might help someone else trying to get a hub off

No Mike. Thanks to you... I'm now going to need a Cletrac crawler too.

https://youtu.be/lXlHv1-YPxM Sent to me by my daughter. Cool stuff!

Thanks Mike. I'll send pics when I get it home. I understand your concerns. I am very carful with my old machinery and will definitely treat it right. Since this is a side project, I can afford the time to rebuild the hydro should it need it. My concerns were more about overall durability if the machine. I don't want to spend the time and money investing in tractor with a known weak tranny. Sounds like they just need to be taken care of.

I'll definitely post some after I get it home. Are 1277's good machines? I plan on restoring this, but I also plan on using it as a worker.

If I'd have been able to move about 20 feet west ( I'd be in the river ) but this is nearly the exact same spot where that pic was taken over 100 years ago . Michigan ave no longer continues to the outer harbor as it does in the pic , but it would have crossed the river right at the foot of that tall beige building ( General Mills today ) .

Looking good, I think you'll like how much smoother It will run and there is no shortage of power either.

Looking good-Aldon.... Very, very true about all of 'life's pi-falls'..very true- glenn

Had 4:10s in a '59 3/4 ton Chevy with a 283, As you said, 60 MPH top end but in granny first with 1000 pounds in the bed you could pull down a barn!

Maybe I need to revisit my own deck!?!?!

Nothing political about it.....its all about liability and the insurance policy they must have on this show. Don't get me wrong, I hate to see rules like "No tractor riding". Its just a matter of time before the Zagray show does this as well. Mike..........

Become a supporter, and you won't have to worry about the photo limits.

Wow is that a horse or a dog, bull dog that is! Nice tractor! Looks like 4 people are coming with me. Looking forward to this. Been a long hot summer for us in the mower shop this year!

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?

I modified the blast cabinet and now need longer gloves. It will allow me to swap them from outside the cabinet. I am too stiff and body too wore out to be climbing into a blast cabinet. Even if seldom. Likely a week from getting cabinet going and still with temps in upper 80's so I continued working on tires and rims. My local Mavis shop is very customer friendly. I dropped tires, tubes and rims off and picked them up on my way home. some pics with rear 15 inch tired to show set and reference size wise. Then a couple pics next to GT14 with turfs. It can be seen that the 18x8.5-8 V61 Vredsteins will be adding some stance and attitude:-) or Altitude anyway....as they look like about 1.5 inches taller than turfs. The tractor is actually lifted off ground a bit while Vredsteins are on ground. I mentioned in a another thread how great Miller tire was in dealing with. Probably going to pull those front runs next, wet blast, prime, paint and drop by Mavis for another set of fronts for my working GT14. Hopefully I can have the extra set on the tractor by Sunday afternoon. Got to head to Cleveland Friday so part of my week is shot.

Thanks guys, now I have competition with Ian's GT, I'm going to have to get mine out working :D