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The wait is over and I finally came across an ARK for a Great price. This will be mounted on a 520-H that I have. It looks like that tractor will be going under the knife same as the Snow Chucker. Complete tear down and rebuild.

It is finally time to find a new owner for this masterpiece! We have a few little adjustments to do, but she is pretty much ready for a new owner to add it to their collection!!! I am SO proud of all of the kids that have had a hand in bringing this machine back to a beautiful tractor! The tractor is not perfect, but a beautiful functioning machine that many students labored over for many, many hours. It does have a few scratches, but they tell a story of hand on experience from elementary students. If you would like a chance to own this beauty, you must follow these simple little steps. 1. Grab a piece of paper, put down your full name, your address, and a phone number. Also, write down what your bid is. In other words, what you will pay if you have the highest dollar amount. 2. Place your bid in an envelope and mail it to: Harrison Elementary Attn: Scott Mehlberg 1300 Husky Trail Warsaw, IN. 46582 3. All mailed entries must be received no later than October 2nd. Entries can be submitted to me in person no later than 12 pm October 3rd. 4. At that time, club members will open all bid envelopes and reveal who the new owner will be of this awesome project. The tractor, and as many club members as possible, will be on hand for my 6th annual tractor show. This is where the winner will be revealed. The reserve price is set at $500, so any bids below that will not be accepted. All checks should be made out to Harrison Elementary. All of the money raised will go back directly to the kids and their future projects and tool needs. This is a very unique machine that was so generously donated by Mr. David Rice of Crawfordsville, IN. Without him stepping forward and taking a chance on all of us, I doubt we would be where we are today. In the near future I will make mention of the many amazing folks that played a part in helping us to reach our final goal. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. I will be accepting sealed bids as of now. The winner does not need to be present to win the machine. If there happens to be a tie, we will have both top bidders resubmit a new bid. I will be available this Saturday at the Mentone, IN tractor show and swap meet. Here are the kids the first night of tractor club 2 years ago!

Saturday I sold the 264-6 and Monday bought a 1973 12 Automatic and got it from the same guy who sold me my 655 last year. I had been looking for an older 12 hp hydro but have been leery of getting a bad transmission but when I saw that this one was being sold by the guy that sold me the 655 I new that it would be a solid tractor. Like with the 655 he had given it a complete tuneup, replaced the fuel lines and filter, solenoid, ignition switch and WD-40 and steel wooled the hood and fender. He had the original owners manuals including a warranty card filled out and not mailed in, and the manual for the replacement 93 Kohler replacement K301. I'm so happy!

Had a little more time tonight to work on 1045. I bought a MAPP gas torch for the rusted parts and it seemed to help quite a bit. Remove foot pegs and that broken bolt. Pulled the rusted cotter pins from brake assembly, tried out my newly fabricated hub puller it worked pretty well considering how bad one hub was stuck on.

My repair . From the forum someone welded the key way by making a brass key and welding next to it . I did the same a friends son runs a welding shop and he tig welded it for me .The edges look a little rough but the key fits snug . I replaced the seal and I have a new hub.

You probably know this, but reverse will shut off the PTO if you don't turn the key under the seat. And maybe that circuit is screwy? I forgot about that! My 520lxi does not have that option and I knew this did but forgot about it.

Notre Dame should just bite the bullet and be a Big Ten Team. While I kind of like the Independent thinking...ie...you are not stuck playing in a bad conference and you have control over your schedule...if your schedule is not up there in the RPI 's, you can be undefeated and still sit out the Final Four. It happened last year to TCU or BYU?? (I think). I guess I am trying to say...the independent thing work some years ago...it is not what is working anymore. Conferences and playoffs in those conferences at the end of the regular season seem to be the way to go. We will see. This year is going to see a lot of good teams, and I think Notre Dame is really playing a cake schedule this year. I think they will have to be 12 and 0 to even be considered. Just my thoughts on this. Maybe Michigan and Notre Dame can share a room at the Kalamazoo Motel and watch the Final four this year. GO ILLINOIS

Question 5xi owners---have any of you found a brighter version of the 1156 bulb for the headlights. My most recent worker was a 682 Cub with 4411 sealed beam tractor headlights. I'm used to how those lights would shine across the back yard. These pale in comparison! Looking for ideas--halogen or super brite LED??? Jack, you can take the lens assembly apart with the eight clips. The dust seems to get in there and cut down the illumination. Clean it and polish the outer portion. I put brighter halogen 1156 bulbs in which do help. If you Google the 5xi, in some countries in Europe they license the tractors. For that they put auxillary lighting on. Not too pretty but functional. Here are before (actually my 518xi) and after shots of the 520xi. I also painted the middle black to highlight the Wheel Horse. Since then I have experimented with putting LED flashers behind the lens for a clean look but the headlight actually overpowers the flasher.

A few tractor buddies drop by now and then , but not too often. Most of this stuff ends up on Facebook in a couple groups every few nights. Now I have started posting here since 857horse started this thread. I don't want to be a chest beater or blow smoke up anybody's ass, but if I get an idea I like to share it, save guys a little money here and there, and I want to keep the Wheel Horse hobby alive as much as anybody. There aint any other brand for me, I've had one since 1973, it was my first, a 753, and I fell in love. They are the most simple tractor there is to work on, if you have 3 wrenches you can tear one completely apart in an hour or two.

The biggest difference between resurrecting a rough old cob of a tractor and restoring a nice one is the degree of pride you will have as a result of your perseverance;

Jack, Take a close look at the headlight fixture, you currently have two bulbs in it. The 5xi can actually take four bulbs, the extra two go to the outside of the existing ones. From the back of the fixture, there is probably a piece of tape over the lamp socket holes, as supplied by the factory. Order from Toro part number 95-7858 sidelight kit, and it will come with a wiring harness that wires into the existing harness, has the two new bulb sockets and bulbs. Installation time of about 10 minutes and you have double the light. I added it to both of my 5xi's when I had them, and was happy with the increased lighting. The kit is currently listed for $37.05 on jackssmallengines.com, but you should be able to order it from any Toro dealer. Hope this helps. Rick

Oh and also...welcome to Get a chance post some pictures of your WH.. Also let me add, if youre really into wheel horses...go to the forum Store and become a supporter...lots of benefits, including unlimited uploads of photos.

Last week has me befuddled. I try to look at things more objectively but its too early in the season to make any sense of anything..... I guess Im going to hope the teams that left me down last week (Including my Nittany Lions) dont do it again... Notre Dame Irish, Illinois Fightin' Illini, Purdue Boilermakers, Wisconsin Badgers, Maryland Terrapins, PSU NITTANY LIONS, Minnesota Golden Gophers, Ohio State cookies, Rutgers Scarlet Knights, Iowa Hawkeyes, Nebraska "Huskers", Indiana Hoosiers, Michigan State Spartans, Northwestern Purple people eaters Well Dino messaged me and I forgot the Michigan game...Im going with Big Blue... Buuuuut I also rethought the Sparty/Ducks game and Im going with Oregon Ducks....Oh boy what am I thinking? Im either going to look like a king or a fool I guess

Lest we forget Oh yea, the overall record for Notre Dame vs Big 10...........246-126-16......soften their schedule?

New to the site and a new Wheel Horse 855 owner. My brother told me about the site. Blade model BD 4276 serial278156 Also came with a blower Model 6 2211 Serial 398468 that is missng some pieces

Welcome!

Semper Fi. I am hopefully buying my first WH on Saturday. 1975 C160... Pretty good shape.. Excited, will need some work...

If there was anything that you could do for someone, prayer is at the top of the list. I have seen it work here at home with friends and family. I am in for sure. There was a section in a Buick website I was part of before getting the wheelhorse bug called "Help from Above.... some things you just cant fix with tools". Anyone needing prayer could post in it and ask. For those who don't believe, they just stayed out of that section or sent "positive" thoughts their way. Everyone was always were respectful of other's beliefs.Could work here also. Just a thought.

It's amazing how much dust gets in behind the lens over the years from cutting grass. Just a simple job to pop it off and rinse the silt out. I had thought of sealing it but didn't bother as it is easy to do.

Ok folks this is what we are going to be using (at least my brother David will be using it) for a wearbar on the 54 inch snowplow I bought from a member in Bel Air, Maryland. I took the suggestion to find a company that fabricated snowpushers. I called and spoke to the company and they said they thought they could help make what I needed using rubber composite like they use on parking lot snow pushers. I took the old 54 inch wearbar to use as a pattern for the holes. They cut slots in the rubber (which is 1 inch thick by the way) and made a meatal cover plate with 3/8th inch holes drilled to hold the rubber wearbar on the front of the 54 inch Wheel Horse snowplow. The wearbar is 6 inches high -about twice what I think I needed but it can be turned over and slid up and down if it wears very much. The snowpusher company folks told me this wearbar will last a very long time. We will see but I was impressed that they did all this in two days. I paid $111.95 for this but I always wanted to see if this composite material might work on one of these snowplows for a wearbar. I guess we will get to find out this winter. I will keep Red Square posted.

I agree guys, they belong in the Big 10 (or Big Joke as some of my friends in Michigan call the conference). The ACC thing just doesnt work for me at all. They could leave Hockey East and be Big 10 in football, basketball, and hockey. To me that makes the most sense. That being said, could they still play Navy and USC along with Army or Air force every year? I dunno.

We all know that schedules are set years ahead. Notre Dame has most all of the teams set through 2020 and some through 2025. Michigan State is back for the next couple of years and a splattering of Big 10 teams mixed in. With some of the seasons not filled out yet it's quite possible more Big 10 teams will be played but, of course, it depends on the other teams schedules as welI. I would love to see some of their best rivalries back which includes Michigan and even Purdue since it was a inner-state game. In my opinion the affiliation with the ACC isn't doing a thing for them but like it or not they are stuck with it for now as are their fans. Chickens? Hardly. That was first coined by the legendary Brady Hoke and the children obviously picked up on it when they played that song at the game. Of course we were watching it and we couldn't decide if we thought it was funny or disgusting. I attended many ND/Michigan games and it used to be that there was nothing but respect between the teams and fans. Obviously something has changed and it's not for the better. I also would like them to be a Big 10 team but I doubt we'll ever see it. As far as the playoff Steve, TCU and BYU did have a loss last year. I don't know if I'd say a cake schedule but definitely down from the normal. If by some chance ND does go 12-0 they will make it. 11-1? Not without help from the other top rated teams. But one outstanding game doesn't make a season so I ain't counting my chickens yet Oh, by the way, isn't papaglide a handsome devil?

"I think it's trending up. It's something that we need to get in line to get that going," Kelly said Wednesday on The Rich Eisen Show. "I think that's something that everybody wants to get going and get Michigan back on the schedule. … I think that sentiment is coming back to the forefront of where college football needs to be and some of those classic rivalries coming back together. I know we're going to be working hard to see if we can get that done." The game will make a return. You will also notice that we like to leave on a winning note!!

lift assist spring is nice with the manual lift but not necessary, and I found when I installed mine and had it adjusted so it was nice and easy to lift the blower the blower had almost zero down pressure so it would start to float on top of the snow, then when I backed it off to have good down pressure it didn't seem like it helped with lifting much? Also in the vendor section one of our member/vendors has the exact same spring for $20, he worked with the actual place that used to manufacture the springs for wheel horse and had them tool up and make more to the exact wheel horse specs. Check amazon for chains I got a nice set from there last year at a good price. And if you already have wheel weights I would just try to run those and chains and see how it does? I have a pretty flat asphalt driveway and haven't used any extra weight just chains on my 312 for the past few years with no issues.

I didn't realize Bob Davie coached in 1887? Anyways the facts is In 1887 (Thanksgiving Day Weekend) The Wolverines Rode into South Bend and taught the Munchkins how to play Football, and they been Spankin that Butt Ever Since. Michigan Leads the series by 7 Games! Oh and on being SKUNKED Looks like I see a couple 38-0 Zeros there. And many more ending in -0- ZERO Remember we didn't want to quit the series, the Munchkins did. Gee I wonder why? Well we named a song after them. I love Football Season! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDf5NTPJ0nc

I helped out as well and couldn't agree more. It great to see that this old girl will be coming back to life.

Wow, yep, bending the tabs made a wold of a difference. No more rattle! I've gotta say, when I first fired up the horse I thought something major was wrong - can't believe the previous owner lived with that for so long!

We Still own em. Someday maybe they will man up and Join a Conference instead of just in Badmitten & Checkers. But that's what happens when you drop Games in the BIG TEN to soften your schedule.

I Picked up a ARK LOADER this past week, and need to play some appropriate music!

And 2 beat up mower decks no numbers plus a stuckmotor and tire chains

Yes, this is 520 number four! '96 Loader '95 from Green Bay that will be my back-up tractor while I get it cleaned up and put together correctly. Hydro and throttle linkages are sticking, and the trans drain plug is stripped (grrr, I hate getting those out!) Needs front tubes, and has some rusted screws on trans tunnel that are giving me fits. They will all be stainless button heads when done. '94 from Madison will get the cab, and be the snowthrower next month (yes, snow in October in the UP. Not September...I hope). Currently on mower duty '91 wil be on pow duty at the house in Wausau, unless I switch to the power broom. Currently tending the gravel road with mid-mount blade, box blade and roller. Sure would be nice to have a few more tractors, so I wouldn't have to switch attachments. You guys are KILLING me with the supporter stuff! I'm just so ...CHEAP!

Some thoughts: PSU looked REAL shakey last weekend. Michigan, well they are Michigan. Rich Rod had them in the right direction but wasn't given enough time. Mich State, we will find out Saturday night, but I don't think that it will bode well for Sparty IRISH are looking very REAL. Minnesota has a very FOR REAL head coach; the first since the GREAT LOU HOLTZ. Ohio State has one of the best head coaches EVER. Northwestern is a nice team, not Rose Bowl nice but NICE. OREGON is for real. They are and don't miss Chip Kelly at ALL. NEBRASKA. I dunno. I would like for them to be awesome like they were when the Doctor was there. I would also like for OU to run the 'bone again as well. Do pigs FLY? As far Indiana, Purdue, Iowa, Rutgers, and Maryland.....well some things NEVER change. Sorry John..

I see Dennis found "Wikipedia" too.

...it's a bargain at twice the price.

And a set of 26x12x12's now a new a name Boss 520 with fluid and about 85 lbs. each.

I spent Labor Day stuffing my trailer, and hauling booty north from Green Bay to the 520 ranch. The latest is a '95 with 390 hours and a ton of extras, including a nice 2-stage thrower with all of the original parts, a new 42"deck, a near new tiller. weights and chains AND a single bottom plow and spring tine. Everything is there, all the springs, bumpers, cowlings, levers and manuals. My trailer looked like it was pregnant with Wheel Horses! It was such a haul, that all the other 520's had to come out and look! More pics to come when I can figure out how to get around the file size problems.

still cant get the scanner to work with me so here's some pics

Actually Steve, what happened was Baylor and TCU we considered Co-Champions in the same conference. Since they would not pick either one as a true champion, it helped to validate why OSU should be the 4th seed in the play-off. Up until that time it was TCU. Rob

IMHO, you dont need the lift assist spring, thats more for the 2 stage. try it. Maybe you can return it. Just a suggestion. glenn

I got my Dxi last year and I have the same issue with mine. The temp gauge runs at the high end of the green and sometimes into the yellow. I have ordered a new temperature sending unit, and will replace that next week. I am thinking it is an indicating problem. I also noticed that when cold, with the radiator cap off, the antifreeze was flowing. I will replace the thermostat as well. I will let you know what effect this makes. Clark

I'm right there with you, but I have run some small websites before. Most people don't have any idea what the expense is to keep a place like this (as popular as it is) running. The more popular, the more overhead it takes to keep it running smoothly (more server power, more bandwidth). Thus most have loads of annoying ads to help keep the lights on. Luckily we have an admin with his head screwed on straight and is NOT commercializing this forum or selling it to one of the big forum conglomerates, that alone is worth every penny. I figure, as much help as I have received here I have saved FAR more than $20 in a year, heck I pay WAY more than that to fill up my gas cans which I have to do monthly! Then on top of that you can get a discount going two years at a time... Bingo! But hey, I'm not going to push you into it , everyone has their reasons! Just wanted to show you the value of it, and that you arent just pitching your money into the black hole of cyberspace. It stays right here to help keep this place privately owned and running.

I love my kioti tractor. I am looking for a backhoe for mine. Sure does save my back with my 60 inch deck!

I have seen lots of plows like that with the wheel. But this is the first branded WH!

We should of went into sales! LOL

My turn at a Wheel Horse in the mirror story. Sorry its not a mirror picture, all I could get that way was tailgate and a hint of red peaking out. A big thank you to a great member of this forum. He was willing to part with his beautiful 1995 520H. Low hours and it even has Matt's foot pedal. I am one really happy guy this morning. Now its time to retire my well worn out 1993 520H. Kurt

I've read this post before but after reading again i think i'm going to fill the tires on my commando 8 snow plow horse i already have the old cast inside wheel weights but i think it could use sum more it still runs out of traction pretty easily it has the 6-12 tires on it plus its about time to winterize the fifth wheel camper any way so i will be buying sum RV antifreeze

Prayers for a WH friend are always a good thing! I'm in.

I'm in MAC. I can tell you for sure that prayer works.

Hello, fellas, Thanks for liking my stacks. This is how I make them, they are good and heavy duty and should last for years. I was welding them together, but lately I figured out how to crimp them together and they look much nicer now, like the one in the last photo. It takes me about 2 hours to build one from scratch and the materials cost me between 10 and 12 bucks, depends on where I can buy stuff. I ask 30 dollars plus shipping ( usually 8 dollars more ) when I sell them through the mail. Thanks again for your interest , much appreciated ! I don't always have them made and on hand, I work in spurts, LOL It's just a hobby, not a job, but I like helping out with your tractors whenever and as soon as I can. I make reproduction Wheel Horse cigarette lighters and hood screws for round hood tractors at times, too. Thanks for looking, I am usually on Facebook at Wheel Horse Junkies more than I'm on Red Square, its much easier to get ahold of me there.

Stephen, I sent you a PM, but am reposting here. I hadn't seen this thread until after our conversation. Hopefully this doesn't start a war... GO! D250's are a strange breed. They were Wheel Horse's Edsel and were a true international effort. American specs, German design, French engine, Italian steering gearbox.... They were extremely advanced for their time, but were sales flops. In 1976 1000 units were imported and sold over the next two years. 1978 brought in another 500 of a revised model, then 1979 brought another 500 of the improved version. WH listed them in the product listings into the early 1980's, so they weren't flying off the shelf. They even began to promote special credit terms, freebies, and rental store sales to move them. Anyway, the 1976 model is distinguished by its generator (as opposed to an alternator), single action hydraulics, and weaker transaxle. The 1978/79's had dual action hydraulics with 4 couplers on the front under the grille, an alternator, and a slightly revised transaxle mounting and linkage that greatly improved reliability. The dashboard on the 78/79's was also revised and improved and the engagement for the PTO moved from a foot pedal to a lever. The three point hitch on the 76's was not fitted with spherical bearing "eyes" on the draft links. Instead the lower hitch arms were just punched to accept the pins from the implement. Later model hitches had the eyes that were standard on every other three point hitch ever made... The 1976's in particular were plagued with self-destructing transaxles...especially when used for tilling or heavy ground work like plowing or loading. I don't reacall the entire set of peculiars, but the general explanation is that poor lubricant or low levels combined with excessive load caused the internal axle bushings to wear. The axle/differential would sag or move around a little bit and the worm gear teeth wouldn't mesh properly. Catastrophic failure would then result since the worm gear was made (as are most worm gears) of relatively soft bronze. The teeth would shear and the whole tranaxle would fail. Warranty replacements were apparently a huge cost for WH and Gutbrod. A real nightmare according to guys who were there at the time. In 1978 the revisions were slight - and again I don't remember everything - but the improvement was significant. I think the linkage was improved to make shifting more positive and engaged the gearing better. But the bottom end benefitted by a revised mounting angle of the transaxle housing to the frame that caused loads to be transferred internally differently. So the trans was much more durable. But still, if used too heavily they too were prone to letting go. One of the really critical things about their problems was the location of the oil fill plug in the transaxle housing. Going from memory, I think it's on the right hand side of the transaxle behind the right rear tire. To check the fluid, you almost have to remove the wheel. To fill the fluid, you might as well tip the tractor on its side since the framerail immediately above the check/fill port basically blocks access to the thing. So, many people neglected to check and maintain the transaxle. Coupled with the marginal design and high precision...you get the idea. Would I mow with one? Yep. Just be very anal about transaxle maintenance. Would I plow/blade with one? No. Would I run a tiller? No. Loader? No way! Apparently the tiller, which is pretty hard to find anyway, really was rough on these things. I'm not sure mechanically why, but I guess the constant pushing and pounding was hard on the axle and exacerbated the problems. In the old days before Redsquare, it wasn't uncommon to find random internet posts about blown D250 rears on tiller-equipped tractors. Really, the D250 was a precesion engineered piece of equipment. Unfortunately it was introduced into a market and dealer network that lacked the finesse required to keep 'em going and didn't even have the metric tools needed to work on them. The combinations of the machine's fussiness and bad maintenance and abuse probably did most of them in. I'm under the impression that dealers hated them. And man were they expensive. Like $5k in 1976. Charlie (Charlies D250) used his D250 extensively and even ran it in tractor pulls (I think). I know he complete disassembled and rebuilt his prior to any of this, so perhaps his was in perfect tune, a good one, or he was just lucky. Maybe he made some mods. Anyway, he ought to be on your contact list. Now, I really like the Edsels. They are very smooth running, quiet, and extremely powerful. The Renault engine used was rated at 19.9 hp, but the same engine configuration in other applications (Groundsmasters, forklifts, etc) cranked out 35+ hp. Same carb, timing, governor, etc. So the 19.9 hp rating was probably just a lie to get around the regulations that required seatbelts and ROPS. The 60" deck from the JD 400 used on these tractors mows beautifully and pumps a tremendous amount of air. The original intent was for the D250 to be an "estate" tractor. All it was supposed to do was mow and clear snow. But the size and power meant the desire to use it heavily was too great. So they got used as compact utility tractors. Fuel pumps on the engines tend to go bad over time as any mechanical/camshaft driven pump is apt to do. The Renault replacement is (or was last time I cared to look) hard to find and expensive, so replace it with an electric one if it dies. Other than occasionally on ebay, I've never seen a rebuild kit for the Solex carburator. Points, cap, and rotor are hard to find but I think Charlie has a source. By the way, I think one of the spark plugs cannot be taken out without removing the distributor...if I remember correctly. The ignition switch on the 76's is goofy with a really special key...push the key in to enable the ignition. Pull it out to shut it off. Rotate it one click for parking lights. A second click for headlights. I think the 78's have a more conventional switch. Waterpumps aren't a bad quality or bad design, but at this age they often go bad. I've been seeing them periodically on ebay, so somebody must have found a source. If you see one, buy it. The front/mid PTO shaft also serves double duty as the front axle pivot. Bearings here often get sloppy. Duane Baerpath knows how to replace them and I thought posted a source on here at one point. What else.... That's about the whole brain dump for now. If you want to rely on one for a weekly chore tractor I think you need to prepare yourself to be patient and creative. These aren't supported by WH anymore, so parts aren't really available. Engine parts can probably be found since Continental picked up the Renault industrial line a while back. But transmission stuff is extinct. Deere probably still has deck parts. The only differences between a 400 deck and a 250 deck are the hangers. Everything else is carryover from the Deere. I still have a 76 Edsel that I'm not sure what I'm going to do with. I wouldn't buy another 76. A 78/79, definately. Just a better tractor all the way around. I see that the one you're considering is a newer one. Go for it. If it doesn't work out then it will probably be an easy resell. End of sermon, Steve