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...well...actually, very gifted indeed, considering the Joisey Hawg Glenn passed this gorgeous example of a '68 500 Special on to me today. All for just the price of gas to stop by and pick it up...what do you think, was my lucky day, or what? As you can see, I'm pretty happy, was a really great time hanging out with Glenn and the boys this afternoon.

Well The GT pull got rained on so I went Friday. Had to fight lots of construction. Just took a few shots

My new addition to the herd 1054A purchased over Labor Day weekend in its original skin(and will stay that way) runs like a champ,came with front blade,rear plow & original paperwork,the former owner had it for over 20 years, I am very happy to add it to my collection.

Hmmm....What was your address again Jack. I need to visit your apple tree.

Pretty much, all back together now... just got a no spark issue to deal with... but I think it's because of the mouse hotel all packed in behind the engine tins. Just had to call the game because of rain.

A nice, sweet tractor - and two nice forum members together!

Obviously a Feather Craft. Looks to be a Ranger that someone may have removed the center walk thru deck (which also served as the front seat backs) to make more room for crab pots. In the second to last picture It also looks like some kind of somethings were added to the side of the boat in the rear... Not good for the value to a collector.There is no way to identify the year with out seeing the ribbing on the floor and the transom support bracings etc. As far as value... Fisherman killed the value on a lot of these boats by removing center decks and drilling extra holes everywhere on them. I have owned a half dozen Feather Crafts and trust me, these alterations effect the value. The fact that this boat still exists is cool. How much is the guy asking? The first two pictures are of my brothers Feather Craft Ranger and one pic shows the deck I believe someone removed from it. The third pic is a Feather Craft Ranger open row boat that I owned. Both boats have no alterations. I don't know of a Ranger such as the one you are interested in with a factory seating setup like that.. Speaking of Stevebo, spent the day on the water with him today. We had a great time, especially me... Not once, but twice... Class was in session for ole Stevebo.

Thanks to Van "Wheel-N-it" and his friend Hal this 953 is now home. I bought the 953 in April and planned to pick it up at the "Big Show", but the need for spinal surgery got in the way. James "Jrblanke" was kind enough to bring it to North Carolina and Van stored it for me until I had recovered sufficiently to retrieve it. Today was the day and I had a great time meeting Van and Hal and look forward to meeting James soon so I can personally say "Thank you" That is Van on the right, thanks to Hal for snapping the photo.

Having a bit of fun with my 312h. I have been using it for cultivating the gardens because it is the perfect size. I have a set of Mankan 5.00-12 tires and rims off of a walk behind tractor. I was having a beverage or two and, came up with yet another brilliant idea. I wonder what these would look like on it. Or, would they even fit? Well, low and behold? The bolt pattern is a perfect fit. Looks a bit strange with 5" wide tires on the back. These are narrow with very tall bar lugs. They looked so cool on there. So, I took them to a friends shop and he blasting the very rusty rims and painting them for me. It looks like it will be a couple weeks before he can get to them though. Auction in2 weeks. Maybe I can find a another set and put duals on it.Cool. That plan worked out so well and my brilliance was oozing everywhere. So I thought, why not put my 48" deck on it and see what does? I have not had a deck on it since I blew a whole $25 bucks on the tractor.It came with a 42" that needs major repair. Turns out it handles the bigger deck with no problems. I changed the hydro oil to Farm Rated brand universal transdraulic. Again, no problems. Clevis hitch installed, works flawlessly. The tractor has 741 hours on it. Now I think I have to find an 10" moldboard plow for it. I am definitely not done finding new and exciting ways of taxing this little monster. After all, life is about taxing right? I will try to get pictures on when the wheels get back.. Pat

Finally got some batteries and got the Cam out. They should be shining them up in about 2 weeks. One Apple tree is loaded and one is bare.

That is some nice sausage you have there.

Here is the one I picked up this week. Buffed out nice and painted the loader.

I got this today has not run in years and needs a gastank but it has a nice 42RD deck and a 12hp kohler. I wasn't even looking for a new project this one came to me

Almost done with the bucket weld the ends and put a cutting edge on and paint about 2 more hrs tomorrow.

I hope you never get totally gifted Craig or we won't have any more Wheel Horse at all !

Looks like you guys had a great time. Can't wait to see what Craig does with this beauty.

Your lucky day indeed MAC. That's a dandy roller and will make a fine resto or refurb project. Love seeing them brought back to life. And nice pics too. Good to put faces with members you haven't met.

Nice machine and 2 Fine Members. It will go together and make a nice machine!

Nice! I love the hood stripes! Mike........

I think I missed something Dennis. What mower deck are you talking about ? Or you're just kidding, right? I don't think I am building this to mow with, lol

Great find, W/H did not make very many of these gems. I have one an I put a C-series dozer blade on it just by using that 520 series blade extension and modifying the rear blade mounting bracket, I will post a few pics. Oh and I also made it a hydraulic side to side blade.

couldnt have went to a nicer guy. best of luck craig. it was a slice today. glen

TO You need at least two to start with, one to work and one to play with and I recommend you become a supporter because you will want to post a lot of pictures. If you are not already you will soon be addicted.

Personally, I would have the bore sized while you have it down. If it needs to be bored, now is the time do it. I would also take a close look at the valve seats and guides. Even If your plans are to baby the tractor, you have the opportunity now to make this motor right for the next 30 years.

I must be that ugly, he never even mentioned a camera! But it was a good trip and we got a load of goodies for my project!

Looks like it's a 50's Feather Craft. But Ken or Steve should no for sure.

I'm sure Stevebo and KenB will have an idea.....just don't let em know where it is.. ! Mike.........

Passed on from one good man to another! The original paint looks great! Happyn to know you are the new owner Craig, the Indy Special has for sure gone to a good home

Craig a Sale? NAAAAAAHHHHH!

Craig Looking good. I am sure you have it all together in no time. Another Tecky. H60 back in service? Enjoy the ride Gary B............... Mike I think you said it right THE HUNT. But that is the game we play It is all in the chase. A.K.A. Chasing Classic W/Horse.

WISHBONE???? BRING BACK THE POWER SWEEP!!

OK...this is what I really wanted to say...BRING BACK THE WISHBONE OFFENSE!!!

it works...... 11967639_10204926551067943_1951104965_n.mp4

OH! No...it's OK Steve... was using my Canon.

I was slightly gifted today.

It is going to come down to having them both open, You will need to change out the 11/44 toothed gear and it will have to mesh properly with the bull gear of the differential...so you can have your brake shaft come out that hole in the trans. You will also have to get rid of the longer cluster gear shaft so you can put a cap bearing in that hole. If the parts from the 2 transmissions, open at the same time allow you to do that, we want pictures and video for sure. I do not see any reason why it will not work, but having them both open at the same time is the key.

That is a nice tractor and you will enjoy it. Sounds like you bought it from a good egg! It's nice to know that there are honest people still out there.

I worked on the 5xi project for 3 years. The average person doesn't realize how many man hours and money go into the development of some products. They see the end result and judge it from there. Another person helped me on the 5xi build. I think the demise of the 5xi was the price. If you could afford over $10,000.00 for a garden tractor with a deck you would probably hire someone to mow your yard. There were 4 wheel drives out there that were better at the use of attachments. There were about 7 designers, a head engineer in charge of the project, an engineer working on the power for the tractor, an engineer from Wheel Horse was brought out of retirement to design the transmission, and the 2 of us building the prototypes - all who were dedicated to the project for the 3 years. There were 2 people from test dept, an electrical engineer, the toro stylist designing the look of the tractor, someone doing the finitite analysis insuring it was structurally sound and the marketing team that was driving the build of the 5xi. The cost of development along with the costs for production - Tooling for all the stamped steel and plastic parts and setting up the lines for production were a lot to recover. A differential lock was designed but never made it even into the prototype.

Almost tolerable... when they're not green.

Well i've been hard at it today working on the C121 first thing i did was make sure it ran good sense the gastank was no good i hooked up the gas line from the B-60 to it and jumper cables from the truck I know this looks kinda bad but it worked and the the C-121 started up and ran great i had to oil a few things up sense it had been sitting for so long. I took a chance when buying this not knowing if anything was good but so far im happy! I got the gastank switched out and new gas line put on too and got to ride it around the yard its a pretty sweet ride and the deck is nice and quite but needs a new pto belt the one on it is way to wide and rubs everywhere. Just need to change the oils and give it a better cleaning

It could have only happened to one nicer guy , but I'm glad both of you are happy Rick

bitten...you missed the Maryland vs Bowling Green game. Since you picked all Big Ten teams this week, I am going to assume you want Maryland...edit your post if you see this, but I will mark you wanting Maryland.

The HH series were very good engines. Cast Iron. I have an HH70 on my Lawn Ranger it has been in use for over 20 years now with no issues. The electronic ignition on some of them works well but when it fails is expensive/hard to find replacement.

Heres a link to the thread on the 3pt and rear axel/hub conversion I did on my 520xi. http://www.wheelhorseforum.com/topic/50010-520-xi-w3pt-and-15-rims/

I wonder if you sent in the warranty card, would you be covered for a year? Nice looking tractor!

The flanges on the frame should be inside the 3 pt brackets. Not a great picture but i had it available. you can see the bolt through the 3pt then the mounting frame.

Dennis, I made the decision after doing some digging for parts. They're just not to be found. I needed undersized rods and oversized pistons. The tractor is not for show. I use it constantly. So I didn't have to luxury of time to wait and hope that the parts would show up. If and when they did, I would not have expected a rebuild to cost any less than $1000. I suppose my biggest disappointment is that the tractor isn't original any more. I tried hard to replace parts with parts that were designed for it. But after 40 years, you just have to make some decisions. I was at the local county fair this weekend and they had a couple Wheelhorse tractors on display. I thought, mine could have easily been a candidate and would have really shined in that display. But with a non original engine, I'm not sure it is any more. I suppose a lot of us need to make decisions on replacing parts like knees and hips at some point. Still doesn't change who we are though, I guess. So that's your answer. I think the decision would be based on whether the tractor is for your collection and for show, or regular use as intended. Mine was the latter and I'd do it again. Learned a lot and hope that others can take something away.

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.