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53 years ago this young Lady agreed to spend her life with me. My lucky day.

Well I went to an interview today and I got my first job! I can't start until I'm 16 which is in almost exactly a month but I'm happy. I'll be a busboy for $8 an hour but i guess you gotta start somewhere!

I really love how supportive every one is! seriously though I have never been on a forum where people got along so well and we're so helpfull.

Didn't realize Dinos were suicidal.

Move over Dr. Phil ; Dr. Stevasaurus is in the house!

Nobody on this board is going to SELL a 520-8 with that equipment for $1000. 200-ish of them were made. "Bucket List" tractor for a lot of guys. Buy it. Don't plan on lifting that 60" deck off the ground with the manual lift though. Heavy suckers. Steve

Pictures from today's trip to Elnora, Indiana and the White River Valley Antique Association Show. I was able to visit with my friend Jerry Spires of Bedford, Indiana. Jerry had his 1958 Woody RJ and a few other tractors displayed next to Henry Bullington's from Tenn. Roger Parmley and I from Greencastle drove down this am to see what was happening !

We ALL started some where, so good job on finding a job! You'd be amazed how many think they should start off as the vice president of the company without any experience!

Let me throw a wrench in this. Tell her to get her shoes off and get back in the kitchen. Is she going to help you clear the snow?? Is she going to help you mow the lawn?? If the answer is "YES"...you need to have 2 horses....if the answer is NO, you need to have 2 horses. Easy as that.

Glad to see some young folks understand that work yields opportunities to advance. Be sure you keep up with your school work, education is priority #1 and it will help you the rest of your life.

That is great news. Usually the first job is the one with the most memories , good and bad. I got my first job at 15 1/2 at a burger joint making a $1.00 an hour. That was back in the dark ages.

Someone needs to hack into @stevasaurus settings and make that his profile pic !!!

Maybe that's why they are extinct??? Sure are havin fun with this thread @Bttatro....be a lot better if we score that horse!

Its really quite simple and as Ed stated, Don't ask Don't tell. Sometimes a man has gotta do what a man's gotta do....

I think RS has a new Chairman of the "Tolerance, Equity and Equal Opportunity Wheel Horse Access Committee"!!

Another thing. I want to thank all the Wheel Horse nuts that post to this thread, or do the "Like" thing. It is appreciated more than you guys can know. The words of encouragement, witty comments, suggestions, and all else, is taken by me most seriously. While I really look forward to getting off work, or on the weekend, and finding the time to work on the tractor, I relish just as much, and look forward with the same anticipation, the posts that you guys write. In point of fact, I log on first to read the forum, then go diddle with the tractor. Thanks guys.

My wife hates all the "treasures" I drag home. She knew I had a thing for rusty steel stuff, tools, vehicles, and various toys that I can rarely justify. Fortunately I was this way when she found me so I figure she already knew what she was getting into. From day one she had no opinion that mattered regarding the detached garage and it's contents. Her car has always sat outside and some I have equipped with auto start for those cold winter months. The wife absolutely hates the two horses setting side by side in the back yard. One horse has a blade and the second will have a mower deck when I get those deck bearings replaced. Perhaps the biggest bane of her existence in recent times has been the 5' x 8' 40's vintage box trailer and antique tow behind air compressor I acquired over the last month. Then couple that with the too many vehicles we have and the too much of everything else that I have and we passed the point of her controlling the input and output of any of this stuff a long long time ago. I married late at 36 so honestly, any woman that was going to hitch double harness with me had to have a clue that I was not going to be dumping my hobbies to take up golf or other more refined hobbies simply for the joy of putting a smile on someone else's face. You did great on your purchase, keep it. You need at least two anyway at a minimum, one for cutting grass and one for clearing snow. Unless she wants to start taking care of those chores then do what you deem best for making your life a bit easier.

Except for the one we have all have come to know and love.

I am looking for opinions on restoring or leaving original on a C-121

A close friend of mine just calls me. He is on his motorcycle riding home, about 2 miles from where I live. There's a wheel horse for sale in the driveway. He gets me the number and talk to the owner for a bit.I just got off the phone with the owner, he isn't sure of the year, BUT, he bought it brand new. He says the first year for wheel horse toro. He says the motor starts with a O. I say Onan, he goes that's it. My friend Pete tells me he spots 520 on it. . The old timer says it has much less than 500 hours on it. He also says the big 60 inch deck, wheel weights, chains and a single stage snowthrower to. Here's the clincher, I ask how the transmission is, the hydro, any Problems? He says it's not a hydro, it's a hi / lo shift. Bottom line he is asking a thousand bucks. Tomorrow I will go look, take pictures and report back. My friend Pete says it's a little paint off here and there but not bad. Ok, we don't know how she looks, we don't know exact year or hours. But considering so far what I said. Do we agree that a thousand dollars is a fair asking Price? I think it might be, and I can't believe it's the rare 520-8, shift model......... Give me your thoughts, thanks men. I am all excited,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,oh, another thing, don't tell my mrs. Shhhhhhhh,,,,mums the word. Glenn

Congratulations! Yes, we all had to start somewhere and I'd say you're off to a great start.

It was a great day guys...Thank You very Much.

Found a picture of you and Mrs. K on your Honey Moon!

I'm guessing inhaling large amounts of carbon monoxide and soaking my hands in acetone, MEK, and gasoline daily may have taken it's toll Jim.

I don't think feathers are ruffled... it's just a discussion. You asked about price point... Wheel Horse prices and marketing were very comparable to John Deere and Cub Cadet back in the day. Even some old Cub Cadet salesman literature I've seen shows some of the arguments a salesman could make to talk a customer into a Cub over a Wheel Horse. Here's an example from the 1968 literature. Wheel Horse was a larger name in the garden tractor market back in the day, because yes, they were one of the earlier names. The first Pond tractor (the predecessor to the Wheel Horse) was made in 1946. Whether or not they are the actual first, is always debateable. There were others out there such as Shaw, Red E, Page and Speeedex. Cecil Pond is typically credited with "inventing" the modern day riding lawn mower. The crudeness or simplicity of the design is because it was evolved from machines built by hand in a garage in South Bend. They didn't come from the engineering department of an agriculture dealer. They were designed to be owned and serviced by common homeowners, with common tools. I'd encourage anyone new to Wheel Horse and with a true love of garden tractors to read Straight From the Horse's Mouth, The Wheel Horse Story. http://wheelhorsestory.com/ It's a bit pricey for a book, but it is privately published. (no personal benefit to me in this plug....) The author is also a member here, who became friends with Cecil Pond, and was given access to be able to document the history of the company. It's truly a unique book. You'll always generate an argument here whether or not Toro killed Wheel Horse, and the downfall of the name toward the end. No one "wins" this argument. It's just a nice fiery discussion every now and then.What it comes down to is that Toro didn't need to purchase Wheel Horse, they already had their own consumer level market products department, but they did, and continued to make the same tractor until the very end. (With other product line offshoots as well.) Not only that, they took over support of product lines going back 40 years prior to the acquisition.They kept the Whee Horse alive in a struggling market, long after the consumer interest focus had shifted to the efficiency and speed of zero turn mowers, and even though more and more parts are going NLA, they've kept up support for a product line they discontinued 10 years ago now. A good read on the acquisition of Wheel Horse is in a book by the former CEO of Toro during those days. He discusses the strategy behind the Wheel Horse acquisition and some of the intentions and reconsiderations during the transition. The book is called Making the Grass Greener on Your Side by Ken Melrose. https://www.amazon.com/Making-Grass-Greener-Your-Side/dp/1881052214 I hope you continue to post, and look forward to some of your other experiences. It's fun to see the reactions of the newcomer to the Wheel Horse world. You are correct, they are not at all like any other tractors. That's why we love them!

Congratulations on 53 years together ! I'm sure there where some these and moments . but you survived them all and your prevailed ! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY ED

Today's trend is to celebrate the patina. Just pick up some WD-40 and 4/0 Steel Wool and scrub away the rust and see how your son likes it. Looks like he has already staked a claim on it!

Way to go man! I remember my first job, I worked decking houses in the texas heat for 6 bucks an hour that was good money back then. I stayed friends with the owner , he taught me how to work with other people and how to have a good time and still get the job done...first jobs cab help shape the way you aproach work and helps you learn to deal with the stress of a job.

Thanks! Hopefully all goes well Wow, makes me feel lucky! Thanks! Can't wait to make some memories

I would heavily discount a non running hydro. If you can test a hydro ...get it hot put it up against in immovable object and see if it will spin its wheels.that's different. A worn out hydro can be expensive to fix.

Not just manuals... ask about any attachments that went with it that they may have forgotten about... belt guards, belts, springs, hitches and lift links. Many times these get separated and/or are stored away from the tractor.... out of sight, out of mind. Other than that... It's $300 for a 30-35 year old garden tractor. I'd check mostly for trans issues, welds or bolt-on patches, extra holes or DIY modifications. Parts for the years you're talking about are pretty readily had.

That's gotta be it ....that's how you stayed together for 53 ....she thinks your horse is sexy!!

Sorry to be late on the birthday wishes , hope you had a great day and did not need any pain medication this morning .

Shinny is nice ! But dirty is FUN !!

I'd clean it up as best I could, fix everything and use it as is.

9-8-1974 Evil Knievel attempts jump of Snake River Canyon Robert Craig "Evil" Knievel was an American stunt performer and entertainer. Over his career, he attempted more than 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps, and, in 1974, a canyon jump across Snake River Canyon (which failed) in the Skycycle X-2, a steam-powered rocket. During his career he suffered more than 433 bone fractures,[2] earning an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the survivor of "most bones broken in a lifetime".[3] Knievel was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999.[3] Knievel died of pulmonary disease in Clearwater, Florida in 2007, aged 69. ABC Sports was unwilling to pay the price Knievel wanted for the Snake River Canyon jump, so he hired boxing promoter Bob Arum's company, Top Rank Productions, to put the event on closed-circuit television and broadcast to movie theaters. Investors in the event took a substantial loss, including promoter Don E. Branker, as well as Vince McMahon of the World Wrestling Federation. Arum partnered with Invest West Sports, Shelly Saltman's company, to secure from Invest West Sports two things: first, the necessary financing for the jump, and second, the services of Saltman, long recognized as one of America's premier public relations and promotion men, to do publicity so that Knievel could concentrate on his jumps. Knievel hired subcontractor and aeronautical engineer Doug Malewicki to build him a rocket-powered cycle to jump across the Snake River, and called it the X-1 Skycycle. Malwecki's creation was powered by a steam engine built by former Aerojet engineer Robert Truax. On April 15, 1972, the X-1 was launched to test the feasibility of the launching ramp. The decision was then made to have Truax build the Skycycle X-2 and have it take off and fly more like a rocket than a motorcycle.

This was a 3 part mini-series on the Discovery channel that ended last night. I'm not sure how factual it is, but it's interesting. I dvr'd it and watch the first episode and on the second episiode. I wish they would do one on John Deere and the Ponds. Both, to me, would be interesting, but I don't know how well the average viewer would like it. Harley Davidson has such a great following, that made sense, and probably John Deere would gather interest from the general public, but Wheel Horse and the Ponds may not. Go figure.

My first real job was mowing the weeds along township roads. No we didn't use a Wheel Horse, I used a mowing scythe. The pay was $0.60/ hour and all the berries you could eat. That was a few years back....I think I was 13 then. It sounds like you have a great attitude and I am confident you will be a success in everything you do. Just remember, the wages you earn will be spent and gone, but the experience you gain from every job will be with you forever. Best of luck with the new job.

"The guy I got it from says it runs"...I'd look somewhere else. Just my opinion

Watched all 3 nights and I did enjoy. My only thought last was they over loaded last night with commercials, guess that's what happens when your light on airing them first couple of nights.

Velocity if part of the Discovery channel chain, and is in High Def. I like to watch it as they have great car shows, like Wheeler Dealers, Chasing Classic Cars, etc.

HOLY SMOKES... FIFTY THREE YEARS!

Holy smokes you looked pretty good back then Ed ..what happened?? Gotta love the head wear on the ladies back then too..my how times have changed! Happy anniversary!

This has been discussed before but with you being a newbie to this forum and Wheel Horses I'll summarize again. I lived just 15 miles outside of South Bend for 45 years and when Toro bought them as well as when they moved the plant out. Being a major employer in the area it created quite a fuss. Toro tried to calm folks by saying they wouldn't change the name or move the plant. Their intent was mainly for marketing purposes. Let's face it, Wheel Horse was pretty bad at marketing and we continue to see the results. I have to give them credit. They did try. The decision to move the plant didn't sit well with folks but the bottom line is that it was a business decision that they had to make. When the decided to stop production in 2007 again, it was business decision they had to make. We live in a throw away society today and people are willing to pay for the junk that's sold at the big box stores because of the price point and then replace it a few years later. Why spend $5k when they could spend a third of that? Quality just doesn't seem to matter anymore. They also didn't have the financial support that the farming line offered John Deere. What they did do was keep the design as it was and maintained interchangeability of attachments and many parts over the decades. Many parts are still available new and what isn't can be found with just a little leg work. I have been on Wheel horses since 1960 and to this day I have a passion for them. Their design is second to none and has been so since I first sat my butt on one at the age of 5. They are as durable and anything made and when they do need repairs it is simple and yes, the parts are out there if you just look. Without seeing it I can't pinpoint what is causing your sloppy steering but I can assure you it's a simple fix if you know what to do. Take the time to look around here and you'll get all the information you'll ever need. The steering on my 1960 and 1968 are probably tighter than they were when they rolled out of South bend. My cost? Minimal because i knew how to fix the original parts. I hate to say it but at this point I think it needs to be said. You come on here basically slamming Wheel Horses. Dozens of members here rush to help out in any way they can but that approach understandably make us reluctant. Maybe you didn't intend to come across as you did or maybe it just hit me wrong but that's the way it sounded to me. Yes, these tractors are different. But to us here we wouldn't want it any other way. That difference is what make Wheel horses the fine machines that they are. With that said, good luck on your C-160 and keep us posted.

AUGH! I knew those bolts in the left rear hub were a bad sign... Idiot numbskulls cant take halfway decent care of anything to save their life! I had a pit in my stomach when I pulled the wheel off because I could actually wobble the hub front/back and up/down, i think the axle wallowed out the hub. I will be looking at the repair threads soon. I REALLY did not want to drop the transmission from the tractor, and still don't if I can avoid it. At least the bearings have little to no play in them, so I think I am good there. Those of you who did axle weld repairs, could you do them in place on the tractor then replace the seals? I may have to get a good welder over, I don't think my little Hobart 140 will handle this do you? At least the other one looks OK. Its not great either, but it should be workable with some polishing and a new seal. Maybe I should have it welded same as the other just to be sure?

If a 16 Auto...no-name year (1973), the push / tow valve is on the left side.... It looks like a BIG SLOTTED screw.

Buy it and tell her it's always been in the garage. Play confused and ask her if she's feeling ok. Lol

Besides, the 1257 is 1 year newer and twice the HP...in case it turns into an argument!!!

In 1967 none of the six speed models had numbers on the body, they just had "six speed" on the hood. The ID tag on the dash how ever had the model number on it. T 867 is the model number on my ID tag. This forum is great! We all get a chance to learn from each other.