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Today was student day for our county fair, the 953 and other farm equipment were a big hit.

Beggars can't be choosers.... lol I asked a friend at work if he had a dump cart I could borrow? Man !! it was almost the right color. But had a different name on it..... Do you think my friend would notice if I returned the cart with a slight "improvement"??

Only 200 produced in 1986. 420LSE. List price was $7995.00. about $18,000.00 in today's dollars. I wonder how many are left.

9-16-1908 William Durant creates General Motors On September 16, 1908, Buick Motor Company head William Crapo Durant spends $2,000 to incorporate General Motors in New Jersey. Durant, a high-school dropout, had made his fortune building horse-drawn carriages, and in fact he hated cars–he thought they were noisy, smelly, and dangerous. Nevertheless, the giant company he built would dominate the American auto industry for decades. In the first years of the 20th century, however, that industry was a mess. There were about 45 different car companies in the United States, most of which sold only a handful of cars each year (and many of which had an unpleasant tendency to take customers’ down payments and then go out of business before delivering a completed automobile). Industrialist Benjamin Briscoe called this way of doing business “manufacturing gambling,” and he proposed a better idea. To build consumer confidence and drive the weakest car companies out of business, he wanted to consolidate the largest and most reliable manufacturers (Ford, REO, his own Maxwell-Briscoe, and Durant’s Buick) into one big company. This idea appealed to Durant (though not to Henry Ford or REO’s Ransom E. Olds), who had made his millions in the carriage business just that way: Instead of selling one kind of vehicle to one kind of customer, Durant’s company had sold carriages and carts of all kinds, from the utilitarian to the luxurious. But Briscoe wanted to merge all the companies completely into one, while Durant wanted to build a holding company that would leave its individual parts more or less alone. (“Durant is for states’ rights,” Briscoe said. “I am for a union.”) Durant got his way, and the new GM was the opposite of Ford: Instead of just making one car, like the Model T, it produced a wide variety of cars for a wide variety of buyers. In its first two years, GM cobbled together 30 companies, including 11 automakers like Oldsmobile, Cadillac, and Oakland (which later became Pontiac), some supplier firms, and even an electric company. Buying all these companies was too expensive for the fledgling GM, and in 1911 the corporation’s board forced the spendthrift Durant to quit. He started a new car company with the Chevrolet brothers and was able to buy enough GM stock to regain control of the corporation in 1916, but his profligate ways got the better of him and he was forced out again in 1920. During the Depression, Durant went bankrupt, and he spent his last years managing a bowling alley in Flint.

Looks better already!

Well I'm finally getting around to finishing the job of refreshing / partial restoration of the 60" deck I picked up from @stevebobefore the big show this year. Steve had done a lot of the heavy lifting on this. Sand blasted the deck, primed and put a quick coat of paint on it and had gathered addition spindle parts etc but I ended up stripping the underside and coating it with rust killer and reprinting underside. I am not sure when Steve started this but add 3-4 months of it sitting in my garage and the paint on the top side had been put through a lot of abuse sitting in storage, garages or sheds. So I finally have gotten to assembly. It was more tedious and difficult than I thought it would be. Like many things if I knew what a pain this was going to be I probably would have shied away from the project. Assembly was easy. Disassembly of 50 year old deck parts is as many of you know enough to break weaker individuals. I still have a few things left to wrap this up but it is easily within sight now. Need to get a new deck belt. Re-Install the Attachamatic hanger. Clean the anti seize from the pulleys new black paint possibly. Install the belt cover and it should be ready to test drive on Lazarus or Elijah. I had had hoped I would have a couple complete spindles when I was done for spares but I don't think it's going to work out that way. Steve had some older lightly used or nos blades but all had rusted as time took its toll but the set on the deck cleaned up nicely with sandblast and paint followed up by sharpening. Ill post a couple picks once it's completel assembled and installed under the GT14. Of course if for some reason it will not work as planned, I guess I'll be marketing a completely refreshed deck in classifieds:-( I really like the idea of all new bearings and fresh deck. Should be years before I have to do deep dive on these decks again. the last pic is the spindle spacer on bottom side which in my little experience is the most brittle and irksom part of the task of tearing this particular spindle down as the woodruff key rust welds the spacer to the spindle and it is cast so brittle. The threads on few of these spindles were shot as well.

I may be the lone wolf here but if you end up doing any significant work to 97 percent of the wheel horse models out there do not expect to come out ahead or even to break even. If you enjoy fixing things and like the satisfaction of saving a piece of history then resurrecting these beasts can be enjoyable. Its rs an economy of scale type operation. If you have enough space and resources to build a bone yard of sorts, I could see making the hobby reach a sustaining level of support. Short of of scrapping and selling in eBay, making money or breaking even is not impossible but is the exception rather than the rule.

Thanks for the compliments. 1) I have given up hope of painting at really high quality. I just don't have the patience nor the facilities to do it right. As such I have settled on what works best for me. I have found that even within rustoleum line up, many of the paints react poorly if I use the acid etch primer. So on the bottom after sanding to the metal I coated with Rust Killer from tractor supply. After curing I then coated with rustoleum acid etch primer. Perhaps overkill but I really don't like working on decks as much as tractors so overkill is warranted. I have found that the appliance paints by rustoleum put a really tough shiney coat over the acid etch primer and at least with the black and white I have not had a reaction. So black appliance enamel by Rustoleum. 2) for spindles and blades. Sand blast lightly on spindles to stop aluminum corrosion. Acid etch primer followed by Rustoleum metal finish. Had to be more aggressive with blasting the blades. 3) top - not sure what Steve used which ended up a base coat for Rustoleum Toro Red implement paint. ( I only find this at lowes ). 4) on these C195 Decks the center blade is smaller and has slightly different spacing depth wise as there is no octagonal spacer like on the two sides. At least it was that way on the previous C195 deck. i had a smaller Massey deck set up that way as well a few years ago although not as wide a deck. The cut from that Massey deck was awesome. 5) decks rear wheels were inordinately heavy. I can get replacement very similar from harbor freight but decided to try these "solid no flats" from Tractor Supply. I had to add bushings but I believe these are going to work great, are cheap enough to replace occasionally and are lighter by far than what was on the deck. I am trying to plan ahead for maintenance and handling and my age does not seem to be stopping so I am also assuming it's only going to get harder to handle this stuff. Not easier😎

1972 Raider 12/1966 1276

Hi all, The more I explore this site the more I appreciate Wheel Horse tractors. I am going to throw out a general question out there. It is clear that there are a lot of fans for every single different Wheel Horse tractor ever made and each person has their own individual reasons. My question is whether some Wheel Horse are considered more collectible than others for whatever reason such as age, rarity, looks, mechanics or sheer cool factor. Any thoughts?

I bought this C-101 from the original owner. It came with the original manual and two full color catalogues. The first is titled "Wheel Horse '78 Product Line Highlights" and the other is just "Wheel Horse '78." If it would be valuable for the community, I could scan them. The original owner garaged the machine for it's whole life and blew it off after every use. In 1992, it was rebuilt with a bored out cylinder, and for the last 10 years, he just used it as a snow plow. It came with two 42 inch side discharge decks, a snow plow, and a cart. Total price was $750. I am really happy with the purchase. I was looking for a riding mower, and my budget was around 1500. This is so much cooler, and it left room for repairs. Wheel Horse was the most interesting vintage tractor, and I discovered the brand when a CL flipper was bragging about his find. His CL post lead me to look into the brand and ultimately joined Red Square. Thank you to everyone who helped me find my wiring bug! I wonder if there should be a trouble shooting guide based upon all the info shared in that thread. I shared some nice Wheel Horse videos on Facebook, but the attachment size limit is too small for all but one video. . Tractor 2.mov Tractor_1.mov tractor_3.mov

It will probably come as no surprise that I feel the 953/1054 is the best. They, along with the GT-14, have the "big tractor look" and are quite comfortable to mount and ride.

Last of the round hoods The 854 seems to be popular

Steve, how about giving us a picture of the other stuff you got with this deal. Maybe it is worth the effort.

Truth be told and honest Steve I doubt it unless you have a lot of the stuff that's missing including the motor. This might be strictly a labor of love. Some of the guys here would love to have that 3 point tho!

@Johnny Canuck , As some have pointed out , there's many horses that are rare , be it production #'s or age . As these tractor age not being produced anymore as well as new parts availability drying up , more and more tractors are being parted out . That means all models are becoming less in numbers and collectible . It's all in what you like ! Go through the photo archive and find what you like best . Seeing that your on west coast (and Canada) any WHEEL HORSE is going to be rare .

A senior, RJ 25s, RJ 35s, RJ 58s and suburbans.

I also like those models, i.e. 953 and 1054. And I wouldn't mind having a D-series. And of course, a 753. The GT-14 are nice tractors, I agree on that also.

For me it's the C-195 , over the years I have had 7 of them, only have one left and I don't see it leaving till I do. Maybe not the rarest. but still not everyday you see one. I think they only made like 500 + of these.

I'm partial to the 1045, 1046, 520-8, 420-LSE, etc. Just about any rare, low production Wheel Horse models. I also have an 854 and C-101 that I would never part with. The term collectible is defined by the "Collector".

Your kids are adorable. When they first went outside, your daughter wasn't too thrilled I see with the surprise, but your son's reaction was priceless. And so was the fact that they wanted to drive the tractor, not just ride in the cart. Great videos. I give it two

I am now a member. The way you guys helped me was worth the supporting charge. A few new videos loaded too.

Yea I have a 12 Auto I just can't stay off of, Call it my Mule and she lives up to it. Kohler 16 Magnum, Size Matters!

An older topic with the same question... you'll see answers from older collectors who might not be around RS much anymore.

My . I think the most collectible depends on the person. I don't call mine a collection by I like the C series and the 300 and 400 series. But my favorite is my Dad's 1972 Commando 800. The Commando is roller and has been for a number of years . One of the things on my to do list.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DOUG !!! Enjoy your day...

Just having right tools for the job. Having ability to sand blast at home is very convenient. Paint covers a lot of defects. And shiney wet paint makes it look way better than in person.

These are 8 inch wheels. The come with a bit bigger ID bearing so I sleeved the bolt with bushing. I pulled the wheels apart as they had a weak powder coat finish and low quality bolts. I sand blasted the metal, etch primed and black appliance coated the metal pieces and re-assembled using grade 8 stuff from tractor supply. Buying their grade 8 by the pound is not cheap but pretty reasonable so I have a lot of it in garage from the tractor resto. They did come out looking good.

You said it! Totally agree!

You would have to find an engine and K twins originally used are hard to find and expensive to fix. The hydro system cannot be assessed until you get an engine or disassemble the hydro. It will be a big and I dare say expensive project. In addition to the three point the rear PTO will bring some money too bad the front pulley is missing.

What did you use and what kind of paint Aldon? Those wheels are the bomb ...pneumatic or never flats?? Also are my eyes playing tricks again or is that center blade smaller?? I could be wrong but I think you are did a bang up job on it. Almost looks too nice to dirty up with grass clippings!

Happy Birthday Doug.I hear Dollar General has a sale on ironing boards. 50 cents a piece or 2 for a dollar!

@CasualObserver I was referring to Roy's Collection , it looks like a museum . As far as the horses I just liked looking at all the photos on Roy's web site. I did not realize all the different models that were produced over years by Wheel Horse until I attended the The Big Show this year. I carried a camera with me , but I was so excited by tractors and great folks that I never thought about taking a picture.

Happy Happy Doug.....

I like the 854, just unusual enough to make it fun (only round hood w/ 8hp and thus had a 1" longer hood) but not too rare to make it expensive or really hard to find parts for. I have two! I think the 754 is one of the more rare (rumor has it around 300 units, but noone knows for sure). It was a short production run when Wheel Horse was having supply chain issues with the 8hp, so they threw on a 7hp but left the extended hood. And then like everyone else has mentioned, 520-8, 420LSE, RJ25, RJ35, Senior, C-195, etc, etc.

What are you referring to.... Roy Stewardson's collection in the last link? And which horses are you referring to? Just curious what might not be as widely known.

I started cleaning and etching most of the little parts and front axle and had time to paint yesterday. Here are some pics as it stands. I am well into it but have a ways to go though Im in no hurry. I will sandblast the hood,firewall,seat and probably rear wheels. Everything else gets the wire wheel which has always worked well for me. I know sandblasting is the way to go, but i have a 30 gallon compressor and it just wont keep up with the pot my Dad has ( an old TIP made in Canfield,Ohio). I dont know if I will take it somewhere, buy a smaller unit that will work with my compressor or what at this point.There is also a guy near me that dips parts in a caustic tank of acid or something. Anyways the wife wants something so talk to you all later and have a good day.

For supporting this great forum.

Some of you know that I have become a Tecky lover why ? Maybe because of the challenge to get them to run right. Last year I found a model that took me years to find And wouldn't you know I recently found one in N.H. that I am working on It is by Laconia. OOPS JUST LOOKED IT`S GONE. The Model is a 607. Just my But they are all the best and we can not live with out them.

Kids love tractors that are their size. Our county fair is going on this week and I have one of my 953 out there and encourage the little kids to get on it; parents seem surprised. We have several tractors and hit and miss engines on display, today is the school kid's day at the fair, they get a couple of bus loads each hour; good fun.

Here's an easy fix for your drag link issues. The ball joints can be found at a hardware store or http://www.wheelhorseman1000.com/ ,

Don't forget the 520-8. IT'S rare and hard to find with production at 225 units. But I found one, lol. Glenn

Jason , thanks for the link it had some great pictures and information. Does that place still exist ? I saw picture of horses that I never knew existed. Again thanks

How long do have the cart ? I can have ACcuz's wife make you up decales tomorrow , you'd get em probably Monday ! Tell your buddy it's a real cart now ...

Most collectors i know i have at least one suburban or RJ and lawn ranger.

nice cart wish I could let you use my loader

Great to see it running, also glad to see the safety gear on the children. Storage size is limited because of the cost to the web site; if you become a supporter the limitation goes away. It is very affordable and we really want to see more video!

I think you have a D-200 1978 there. Check out the photo gallery below on the main page. 1978-1984 If in fact it is...here is the manual.