Leaderboard

Hi all, I'm new here. See pictures of a 1977 B-100 Wheel Horse that I grew up with. My dad bought this brand new when we moved to a farm in 1975. It has been through 3 of us sons, mowed a hell of alot of grass and I even made a snow blade/pusher out of 2 pieces of 5" channel welded on top of each other that bolted to the back of the hitch of this fine machine along with a set of snow chains. Did a great job. The old Kohler engines are monster tough. This is is going to be my winter restore project. Still runs great. I have been bitten by the wheel horse bug. I am having a tough time finding the rear tires though. 22 x 7.50-12. Any alternatives?

Now ive built the tractor and tested it and happy with the way it works i'm going to pull it down and repaint it. here's some photos of the progress. And a few more.

I got a little seat time this morning - 4 inches of wet snow, about half of that on driveway. Wow that light bar is bright!

Couldn't get the video to play, but enjoyed the Little Tractor Co; wonder if they built any of these?

Here's some more

I know I know....problem is I didn't want to get too involved with this single as I have got the two stage waiten in the wings... then it's gonna be power everything....by the way no pic...thank God... but after the Packers game I did make a clean up round in my skivies....wife threw up her hands and went to bed!!! Man these cabs are comfy....minus the zippers of course!

It seems to take forever cleaning parts but the wheels I had shot blasted. there's a few new parts I had to make along the way like dash stand and track rods. the hood was the most work as it was 2 welded together and took some bashing and a skim of bondo to get it looking good, lucky my son works in a car paintshop and gave me a lot of help

@muz123, I'm right there with you man, my '97 (which happens to be an anniversary model) with 2stage and cab, and then the 2 '95s 1 with a single stage and 1 with a plow, now I noticed the CUB CADET weights on your single stage rig if you want to use your rear wheel covers and keep the weights just put them on the inside like I did,Jeff.

looks like you are ready for this:

My Lawn Ranger is! Anyone else?

So, today two more horses followed me home. These critters sure are friendly! Somebody should have warned me that they breed like rabbits! Anyways, the first is a B80 with the 8 speed and a 16hp Kohler. The metal is straight and it runs strong. It does need a governor adjustment and the voltage rectifier needs to be hooked up. The tires look ok, but they are very hard and are starting to crack. The second is a Charger 10 with hydro trans, an 8hp Kohler that smokes a little, and duallies. This tractor needs a new voltage rectifier, one new rear tire, and an engine rebuild or new engine. These tractors came as a package deal with a bunch of parts, including a couple mule drives, a 30-some inch universal snow plow, and a 38" triple blade rear discharge deck. $400 took it all home. How do you think I did?

Here is my snow team! Got my 97 520 to the left. My 93 520 in the middle and to the right is my back up 92 520. Just need chains on my dual stage and I'm all set! Just need snow now!

I also made heat for the cab that blows in off of the engine and muffler. It keeps you toasty too.

Hey Glenn, I finally got to try out my new LED light bar. Is this bright enough?

I was out at 6am clearing the 5" we got with my 314-8 and Nos tall chute blower. Sorry the picture quality sucks. I was in the cab and It was raining

So this new to me cab reared up and bit me a little......the zipper on the left side that you have to reach thru to turn the chute did a little abrasive work on my arm. Lesson learned button down yer sleeve or wear gauntlet style gloves! Have had worst injuries via the rolling pin but still could have been avoided. Was so nice & cozy in ther no jacket! Plan to extend it into the cab but a 2 stage is in the future. Excuse me right side...

Here come the red bits

Or remove the plug completely and patch. Patches will hold for the lifetime of the tire if applied properly.

Need to get going on that 2 -stg tho--- I wanna be able to launch it into the neighbor's drive like Dan!!

A piece of 5/16"-3/8" rubber hose clamped to either end makes a great flex coupler,Jeff.

Just thinking maybe you could adapt something like this to let your adjustment rod move up and down

The 420-LSE has magneto ignition which is self powered so the ignition switch must be grounded to the chassis to shut the engine off. If the 414-8 switch is a 1986 model it is the wrong switch because it used battery ignition in a K-Series engine. 1987-88 and 89 414-8's used the M14 with magneto ignition so this switch should work. Garry

Thanks Gracie's Dad. 25 bucks??? That's a deal! I'm sure one will come up. Like I said it's not a need at this point. I've got a toro 926hd that eats snow like it's nothing but man is there a lot less work involved when your sitting on a tractor. On top of that I'm surrounded by widows and elderly people that I can't in good conscious let do thier own driveways so for every snow I've got at least 5 driveways that I do on top of my own which is about a 1/16 of a mile in total......sigh....one day I tell ya ....one day!

Wow this Zit I have on my forehead really needs to get burst

John--that is some interesting thoughts with the Kubota travtor and how they handle the airflow problem. At this point, I need to find the right cab first, then I can worry about heating it. Right now, I'd be happy to just keep the blowing snow off of me while clearing the drive. If I had a sealed, heated cab with a radio, I'd end up spending a couple of hours in it every time I had to move snow. Jim--that H looks right at home moving snow and you seem to be pretty cozy in that cab too

You can upsize to a 23x8.50x12 rear tire with no clearance issues. Mike.....

Ed I like that mechanical chute deflector control thanks for the tip and inspiration ,less $ and aggravation than the electronic styles in my opinion, and the solid stone deflector really helps with getting that snow up the chute as I've done that myself on my single then put it over on my 2stage and my here's my crank extension it too was on the single now on the 2stage ,Jeff.

Hey Jim, Extend that chute crank back into that nice warm cab and you can keep your zipper closed. May as well install a chute deflector inside the cab while you are at it.

This was my doo today. Giving he a fresh top end rebuild

Not me Jeff.....I use real butter. It also works well on the boat trailer bunks.

Quite a good looking team. Maybe add a cab on the big 2 stage chucker.

My reupholstered Wheel Horse backrest my sister did for me!

Here are two very interesting sites I came across recently: (1) "20 Custom Tractors" by Don Campbell (YouTube Video below, 10 min) He modifies JD's, has lots of nice custom tractors, wished we could see inside his shop. (2) www.TheLittleTractorCo.com Kurt Smith custom builds 1/2 size Garden Tractors, site shows a lot of detailed custom steps making these.

I got mine from familyfarm and home it's like tractor supply for less then $3.00 each. The only thing I don't like about them is the bearing is sealed and not open like the original bearings. But they do work. I would look on flee Bay if you want original bearings . Others may have info also on where to buy. Welcome to the best wheel horse site you'll ever find. Nice to see another Michigan member

It's a wonder it ran at all.

i would say you got your moneys worth out of them!

Hood turned out sooooooooo nice.

I remember this video really making it around from that same guy the last two winters. I didn't realize he'd done so many others! Maybe we can get Bob @whlpny to get something comparable up in red?!?!

Looks like someone was in Wild Rose.....I was thinkin the duals might be worth the look but Yes glad to see a member here get them!

Hello all, a while back I worked for Sears Store number 5954 (it went out of business this past April). I was in charge of the rental department and spent all of my "floor hours" in the lawn and garden section... This was a P/T job I really enjoyed and eventually had to give up when my regular job took me from 2nd shift to first. Anyways---back in 2003 a series of Garden Tractors was made by AYP for Sears and was named the GT 5000. These units where Gray in color, had a Briggs V-Twin and the real honest to god super heavy duty Hi/Lo Eight speed. They came with a 50" deck.... retail was ~$1900. They didn't sell well at all and they where discontinued / discounted in 2004. Reasons they didn't sell---1) the Briggs V Twin didn't get any respect---even though the Kohlers of the time had more than there fair share of issues with piston rings and failures (I was swapping the short blocks out under warranty left and right...) the Kohlers would go about 40 hours and start gulping oil / outright blow up. 2) the 50" deck wouldn't support a bagger system and it wasn't available. 3) The eight speed.... everybody had already developed "Hydro Fever". When discounted they where down to ~$1500 and after my discounts as an employee I could've bought one of the last ones for ~$1250 plus tax---but couldn't pull it off... Mike (Sparky) knew I had regretted not getting one as I am a devoted Sears guy and Briggs guy and loved the REAL 8 speed trans-axle... not these supposedly heavy duty shuttle shift peerless jobs . So every now and again he would see one for sale and tell me but it was always too much $$$ and too far away... UNTIL this past Thursday.... he found one 45 mins away and for $500. I had just spent nearly $4000 on "stuff" to fix my son's Dodge for Christmas, Get my Art Student daughter a Mac Book pro and so on... so I REALLY didn't want to spend the $500. But he convinced me and we went and looked... guy wouldn't back down $1... I bought it anyways as I had to have it. Its not perfect but its as clean as it gets and I will get it washed, waxed and serviced, BTW---the Wheel Horse 8 Speed and the Sears 8 speed both died the same year.... rumor has it that a gentleman that was cutting the gears and parts for BOTH transmissions died and nobody picked up where he left off and that's why the Sears real 8 speed tractors along with the Wheel Horses went out of production... seems he had a small machine shop and had been cutting the gears / parts for along time. Yah I'm a Wheel Horse guy and you all know it.... but this is a really cool Craftsman and truly the last of the gutsy MAN"s Craftsmans... Thanks Mike !!!! Tony

I spent 5hrs or so out with the 312. 5 driveways later and it was time for bed. Lucky for me I have one neighbor that's not elderly and has acces to my horse. He will be out on it shortly ...I guaranty !

Hardtop, welcome...as far as snowblower goes be patient, like bestdogever said, they come up for sale all the time. I got mine in Flushing at a garage sale for $25

First off if no one else has said so...To the best of my knowledge there was an aftermarket one (Berco/Bervac?) years ago but no longer in production, the 2stage is nice and can be run on your 314 as the one I bought last year the P.O. had used it on a 314 then a 315, and IMHO you would be just fine with a tall chute single stage as I have used mine from 2000 till last year on my 520 it will throw snow nearly as far as the 2stage ;easier to lift and steer; cheaper to repair, and easier to run with single cylinder Kohler, good luck on your endeavors,Jeff. Pic#1 tall chute single, #2 the 2stage you're familiar with (both on my 520H) and the Berco/Bervac? style on another member's rig.

Around the 6" mark here. I'm a lil envious seeing all the tractors with blowers & plows. My walk behind Ariens does a great job though. I can easily move my snow into the neighbors drive way.

Glad to see you bought it neighbor....I can stop searching now! I have a very similar machine and just this summer I lost a deck spindle. Bought the new part for around $50 and swapped it out in about 30 minutes.....not bad for a 16 year old Craftsman. Mike......

What a lineup! You are ready.

My Dad bought a Raider 12 new and it had them. Here's what they looked like.

Try this stuff from HD or Lowe's I use it on my throwers/blowers,Jeff.

Nice looking bunch of 520's, I love the 520's.

, many of years and tires . Both ag type and auto . Not to say other ways won't work , just speaking from personal experiences . I would never use a plug (quick fix) , I could have the tire off , inside buffed ,cleaned ,glued (witch usually took the longest to flash) patch applied and tire back mounted in less than twenty minutes. This was done all by hand and a real old manual tire machine . Sometimes it took longer to find the leak than it did to fix . I just wouldn't chance it and have to go through the whole process again.