Leaderboard

Long long ago back in the 60's I remembered selling a few sickle bars when we had a dealership. I can remember customers coming back in saying of all the attachments, excluding the mower decks, that the Sickle Bars really worked well. Now quite a few years ago I acquired some property that had a use for a small sickle bar. After trying to find one around here in Indiana, I finally located one in West Virginia. It appeared in decent shape and was attached to a Commando 8. Well after convincing the Mrs. I really was not nuts I set out on my road trip. That thing was up in hollars that the could have filmed the movie Deliverence in. Some of the most beautiful country is there. Anyway, I got the thing loaded and hauled back to the state of its birth. As you all know how the best of intentions to redo, fix projects have a way of getting pushed back until they are almost forgotten. This is what happened to this Sickle bar. I took it off the tractor and sold the tractor. Now that bar just lay there in wait. Finally I got tired of tripping over it and getting hurt (yes they can hurt you and not even be mounted) I decided to sell it. After the add was answered arrangements were made for one of are Red Square members to come pick it up. Well I had to call the buyer and tell him not to come because the Sicke Bar had been stolen along with other forms of steel and metal by scrapping thieves. Fortunately the Sickle Bar was recovered. Once again I made arrangements for the buyer to make his trip to pick it up. Now this member did a restore on this bar that can not be believed. He did not cut any corners and paid attention to ever detail no matter how big or small. We all know this member does not do anything half way. It's all or nothing with this guy. When I was messaging with this member about downsizing, he mention he was doing the same thing and offered the sickle bar back to me. After some thought and seeing these pictures he sent me I just could not resist. So off to the west this time to meet up dclark to pickup the same sickle bar. This has got to be the most traveled Sickle Bar in history. Here is some pics of it on Dennys 857 that I believe he had since sold.

Saw this pop up on C/L today... of course, I called within the first couple hours it was listed. Told the seller I had cash in hand, and was immediately getting on the road... only to have him call me back... within 5 minutes, mind you...to say it was no longer available. Oh well, at least he had the decency to save me the wasted trip.

Craig no hard feelings the guy started a bidding war in the phone I flew up there walked out of work hope to have a job tommorow .....

I found a few more old photos

Here they are with the embossing painted I used Forney brand "china" markers,Jeff.

What might be more interesting is the history behind it....the who, what, when, where & how!?!?

Looking at several Wheel Horse Tractors Found a Late 80's fully restored (new powder Coat Paint and decals) 2 stage snow blower, plow blade, mower deck, chains, wheel weights, hitch weights, extra chute for blower, extra belt, LED lights and a Wheel House Vinyl Cab with an LED light bar. Owner states work done three years ago and 20Hp Onan Motor has only 550 hours. What would be the Top Price you guys would pay for this? I think his price is a bit high but then again, everything is good to go and it is really sweet looking. Are the 1990 forward models any better? This thing is in Show Condition!! Thanks For your input Kevin

Happy Groundhog day tomorrow, Picked up a junk Craftsman with a Kohler Command 14.5 that is full of water / ice... gonna thaw it out and pull head and see if it can be saved. One of stipulations of getting junk tractor was that I had to take all the junk. This beauty was in pile... so how much oil do you think this thing leaked all over itself and can you believe it even ran! It, along with some other junk is headed to iron pile. Notice it even has cistom different size wheels on all 4 corners!

I thinking snowblower mounting holes.

Resale value is one of the questions I dislike the most. Here's what I will tell you: Buy it and run it for a month, after that you wont care one little bit about resale value. (And that's why many people on here have garages and barns full of these creatures. I have limited space and half an acre and I currently have 5 plus a bunch of attachments.) Longer winded answer: resale value is impossible to judge. There is no blue book on this stuff. If there are a ton of them out there, the value will be low, if there are only a few the value will be high. As long as the restore was done well, it wont hurt the value. More often then not "refurbs" were done poorly and those start to show problems much faster than a well done one. Buy it, use it, love it. If you are OK with the price then its a good value. Oh and by the way, you will love it here the people are awesome.

Thank you kindly hermitman. I did just fine and actually got up to take another pain pill. I had a headache from not having coffee since yesterday so i got up , made some coffee and oatmeal and am finishing up while visiting Redsquare. Going to leave my wife a thank you note for her to see in the morning and go back to bed. Goodnight and thanks again for asking.

Thanks for all the prayers and support as it worked. Got out of surgery just fine and am looking to recover now. I should have a lot of keyboard time in the next few days. Im turning in as i just got home and am tired from anesthesia.

Looks very much like mine when I bought it. Glade to see this one saved and hopefully it will find it's way to the big show in PA this year. At some point there was a snow plow on it. The lift chain is still there and it has the tire chains.

For what's included... I think it's a great price. Wheelhouse 520H hydro tractor. They don't make em like this anymore. Machine was meticulously owned by my cousin who just moved and upgraded to a bigger machine. It was torn down and gone through 3 years ago, painted and powder coated. New factory stickers installed, lights switched to LEDs. Runs 100%. Cleanest one around. 21hp Onan engine. Only 519 hours on the machine. Comes with: -44" snow thrower attachment: throws snow about 50 feet -Plow blade -Mowing deck -Wheel weights -Rear end weights -Tire chains Wheel horse vinyl cab with LED light bar - not made for this machine but can be made to fit (see pics). Cab not currently installed. -Extra belt -Extra snow thrower neck -chrome wheelhorse hubcaps. Is this a tractor or a show car? You decided. -20volt dewalt drill and battery, attached to thrower to quickly angle thrower neck instead of having to turn a manual crank -New factory sticker kit, installed -All lights switched to LEDs $2500 cash. Snow thrower is attached and ready to go. Bring your trailer. Good luck & may the gods be with you.

Someone beat Craig to a tractor ...I didn't think that was possible ! sorry for your bad luck ...let's just hope it was one of us guys so we can get it on the registry if it's a new find .

@WHX9, no pics really of the cutting off and replacing of the auger sprocket but just of it torn apart and some after, @bmsgaffer sorry if I'm stepping on your post but at least you know it can be repaired and I don't believe the "balance" will hurt or noticable I haven't and if memory serves me right I might have been 1+/- tooth on the new sprocket but it worked as good as the day I put to use 15 years ago now I have it 1 of the 520s I bought last year and the 2stage on my anniversary and a blade on the other, and as far as I'm concerned the tall chute single throws nearly as far as the 2stage it just clogs up on slush and DOT plow banks where the deuce didn't last year, Jeff.

We're there for you Maybe he had dibs?!?!?

3 years a go I refurbished my tall chute single for my 520H after 15 plus years of dirt/gravel driveways the auger sprocket was shot but if you take good measurements and carefully cut the old sprocket welds off a new one was/can be procured from TSC just needs bored to the correct I.D. I did it myself (but a local machinist could do it for you) then weld back to the auger (doesn't matter if it is a tooth off from factory it isn't timed like the 2stage) and it worked just fine that winter before I snagged my 2stage I refurbed, I wasn't paying $900 for the auger for a thrower I paid $400 for 15 years earlier, just my experience ,Jeff.

At one point I wanted to add a GT 1848 Work Horse to my collection but never found one good enough and I have since given up. I have too many. Here is my LT 1100 Work Horse in nice condition that I paid $100 for. It is a 5 speed and is on my dispose of list after I clean the carburetor. The first thing I did was remove the perfect logo seat and replaced it with a similar one without the logo. It is a good lawn mower but that is about it.

Just watched it tonight....it was a 310-8. I wonder if we would still think they were rough on the tractor when they pulled it out if it was a JD or a Cub or a Craftsman. So among the cars he bought on the property where the WH was, was a King Midget (similar to the blue car) with a itty bitty 6hp Kohler for a power plant...if he was a true hot-rodder he could have stuffed that Magnum 10 from the WH right where the little 6 was, just saying! 😎 Mike.....

hope this helps.the bracket is 5/8 diameter and it measures right at 10 inches inside to inside at the top, kind of hard to tell from the picture.

I got a set of severely weathered/rusted wheel covers with the 520H I bought last spring and decided to give my local powder coater a shot with his "stainless/chrome" look powder just got them back this evening what do you guys think? vs the actual original chrome (last picture of a set I polished up back in the summer)? I believe I'm going to paint the embossments like the old style before they go back in use,Jeff.

so today i had a little free time to check out those rims and tires off the industrial paint machines. both these are a match set and close to the original wheel horse rims. i drilled and tapped rims for grease zerks. after i get new tubes the original front tires to 701 are going on these rims. rims have ball bearing bushings in them i had to put a couple washers on each side but not bad. in spring the rims are getting repainted. the one tire and rim have paint drips on it but for time being its ok. i also noticed someone drilled a hole through spindles for cotter keys. i think they had issues keeping front tires on. spindle wear isnt bad a little wear not alot. my dads 502 had issues keeping tire on the front snap rings kept popping off. ended up replacing whole front axle couple years ago because it was wore out. this ones not bad on this 701..

Compared to the snowblower, the plow isn't even there, (about pulled the lift lever off the tractor a couple of times because I'm so used to the snowblower,lol). I will add a hydro to the stable someday...Just have to wait till I can play the ol' "I'm getting too old to lift that thing honey" card. I'll be 52 Friday, but I build houses for a living, so SIWMBO wont buy it yet. Oh well, I'll give it a shot when I'm 62, might work then.... P.S. SIWMBO stands for "she indoors who must be obeyed" in case you're wondering.

I had a 417-8 with over 2000 hours and was still running strong and smooth. I installed a forward swept front end with gear reduction from a 520 and that was one of my favorite tractors to drive period.

I'm probably sticking my neck out on this. I think you guys are pushing up the market! Certainly no more than $3K for the whole thing. It is three years since the restore and it has been used since. The labor is a wash on a restore.

Wow! it great to see these "undiscovered" old horse still lurking out there. Kind of gives one a little glimmer of hope to be the one to discover one someday Congratulations @whtractors24 another one saved

Imagine... right when he called me back... I was in the middle of telling my boss, all the reasons I thought... it was too good to be true.

The front two are for a snowblower or a .50 cal

If anything I'm thinking the upper end price may be conservative. Is the restoration on the tractor only or did the fella recondistion the implements as well. Until you do a full resto one can't really appreciate the cash outlay it consumes. I doubt I'll ever sell mine for what I have in parts. Not to mention labor and travel etc. That tractor is awesome looking. The ability to to retain value diminishes in my opinion due to time, hours and condition. One thing to note is if the fella did his own restoration he knows full well the value. Irregardless of whether any of us differ in opinion. In the end some of us value the work and time such that we end up keeping it rather than subsidizing the next owner.

It is rather nice isn't it Thanks Chris It is indeed Mark.. With the RJ's engine having a good spark the time had come to look at the carb.. An interesting find behind the carb... Me thinks that gasket might be a bit small! Everything moved freely in the carb, so with a new gasket made (your see it in an up and coming video) the carb was bolted back on and a temporary fuel tank lashed up. A few pulls of the cord (steel cable in this case!) and the engine coughed into life and ran for a few seconds before stopping, which was just as well as the carb was leaking fuel from around the float bowl in vast amounts! Off with the carb again, ahhh there's the problem! As luck would have it Nigel had a spare carb which I could borrow to check out how the engine runs.. Thanks mate A few pulls of the cord later and the engine didn't start... One "big" pull later the pull cord came off in my hand but the engine did start, run and sounded very nice until it ran out of petrol and I gave myself a shock from the HT lead! All of which you will see in a video of course I thought I had snapped the steel cable pull cord thingy (I hadn't seen on either) until a saw how long it still was and checked the (not so) snapped end! As it turned out the nut that holds the end of the cable on was loose and the steel cable had simply pulled out! Phew While we have the pull start assembly apart let's turn it over and have a look..... What the??? Pull the cord and the center changes into a hexagonal shape! Which grips on a hexagonal shaft on the flywheel! I've never seen a pull start that works like that before... Me likes Then this happened More of an RJ update for you chaps, let's have a look at the hood/bonnet shall we.. The top had these rather worrying filler bubbles. which when prodded with a screwdriver looked more like this! Interesting, a repainted gas tank with no fuel tap (Neil did mention it leaked ) and lot's of paint cleaned off the bottom! What's going on under (or is that above?) the tank? Soooooo... Someone has ground back the filler smoothing out the underside of the hood/bonnet to weld on new fuel tank straps! I'd guess when the hood was painted no tank straps were fitted.. It so happen that the strap welds are in the same place as the filler cracks above! Who ever did it thought something sucked as that's what it looks like has been written! No idea why when I upload this photo it turns it sideways! Oh, and the top of the tank never got painted! Out with the grinder and a workshop full of filler dust later it was good to see the rust was surface rust only, and only where the filler had cracked... And a random pop rivet! As the bonnet/hood has quite a lot of ripples under the filler, there was no point in taking it all out only to replace it.. So with the surface rust carefully cleaned back to bare metal the first layer of filler went back in.. Easy sand no pin holes filler eh! At least the easy sand bit was right.. No worries, a second skim will sort it. Meanwhile I catch Nigel dancing with some masking tape and a bench full of RJ parts! Some parts like the gear (I'm not sure it should be called that!) lever had never be repainted, so here it is with all the thick surface rust cleaned off awaiting some red oxide primer. Some parts in the "need to to have the paint flattened back to give the primer a good key" Que Some primed parts hanging about the place. The hood now looks good with a fresh coat of red oxide primer, I'm happy with the overall shape of my filler work, there's a just a couple of little spots that are annoying me.. I will sort them tomorrow.

Well, it has taken me awhile to get this posted - old age, illness in family etc. . Don't really have a good progression of pix, but I know that any pix are welcome ( I too, like to look at the various pix )...My son did the heavy liftiing on this swap, and it went really well..I used some of the tips that I had read about here on RS, and appreciated them all.. I just have one or two to add: the steel hydraulic line on the pump needed a little more room so we cut out a little sheet metal where it contacted it.....per bmsgaffer instructions I left the filter loose while filling with oil - it never did run out on the floor and it filled up nicely..no comparison to the eaton 700 - it will now pick the front wheels off the ground at about 3/4 throttle...so, so strong...again, many thanks to richmondred01 ( I bought the unit from and he went the extra mile to get it to me ) and the others who chimed in...if anyone is interested, I made a seat prop out of simple 1/4 in steel rod that works really well..I really like this 516 -- now I need one of Matt's hydro pedal kits and it will be the berries..really good bunch of guys here on the Red Square..keep up the good work...

I am interested in seeing how many RS veterans this 7 year old thread brings out of the woodwork...

At the risk of staying off topic, I really don't like it when they slammed the cars (especially trucks) down to the ground. I like to see the vehicles, especially the trucks, keep the stock suspension height. I don't mind it too much when they lift them a small bit on the 4 wheel drive models, but to me, I just don't like to see trucks lowered the way these shows seem to want them. Just my opinion, of course, but I just don't like to see it. Garage Squad is another show I watch from time to time.

Pushing snow with a is fun. It's my favorite winter activity. If we'd only get some snow to push now. (KC MO area)

I've got 2 sets of orders 953 ! One from the doctors and one from my wife!

Sad part is I did it not once but twice. Walked by it to get a wrench and hit the right arm just above the elbow. Finally got that to quit hurting, grabbed the wrench and as I walked by I caught the left arm in the same spot on the same bar. I won't repeat what I said but you can imagine it wasn't very nice

Sound like we need to equip you for the task just like OSHA did the cowboy!

Even in Scandinavia, wifes in general allow themselves to have twenty purses and 40 pair of shoes, and still thinks two tractors is at least one too much...

Get the biggest compressor you can afford and your electric service can handle. I too had a 6 HP single stage and a TP cabinet. Compressor ran a lot. I used synthetic compressor oil in it which helped but finally I gave up on blasting as it took so darn long. A lot of old timers use 4 cly. industrial engines for compressing air. 2 cylinders burn gas and 2 just pump air. The guy I take my stuff to uses one to blast the big stuff outside.

Slim67,,, have been wondering how you got along today! Sounds like all went well.. GOD BLESS and sleep well from down here in Mansfield O. All you or yours need to call if you need anything, we're only a short drive away. Night.. Pops the Hermitman

I got some time to tear apart the wobble box, sorry I didn't take picks of the mess. Oil was like grease, there were more brass shavings and pieces than I could have imagined, one of them was completely gone. Thanks to @dclarke for the notes on where to get all the parts and @Lane Ranger for the shoe and the tips of the sickle. It is starting to take some shape. I worked on the wobble box tonight, had to remake the pin that holds the yoke to the weldment shaft. After I damaged one of the bushings I took a look in my parts drawers and found a few NOS bushings for a sickle mower I was able to replace the one that I damaged.

Can never have to many pictures Jerry! Very nice swap and you now have a "real" tractor in my eyes, ready for all chores. Mike.....

I just finished my D160 and I'm looking for another D. Any leads would be helpful. Thanks.

Go to a Cub Cadet or John Deere dealer and price a comparable tractor with all that new. Whatever you pay for this WH you are looking at will seem like a great bargain! 2 more cents. Original condition is worth FAR more than reconditioned. Didn't say better, just worth far more. After what Craig wrote : GO BUY IT! RUN!

Hey 953nut, those links were very,very helpful. Thanks very much for posting those👌

Right. It's a one of a kind no matter what model it is.

I have too many grandkids running around.... I don't need any horse's chasing them!! working on a second for my first Suburban tonite... welll that' got a good start. Have to go to school with her in morning and explain to class why I'm an immigrant........after 4 generations.. This should be good! Hermitman out;;

Well, I'm getting closer to having this back together. I've got the rear tires on and now have the correct battery hold down installed and a set of LED tail lights. I've still got to paint a cover plate for the dash tower, put the rest of the decals on and get a steering wheel insert from Glen. I found out the alternator wasn't charging and a new rectifier regulator fixed that. Next week I need to take it outside and warm the engine up good so I can torque the head bolts again and I'll need to fine tune the foot pedal linkage....... I painted the rims Argent Silver from Eastwood's. Do you guys spray a clear coat over that and if you do what do you use?