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As usual, it was an awesome show! Tractors are what brought us there, but people are what make the experience Like I say every show, I hate to mention too many specific people because I don't want to miss anyone (except my neighbors ACMan & Squonk ). You will see their posts AC Man's niece (Kip's daughter). . . the cutest kid ever . . . fortunately, Mrs. Zeek had a puppy she liked so she hung out with us. AC I believe you know these suspects . . . Squonk, Howard and Craig Da pole . . . no women, just signs (family show) There are a lot of people that do a LOT of work to make this show happen. Some are not members of this forum just because they aren't into the "interweb" so much, but they are still good folks! This is me and Marshall Smith (WHCC) . . . my RVing BS buddy. . . .

Hey guys, I just picked up this C-161 Twin 8 speed this morning! My C-175 recently popped the engine (series I) and I wanted another horse to leave the mower deck on so I don't have to keep switching from the blade back to the deck on my 310-8. Plus I've really started to like the look of the black hoods and this one was in pretty decent shape compared to other horses I've seen for sale recently. I'm not a huge fan of the big light on the hood so I may remove it and have the hole patched. I already swapped the seat pan for the metal one that was on my C-175 because the plastic pan had a few cracks in it. This is my first Briggs powered wheel horse, and honestly I wasn't super excited about it because when I think wheel horse I think kohler engines and I really like the cast iron kohlers, but from the little that I've read about it it seems like a pretty solid engine. Hopefully better than the series I kt17. Anyway, the first pic is how I picked it up with the plastic pan and the next two are after I swapped the metal pan and seat from the C-175. What do you guys think?

I grew up on my Granddads 25 acre farm in the mountains of SW Pa. He had an AC B model crank start that had a reputation for breaking arms on the kick back. So we usually used the ponies for working the fields and pulling the loaded coal cars out of the three hand dug mines we were working. Many of the large farms used The JD and IHs, but on the really steep terrain, the Fords were preferred due to their low profile and wide front axles. Here is a vintage pic ( circa 1947) of Pappys team pulling a spring harrow. Yup, that's me on Bob, the wheel horse.

Born and raised in Granger, about 15 miles N/E of South Bend, I remember my dad man handling some monster mowing machine with a mostly exposed massive single blade out front. My mom was afraid of it. In 1960 he bought a Suburban 400 for mowing and snow duties. In 1964 he replaced it with a 704. In 1968 he bought a green thingy, I think a 112, and I was upset with him. I was already hooked on red.. He replaced that with a Raider 12 and it was red from then on. After I got married we lived in North Liberty, about 15 miles S/W of South Bend and I had a herd of horses that worked our 26 acres.

I picked up a set of turf tires at the big show this past weekend so I was able to swap out the 23x10.50-12 super lug ags off the 1057 and onto the 854. I really like the look of the wide ags on the 854. This one will be in a 4th of July parade this weekend in upstate NY at the in laws place.

I recently saw a post of a short frame with a HH100 and it motivated me to take some pics of my recent project. Its still a work in progress but after mowing twice with it it's a keeper

My Dad bought everything at Montgomery Wards for 30+ years (the 60's ,70's and 80's)...Tractors, tillers, mowers , chainsaws and most everything else.. he also had a Wheel Horse, believe it or not..

Dads was a twin to this except no duals and no seat cushion. Too small for any kind of attachments it was just a mower. It is a Springfield and it still sets in his basement with its Lawsen engine and worn out carb. Dads is in like shape to this one too. I got to sit on his lap as a wee shaver for rides as he mowed, Lord how I loved that!

I grew up in WI on a Cub Cadet 1650. I still remember Dad coming home with that tractor & the trailer load of attachments, deck, blade, tiller,2 wheel trailer, snow blower, chains, wheel weights & cab. We had that tractor for close to 25yrs, then Dad decided it was time for a different one. I couldn't help but think "Why there's absolutely nothing wrong with this one?" Sure wish I knew how many hours I alone sat on the seat of that tractor. Our neighborhood was pretty diverse as far as GT's, some kept buying throw a ways but I paid attention to the tractors that were around year after year. Our Cub, a Bolens, a JD and a Wheel Horse all of which were taking care of 1+ acre lawns. Of course I liked our CC but I always like our neighbors , I'm a sucker for red paint. Compared to most I'm a rookie when it comes to owning a but I can see why they have held up so well after years of abuse. I also have to say that I think 's are much easier to work on, when compared to some other GT's.

We grew up with a little of everything on the farm, first "New" tractor was a Massey Harris 30 wide front. For lawn mowing we always had a push mower, Dad said we didn't need a riding mower (that opinion changed when my brother was drafted to the Army and I enlisted in the Navy the same year)! For the garden we had a couple of walk behind rototillers, once again with two sons who would buy a riding garden tractor! When I came home from boot camp there was a shiny new Massey Ferguson 10 HP garden tractor with a 42" deck, rototiller and snow blower sitting in the barn. Seems Dad was going to miss his boys.

I should add that we missed those that were not able to make it his year like Karl (nylyon) and FunEngineer to name a few . . .

Although I'm sure some of you know about this site I wanted to give them a shout out. http://mowerparts4less.com/ I ordered some belts from them from their Ebay store. I received them and didn't really check them out other than seeing that they are a very nice quality and made in the USA. I'm a stickler on leaving feedback on Ebay and, of course, left positive for them. Great price for great belts and fast shipping. Once I got further into the project I discovered that I had received a 112" belt instead of the 103" that I ordered. Simply an 'oops' when they pulled the belt off the shelf. I contacted the seller and he was quick to apologize, send the correct belt and a pre-paid envelope to return the wrong one. Ya gotta love folks that still know what customer service is. The belts I ordered are for the spindle and mule drive on the deck. I tend to use only Toro belts for the tractor drive but I'm thinking one of these would work just fine. Gotta love the color too!!

How about a Harbor Freight Gen Set for Portable power and outages......

With my dad it was mainly Sears, with some MW mixed in. Honestly, between the 1940's -1960's the tools offered at both were very good and peer to each other. I think there might still be one or two gold and white push mowers that were gramps in pops basement! LOL

For gardening we (2 boys ) had shovels hoes and rakes and our hands. At some point the ole man purchased a one wheel walk behind with a plow. That did not last long as it got out of hand against the oil tank and knocked it over ( ole man operator error ) . When my brother and I left home , he purchased some old used Ford ride on ( about the size of a B series . In 1972 he purchased a brand new Commando 800 with mower, plow and disk. Mom said when he cut grass he aimed for the flower beds. For grass cutting we had various brands of motorized push mowers. We were allowed to use them for our grass cutting business. 1/4 acre lots we $1.00 . !/2 acre lots were $1.25 . Trimming was not included. We had enough of that at home with hand shears . At some point the ole man bought this riding mower . All I remember was that it was green about a 30 inch deck (one Blade) and it had one forward and a reverse gear. (we were not allowed to use this for our grass cutting business). He probably purchased from Western Auto or Pep Boys ( his favorite stores).

I grew up here in CT. I started a lawn buisness in high school with a sears subruban circa 1969 with a tecky. Growing up my dad always had old tractors that needed tinkering with or welding to do on them. I remember one in particular which was a 1970s Cub Cadet. It was a strong machine but always had something wrong with it. Dad decided one day to paint it wheel horse red. He picked up several cans of paint and said let's paint this. As I remember it right I am not even sure that he cleaned it. We painted that thing red for sure (no taking apart or anything). Fnally in 1986 or 87 he got up the funds to go to the wheel horse dealer and purchase a new 310-8 with a deck and plow, wheel weights and chains. He was so proud of that machine that he used to wash and wax it all the time. I never heard the end of it when my buddy used to come over and see dad waxing the tractor. I eventually was allowed to use that one to take care of my lawn business when the tecky in the Sears finally gave me too many problems and we sold it. I lost my dad back in 2012 but my mom still has the 310. One day I will get it back and do a "proper' restore on it in memory of "Big Jim"..

We always got everything from Montgomery-Ward when I was a kid (1950's-60's). I remember the primary colors were gold and white.

Power up a hand crank ice cream freezer! It would be very cool to hear a Kohler putting along making some home made ice cream at shows and events..... Mom once told me that they used to jack up a Model t Ford and crank it with the spoked wheel.

@mikeeyre74 posed an interesting question about why there weren't many garden tractors west of the mississippi and I'll add south of the Mason Dixon line. He asked "what did people mow there lawns and till there gardens with". So tell us where you grew up and "what did people mow there lawns and till there garden with". So for me Growing up in central Texas in the 60/70's.many people had a big garden and walking tractors or a Farmall John Deere or Allis Chalmers A & B size tractors did garden duty and ran a belly mower. Sears, Wards Western Auto and Snapper riding lawn mowers were around as well as a few high priced green,yellow and blue ones, but no one called or thought of rhem as "garden tractors" In 1974 I was the high school gofer at the Ford tractor shop and I assembled a 10" moldboard plow for a New Ford riding mower that had a 3 point lift ...wow ...was it ever the butt of many shop jokes. I had never heard of a Wheelhorse or Bolens. After all "Tractors" we're red,green, blue or ,orange. With maybe some big yellow Molines down in the coastal rice country,

I remember the thread. I believe a Lawn Boy mower that had a two-stroke engine was used. That way the engine wasn't starved for oil. The tractor also had a counter-weight for the boom. The rough part was doing the highway side with all the traffic whizzing by.

I remember my dad using a toro of sum kind for awhile then he bought a 704 from a guy down the road. There was a wheel horse dealer in town and dad came home one day with a C-101 & Black hood I believe it was a C-175 from then on it was nothing but WH.

My Dad had a walk-bee-hind reel mower of unknown make when I was real little. My grandfather took a small trailer frame and built a trailer/sulky for it. Then we moved and had like an acre and a half to mow along with 2 driveways and a long side walk to keep clear of snow so my Dad bought a brand new 64 604. There were some AC's around and some Cubs. I really didn't see many JD's until the late 60's

I waited to post my pics a couple days to drag it out a little because the show is just to short . With talking to old friends , making new ones and just the sheer amount of people , tractors , parts it truly is hard to take everything in . Your brain is truly in Horse overload i did get some pics closeup of some tractors but I also tried to get pics with a wide view to show how large the BIG SHOW is . I still didn't get to see everything it's amazing . Make sure to check back to this post as my wife and family have more pics on their phones which I hope to add . As you can see some of lost our canopies cin the storm Friday evening . I do believe nobody or tractors were hurt . My cousin and I didn't bring home any tractors from the show but we did manage to buy three back home while we were in PA ! So pics of those to come along with my 520 Wheel-a-Matic that I debuted at the show. My wife , son and cousin secretly had my 520 finished for the show . Z

The Briggs will last forever as long as you do regular maintenance on it. My dad's 78 is all original and has never had anything done to it. Starts right up and it's a real powerhouse. Even before I swapped out the rubber mounts for solid ones. He too swapped out the seat pan and I really like the looks of it.

All I'm saying is that it's a good thing that you weren't wearing your white pants because........

No biggie! I'm sure our paths will cross sometime in the future. What did you end up doing with that 953? That blade was heavy! I'm looking forward to whatever "redneck engineering" you do with it! Thanks! Also, I checked out your cool small engines forum. Neat stuff! Thanks everyone for all the cool road trip stories! Ed, I like your sense of adventure! My dad did the bourbon trail last year and loved it! My wife and I have really enjoyed traveling in this "pre kid" time of marriage. Here are a couple pictures of our trip to California/Zion/Bryce/Grandcanyon/Tetons last year, and the sweet camper van we rented.

I like @953 nut's idea or maybe run a hydraulic motor on for the blade. You could add a pump and reservoir to the tractor and also add rams to the extension arm to position the deck. Same principle as the ditch mowers used by the hwy dept. But then again, I also found a pic of a fellow man. Not sure how he's powering the blade, but the lift mechanism looks pretty simple.

I grew up in Niles, Michigan -- the first town north of South Bend, IN, just across the state line. Plenty of Wheel Horses out and about, that's for sure. With there being so much farm country all around, John Deere and Cub Cadet were also really popular. Sears Suburbans made an occasional appearance, but most of the Sears tractors seen were the lower-cost lawn tractors. Rounding it out were the occasional Allis-Chalmers (next-door neighbor had one) or Simplicity, and some Bolens and Fords once in a while. Here's the John Deere 112 I grew up with. The picture was taken in 1970, just after the house was built and the tractor was delivered. The lawn and the driveway aren't even in yet! A short time later, the headlights were added in the panel above the grille. If I remember the story correctly, the headlight kit wasn't in stock and had to be ordered and installed on a return trip to the dealer. The John Deere dealer this one came from (Clay's Service) was just across US 31 from Chandler's and the original Wheel Horse factory. The Ponds' old house would have been just a block or two west (as the crow flies) from where the dealer was, on the side roads. In those days, US 31 was the main route into Michigan from South Bend, so virtually everyone passed that little area of Wheel Horse history almost daily. For most of it's life -- all that I remember -- that 112 was kept nearly as clean as it is in the photo. Sadly, I don't know what became of it.

@daveoman1966, have you considered getting an electric deck from a 36 volt "E Series ? You could hang the three batteries on one side as ballast and the mower on a boom from the other side. Might work.

Well my parents came down to Tennessee Sunday and it's first time I have seen them in 6 months, also first time my dad has ever been to my house so that was fun! We've been to Paris...Tn lol and showed them hank Williams jr's house.. then me and dad went to see a friend of mine that has huge AMC collectionalso the orange javelin is actually a 69 Amx with javelin nose that's been built like the prototype since the guy bought it in 1974 (didn't get very many pics as weeds grown up on most of it!). just thought I would share some of the trip. They brought my little cousin down too IMG_2363.MOV

Several years back we drove the Blue Ridge Parkway all the way from Cherokee NC to Fort Royal VA, two beautiful days of stress free driving.

I usually have my GPS set on "shortest distance". I am often amazed Garmin even knows some of these roads exist. Last year after touring the Kentucky bourbon distilleries, the "shortest distance" trip back to the hotel ended up being the long way home. Garmin took me down a nice paved one lane road for about 3 mile, then it turned to dirt, but well maintained and scenic. There was no sign of life....although several times I thought I heard faint strains of dueling banjos. I ignored Mrs Ks advice and kept going for another couple miles where we encountered a creek w/o a bridge. We, I mean I, forded the stream and kept going ...2 more miles and another ford. No problem...at least I could no longer hear the banjos over the screaming from Mrs. K. Another mile and a third ford....Uh..this one I could not see the bottom of the creek bed and Mrs K was all ready out of the van and backtracking on foot. Yep, I caved in and turned around and switched Garmin to quickest way.

Back in my truckin' days, I was illegal about 90% of the time, either hot freight, over weight, etc ... as such I had to sneak around the country on the back roads. What a great way to see America. So little is available to be seen from the interstate. Take the little blue lines,eat at the local diners, stop at the corner gas stations ... it makes a better trip!!!

born and raised on a farm here in ohio north of dayton. all the equipment on the farm was strictly international my dad his brother and my grandma all farmed together. if it wasn't red they wasn't going to use it. my grandma bought her 856 wheel horse new at the local dealer in 1966 and she mowed her 2 acre yard my dad used it to mow his 1.5 acre yard and my uncle used it also to mow his acre yard every week or so that thing mowed like that from the time it was new till 1987 i think alot of hours been rebuilt 3 times in it's life i think what a tough tractor . so i grew up with wheel horse and IH all the neighbors around us also had wheel horse that is all you seen around my area and some of them are still tucked away in barns and garages around here not being used and forgotten

Born and raised in north central Massachusetts. Now in the mountains of western Maine. When I was young my Grampa had a yellow/white Cub Cadet Hydro and later a red one. If we begged enough, he'd "let" us mow the yard for him. He bought a 1976 Cub Cadet snowblower new and I still have it stored figuring out what to do with it... My parents had enough money to get by and way more "Yankee engine-uity". We had a rear engine 8 horse Ariens mower with maybe a 30 inch cut? I spent a lot o' hours on that thing "mowing" (driving around the fields). My father put together a home-made gang mower with 4 or 5 old push mowers with angle iron connectors where the handles/wheels should have been. It had about a 9 foot cutting swath when towed by the old Ariens. Other relatives had Farmall or IHC cub farm tractors for the small farms and gardens here in New England. I was looking for a Cub Cadet when I found my . Im VERY glad I picked it up and found this site.... You're a Great bunch of people. I hope some year I'll get to the Show but It's a bit of a trek from here.

Nice tractor. The first black hood and my favorite with the black hood mated to an older style dash.

Looks great!! Although I'm with you, the Cyclops eye could go.

Umm, you told me you bought a fifth wheel. Not another house!

I kept this under wraps to unveil at the big show. Got tired of a pinkish tractor. Decals wouldn't be enough. i didn't want to go crazy as this is my snowplow tractor. The hood was bought at last years show and redone last fall. But everything else was done starting mid-April of this year. Started out with this: Torn down to it's skivies and primed: New dash decal: Finished: Skonk has been terribly loud. I tried about 4 different mufflers. I got it better but it was still pretty annoying. During this refresh I decided to change the points. I found the timing was way late and after setting the points correctly the engine is much quieter. you can hear the "Kohler Whine" now!

Nice story! My folks are snowbirds and leave Ct every winter for Florida. Always love when they come back after 5 months away. Mike.....

I found that carburetor screw that you lost. I saw him working on his motorcycle muttering "I need a screw....." Found it.

Cool pics Zeek. My wife asked where I was set up and I didn't even have a picture...until now. It is your first one, Thanks!

Absolutely love this shot you got... of these two full on gangsters.

HA HA ... Your right Buzz ....... and some how I keep a runnin' into them unwanted snakes. Here's that story, Years ago in the early years of the Annual Wheel Horse Show there used to be a old white painted cinder block rest room and of which I felt the need to use ..... well just as I was about to step over block opening I noticed a snake up on the top of the door way ...... I thought geez some joker put a rubber snake up there BUT then the snake MOVED ........ I went into reverse so fast that my foot never set on the ground in the building ! Finding Don Kane I lead him to the bathroom with out telling him why (Don is a big time hunter and I figured he should know what to do), he was a little nervous wondering why I wanted him in the outhouse. Don saw the snake put on some gloves and tossed the vermin out into the woods. Buzz do ya' suppose the this years snake was a great grandchild of that outhouse snake ??? Wild Bill in Richmond, VA.

I was there when it came out. It was about a 4' black snake. Can you imagine buying it and then when you got home to give it a bath and out comes the snake?

Brings back memories of one of the first shows when they still had the outhouses by the tent area. Bill walked in, sat down, snake said "hi'., Bill ran out. Darn Bill , you scream like a girl.....

I am really glad you got a picture of the kids still driving the Wheel Horses in the rain ! Towards the end of the Cruise Night when it started to rain some people tried to call us in for a rain delay ...... I told a bunch of the kids that were still out there cruising with me that "mom ain't out here to tell us go in so were gonna keep right on playing" ! Well me and the 6 speed Lawn Ranger ended up having to tow a stranded hydro tractor pullin' a dump cart up to the main building to get them out of the rain of which at this time the clouds just poured water on us. Once inside we saw 4 kids still out there on their Wheel Horses just cruising in the rain ! Wild Bill in Richmond, VA.

I'm sorry I didn't get to meet you and thank you for having hauled the 953 down to Van's house a couple of years back. Last year I was a first timer and in that 90/10 ratio but this year I've come closer to 50/50 tractors and people. Next year I hope to get to know a lot more people!

@Jrblanke Thanks for the pictures and comments and the sale of that heavy blade. If you could have stopped by my house this morning and unloaded for me that would have been better. That sucker is heavy ( need 2 men and a boy to move it ) , enjoyed meeting you. Hope you had a safe drive home. 95 was a bear yesterday.

I took the backroads to go visit my sister back in May and got stuck behind a logging truck on a two lane road. This went on for about 15 miles. I was pulling a trailer so rather than get impatient, I just focused on the scenery rather than the obstruction. Sometimes we miss out if we put our attention on the wrong things. I hope to take in some scenery next year on my way up. Thanks for taking the scenery shots. Sometimes a little green in a sea of red isn't a bad thing.