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After numerous delays I am beginning the restoration of the early production 953 I purchased from @Ed Kennell nearl two and a half years ago. We don't know a lot about it's early history but I will let Ed tell you how he came by it in his own words. I saw the 953 on a Maryland CL ad in Dec. 2014. The location was farther than I would travel for a non runner...about a five hour round trip. But, I was going to Charlestown W Va. on Jan 3, 2015 for our annual family Christmas party. The 953 was within 50 mile of my route, so I made arrangements to pick up the tractor on my way to the party Saturday morning. About two hours into the trip, I got a call that the party was cancelled due to heavy sleet in the mountains in western Pa. where most of my family lives. It was raining where I was but the temp was 33F, so we decided to continue on to pick up the tractor. When we got there, I saw the 953 sitting in an overgrown ditch and by now the rain was turning to sleet. I was really concerned how I would get it to my trailer. Turns out the owner was a contractor and had an excavator. If I did the rigging, he agreed to pick it out of the ditch and put it on the trailer. No problem... it was on the trailer in a few minutes and we were on our way East trying to stay ahead of the cold and freezing ice approaching from the West. I really regret not having pictures of it being plucked out of that ditch and dangling from the excavator over my trailer. I think I posted a pic on Red Square and that's where you and I crossed paths. You probably have more details of the delivery involving Van and Jay than I have. So, Now you know the rest of the story. Best Regards, Ed Here is Ed's "Whats in your Mirror" post from the day the pulled it out of the gully. Nuther one jumped on the trailer this morning. Any guesses? Man, that's not much of a clue. Maybe this'll help. Edited January 3, 2015 by ekennell A couple of months later Ed and I struck a deal on the 953 and I was to pick it up at the 2015 "Big Show". Well, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry and this was a case in point! I severely injured my back and at the time of the show I was on the operating table having spinal fusion surgery. I put out a request for "Hauling Help" on RedSquare and Van @Wheel-N-It responded saying he would get it back to North Carolina and store it till I was able to come get it. James @Jrblanke loaded it in his truck and took it to Van's from the show. A few months went by and I was finally able to retrieve it from Van. Many thanks to James and Van for going out of their way to help a fellow Wheel Horse fanatic. Once it was home I cleaned up the carburetor and replaced the ignition coil and the old horse ran, no smoke, no knocks! Just for grins I turned on the lights and both head lights and the tail light worked. Over the past couple of years life has gotten in the way of making any further progress. Now I have cleared the decks and will begin the restoration. This will be a total restoration including the engine and transaxle being rebuilt.

I found a grader blade for my Bronco. Now it has a dual purpose, taking the garbage can to the street and grading the driveway. My wife can't tell me to sell it right? It needs some paint and I'd like to attach a cutting edge to it someday.

I decided to mount up my winter tires on the C-121. Gotta say I really like the black rims!

I keep watching the news, YouTube and listening to my roof creaking in the wind. So far so good. Got a lake in my back yard. Lot of my neighbors have no power but so far some of us are lucky. They said it was going west but this sucker is coming straight up the middle of the state. The eye is about 40 miles from me. We are getting 60-80 mph wind. Hanging tough though. Just made a pot of coffee

There is no kit for the GT14. This was never an option for the GT14. To my knowledge only a few of the d series could have them. As such I bought a set of calipers for a cub cadet and modified them to work on the GT14. Another fella on the forum rebuilding the 18 Automatic helped me with diameter of the discs. I ordered 8" stainless blank discs from EBay and punched the center out, then drilled mounting holes to line up with the D series Hubs which are drilled and tapped for the D series turning brake discs. i have them located such that I'll likely run a cable to a set of levers to actuate the calipers. And it will be from the top. This is a work in progress with many trial attempts then realize something not taken into account drives re-do. I am about 90% confident this set up will work now. Once I modify inner fenders.

Looking at the picture of the rig on the rear of the I think it may be for a spring assisted three point hitch.

Greenish lightning strikes every few minutes. Those are actually pole transformers blowing up or high tension lines crossing from the high winds or trees falling on them. It must be a tough call to not shut down the local grids to save damage to equipment.

417-A WITH FRONT MOWER CARRIER

After a bunch of time spent working I finally had time to get this one back in the shop and finished up. Now to get a mower deck for it so that I can mow the yard with it next year and see how many people stop and ask about it. Pictures are in no particular order just re-adding the ones lost when photobucket decided to be a pain in the rear.

I love bass fishing and spend time at our summer home at Cabin Fever Campground and Hunt Club. We have an older 2000 Sunnybrook 5th wheel camper on a permanent lake front site. For the first 2 years I had a two man bass boat that I towed to the back lakes where the lunkers lurk but I needed a larger boat that Lola and Buddy could safely fish the back lakes with me. After finding the perfect used 16.5 ft Lund and selling the motor and console we have the boat we need. I decided to see if our Club Car Precedent was up to the challenge of towing and launching a larger vessel. We recently installed the highest rated interstate batteries in our cart and I must say they were worth the expense as the cart is stock yet performs way better than the original trojan batteries that came in it. Much smoother low end torque. We are now able to launch or load on all three lakes without any trouble.

Black absorbs heat better then beige, they will keep you warmer in the winter Mike.

Man that's a good woman that will take out the trash and grade the driveway.....you should keep her. Very considerate of you to build a machine that could give her more time for other things!

Poor little Suburban; anyone doing this should be locked up and the keys thrown away!

This wants to be a Allis Chalmers tractor, but why? Looks like a Wheel Horse RJ58 painted orange, I scraped the paint and there is no red under it. Maybe he blasted it off, but he used a brush to repaint it. It has some p.o. mods, I know these did not come with electric starters. Not sure if it is a 6 or 12 volt starter, as I see no label on it. You pull up on the short handle to tighten the belt then it hits a switch to engage the starter. There is no charging system. Looks like a home made blade also. It turns over by hand, gas tank is clean, so it should take much to get the ol' Kohler running. Pictures for your pleasure.

Check if the rubber boot on the gear shift is still there covering the transmission. If it's gone and tractor has been sitting outside transmission probable has water in it. See if it rolls and shifts into all gears Maybe a neogiation point. Looks like a good project. If the engine or transmission are shot there are still enough good parts to sell to get your money back

Oh my... I am really gonna watch this one! Get that camera tuned up! BTW good title to your thread Richard!

Our kids are fine and very minimal damage. No power and probably won't get it back for about a week but that's just an inconvenience.

Dual purpose is good..... If the wife is impressed by efficiency, take the trash out WHILE grading.....

A 161 is great tractor and a beast. Real favorite of many here and on my bucket list as well. Seller is right about the price of the tires. Those look to be Tru-powers on the rear and if they 23-10.5 are a buck & a quarter+ each . Looks to be in decent shape but check the transmission for strongness. Ask the seller if he'll run up to a tree and see if the tires spin. Check the fluids for off color or smell. Check for how well it's been taken care of but looks good that way from here. I am not a fan of tri-ribs for moving snow but dirt... you bet! That tractor would move piles of gravel all day without missing a beat. I would be all over that tractor for that price if things checked out! Good luck!

You can just carefully lift carb top up and while being careful not to bend brass tube coming down from top into a hole in the main body, carefully tilt top and the small link will unhook. Carefully remove this link and just reverse for reassembly. Do not drop or lose this link. Once you have done this once or twice it gets easy.

You all be safe. I'm praying for you. I'm having a cup of coffee with you Richie.

Florida Governor Rick Scott deeply respects the power of hurricanes. Did he come by that from his time in the Navy? I don't know. I do know that a division of line men are already staged to get utility power restored. (Yes, I am on generator now.) That is military thinking. It's good to live in the USA!

Had some time this week to open up the differential and fix the leak, put in new seals. Thought I would wet sand the tins, but no had to blast some of them. Put some primer on may paint later this week. Need to get with @Vinylguy and get some decals ordered.

Tony here's a couple of pics of the governor and throttle linkage on my 654

well about a couple of weeks ago I had a friend of mine make me a lift bracket that attaches to the roof rafters so I could hang my chain hoist from tested a john deere 112 on it and the rafters didn't make a peep!

Put the Raider to work today. This Tractor with the old 42" side drive is unstoppable in the tall stuff and still makes a nice finish cut since I added the two antiscalp rollers on the front corners.

Of course that is a twin cyl engine and it will run fairly decently on one cly --- soooo, I would pull the plugs and see if one just might be really fouled. My first guess would be busted piston. Pistons can be had, but rods ---- well, not so much. Try and not run it anymore, thats just inviting more problems.

Hello All! Sorry in advance if I am in the wrong section, but I am looking at buying a Rj35 tractor I believe. I am new to this and I am trying to find out all information I can about it. I am getting it for $100.00-$150.00. I'm trying to see where I can get tires. That's my main concern at the moment. Most of it is there from what Ive seen. Its missing the deck, but I am not to worried about that. It looks like its been a lawn decorative piece for quite some time. Anymore information about this tractor would be highly appreciated. Thank you

Your machinist should be telling YOU what size piston to get. If he isn't...RUN! Replacement piston size is determined by the guy machining your block. He should be measuring your bore before buying a piston to let you know what size you need. Then bore/hone to the proper Kohler specs with piston in hand.

In either case, my spark tester it came in a little bit early, and arrived this morning in the mail. I just installed them and it took this video. The first bulb that you see is the left side bank, and is pretty much a steady glow. When I move around to the other side of the tractor and video the right-hand bank, then you can see that it flickers quite a bit. I suspect, based on what I know now from seeing the video that was posted previous to this, that this coil is shot. It also doesn't do it immediately but only after a few minutes of warm-up time. Then it backfires more and more. I will order a coil and install it.

I dug out and uploaded a copy of a sales flyer... here's the link

Welcome to RS, I'd like to know more about that frame aswell. Im in the UK down near Brighton

Too many hobbies! But they all all fun

I pulled the top plug on my 701. Black gear oil came out. Pulled the drain plug and nothing came out! Ran a wire up in and it started oozzing out. Flushing in progress as well as a 520 re-wire.

That's better

Here Ya go Jim. I have one on my C-120 also. Works great for collecting grass and leaves. It has to be emptied frequently, but a lot easier to mount, remove and store than a rear power bagger. I find these at yard sales for a $. This one was off a Crapsman rear bagger lawn mower.

'Ow do, Gene. Welcome. I'm just short of the border with Scotland. I've seen worse than your C-120 and don't get rid of those rear wheel weights. Unless you would like me to have them. Like hens teeth over here.

Today was the day to start redoing my yard. It's been embarrassing me since we moved in May. The sub-development we live in was a sand pit in its former life. They contractors layed down 2" of topsoil down, sprayed some hydro seed down and called it a day. I borrowed half of an old drag harrow from work. Missing the front bar so didn't work perfectly but good enough for my purpose. Hooked up my 2" receiver on, a shackle and chain hooked up to another chain on the drag. I pulled it along but it wasn't digging in like I wanted. I a spare set of rear wheels with 100lbs of cast iron on them, chained them to the drag. All said it was over 200lbs. Worked great 👍. I ran it 2 low only because 1 high pulled a little fast. Pulled all that weight with 2" spikes angled into the ground up hill with ease. Still have to rake the back then spread 16 yards of loam

Hey everyone, Sorry I had taken so long to give an update on my 520H. Been busy. I ended up buying the tractor on 8/14/2017. It was not in as good of shape as described to me, but i got a steal on it. I talked him from $225 to $100. It indeed did have a broken axle on the left side. But on the bright side, I bought it from the original owner, an 82 year old man who bought the tractor new in 1986 with a 48 inch mower deck and factory wheel horse hub caps. It has 1,146.8 hours and runs great. But now I need to find the correct axles to fit this tractor. I got a couple of spec numbers of the tractor. Stamped into the transmission was 111201 with a 9A below it. The tractor ID number on it is 4120OE01 10261 It has a 20hp twin cylinder Onan engine in it. I attached pictures below if anyone is interested. If anyone has any info I can use, I'd appreciate it.

You could have stripped the entire hood, cleared it and told everyone it's chrome!

Man that looks nice. You do good work sir

I got lucky today! I posted the Lawn Ranger deck for sale or trade on CL this week and was able to trade it today for another 36" RD deck. The guy I traded with had a Lawn Ranger with no deck, so it worked well for both of us. Hopefully this week I will start a teardown and begin a deck restoration over the winter.

Well, I think I found the reason this horse was parked many years back. This is the ignition wire from the switch to the coil. rubbed bare where it went thru the hood stand hole behind the fuel tank. I replaced the bad wiring and cleaned all the terminal connections. Put on a new plug, and cranked it over..... no fire. Installed a new condenser and the plug lit up. Hung a gravity fuel tank, primed her with starting fluid, hit the start switch and she couldn't wait to run. No smoke and no unusual noises. She's alive.

Stopped at a different place tonight. NO LINE!!!! I walk in and nobody there. Finally a lady comes out of the bathroom. She said " Sorry, it was Mexican night last night! "

Slightly modded 1974

1964 Wheel Horse 854 with 50 inch Wheel Horse Sickle Bar Mower

I really don't have any hobbies. I just like tinkering with wood and metal. I also enjoy building things I "need". My horses are mostly for yard work and I now have one for each grandson. When they get old enough to take care of them I will have to get another one or two or ...