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Just got back to the " civilized world" after spending 4days with my BIL in his new cabin high atop the Appalachian Mts. No electric or cell phone service. Access by 6X6 Polaris Ranger. Main menu was left over turkey, deer sausage and the latest batch of shine.

The C120 had it's turn doing yard work today pulling the yard sweeper.

New hoops welded up for the back. Bought rim shells from speedway and got the centers cut from a guy in ohio from 3/8" plate. It's like having built in wheel weights. These things are heavy. Just got to decide on what color I want to paint them. It's either Charcoal grey or gloss black. Also got the new front axle bushings reemed out and my "new" spindles installed. Thanks @Aldon. Worked great. Making a new stainless tie rod and have a new rod end for the steering cylinder. Waiting on the post man.....

I have enough oak and poplar scraps left over from building out utility room cabinets that I can heat my shop most of the winter. Mine is a 10" Craftsman!

My honey and I may be just a bit wood-obsessed as well. In fact, one of the primary focuses for Getting a WH was to pull heavy loads of wood! I built it basically as a littleskidder. We really enjoy being outside working on the property. We've harvested mostly only fallen stuff with a couple others that needed to be culled out. I have a 1987 Sachs-dolmar 116si, 20" bar, 60cc. Torque monster, high rev, great saw. This year I've been using my new Echo 490, 18" Bar. Another great saw. Light, fast, easy on the arms. Our splitter is a home-made model. Made by a Maine logger for splitting up the butt-ends of big trees. 6.75hp Briggs, 20 ton ram, high rise splitter knives for big thick chunks. I also have a small (8ft long x 3 ft wide) PT wood pole style log trailer I built for hauling logs out of the forest. We've only put a couple cord. We won't even burn that much this year but love the process and (she especially) loves the nice warm heat. We'd burn more if we were home more. Here's some pics. All have already been posted other places in the past but we like our sooo... How did you move these logs to here? Wheel horse or something bigger? You + Axe = Log splitter

The Big Show is in PA because the members who started the Wheel Horse Collectors Club live there and had the first get together which started the whole thing. The Club is based there so it's there. I'm sure there are enough individuals in Ind. and the surrounding area to get a nice show going out that way.

Is there enough interest here to get a large WH event going here in Indiana? Somewhere in the Kokomo to Southbend area? Being that our Horses were built right here in the Hooser state, I would like to see a yearly WH event in this part of the country. The local tractor club holds a show at the Greentown 4H fairgrounds that while having a huge and nice fair grounds, isn't well attended. Its ripe to be overrun by a sea of red garden tractors. Plenty of room for parades, pulling and showing. Last year they made the mistake of having it on the same weekend as the L&GC show in Evansville, IN. Not sure they have posted the 2018 dates yet. Obviously a show up in Southbend would be really nice as that is home base for WH. Would love to help get something started that all the Hoosier Horses can look forward to each year and others as well. Mike the Aspie

I figure a lot of you guys are like me with the tractors and other interests. I am wondering how many of you guys like chainsaws,splitters and the whole firewood scene. I like to go on arboristsite once in awhile and learn some new things. I have a Stihl MS250 and an Echo 330EVL along with my John Deere splitter ( made by Didier). I like having the security of knowing I have a way to keep my family warm if the power went out for whatever reason. I have plenty stacked already and just split this pile in the last two days. My wife says I'm obsessed with my wood!

Finally got around to installing one of the stacks I bought off @Aldon (thanks again!) at Stevebo's meet/greet. These are the smaller sized ones built by Bud Andews...perfect for a short frame tractor like my Commando 8. The old muffler looked ok but actually had rotted out on the bottom. The old exhaust pipe has been in the K181 since new so unthreading it was out of the question. I cut it off with a sawsall and then gingerly made two cuts on the inside till I could gently whack it with a chisel, collapse it and it then spun right out! Used a 6" nipple coming out of the block and a 3" for the vertical piece. Shot it all with hi-heat black and tightened it all up. Sounds great! Quieter than the old muffler, perfect for putting around shows.

I still cut wood for my parents in WV and just got this like new Dolmar 5105 with 20" bar from @shallowwatersailor plus the Dolmar PS540 with 18" bar I have had for 8 years or so and a Poulan Wildthing now 14" bar for 10 years, it's just getting harder to find time keeping up with my own home then running 75 miles one way to keep wood in the shed, Jeff.

Here are photos of my DC-105 with a Carroll Stream 10 hp diesel. Actually the stack is about the same height as my face when driving it and doesn't bother me. I do have the tip pointed slightly forward and out. I wear ear protection with everything now, as I have a case of tinnutis from the noise of the enginerooms and FD days.

Don't forget your camera BRF.

Working on a loader for the 520. I’ve been looking for a long time and have been close on a couple of deals but financially it never worked out. Decided to gradually pull all the pieces together to build my own. My wife got me the P.F. Engineering plans for my birthday and my father-in-law has access to some free steel. I still need to buy some steel but not a lot. My dad had an old Montgomery Ward stick welder that still works pretty well and I practiced for a few months on scrap and got to the point where my welds look Ok and have decent penetration. The other pieces I’m buying as money allows and I find things on sale. Here are a few early pics of the bucket and the partially complete subframe.

With all the stack posts, here is my Commando 8's exhaust set up right now. Nice and quiet and blows the fumes foward and away. But, I am getting the itch for one of those chrome turnout style exhaust stacks/muffler set ups. I have another flange mount for the diesel engine that is just a pipe nipple, so I can do something similar. Just have to make sure I am not riding in a plume of diesel exhaust. Mike the Aspie.

I heated with wood for 12 years. Had an old blue XL12 Homelite, and an ax. Don't miss it a bit.... By the way, what's a log splitter...

No filter on the manual transmission, Sarge was referring to a hydro. The gear oil got water in there which causes that coffee color. The drain plug is on the bottom, it's a hex key plug. once drained fill with diesel fuel to wash it out and run it in all gears for just a bit. Drain and refill. It easiest to remove the shifter and fill through there. Check the shifter boot which you will probably need a new one to keep the water out of the trans. For the deck tensioner, mule drive. Take a look at the one on the 73 -8. They are the same so you can check it out to see what parts you need or swap them if using the deck only on one tractor at a time. Don't run that 8hp without the blower cover for very long, it will over heat quickly. Contact @rmaynard for a brake band lining or get a used one from A-Z tractor. Do a search (upper right corner of every page) in the "Files" for a C-160 and a Kohler engine manual. The engine manual will guide you through all the carb and governor settings plus anything else. You'll need the mower deck manual for a parts list for anything concerning the deck

It's well worth the drive. We went in 2015 and 2016 driving up from Florida. Didn't go this year due to the move. We're going again this coming June and it will be nice making the drive in one day. I don't think it would be too tough to get a pretty good turnout in this area. We just don't want it to conflict with any other shows in the area and certainly not the big show.

I hope you're eating outside!

@Big_Red_Fred Now that all types of foods , delivery systems , and resulting gases have been discussed what about the GT 14 ?

i got the snow blower tires on front of 753. i forgot about these rims. i recently got a sears gt14 and well in process of getting things gathered up i figured i would take the goodyears turfs that was on these rims and put them on the sears and use rims with the snowblower tires. i am not sure what model wheel horse these rims went to but hey a few washers to spacer them out and they look good and grip good true test will be in snow. took 3 pulls to fire up this 1958 k160 kohler today. runs really good

Made a little progress today. I removed the sub frame and finished the welding. Now I’m in the process of getting it ready to paint so it can cure and I can reinstall it and get the tractor put back together. I also prepped and painted the weight rack. I’m going to paint the loader and sub frame satin black like the 520 loaders shown in the WH brochures. I left the weights black but matched the weight rack to the red hitch and tractor.

I love the b80. It looks like it's made for skidding. I would love to see your splitter. I am like you as I love being in the woods in this kind of weather in the fresh air getting some work done. As they say " idle hands are the devils workshop".

Sorry Jim, I wouldn't even attempt to stop this landside. You and Dick are on your own to save this one from self destruction. After spending 4 days in secluded paradise, I have no desire to get in this food fight. Check out my I'm Baack post.

We walked into each other's lives a little over 2 years ago (literally, we're hikers) and everything just combined together perfectly. We finish each other's sentences and often don't even bother to communicate verbally because one already knows what the other's thinking anyways. My B80 isn't a show rig (for now). It wasn't quite complete when I got it as a pile of parts and the hood is in very rough shape so I have no guilt about making it factory original. I'm building it for the best use of our needs here on our acreage. One of the things I'm changing is the shift knob to something larger and "different". I'm not the smallest fellow in the world and with gloves on the stock knob feels like a marble in My hands. I've already purchased mid-60's gear sticker as part of my pack-o-stickah's from @Vinylguy and will put it on the shift plate. Reverse has never Once changed position but I can't remember where it is half the time. And I just like stickers because I'm a kid... I HAD NOT TOLD HER about that part of my build plan. A few of you may know I have quite a liking for old Mack trucks and Petes too. ( @AMC RULES and @Big_Red_Fred ) Yesterday she gives me a gift.

Sarge is correct, that's what I use to cast into the knobs I make, plus brass inserts don't rust. I buy 100/package and @ cost is low. The thread size you need is 3/8"x16 (internal measurement, size of the bore), but the size hole you'll need to drill may be 7/16" or 1/2", and then use JB Weld to secure (screw) it in. Be glad to just give you one free, but that darn shipping is $3 minimum, you should be able to buy it for $1. That is a very nice ornament-shifter grip you were given. Great to have a woman that understands you. Glen

A couple were gathered here.

My 520 with the FEL is now residing in Brookville Pa and was replaced by one of those orange "K" thingies with a Johnny Products hydraulic snow plow. However, nothing will ever replace this guy and it's always wearing it's winter ready apparel. It gets about 2 hours a year on it plus maintenance starts and attention. It's hard but I have been able to trim and keep my nice looking and great running WH tractors at 4 total for a year now. (plus 2 in need of love or a new home). I'm a recovering WH addict but it's tough to say no to some of these tractors that come up around here!

Im heading to the GT14 so 953 can look at sum Pics, the one down the road from me, not Ohio, he wants 800, with a deck, you all tell me what its worth ? He got it for Free

Yes that is a 1962 -BD-4262 Dozer Blade. I have one and used it on my brothers's 1963 633 Wheel Horse several years ago as my winter snow remover.

Here is the floor system that you never want to have to go beneath. Just too far to crawl in and the other workers left a battlefield of a mess under the house. Note the lower pipe going through the foundation. that pipe is the clean-out and can be accessed from outside. Just stick a garden hose in and it flushes out easily. The floor is solid tile and the shower is concrete and tile. The pedestal sink was a good solution. There is limited room in front of the toilet. so what I did is build a custom banjo shaped vanity/shelf unit. Simple to do as i used click together flooring as a cabinet liner. Fast, easy, and pre finished. The cabinet was built from 100 year old tobacco boxes and I simply scribed and fit the tobacco box material to make doors that fit the bottom curve of the pedestal sink. Lost the pictures of that..All the heat comes from a vent under the vanity and exits vents in the toe kick. Form follows function when you are saving space. Because the building is so old that the walls were not plumb, Laser levels and shimming the walls became a common theme. You can see the gap shimmed behind the tile board in the shower I used the flooring to finish any other areas of the walls not covered in tile [part of the ceiling and upper walls and it turned out nice. this project would have been a disaster if you had to have it done by contractors as the tile, electrical, cabinets and everything had to be done in stages. Guys who id jobs will not work that way and i don't blame them. That is when it is nice to be able to change from tile setter to electrician to cabinetmaker all in one day if necessary. Sorry there are not pictures of everything. BTW surgery was seven years ago and the last chemo was about 5, So we will remain vigilant it does not come back

While enjoying the nice cool evening breeze , I Started the wiring for the "firewall" I made from lexan. It will get painted so its not see through. I have two relays here, one for electric fuel pump and the other for the starter. Two fuses for switch power for a horn😂 And a power socket(cig lighter). I have a whelen patrol car switchbox I will be gutting and using the switches from that for headlights, fender lights and tail lights. Got to figure out a spot for a volt gauge.

I agree with that . My local tractor guy is 5 minutes away and was once a Wheel Horse dealer but still sells Stihl. I like the little Mahindras, An affordable machine compared to the others and a good warranty. I had a Super XL that I got for free. It was an older unit but was powerful. One day I got a hairbrained idea to grind the depth gauges down to nothing and locked it up.

i have been watching that thanks. Its healed up pretty good but I watch how I lift things now. I used to get some huge pieces of maple and oak that I had to build a ramp for inorder to get them onto the splitter rail. Now 16-18 inches is what I try to work with.

As long as my back hangs in there I should be good for awhile. I wouldn't do it without the splitter. I've had two of the Didier made units,a homemade monster and even an electric one.

Even the stove's smiling!

Welcome back to the world of .

That is a nice looking wood shop you got there.

No cell and Internet sounds great! I swear I got way more done in a day before all these electronic distractions came along. Incredible view! I could chill out there for awhile for sure. Any good fishing spots close to it?

We heated with wood until I got too old to mess with it - had a Stihl 031 av w/ 20 inch bar and a very fast homemade log splitter and a wood stove with blower...kept 2200 sqft warm as toast...loved every minute of heating with wood and handling of it..miss those days...my son has my stuff now and is heating with wood..a real money saver. I averaged burning 10 to 11 ricks a winter...

It is great to be able to change hats (and trades) quickly when needed. Nice job, Volunteering with Habitat for Humanities I have done plumbing repairs in a few crawl spaces like that, sure makes you glad when the job is done knowing you don't have to go back down there.

...... I’d be in too ... The Southbend area would be the perfect place to draw people in from Indiana , Ohio , Michigan, Illinois and maybe even further . The one thing I like about the Big Show is that it all Wheel Horse and that’s what makes it great . So to me a all Wheel Horse near Southbend makes perfect sense . Not to take anything away from the Big Show as there’s nothing like it and every Horse-A-Holic should make the pilgrimage at least once . Could we start a poll to see how much interest there would be ?

Good thread on the FEL! I really like the weight bracket for the suitcase weights!

My Ark loader is the same way, wish it had a little more back tilt at ground level. Looking at those pics of the Mahindra tractor, it appears they solved that issue by adding arms to the bucket just like on a hoe bucket. Doing it that way will allow more curl travel than attaching the rams directly to the bucket.

Don't let anything sit with ethanol gas without some sort of fuel stabilizer in it for more than 45 days.This stuff is deadly on the entire fuel system on small engines !!!

Do you and your Honey have a good window seat to watch from?

It’s hard to see from the pics I have but I have the subframe attached at three different spots. I had 1/4” X 2” angle iron so I used that. It attaches at the center attach-a-matic (I removed it to attach the front of the subframe), to the threaded holes under dash tower, and at the rear axle. I added a receiver hitch and built a tractor weight holder that inserts in it. I sandwiched the rear axle between the hitch and the rear of the subframe. I still need to fabricate braces that will run from the back of my subframe to the bottom corners of my weight holder to add stability. I have seven 42 pound tractor weights for ballast. I hope that’s enough. I also have the tires loaded and inside wheel weights plus my 250 pound butt. The bucket is pretty small. I think the angle of the pic makes it look big. LOL

If you were using gas with ethanol in it and it sat all summer you have a mess on your hands. Drain the fuel tank, replace the fuel line and filter and disassemble, soak and clean the fuel pump and .carburetor. Like Jim @SylvanLakeWH said, seafoam in the fuel system is important too. use this site to find stations that sell ethanol free gas. https://www.pure-gas.org/

I finally got back from picking up the tractor. I was late getting in and I didn't really look it over. It started and drove on the trailer. When I got back it started and drove off. It was a little tough to start at first and he said it was cold. I didn't notice clouds of smoke. My truck broke down when I was in Delaware (3 hours from home) and no mechanics open on the Holiday weekend. Luckily he was a good guy and brought some tools and took me to the auto parts store. The idler pulley threw the bearings on my truck. It was an easy fix but took up a lot of time. Hopefully there are no cracks in the block or anything. It probably needs a new battery or at least a charge, it would barely turn over but still started. He said he bought it off a friend and said he didn't own it very long and is moving so he's getting rid of things. I'll check it over tomorrow for any problems and get the belts on. It started when I got home, it was dark but I didn't notice smoke then either. It also would idle all the way down without stalling and sounds good.

Here is the bathroom project from Satan's hideout It needed everything--from foundation and replacing bottom plates to every building trade there is It makes me tired to think about it now. Just recovering after a year of chemo, and I had to mix 35 80 pound bags of concrete in a mixer and carry it up 3 steps and carry it into the house and dump it in the forms.The plates and grade beam were actually formed into the wall, so that turned out OK The key to the project wotking well is the fact that the floor and wall each were suupported seperately and together by the stem wall and that wall was formed in a light weight fashion anticipating a slow pour that took all day. A fast pour would have blown out the forms You can see the planks I had to walk across and pour the concrete into the two inch gap Eventually, the floor frame took shape and was super strong to boot