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nice 50 degrees Sunday to take her out on a cruise !

We got 12 plus inches today. Shut down work at 1pm, sent everyone home. Got a chance to play on the 520, twice.

These are some great historical photos... click anywhere on the right side of each photo to move to the next one RareHistoricalPhotos.pps - Google Slides

Well... I took a day from work so I could spend a few hours in the shop. In the videos you'll see the "before". The main purpose is to create space for repairing small equipment and the 2 . The pile of collected junk on the left has a workbench under it somewhere.... Totally underutilized. The speakers will be wall mounted so I can get mah tunes back! I'll be removing the table on the right and making the plywood into shelves on that same wall. That'll free up about 3 x 8 feet of floor space. Lots of rodent damage and ummm.... stuff... to clean up. Hoping it'll be a good productive day! Post a comment, say hi... I'll be a few hours and then some "after" pics for you.

Your title scared me for a minute, I thought you were saying it was a National Workshop Reorganization Day! For me it would take a week or more.

ah another great use for flir, recently bought a CAT S60 smartphone which has flir on it too. great for seeing which beer in the fridge is the coldest

Compared to mine, your shop is Pristine !.. I would be embarrassed to show you mine.....

Update. Workbench most done. Tunes people. Tunes are working.

Dan @Achto always says you want to walk out of his shop you have to walk in backwards!

A short vid of my 312/417 in infrared. It's a FLIR one. Uses a smart phone, I have an old Note2. After looking at it I did notice the rear cylinder exhaust seemed to be running cooler. It will even show what wires are drawing more current and heating up Enjoy???? flir_20180123T111311.mp4

The A-81 is coming along nicely, 5 months down the line I'm nearly there.

Man, how can you possibly top that... what's next Eric, cleaning the bathroom video's?

Done for today. ...

Man clutter.... You gotta love it. For that I tip my cup and swig a sip of coffee in your honor.

well here is part of mine

I got a one cup operation Keurig. Coffer is always fresh nothing wooer than the stuff that has been sitting on the warming burner for an hour. Also no carafes to break. I just buy jugs of distilled water so have had no build up problems with it for a most 3 years now.

Enjoying a pot here as well - from my favorite (duplicate, ugh) WH cup, of course... There's a reason I own a Bunn VPR commercial brewer, lol. 3.8gal/hr brew rate, I can buy any part in it and just ordered a new inlet cover/screen as the old one got brittle. Easy to work on and rebuild these things despite our nasty, lime/rust/calcium/magnesium-laced water - we were buying new brewers every 2yrs and at $250 this one has paid for itself already. Sarge

AAAAAHHHHHHHHH !!!!!!!!!!! OK Jim.. calm down and we can get through this. GO GET MORE COFFEE

My work shop is real bad.

Those side panels are awesome. My first experience with a blower was back in the 70's when I bought my B-80. The dealer didn't put the factory angle wings on it because Wheel Horse said not to because of the horsepower. If I hadn't inquired about it he wouldn't even have given them to me. I put them on and after the first swipe the front would get pulled over in anything over a few inches. I took them off. Where were you back then? I would have stolen your idea.

Your description of the task sounds worse than the video reveals. Good luck, hope you have a productive day. I am in the same boat as Dick, it would take me more than a week .

Awesome Eric!!! I like seeing that second Horse where it belongs—with you. Looks like you have your work cut out for you but good luck on your organization. It will give you a nice space to work on your smaller scale projects even when the weather is crummy outside. I’ll be watching...

There is only one style of cab, it provides for both manual and hydro. Only difference is they changed somewhat through the years. They have a pocket to allow for your manual lift lever move up and down. They also provide slots for a snow blade angle lever and a slot for the blower chute rotating crank. On the last style of cab you will notice pockets on each door. That’s to provide room to be able to turn the crank for the snowblower. The single stage is on one side the 2 stage is on the opposite.

Herein lies the problem Tom as soon as one figures he ain't gonna need it he sells it then he does need it. Yes a good running 520 cannot be beat.... especially when you are sitting in a cab and got a PF tune running inside your head!

The Philly Eagles soared last night and the Hanover Eagles are busy this morning. MVI_0047.MOV

Once in a while I will haul a truckload of stuff away, just to make room to set a pail on the floor. I have a hard time getting rid of my treasures. Great job cleaning up your shop Eric!

I think you need some more bicycles. 😁 looks great!

Chances are you have carburetor issues. I would try running some Sea Foam through it. If that doesn't help, replace the carb. $12-15 on Ebay. Cheaper than rebuilding and "plug and play".

wow look at all that floor space still available for some more clutter! i can get to the workbench, and to the euh hmm euuh. guess its just the workbench i can get to

This is one event I'd really love to attend - but it's right in the peak of our work season and the way things are going I can't leave during that summer work season, we don't get a lot hours anymore as it is and I really would like to retire some day - prefer to do it before I'm dead and get my name changed to Phil on some job site...lol. It sure would be nice to put a face to a whole lot of folks I consider good friends. Sarge

here here👍

June 21-22-23rd I believe. Hope so cause thats what dates I have my room booked for

"Wow, who is this handsome bird" ?? Sarge

I'm expecting a flogging for this, but what are the dates of the 2018 show? I'm hoping that maybe possibly this year I can actually make it! I don't make chimi-chongas or rock n rye, but I got a 502 and a new diesel Colorado on order to haul it!

WHODAT??

Thanks guys. I had thought about using a speck of Emory's playdough to make sure I still have some valve clearance. Tiny speck on each valve and see how much it is compressed between the valves and head when the engine is rotated. Use what you've got!

The snowblower wings help, so it does not suck you in to the snow, helps hold your line.

Had one, sold it didn't figure I needed it. Would have been nice but the single did pretty good. Man am I impressed with the power of the 520

I really enjoy plowing with my Commando 8

Here's a few pix just to keep you all updated of where I'm at. Since I kind of got a late start with this thread and tore into it before I brought you guys along for the ride, here's a couple more "before" pictures. I think I mentioned in an earlier thread a couple of months ago, that initially the starter gave out on me, which was kind of the catalyst to get me into restoring her to her full glory. This first one is when I rolled her into the corner of the garage and parked her after that happened. A couple "befores" of the engine that was crying for me to work on... So I began... Here is the block after the machine shop work and a fresh coat of paint. I included this picture as a subject for discussion. I might hear a lot of negative feedback about this and I would have probably been right there with you before I started, but here's the issue. The engine rebuild kit that I got was one of the Stens aftermarket kits from ebay which I hesitantly bought, but they all seem to get good reviews so I thought I would try it. The engine required a .020 oversize piston and a .010 undersize rod. The kit came and I was well pleased with the apparent quality of the parts. What I didn't like was the head gasket that they gave me which was more of a flexible gasket and didn't have the metal 'fire ring' along the inner perimeter. I checked at all of my local sources and no one had a genuine Kohler and even the NAPA store told me they would have to order one which would probably also be an aftermarket. After a little research, I read on Brian Miller's site that there is no problem re-using an old head gasket if there was no damage as they did this with aircraft engines all the time in WWII. Mine seemed to be in great condition so I followed his instruction, cleaned up the old, gave it a shot of the Permatex Copper spray and this is what it looks like. My Dad also told me that he thought it was changed once not too many years ago so it is not the original. So go ahead and blast me guys, I'll be the guinea pig and give it a try. Hopefully worse case is it blows out and if that happens, then I'll go looking again for the real thing. We'll see how it goes, if it goes south I'll sure let you all know. Here is the completed engine. I don't have the tins or air cleaner shell on yet as I may decide to paint them with the same paint that I use on the tractor and install at that time. Still need to find and install a new spark plug wire as the boot is cracked on this one. If anyone is interested, I used Duplicolor Universal Red Engine Paint rattle cans for the engine and will be using Dupont 7410 (International Harvester IH-50) Nason Single stage urethane for the tractor. Paint seems to be a controversial subject here but I did a few paint comparisons of my own earlier which I will post my findings/opinions at a later date. Which brings me pretty much up to date with where I am at now. Here are a couple of the frame during tear down. Oh, by the way, pay no attention to that "green bucket" you see in the background of the last pic. I just got here and don't want you guys throwing me out before I get started! These last ones are more of what I have been discussing recently. First one shows the wear in the paint (which I didn't notice on initial teardown) where the axle pivot pin had been rotating due to the lost bolt. The other ones are the front axle and a close-up of the old bronze bearings that I installed 31+ years ago. I think Sarge has me on the right track for the rebuild this time around, so I'll have to get an order ready for McMaster-Carr and begin the long task of fixing things.

A bit more of the ol' "track bite compound" should take care of that.

Hope he's got some Trini Lopez. Nothing gets you working on a Horse faster than a little " La Bamba" by Trini!

That's a common issue with the fuel tank under the seat and lower than the fuel pump. I had the same problem with my low hour 2005 Classic. I picked up the two for <$20 electric pumps but then decided to try a check valve first so I picked up a couple of them. Before I got one installed @stevasaurus suggested this simple test to see if it helped. Simply park the tractor with the back end raised and the tank full. So I parked it with the rear up on ramps. Normally I could go one day, maybe two but after that I would have to crank it a bit. After sitting over a week on the ramps it fired up immediately. Cool! Of course i didn't want to park it on the ramps all the time so I went the easy and fast route (call that lazy) and put a check valve in line. That proved to be about a 90% fix. Since I'd been using a different tractor with a blade to move snow it sat for about a month with the blower mounted. Starting was better but I still had to crank more than I liked. It could have been the single digit temps or the valve leaks back slowly. In any case, I'll be putting one of the electric pumps on it when things warm up. That should solve the issue for good.

I cut a checkered plate and fitter rubber round the edges. Keeps the floor tidyer and looks better I think. Just the deck to do now but it's not bad so contemplating leaving it will see.

The mechanical pump is located above the tank and has a hard time drawing fual up to it. Mount your electric pump low and connect the wire to your accessory (lighting) fuse so it is protected.

Very nice 520H.I had a real nice one with a 2 stage.Sold it last Winter.Wish I still had it.But as we all know........ya can't keep everything.Those Onans suck gas but are a true power house.

Sawweet ... now thats keeping old stuff alive!

I'm actually a Steelers fan, I have high hopes for the Eagles. If Foles stays in the zone he was in last night...we have a shot.

Are you kidding? I couldn't handle that mob! It was a great game though, fun to watch, unlike the last couple. My son said he was going down to Philly to catch the action after the game. I haven't heard from him since, I suppose I should call him. How about you?