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I've been slowly making my '88 312-8 my ground implement tractor. Last week I removed the seat pan, the shift plate, and instrument plate. I got height adjustment assembly and the right shift plate and instrument plate from A&Z Tractors. I also got new decals for the plates from Terry and rear rock shaft assembly from Lowell. While I had everything off I decided to put a marine hand pump on the fuel line. I had one in the boat box stuff. Cut 6" off the fuel line, put it on, gave it about three squeezes, started the tractor which hadn't been started in about 4 weeks. With choke on, it started within 3 seconds. I think it is going to work fine. Just have to lift the seat and give it a couple of squeezes. Also, moved the seat back an inch and raised it an inch, sure helps with the bad knee. The vendors on this site are some really great people to deal with.

Today testing the two way plow

IMHO, you should keep two tractors. The hydro 314 and the C160 8 speed. This gives you redundancy, commonality between implements and you’ve got both hydro and gear drive flavors covered. IMHO, the perfect 2 tractor plan for the user and/or collector with limited space.

Leaving emotion and your time spent completely out of it I would keep the C-160. You can show it and use it as it's the most versatile of all you have and I think the C series are built better than the 300 -500 series.

MRS BRF LOL

They say there's no substitute for cubic inches so how about a couple of more! The engine on my 1267 (Skonk) started giving up the ghost. It has had a checkered past. Stuck exhaust valve before I got it. No carb base gasket, leaky valve cover and louder than heck but it ran good. Tore the tractor down and painted it up. Didn't touch the engine. Right after this on it's way to the downtown Memorial Day show it started to misfire and puff of blue out the exhaust. Had to clean the plug. Didn't think too much of it. Took it to The Big Show thru the parade no problems. Pretty much sat until this winter. Put all the snow plow stuff on including loaded tires, wheel weights ect. Well after about an hour it's misfiring again. Pulled plug and it's fouled. I had to dig out the crud. Then it get worse. After 15 min misfiring again. Not much smoke but it's getting oil on the plug. I buy an anti-fouler to try to limp thru winter. Not any better. I switch all the snowplow stuff over to the C-160 that I'm trying to keep nice but I have no choice as a storm is coming. That gives me fits as well as the carb had to come apart for cleaning plus the fuel pump died. But I get it running. What to do? Rebuild the K301? Try to find another motor at the show? I want to keep the 67 vintage look (Starter Genny) setup. I do have a K321 on the shelf I bought 4 yrs. ago at the show but it's a regular starter model engine. I ask @Shynon his opinion and for tips. Yes the K321 can be made to look like the vintage look I want. On with the job! The donor motor. K321 on the operating table. Tom said the ring gear would have to come off the flywheel for the shroud to fit and he was correct. Original 301 shroud mocked up. IT FITS! Head off the 301. I need to use it for the height and genny bracket to fit. This is after about 4 hours of run time. I replaced the gasket on it when I painted the tractor in May. There was a large build up around the exhaust valve. This was all cleaned. You can see the buildup around the valve already and all the oil on top of the piston. I can't believe it didn't smoke more! Look at all the oil and crud on the anti fouler and plug. This about 15 min of run time! Head off the 321. Not to bad. I'll give it a cleaning. First coat of paint on the Big Block Paint all done. Pulled off the old block. 51 years of grime! 321 starting to go together All set to drop in. Getting the engine bolted up leaves the lift table free to lift the whole tractor to work on. I had to use the pulley off of the 301. Donor had a larger pulley so I believe it was off of a hydro. All done and ready to test fire. Took about four revolutions and it started right up with out the choke even being on! Just need to fine tune the carb and put the hood, belt and guard on and it will be ready for a run around the block!

Well, most of the regulars here are aware I will be relocating this Spring/Summer. I had hoped to take the remaining collection of tractors with me. However more and more it is becoming obvious that this plan wont work out for numerous reasons. As such, once I make up my mind as to which one to keep, I will be posting the remainder as well as most parts etc up for sale in the Forum Classifieds and CL. As I hope shows in poll info, I have 2 Stage Blower, Restored 48 & 60 inch(195) decks, 54 inch blade, GT14 style Tiller and a project Sickle Bar. The Sickle BAr can likely be made to work on the GT14 style tractors and the C160. I enjoy working on them but as I get older I may not have time or ability to do so. As such, maintenance and parts and ease of use of a single tractor are part of the equation. A couple of these I have poured a lot of time into but I am not emotionally tied to them and I believe if I relocate back east where Grass and tractor need becomes more necessary, I can re-create them. So help me out with my decision. A couple pics of the beasts in question:

Here are more pics

Unloaded my treasures this morning and dragged them to the workshop on our Pulk sled...

753 trans all cleaned up and put back together. All new bearings and seals from @wheelhorseman Used my custom bearing driver for wheel and brake bearing set to proper depth to install the seal.

At least he didn't do this!

Now all i hear now a Days is FEL this FEL that, to me it dont really matter what the FEL is connected to other then a JD ;-), Heres a Bolens i found on Line for sale, a little pricey, 3 point, but hey guys , its American Made !, so all you Men sleepn in Wheel Horse Jammies & using a D250 fuel tank to make your morning refreshments GAZE at this piece of American Garden Tractor History ! That Means you Jim @elcamino/wheelhorse and @953 nut LOL, Yes im back in town hahaha & check out this Sled Dumper, paint it Red & move the trash at Big Show !!!!! @ericj thats a good job for ericj hahaha

If you are determined to scale back to just one I'm with the C-160 all the way. The nearly bullet proof K-series and I feel the mid 70's were the very best years for Wheel Horse.

Here's the video from this afternoon! Adding those paddles really works! Obviously, the deeper the snow, the more consistent the "rooster tail"! Time to go work on JackRabbit...

HA, that looks like the post card I sent to my wife.

Umm...where's the broad?

So—Jim @WHX14 stopped by to look at my shop for heating installation planning purposes on Thursday. After talking about that, we walked around and looked at a couple of the tractors. He asked an interesting question, “Why Don’t You have the Diesel ready for snow removal?” I had the sheepish answer that I haven’t needed to because we just haven’t gotten much measurable snow. Well that changed last night. Woke up this morning early with a couple of 24” drifts in front of the garage and house. I have a teen Sunday school class that I teach at 9:30 every sunday and we weren’t going anywhere until I got that snow outta there!!! Time to shuffle stuff around—took the Cub 100 out of the shop and decided to plow the snow north of the shed since the wind was blowing out of the north at 20mph and would land it back in my lap if I tried to blow it... This is a dedicated furrow plow tractor and doesn’t care to wear “winter clothes” anymore but because JackRabbit isn’t done yet, he had to step into that role for some blade work! Nice little tractor that has plenty of torque and power but is IMHO too slow for this work...you can see RED behind him in this shot. Once I had moved that small area of snow, The Mule went in the spot where RED had been. Then I pulled RED in my HEATED shop and got to work! I can’t tell you how nice it is on a cold day like this to have a warm spot to work. It was 45 degrees in there with the opening of the overhead door (which faces north) to get tractors switched around. Then I fired up the diesel torpedo heater and it was 70 degrees in about 10 minutes! I had to adjust the chain tension on the deuce first, grease and line everything, and then put the belt lid on. Next up hustle and get the blower hooked up. Those of you that have done that @shallowwatersailor And others know that it isn’t difficult but it is time consuming! By 8:15 I pulled it out of the shop— hooked up, fueled up, weighted and ready to work! I ran in and told Kelli I was finally ready to move snow. She said, “Great, we need to leave for church in 30 min!” Time to hurry... The corrections made to the deuce worked AWESOME! Thanks Jeff @WVHillbilly520H for his thoughts and others this thing works awesome and has great blowing power with the rubber paddles and graphite paint on the chute/impeller housing! (Below pics are from the afternoon.) The drifting in front of the garage and the house was the worst maybe 20-24” but the rest of the drive was about 5-6” Closing in the bottom of the chute with sheet metal seemed to work well. I also don’t regret using the graphite paint. All in all it makes a mighty nice snow mover except one thing—NO CAB! I was soaked by the time I finished... I got done, showered, changed and made it to SS with 5 minutes to spare!!!

Space fenders up 1.5" and run 26x12x12. And a photo of the spacers

T Shirts and other Wheel Horse graphic arts!

Could the gear lubricant be so thick that it is passing rotation from one gear to another?

I popped on a "Bud" muffler. A bit louder but not that bad and I like the look better. Plus it blows the crud away from the hood. Took it for a ride around the block and it's running great!

I would keep the C-160-8 , if you sell the others to Forum members I am sure they would let you visit the tractors when you come back East for a visit.

That's a rear end unloader, and I'd love to meet your wife

Cool thread .... keep the coming....... ! You guys have some amazing skills . Still have a tote full of old models and parts that’s full of memories. Another one full of Hot Wheels . I been into cars as long as I can remember. Anyone remember Stompers ? I was always drawing or doodling cars and trucks on paper before the accident (one of the things I miss most) to keep my hands busy. Somewhere there’s a tote full of my drawings from art class and a hard disc that has a car I designed on Auto sketch in layers (way back in the early 90’s in auto shop) . I hope I didn’t lose them when the basement flooded last year. The wife and daughter always wanted to throw them away . I’d need to borrow a computer from @stevasaurus running DOS to see it . We had a computer lab but our shop teacher wanted his own computers. We built and sold trailers to raise money to keep the shop up to date. We ordered (from a catalog) all the parts to build four 486K computers with math coprocessor so we could run Auto Cad 11 . Our four computers made the computer lab a joke . We need more teachers like him and shop classes in today’s schools to teach these millennials real hands on skills . Sorry for the long winded story ACman

We will be there for the whole show representin'.

@chris sutton this looks like the one you've got doesnt it

And the dog says." They get mad at me for making a mess back here and then they load a tractor in ! What's this world coming too? "

Make sure to wash your hands before using that camera BRF ..... I can already smell that delicious greasy food and we all know your camera skills !

Well...........gee...........what does a guy really say???, especially with all the toil and hard work you have been through with most of these tractors. I'd say it almost equates to having 6 children and having to decide which five to leave behind with family members because you realistically know you can't feed all six where you are going......and on top of that, knowing you may never see them again. That's a somewhat bogus analogy though because tractors are merely machines that work and do specific chores for us. They aren't our flesh and blood. They don't need to be fed and clothed and loved like we care for a child or children. Nevertheless, there always is somewhat of an emotional attachment to these mechanical creatures. I think the more of them one acquires, the more deeply rooted that attachment becomes, logical or not. I'm fortunate in that way in that all I've ever had is one tractor........the first year model 1-7441 GT 14. So, from that perspective, if I were you, I would naturally be partial to retaining your superb GT 16 Restomod..........which I believe was your first major Wheel Horse project. If I were you, I believe it would be hardest for me to part with this tractor. You probably have more mechanical experience with the GT model than any other. Of course, knowing your intellect and observational skills, you could easily become an expert with any of these other models of Wheel Horses as you are with the GT 14 beasts. So, perhaps that argument is negated. By the same token its hard to argue with the other contributor's choices of either the 314 or the C160............or the the argument for retaining two with interchangeable implements. I suggest you begin by choosing to sell the models with the least emotional attachment and the least utility based on where you end up moving......i.e where you might go could dictate what your needs will be. Your needs in Idaho, would likely be drastically different than say North Carolina, Indiana, Missouri, or New Mexico/Arizona. Then finally.... the incomparable, remarkable, and as yet unfinished GT22-8. I'm left speechless when I think of you parting with that brilliant creation. Life is full of choices, and as we age our goals and needs also change, especially if our working careers involved fairly frequent, not necessarily desired moves. Start with the least important emotionally to you and evaluate each as to utility based on what you know at this point in time. I have the impression you don't have to clean house tomorrow and wash your hands of it all by next weekend, so be cautious, take your time, and make a decision based your best evaluation of what your needs will be based on the location to which you will be sent. Remember..... with the herd your have and the familiarity everyone here has with you, your word, and your tractor work, you shouldn't have a difficult time selling whatever you finally decide to part with. It should almost be like selling Girl Scout cookies to all the neighbors..........

Redundancy is nice and you don't have to switch implements as often. The tiller is a nice tool but how often do you use it (and the tines look a bit worn). The GT 14 is a beast ...but an older beast and is less flexible in terms of implements.... One last thought. as you age getting on and off the tractors gets less easy... Which one is easier for you. One reason I love my Lawn ranger as a chore tractor easy on easy off...

Bring to the Big Show , BRF may want a drink. May still be good.

Voted C-160 but that G-16 looks tastey too.

Thanks guys for the suggestions on the seat back—we will definitely look at the options by summer and decide what we feel will be the best course of action! Yesterday, I took my favorite girl in the world on a daddy-daughter date and we had a great time. I refrained from commenting here because I wanted to focus on my time with her... always time for selfies! and being a little silly! I’m getting on my “Buddy Holly” look here. All things old become new again! I realize how precious this time is and I love this girl, all too quick she will be a woman and times like these will be scarce. It was a great day You guys are awesome when it comes to the graphic design—both computer and handwritten! As mentioned above, keep it up! Boy the timing of my post with Sarge’s was poetic! That’s a great post Sarge and kudos to you and your daughter for parenting skills!

I work in the Trades, try finding candidates that are not only willing but capable to handle a life of hard, physical work mixed with a lot of technical knowledge. We go through Apprentices faster than we can get them - most don't last past 6mo . Same with many other trades - welders are becoming a big problem and the small shops we had all over are closing more and more since no one is willing to take on the work nor the investment. There is now a bigger national effort to bring young kids into the skilled trades, but it's not easy to get them enthusiastic since they weren't raised to work with their hands. Kudos to anyone that teaches kids more along the lines of the "old ways" - my grandkids will learn how to be more self-sufficient and repair what they have, not replace it or pay someone else. My daughter is a bit odd for her generation - she can tackle more than most younger, new mechanics that actually work in shops when it comes to doing real mechanic's work , not just changing parts per some computer's instructions. She's made me very proud and teaches her children the same things I taught her - she's far from being a lazy parent and I wish there were more like her in society. I love the artistic skills some possess on here - I built many models when I was kid but just never had the artistic flair that some others have - a bit jealous and I really appreciate what others can do. Very nice work...I'm in awe. Sarge

OK, lets see if I can do this, I took some pictures and now the hard part, loading here: I think I did it?

Now thats what Squonk would say hahaha

Inquiring minds want to know

The baby dumptruck is incredible! Love to know more about that...

Glad you found Red Square, Fireslayer! Welcome Aboard!!! If I could offer a suggestion about something that has occurred with few new members in the past......I hope you will lend an ear..... and not be offended or miffed by my comments. They are meant as a suggestion and a heads up when navigating the waters here at RS. It took me a while to get the hang of things and in particular the organizational structure and layout of the web site. Once you get a handle on that, you'll be off and running and quickly get comfortable with the knowledge available and comradery that abounds at this specialized online hobby university. I would strongly suggest you begin a thread with a title that is relevant to the topic you wish to discuss or inquire about, which is easily understood, and place it in an appropriate forum category.......i.e. Tractors, Engines, Transmissions and Transaxles, Implements, etc.,etc., etc.. Doing so will draw those members who have enormous experience, expertise, and knowledge in the those areas, and will also provide someone doing a search of a particular topic, more easily located and relevant threads. In the past we have had a few new members that literally were beginning every thread they authored with their user name in the subject line. The downside of that was they might be asking a question in Tractors, a question in Engines, a question in Electrical, and a question in Implements and Attachments, with only a few hours separating these posts. The user also may have posted a classified ad, but instead of stating the subject matter in the ad title header, they where using their user name in the title. So the negative effect of this habit was, other members really had absolutely no clue about what the poster might be concerned about. The downside to that was that while it made it easier for the drafting of a thread by this new member, it was utterly and bewilderingly confusing for rest of the RS membership. There was truly no way to distinguish at the first sight of a subject title what the user wanted to discuss............without actually opening the post and digesting its real content. To illustrate this point, let's say the new RS member assigned the user name to himself of "Uncle Buffalo Bob" and to each subject line of his posts regardless of actual content of each post. So the membership sees multiple posts entitled "Uncle Buffalo Bob", yet has NO CLUE what the subject matter is. If one did a search for "Uncle Buffalo Bob", he would get a returned result full of threads all with the same title and with very little way to distinguish the thread content of any of the posts. It appears that you thankfully and luckily are on your way to helping to solve your axle problem, largely thanks to the probable inquisitive nature of other members wondering what "Fireslayer" meant in terms of Wheel Horse tractors, rather than grasping immediately the subject matter of concern in the thread title. If you wanted to draw attention more quickly to any concern or problem you might be having with a WH, an example of better title for this particular thread might have been "Looking for a 520H axle" or, "Suggestions on where to buy a 520H axle?". Something along those lines......... I would suggest you not use your user name in a thread title line again. Assigning a unique title would likely deliver even faster response times to your particular issue, whatever that may be. Once again, to Thanks for hearing me out. Good luck on your project. Regards, Steve

Seems the link got broken.

^^^^^ Got a point or two worth thought there. I'd go with the C160 but I was torn between that and the 314H.

You just make the garden twice as large!!