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Well, it's mowing season once again... definitely my favorite time of the year as I get more seat time. I got my two worker horses out last week for maintenance and first round of mowing. Mowed again today for their second round of mowing duty this year. The grass always seems to be greener on my side of the fence. When I get my horses out, all of my neighbors' deeres and cubs run back into their sheds and hide. Just can't say enough about these old Wheel Horse garden tractors... still run great after all these years. My primary worker 1995 314-8... I stole this one about six years ago, local craigslist find... only paid $500 for this tractor with mowing deck and single stage snow blower. This is my really nice 1967 model 857 that I bought from Bob Maynard three years ago.

Thanks to everyone for the Birthday wishes. Turns out Paul @pfrederi and Jim @WHX17 were right on the money with their wishes of another , or two. Monday I had a project wrapping up at my church and was working with a member I hadn't gotten too know before. The conversation while working along came around to (amazing, I know) and he said his neighbor had one that he just couldn't get running so he wanted to sell it. Long story short I checked it out and now own a '69 Charger which will probably be a parts tractor, I will know more once I attempt to get it running! Also, @12 hp Kohler had a "Roller" that we struck a deal on so it was a Birthday.

Picked up some 'barn finds' last week: a 1988 518H, a 1990 520H with swept axle, a 1992 520H 'roller' with reduction steering, three decks, and a plow. None have run in 2 to five years. I'm hoping to get one or two running tractors out of them, and probably part out the leftovers. If I can get the 18hp running, I might put it on one of the 520s. But I'm running into a difference in the wiring from 1988 to 1992. The 518 has a starter solenoid, and the 520 has relays or direct wiring to the starter. I've downloaded and studied the wiring diagrams, but the 500 series tractors are MUCH more complicated than the Kohler single cylinders that I've worked on before. Anyone have experience putting an older 18hp onto a newer 520H ? If the 18hp Onan doesn't run, I might go with a HF Predator, but I would lose some of the features of the 520. Any advice much appreciated. Jim

I have used many different spray guns, Binks, DeVilbiss, Sharpe. These are all higher end spray guns and all do a great job. I purchased a HF gun to use as a primer gun and liked it so well that I now use it for painting. Here's a link.https://www.harborfreight.com/20-fl-oz-hvlp-gravity-feed-air-spray-gun-62300.html When you compare the HF price to a professional gun, you could almost just throw the HF guns away after each job. The main thing with any gun is to keep it clean!!! The best gun in the world will not spray well if it is dirty or plugged. I've also had some trouble with the cup leaking on my HF gun. I found that I had not cleaned the threads on the cup & cap well enough the last time that I used it. Removed every stich of paint from the cup & cap and no longer had a leaking issue. I've used my HF gun for about 5yrs now, still works great.

First off down load a Kohler manual, there are free ones on this site. The manual is crucial especially if you have never rebuilt a Kohler. Before you buy any parts disassemble the engine, measure the bore or take it to a machine shop to have it measured. If it is out of specs ( size / out of round) it will need to be bored. A machine shop should be able to tell you how far they will have to bore it out to get it correct. Judging by your pic I'm almost positive that you will need to have it bored. Also measure or have the crank measured at the rod pin. If the crank is worn you may have to have the crank turned and go with an under sized rod. Once you have your measurements then you can order your parts. Take your piston with when you have your parts machined so that they have it to size the cylinder correctly. Here is one source for rebuild kits. Kits go from $420 and under for OEM and $90 and under for aftermarket. http://www.psep.biz/store/kohler_rebuild_kits.htm

You will most likely need to have it bored completely rebuilt. Very seldom does the hone and rering deal work very well. Once you are done, you will have a motor that will last quite some time!

Got the out front deck installed today. It’s works well even lacking the gauge wheels. It cut very well and it reached far under the trees. I was also able to reach areas into a drainage ditch that typically requires a string trimmer. The only drawback is when I put it into the shed. It’s rather long and I’m afraid that it’s novelty will wear off soon when I need space. Im thinking that the room it takes up is a deal breaker for me. It may need a new home.

I have never used a HVLP gun but may buy one based on reports from friends that use them. I have four Binks knock-off guns that were purchased in the '70s. One has never been used for anything but clear lacquer and has a special clear nozzle. It may never be used again because it is hard to justify the cost of lacquer today. One is only used for primer and it shows. The others have been kept clean in spite of a variety of colors be run through them over the yeas. Cleanliness is the key to success, this is especially important if you are using a catalyzed hardener with your enamel. The entire gun needs to be spotless before the paint kicks or it will never be the same.

Got up ealry and started painting my RJ redo again. Painted another RJ gas tank and the frame which I had sandblasted and primed yesterday!

I am considering selling my 704 rat build. Has excellent running single yank start Wisconsin and a very clean 8 speed. If purchased ahead of time, I will drag to the big show in June. Asking $700 obo. There is a thread on here on this build. Please note that the current solid pan seat is not included with sale. I will include one like it with the holes in the pan.

it's tight in there, but now the front cylinder is plumbed in need to start the hitch next...

The overbore is going to depend upon cylinder wear and to a degree the machine shop. At one time around here it seems like one didn't like to go .010 with a boring bar but if they use like a Sunnen CK 10 type machine it is very doable. I have opened my own to .010 over with what is called a rigid hone by starting at the bottom where it is still round an working to the top. Frequent checking with bore gave I required not for everyone though. Best left to the machinist though.

After it stopped snowing Saturday, I took the rear chains and roller chains off the 68 Commando 8, and changed the dozer blade over to the 36" mower deck. Changed the oil and greased the tractor and checked the lube. It's ready for lawn duties.

My neighbor and I welded up the Wheelie bars and the front weight bar. I started priming the tins a few days ago. Hopefully the paint comes in tomorrow and I can get painting. She’s starting to look like something.

I spent some time during off season and restored the old girl she will out last me. I have a 416-8 and I love this one. I don't see many around well not here in Va.

@Achto is right as well, different shops like to do things differently. Some want to finish bore it to match the piston, others the other way. As long as they stand behind their work, it should be all good!! Randy

Up date. Mower is up and running again I guess the screws were backed out enough on the pump so it wouldn't pump fuel. Strange. No oil leaking from the gasket.

Got everything back on my 246H on Sunday. Was a little late when I finished and the weather was garbage yesterday so I waited til today to start it. Fired on the second crank an it sounds sooooo smooth. Pretty happy with it as this is the first time I've done engine work like this. I ended up setting the smoke alarm off in the garage from all the oily dirt burning off the exhaust, lol. Other than that, no issues. Hat tip to @Docwheelhorse for all the advice he gave me while working on this.

I've used the bottle jack with success a few times, I started with a 2 ton bottle jack like yours and the relief valve kicks in. I then went to a 6 ton and broke a threaded rod!!! However last week it wasn't going to work, so I went back to basics. A big disc was used to make sure all was spread equally across the bolts holes, then a traditional puller. Heat the hub in order to help, then tighten up and strike the end of the puller with a hammer. Shock is the only way on some of them to break the bond, this tranny had been in a fire and left outside for 3 years so was never going to come apart easily...

Steve: I had one four times as large for many years and it still looked like this!

Good lesson for anyone considering the purchase is a Chinese carburetor. Always look for one that advertises SAE (American) threads and correct choke. Not only are the screws metric on most imports, but so is the inlet for the fuel. Many have the choke lever backwards as well.

They're likely tapped metric. You could bring the carb to the hardware store and get some correct fasteners.

Thanks to all it is my second one I have restored. This 101 is my favorite. I did a 312-A and my neighbor at the lake wanted it so I sold it. Funny he mowed grass with it come over and gave me cash. Here is the 312-A. Thanks to all

Wow beautiful job! The 1978-79 C-series are my favorite! I have six of them. Here's two of them. C-161 8-Speed and C-121 automatic

Ok I joined up after realizing my error! Well worth the money for the help!

Now we are getting somewhere...there is absolutely no way both wheels would spin at the same time with an 8 pinion differential. If both actually did try to spin at the same time and did for a couple of seconds....congratulations...you are the proud owner of a 10 pinion Limited Slip differential...maybe with a weak spring. I am going to tell you something about differentials. If you put your rear end on blocks and put the trans in gear with the engine running...let's try 1st gear first...one or both tires will spin. You can grab one of the tires and the other one will spin...you can then let go of that tire and go to the other side and grab that tire and hold it, and the other tire will spin. That is how a regular transmission works. Now picture that the tire that is turning is on the ice and the other is on concrete. An 8 pinion differential is going to sit there and spin all day. The 10 pinion LS differential should start the tire on the concrete spinning along with the one on the ice, thus moving the horse from being stuck. So...if you have the 10 pinion...when you grab one of the wheels...you should not be able to hold it from spinning (if it is working properly). Remember, it is Limited Slip...not Posi-traction like in a Pontiac. The sure way to find what you have...open the transmission and stop screwing around...then you can clean it, replace worn parts and have a horse that will last you another 50 years. I'll wager 99% chance you have a 10 pinion LS differential. Here is a video of the 10 pinion Limited Slip differential.

Here's a deal that I couldn't pass up. It was a craigslist buy from a guy getting rid of this k241 with a cracked piston for $40. It also came with the PTO pulley, ignition coil, two carburetors with air filter housings (one looks like a new aftermarket) and the engine appears to be complete except the muffler. There are small miscellaneous parts missing but it's well worth the price. He said it needs to be bored but I don't know if he meant cross hatched or bored out. Can anyone tell me how to figure out what it needs other than a piston? I've never rebuilt a Kohler engine before. It will be a while before I actually get to it but any tips or how to get started would be appreciated. He said it turned over but he couldn't figure out why it wouldn't start until he pulled the cylinder head. He replaced the engine and wasn't going to spend time on this one. The bore has light surface rust but no deep scoring. I got the impression that he knew it has value for parts but thinks it is not worth fixing. I'm not at all experienced with these engines but I'm thinking it can be revived and well worth the effort.

Hope you had a nice Birthday !

@cleat, maybe you can shed some light on the differences between model year wiring with the Onan powered .

Wish you s great birthday with lots of seat time or shop time!

Anything "67 is one of my favorites! Will see what we can do about getting you a nice deck for your other tractor! Btw Dave I did find a nice side deflector for you too. You are really gonna like mowing with a 520! Get ready to put a wheel spinner on with that gear reduction!

Mike...along with what the guys have to say here, I remember some real good threads from the past on this site. Try doing a search for paint guns also.

richmondred hooked me up with one. heading to napa saturday to make all the hoses. then i will figure out how to post pics. thanks again richmondred

hey Jocce, welcome to the group - have fun!

Great job

I guess if I get to the point where the hub needs to be cut then I should at least crank the puller as hard as possible to see if something breaks or the hub comes off.

I have the deck mounted, and now when moving, and the deck engaged, it no longer surges. Now we just need some grass to mow!

Happy Birthday 953nut

I found some PPG Delthane/Delstar fast reducer and fish eye remover. Painted my IH 560 worker this winter. Hopefully this Horse turns out as well.

@Rob R what a great article. Karl, thanks for sharing it. Rob, I too spent my tour in Di An with the 168th Combat Engineers. We were there to support The Big Red One. Our guys probably built your barracks and showers and tank pads. Only missed you by a couple of years. I got out of there in November 1966 and never looked back!!!

New tractor for Christmas?? Or until the cows come home? It looks like we'll get the 310 fired up. May need to go slow, but as I am teaching my 16 year old daughter to mow all should be fine. Driving the tractor is a requirement to drive the car. The boys did it, now starting on the girls. Yee hah!

Maybe a stuck ring became unstuck.

I'm always the odd man out on things like this it seems. Maybe it's because part of my job is to determine pricing on things we sell in our business, including spare parts. So I look at it from a different perspective. Toro is trying to make sure they don't lose money on parts. If they're lucky, they're making money on them. But I'd be surprised if they are getting rich off of these things. Parts are expensive. No doubt. I don't disagree with that and it sucks to have to buy them. But costs of doing business rise just like everything else. For us to expect them to never adjust pricing is silly, even for some item that might have been made 40 years ago and has been sitting in inventory ever since. I of course don't know specifically how Toro marks up their parts, but you can bet on it that the bulk of the markup isn't "profit." They are paying overhead and general and administrative costs on everything they do. Electricity for the warehouse the part is sitting in, real estate taxes on the warehouse the part is sitting in, the salary and benefits of the picker who pulls it from the shelf, The shelf itself, the salary and benefits of the security guard out in the parking lot, the salary and benefits of the legions of people that shuffle paper around to keep track of which shelf in which warehouse the part is sitting on, permit costs to keep the place open, maybe pensions to people who no longer work there, possibly inventory taxes every year that goes by on that part, on and on. Shoot, they even have to pay the guys that cut the grass outside their buildings and for the break room table and coffee pot. Don't forget toilet paper for the guys that have their bodies trained to evacuate on company time. They also have to pay for the computers and statistics folks that try to anticipate what parts are needed for their current lines of machinery. And for R&D and marketing for new products. All of that gets rolled into every transaction they make. The CEO and other people way, way at the top get paid to manage all of this and more. They're in there too. These costs of course are on top of the cost of the actual value of the part. In cases where they have to have a batch run, they have to pay for all of them up front and then float the cost over time. I wouldn't be surprised for them to amortize the cost of a batch of parts over a fixed number of them that they expect to sell in a year (for example). So if you're buying an idler pulley assembly you are probably also paying for a couple of other idler pulleys they expect to languish on the shelf longer than a year. But they commissioned more than they need to ensure the part is in stock in case of abnormal demand. Just guessing of course. It's hard to imagine how much stuff in their parts inventory never sells. Eventually they throw all of this stuff away. I heard stories about the exodus from South Bend where tons - literally - of old parts inventory was hauled to the scrap yard just down Ireland Rd. from the factory. Stuff that hadn't sold and wasn't valuable enough to move to Minnesota. The relatively low value of the little things we buy for our tractors is overshadowed by the costs they have to charge. Some of the cost of getting the part to you from their shelf is relatively constant across the range of their stuff. So if you're buying a new $1000 transmission for a Groundsmaster or you're buying a $0.39 primer bulb for your snow thrower it still costs Toro about the same amount to find the thing, get it off a shelf, stick it in a box, ship it, and update the inventory. So it makes little things artificially expensive. I'm sure they have a way of spreading the costs around to keep the prices on low-value stuff as low as practical, but it probably isn't completely proportional. There is a tremendous amount of stuff going on in the background. Paying for all of that has to happen. And there is only one source of revenue for these businesses: customers. I wouldn't expect that Toro is big enough in the parts distribution network to be automating anything in their system either. Chances are that everything is still done by people, which obviously costs more on a running basis than a machine. Somewhere in my literature collection I have a couple of price increase notices from WH from way, way back. They've always done things this way. I think the requirement for a manufacturer to support parts for a machine is only about 7-10 years after it was last manufactured. I wouldn't be surprised if one day they just abandon anything older than that. I suspect that Toro being a privately held business has something to do with their long-term product support that they've shown so far. This doesn't make it better, but perhaps it is something to think about next time you buy an expensive OEM item. besides, it could be worse...ever bought Echo parts? Wow! Steve

Thank u for update thats awsome im about 2.5 hours from there i have a restored d250 id love to do something with

I just recently finished remodeling our living room and gave a little hall way a fresh coat of paint. The little hallway has 5 door trims and is only about 7x7. I have been reorganizing my shop. Started building a moveable vice table. Finished the vice table and used it. Worked very well. Tomorrow I'm going to pour a footing under an an existing slab for the shop addition. Also doing some yard work in the cooler part of the day.

I made this stack from a piece of 2 1/2" pipe with a turn out. Although it looks like a strait pipe, I made a perforated baffle for the inside of it. I kept it a little taller in order to keep the exhaust out of my face. It has a nice deep sound but is just a little loader than I had wished for. A pic of the baffle that is inside.

If you started the thread its yours to do as you please! Its when others butt in that it gets rude, but this site is really great about not hijacking threads and people not getting worked up if they do. I guess it something about Horses that makes people easy to get along with!! Randy

Like someone needs to prod you into buying a tractor!

You might check with Bowtieguy, he has a nice one. Ron