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A buddy who lives a couple of blocks from me came over today and asked if I'd like to have his old tractor.... Of course I would! One of the P.O's. used to pull this thing when it was new, my buddy has owned it for several years and mowed his yard with it until the deck wore out a few years ago, it's been sitting in his garage since. He told me he put a new engine in it about 10 years ago.

I love watching birds. Been doing this for at 35 years as a hobby. I also love living where lots of animals make their own homes. Last weekend we were thinking of taking a little canoe trip but didn't get to it. Too hot. Trina looked at the canoe when she saw the Phoebe flying around it. I guess we can wait a few more weeks to use it.

Its a beautiful day in MN 80 deg. and no clouds in sight a fresh coat of linseed oil and let it bake in the sun

Sooo about three months ago I had a friend of a friend pass to me the most needy Wheel Horse GT14 Tractor I had ever seen, it was completely taken apart every single part had rust and two coats on oil paint one blue and one yellow. parts were missing and of course there was no labeling of parts or assembly there-of. All wiring, gauges, rectifiers were removed and non existent….. still the machine was calling to me to try and do the almost impossible...… My thanks to Aldon for parts and support and Kyle for Technical help and shoulder to cry on. …. The only saving grace of the entire project is that the engine and tranny were indeed still good...… in fact the only remaining issue I have on the machine is that I cannot free-up the relief valve so that I can move the machine w/o power..... I think this might be stuck forever … but not the end of the world.

It’s also beautiful here at my temporary home (Vermont). Got my boat launched and bait in the fridge!!

I remember, It was the holidays... and the Mrs Rules wanted this pile cleaned up.

What a wonderful gift, Only thing my neighbor gave me was summer squash!

I remember this pile was going to scrap... if I didn't take it. Felt so guilty, I gave him a 150 bucks.

Very cool, but I gotta say for those Wheel Horses that work for a living and seem to thrive on dust and a wee bit of grime, I think there's gonna be a bit of snickering and whinnying in the barn at the prima donnas that get one of those for their birthday or Christmas...

Or a little bacon and eggs will take care of that. Phoebe eggs are a delicacy in Milbridge, Maine.

those aren't scrap piles, they're treasure piles

Ok, enough of all these pretty tractor pictures ... we all know that to build a sweet restored machine another machine had to make the ultimate sacrifice. So let’s see those poor ol’ machines that have donated their motors and tranny’s to bring your baby back to its glory days. Go out behind the garage or shed , or maybe out in the woods where it’s quietly waiting to give up another part and snap us a pic. Here couple of mine....only a trained eye could see that there’s a C-85 and a C-81 in these two pics

Got frame strengthened and motor swapped out. Hood is banged up and a prior owner drilled a bunch of holes along the bottom edge for some reason. So I don’t feel too bad mounting the old school style throttle to the side. Won’t win a beauty pageant but the motor is fresh rebuilt and this thing should be a reliable grandchild magnet for at least a decade:-) My grandaughters helped me. Disappeared after we pulled the hubs. No worries. They have some sweat equity in it and have the wheel horse bug now:-) Alrhough they like the restores C160 better....Which means I’ll end up stripping down this round hood likely next summer and making it pretty.

Engines need to go somewhere else besides my bench! Not really scrap. More like "Spare Parts Saturday"

Absolutely beautiful outside FYI. The black spot near bottom center is a red shouldered hawk....

This looks to be the year for me to get up to Bret's Portage Tractor Show. I will be bringing two Wheel Horse tractors!

Hurry up boys-I just ordered me two for my two favorite workers that aren't lucky enough to always spend the night indoors. Sure am glad to see Glenn active again. Gotta support him in return for all of the love he's given all of us.

We spent a few minutes looking at the charging system and wires on the tractor tonight. It seems that a previous owner decided that they did not need to repair the diodes, one of which is bad, and the two AC wires were directly connected to the positive of the battery. We will rebuild the wiring harness and add a solenoid and new 5 Pin switch tomorrow. Added a couple engine outer pieces and the air filter tonight.

So my wife and I are on a walk and the neighbor is rolling an apparently perfectly good Toro lawn mower to the trash...I ask him what's wrong with it and he says - "won't Stay Running..." So as my wife rolls her eyes, for she is wise enough to know what's coming, I politely ask if he minds setting it to the side so I can grab it after our walk (I know from my recent wheel barrow trash pick (Still working on that trailer build - more to come on separate thread) that she does not like sharing our walk with my treasures...). He says "I will do you one better and wheel it to your driveway" Did I mention I have outstanding neighbors?!!! Back from our walk I put gas in it and pull the cord...First time fires right up. No smoke, no issues. Runs like a top. So I do the right thing and go to my neighbor and inform him that it started right up and does he want it back?. He says "keep it...already got a new one...Besides - It just isn't in good shape.". Well - come to find out there was a wee bit more wrong with it - clutch shot, belts toast, and power drive shot as well. HHHMMM... what to do... FREE is FREE and I do not like making something free cost money, so I tear out the clutch and all associated stuff, disconnect the drive train making it a good old fashioned push mower, remove all the bizarre plastic crap under the metal deck, bolt on the blade solid like the old days, put back all the junk plastic covers and voila - My new push mower / brush hog for those areas where you do not want "stuff" clogging the deck or breaking the belts on the "good" mower (the 15 year old Toro)... Of course, I will only use this to loan out, when I mow down the perennials in the fall, or where the WH can't go or I do not want to risk damaging the deck due to less that pristine conditions... Not bad for an hour's work...

Magnum 18 ...Nice neighbor!! one thing. if you plan on using a deck with a manual PTO look up the spec number of the engine. Not all Magnums had thrust bearings to deal with end loading...

It will be just Friday for me. My 2 children (same birthday 2 years apart July 17) are having a birthday grilling party Saturday. They are turning 40 and 38 years old. Boy, do I feel old.

A little oil lubricating the joints on a nice day like this??? Priceless. Also smoking salmon and catfish on the grill...to die for.

I have no interest in taking apart the 3 point and rear pto set up to really clean up the parts. I used pressure washer and got it real clean, primed with self etching primer and went to town. This is a worker and not a show machine. It is cleaning up real nice though

When I saw the linseed oil, I expected to see you in a lawn chair. Horses look nice Mike.

I took pfrederi's approach. I have 4 acres to mow. My 522xi takes good care of the front yard and around the house, but the 3 acres out back get mowed with my Ford 660 and 6ft Wood 3 point finishing mower. I can mow about 3 acres in an hour and half. My Ford 8N with a 6ft Woods belly mower serves as back up. My 660 has more power and power steering, so its my go-to tractor. My Woods mowers do as good a job as the 522xi, but aren't nearly as nimble.

Now that’s what I’m talkin about

Tires showed up

All you need Pete, is the logo applied to the outside of your buildings... to achieve the same effect.

A bit more done

I only have one pic of my progress this week. I've got the frame and several small parts painted and I disassembled the tranny in order to blast the cases and have it back together with new seals. I'm hoping to have a rolling frame in the next week or so.

Just something to think about...

We have Baltimore & Orchard Orioles, and Gold finches eating outside our Kitchen window. Once in awhile a Purple Finch will drop in.

I'm thinking the Tractor is better.... But I do like summer squash. Nice catch Denny !!!!

Remind me not to play cards at your house, you have a marked deck!

Thats where i was sitting steve how did you know

She just wanted to be able to get to the washer /dryer. You we're out of clean under ware and towels!

The more I clean parts and look at @Shynon 1054 thread, the more I see is missing or worn out. I guess when I bought a project, it is really a project. Spindles, draglink and tie bar are all toast, hydraulic pump is missing, no wiring harness or switches. But that grille with that twin poking out. 👍 I hear the moans and groans of the purists already

We've had these little guys, hanging outside the front bay window since mid May. We're thinking...maybe two sets of mating pairs... sure has been a joy having them around this year.

The way you travel, Your permanent home is temporary!

I like watching the tweety birds as well. I have 4 feeders with 4 different kinds of feed. My favorite is the Goldfinch. I have a feeder right out my window where my PC is. Finchy will fly in and out of a cedar tree for hours.

Poor old girl...

@PeacemakerJack great pictures and you’ve done such a great job telling us your stories! Thanks Josh for sharing with us

Really nice covers,but……..with something like 80 tractors,I'd have to buy way too many.Thinking about putting up another building dedicated to tractors only.

Like this one Bill?

Funny story about that—I remember my dad moving the 875 around the garage when I was kid. He would pick up one wheel and wrestle with the tractor trying to get it where he wanted to go. When we received the decal kit from @Vinylguy Terry it had the decal with the info about the towing valve. Dad didn’t know where that needed to go and so I asked on here. Then I showed him the valve...we opened it and he couldn’t believe how much easier it moved... Thanks @pfrederi for the link and info!

Well, spent all day yesterday working on our new barn, but got in a few minutes this morning before taking Dad to the dr. Had already finished welding the guard I'm making, so did a little grinding and finish work. Not too bad considering my welding is farm quality - function over looks. A few pin holes that might get a little filler, but otherwise ok. I know i got good penetration because I had to grind down several bird t..ds on the inside😂. I'll try to get a little more done tonight before going back to the barn early tomorrow.