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As some of you may know I quit my oilfield driving job a few months ago, money was great but the time away from home was not. Ended up taking a job at our local tire shop as a shop hand, as well as lead wrecker driver, which is great as towing has been my passion ever since I watched my dad's best friend turn over a rolled cattle truck 2 miles from our house when I was about 10. Anyway yesterday morning started like any other day, clock in, pour some coffee and sit down to do paperwork on the two Highway Patrol impounds from the night before, when the phone rings. Simple call, just a Hummer H3 with the transmission out about 20 miles away. So I fire up the old rollback and head out. Get there and start winching it on the truck when out of nowhere comes a state Dept dump truck. When I can feel the wind off a passing vehicle while standing at my controls, they're entirely too close and driving way too fast. I'm not sure what he was doing, but here in Oklahoma it's so flat you can see for miles so the excuse of not not being seen quick enough doesn't really work here. Guys what I'm trying to say is when you see any of my brothers and sisters in the towing industry recovering a vehicle on the side of the highway, please move over and slow down, not only is it the law, but it keeps us going home safely every night. We are out here to make our living and support our families while doing a job that we love, but our main goal is to get the job done safely and return home to our loved ones at night

Made a fuel tank for on of my D200, 1/8 in. plate. And no leaks. 3hours and some plate that was laying around. It hold about 8 gallons of fuel. It bolts to the sides of the fenders and don't sit on the bottom of the tank.

You are in the right spot for all things !!! Not a motor guy so I had a shop rebuild my Kohler 10 about 2 years ago. Smoked like a chimney and made unnatural sounds...Needed a bore and some new guts...Spent around $750 if I remember correctly. Probably more than many do it yourselfers would say reasonable, but I like the 10 HP Kohler and the tractor was free to me so it was good. Kept the tractor with an original engine as well... A lot of folks have mentioned the Predator engines from Harbor Freight in other posts as very inexpensive and decent to operate. When I looked into it they were about 1/2 the price for what I paid to have the Kohler rebuilt. But for me, keeping the Kohler was important and I did not want to change the tractor in that regard. I would rebuild it...

Started this project back in 2009. Just now working on it again. Some pictures. Maybe I will get it finished sometime in the next nine years.

So we have dropped the tractors off and got the truck. I have several photos to upload from the trip. I will have to get them all up tomorrow.

I think thats. Privilege of going to the show Jim not sure if videos can be taken.

I think I had two 2" ratchet straps and three 1-1/2" ratchet straps holding Skittles on the trailer to and from the show this year. I found that all the bouncing around on the interstate loosened even these up. Every time I stopped for gas or break, I tightened them up. Never can have enough security. I hope you guys get everything repaired. Best of luck,Richie

There is a guy selling a 314-8 on the Hudson Valley Craigslist for $350. Search Wheelhorse as one word to find it. Nice looking machine in the picture. It could supply you with a good motor and spare parts! Bill

So I got this a few years ago and figured it was time to freshen her up a bit. Not perfect but a lot better then when I started. I decided to do a black frame and underside.

Found this on craigslist the guy had two wheel horse tractors for sale. He had a 520 H and the 312-8 for $350. He wanted 150 for the 312 and when I got there it was in pretty rough shape I said no the best I can do it 100. Then he told me he was going to scrap it for 100 rather than to sell it for that . So I slowly started walking away and he said finally if you want it for hundred take it. It is a little rough but there has to be a silver lining somewhere. He still has the 520 H and it is still for sale if anyone wants it. I told him about red square here and that he should put it on the site for sale. It has a 20 horse onan and it it does run. It doesn't smoke and sounds good.

Working on a 42 inch sickle bar mower I got last year. Needs some restoration work ! Rust removal, paint, new bolts and pulleys. Building a frame plate setup with new pillows , shaft and bearings. Also on this one.

Just got all the parts back from stripping. The bed is to pitted to powder coat so paint it is starting with my favorite primer JP209 epoxy primer should fill in the pitting and give a nice finish. So now the fun begins a little hammering a little welding and some tweaking she should be pretty straight and ready for a coat of primer

My C-101 plows, tills, and works the garden just wonderfully. I’d say anything 8 speed will surprise you. Of course, if someone plopped another 6 Horses under my hood, I’m sure it would be amazing!

How very true.

I see @stevasaurus sitting on the roof keeping you company.

Whether you guys are truck drivers like myself or not, I'm sure you're aware that there are minimum cargo retention laws placed by the federal government which are also over written by more strict or stringent laws by a lot of the states. It sounds like those of you who use a lot of ratchet, (not pull to tighten!!), Type straps have definitely got your methods down and should be doing fine. The company I work for focus is quite a bit on safety and trying to follow the rules most of the time and they actually require one additional strap on every unit than is required by the DOT. Sometimes this is a little challenging to accomplish but we do the best we can with what we have. Please pay very very close attention to the working load limit or WLL that is on the tag of every single strap. Rope is not legal. Rubber cords are not legal.

Yeah I couldn't think of this kohler going to shreds. It really would've hurt my feelings. I felt I had to step up and bring it home site on scene or running or not . And as far as the rodents go the little buggers had a huge nest !

@The Tool Crib Great save! I hate the thought of these things going to scrap and getting melted down! Much better as a Horse or just parts than the steel being turned into a toaster!

Doesnt look that cozy to me... maybe we should just lay a little pillow and blanket in the corner... shaped like a wedge of cheese with a mouth full of peanut butter.

Headlights continued. The mount was from alloy sheet. White border painted on. Will look better with a decal fitted. The two holes were the first attempt at mounting the headlights via a bolt through the original painted reflector. After scrapping this idea holes were cut using a large washer as a guide. Easier than expected using a very fine saw but had to take care not to damage the paint too much. Should have thought of plan 2 before painting. Next are the lights with plastic retaining rings held onto the rim with very small self tappers. These three photo's show the lights fitted, then the rings painted. Also showing the bulbs which are just a push fit. These appear to look cross eyed on the front view. As said previously, these lights were worked on over approx one year on and off, trying different idea's etc. The next photo's show hub caps which were quick and simple and were only made / altered recently. Jumping the gun a bit here but not to worry. Looking around for something suitable the cap from a deoderant bottle was found to be a good fit over the wheel hubs. Black plastic which was painted white. The end didn't have a sharp edge which would have made painting the red easy so plastic discs were cut and fitted using small expanding rivets which I had a stock of. Three more bottles were obtained which gave the required four. The result, better looking wheel hubs and a nicer smelling wife. OOP's, shouldn't have said that. The discs mounted on a rod ready for painting. The four stages and the rivets. Front and rear wheels with caps. The fronts were a nice push fit but the rears wouldn't go over the hub weld without stretching resulting in chipped paint. A few spots of glue cured this.

As if we don't live far enough out in the sticks already. We're going to go a few hours North and hang around rough camping with the moose for a few days. Can't even begin to tell you how much I'm looking forward to it!!

I kind of like the black frame motif.Looks good.My take on the theme.

Looking good. You may want to move that Green Thing , horses have been know to kick them .

No phone and internet actually sounds like a little slice of heaven! The internet is great but boy can I waste some time on it looking at nothing important .

Yyeeaahhh... Boy that thing is puurrttyy @953 nut Don't sweat over getting old. It happens to the best of us. Actually, it happens to the worst of us too. There once was a time when I was working on the auto parts counter and a beautiful young woman walked up to buy some stuff. We completed the transaction and she wrote out and handed me a check. She had just turned 18 and was excited to write out her checks on her own new account. She had the type of name that there could have been only one of her in the area. The address had changed but I asked her if she had been born in such and such a place because I remember her as a newborn. Of course she said yes and I felt about 752 years old at that moment. That was over 21 years ago!

Here is the digger attached to Big Ugly.

First point!- shows she's ig-nant.😒 The rest shows she is right. 😀

With my tiller, there is absolutely no control of ground speed with a hydro, I am constantly playing with the motion control and brake.

That was going to be my answer as well. The way I figure it is that I have a b80 with more than enough power to move the tractor so that extra 8 horsepower to drive a rototiller should work out quite well. In reality, there would be a lot of personal preference issues on style, automatic or manual, how much horsepower you prefer. I would imagine that pretty much anything over about 12 horse with a manual would be adequate to run a rototiller in most soil types.

I'm planning on being there.....Key word is "Planning".

There is no reason to stick with the exact same motor. This is my GT1600. Someone before me swapped in a Kohler Magnum 10.

Let's keep in mind ...... once again Wheel Horse used up lots of old parts. The bronze bushing (# 1503) was a industrial standard part and Wheel Horse purchased lots of 'em, now since the Lawn Ranger was not designed for ground engaging attachments and did not need the reliability of the Torrington needle bearings here was a way to use the supply of bushings up. Now the steel flanged hubs I mentioned were on this transmission. I have not had a Unidrive from a 1045 opened BUT since this model did use old and new styled parts (old round hood fenders with the new square hood) I would bet they might have used the #1503 bronze bushing too. Wild Bill in Richmond, VA

This may have been the first working part of the last master bath project... I don’t recall.

If you have a laser lining up a urinal, would that make it dead nut on?

OK let me chime in here YES some of the Lawn Ranger Unidrive transmissions used a bushing at the axle ends and if I remember correctly it was early 1965 was the last they used the bushings. The ealry 1965 Lawn Ranger also used a steel flanged axle hub instead of the cast iron hub. Wild Bill in Richmond, VA

Fr $100 you cannot go wrong...even if the engine is toasted you have that much in parts.

Sounds like you work for a similar company I did several years ago. I always try to look stuff over but apparently I missed it that day. But lessons learned no one was hurt, except the pocket book.

I prefer a hydro because of 1) the hydraulic lift and 2) you're never in the wrong gear, then a 20 HP twin cylinder Onan spinning the tines just my hillbilly (non)sense, Jeff.

It's happening around here too. We used to joke that they would soon be taxing us to poop. Well it's happening....

Ok this kinda makes sense now Wheel horse offered a update kit for the 5048 transmission kit # 7168. Below is a picture of the #7168 kit that I took at the big show this year that my friend Alan had for sale. Also here is a picture of the wheel horse transmission manual notice at the bottom of the page where I circled it, it references the kit to update the 5048 transmission to the 5053 transmission you will notice it gives you new axles and the cast-iron hubs but begs the question where are the needle bearings? I am dying to know were the original axles soft? Did Wheelhorse receive a batch of unhardened axles and wanted to use them up and not waste any parts for the same reason we have 754s, 1045s and 1046s today so they used a bronze bushing instead of a needle bearing???

@WVHillbilly520H That was an ambitious mouse there!! Quite the builder!! lol 😂

Model 5048 transmission Check item #3 https://www.partstree.com/parts/toro/mowers-lawn-garden-tractor/l-155-toro-l-155-tractor-1965/transmission-parts-list/ Garry

Interesting Bill in the fact that a LR was meant to be a lower end tractor hence bushings instead of bearings? Perhaps one of those transmissions errantly found it's way on a 1045 on the production line? By chance did the tractor have steel hubs Crazy?

The ever dreaded mouse condo is probably in there! I picked up a 312-8 and the mice had eaten the spark plug wire off of the mag/coil...birty little dastards!

As was excellent workmanship .

probably did after though?