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Finally Mounted...I think i need mental and physical therapy after mounting the fronts, with the tire machine at my shop the rears were a breeze, but the fronts? they better last 25 years

Began construction of an 18 HP leaf blower today! The rest of the snow team is ready to go. I will be pulling a 42" lawn sweeper behind the 310-8 with a rear discharge mower to pick up leaves to compost. Sorry, no photos yet.

Not that she has a very marketable trade... not that she's not as sweet as pecan pie...I guess that she just supports my whims (read hobbies or even addictions) and comes home with stuff like this.

This is how it's done!

Born and raised in a junkyard and have the scars to prove it. I have been diagnosed with hardware disease, fortunately its not fatal to those that have it even though many wives have tried to find a cure. I enjoy making things from junk that are useful.

I'd like to stick my head up my rear... where it is most of the time anyway.... and pull it out when spring arrives. Sorry couldn't help it ..... I'll see if I can't put some pics together.

https://www.wheelhorseforum.com/store/

Considering the work you'll have to do in going from a hydro to manual transmission I would suggest you buy the 416-8 from @OILUJ52 and transplant your engine, sheet metal and wheels onto it. Whole lot less work involved. Look at the exploded views of the 416-8 next to the 520-H and you will see all the linkages, manual lift and wiring that will need to be changed out. Most of the time the lift rocker shaft alone will take a lot of work as they tend to be rusted together and can kick your butt.

Welcome!! Here's a junkyard salute for ya wheel horse style. Machine built strictly from parts that others considered junk and from junk piles and junk yards. And yes even the radio the previous person said was junk. But now all parts are cleaned up and put back to life as a custom 702 with many donor parts and pieces.

5 trucks delivered yesterday, another 5 loads today, another 5 scheduled for tomorrow. Will start topping off our second dome in the next week.

Only worth what a belt is worth to me... However, there may be some guys on this site that are members of the secretive and somewhat elusive NOS Black Belt Collectors Club and for them they may be worth their weight in black silk head bands and white pajamas...

Another round of salt... and more of our built by Pete crew who delivered today.

Loaded up for the Zagray Machinery Show.

Just a follow up to this thread, I ended up placing an order with I save tractors. I emailed with Norman a few times with questions, and ended up buying the full gasket set, air cleaner filter, carb rebuild kit, and the breather filter.

First off in a D series there is no pin. The splines on the right are driven by the engine coupling The center 2 operate teh charge pump (georotor) and the far left turn the piston block. My suspicion is the drive coupling (the cast iron thing on the pump shaft) has stripped. It will still cause the shaft to turn but it is slipping and not generating adequate pressure. After a while I suppose the oil would warm up a bit. When you opened the plugs on top of the pump was it running? if so the oil should have come out under some pressure not just oozing. A charge pump pressure test is definitely in order. Do you have access to a gauge?? I have one set up that you could borrow for postage.... Alternatively you could separate the engine and pump and inspect the splines in the coupling.... Edit: My bad teh charge pump is run by the splines on the left the Piston Block by those in the center!!!

Heck I am still mowing grass every 3-4 days...if it dries out enough to mow. Supposed to be pushing 80 next week. Snow horses are still sound asleep in the storage shed

Two simple words... lotsa bungees. just tie ‘er on and get ‘er spinning! Tap a secondary hole on the housing for a @fast88pu turbo special seriously though, that is a very cool setup @953 nut, be sure to let us know how that works, I’m digging the bling drive pulley and the big diesel exhaust pipe outlet!

Chuck..... go with that one. That's going to be a great way to have most or all of what you need right there. I'm going to be doing a similar conversion on an early 70's model and there's a lot of little things that are on an 8 speed tractor that hydros don't have. Best bet is absolutely to buy everything in one shot if you can.

@AMC RULES Love those Pete's man Bob.... More about our lack of prep work later...

I have a 416-8 with a good transmission. I bought the machine for the Kohler engine. The machine ran and drove good. No engine, hood, seat, and seat pan. It has all the linkages and lift stuff to do what you want. $100 picked up, I am about 3 hours away. PM if interested. Joe

My snow shovel is still on the deck from last year. Start the acorn harvest soon about 3 five gallon buckets on the ground now. @JAinVA Now if I can just clean up the chairs. They are still where you viewed them from your visit.

Kevin—great find! I’m checking in because I want to follow along on this journey. Looks like a cool little project tractor and I can’t wait to see what you are going to turn this one into when it is all said and done. Work your magic my friend...

The wheels are not my idea but they work great for gravel drives.The leaf vac has been modified to shred leaves at pick up.It packs 8 to 10 times the volume and we use the mulch as ground cover in the garden.Thus leaf harvest.We use it all!

My two favorite Petes (twins) that I see deliver through out the snow season.

Blower tractor is ready.Leaf harvest 2018 is about to start.Been moving fire wood last two weeks.

I love old Rv's they make good trailers. Someone had hauled this one to the landfill, full of dry rot. Renting is your best option.

Today i traveled in a so called "well sorted" Toro Servicestation near Berlin, that's about 370 mile away from my home. I have the big hope, that i will find here some "older or used" parts in usable condition... - but nothing... Sure, it was a huge Area, but just filled with a lot of totaly damaged crap from cheapes Brands .... They just have 2 new "Plastic mower Tractors" and only one was a Toro and a lot of new "plasticparts" for cheapest gardenmower and that's it... absolutely no parts for older Toro machines or Toro spare parts, what i woud expect normally at such a Station. what a f... 370 miles for nothing - just to see a few parts of crap. I was looking, to find maybe 2 Wheelweights new or used and maybe a small Shovel for my frontloader.. what a frustrating trip - it shall be prohibited, they call themself a "huge Toro Servicestation".. Sorry but that trip frustrates me today - Stefan

Well, had an idea on how to mount the engine. Original plan was to take a 4×6 , lay it on its side, place a piece of plate steel on top and bolt thru the whole thing to the frame of the tractor. Then bole the engine to the plate steel. Went to my buddies to see about getting some plate steel, what he had didnt seem very sturdy. Not thick enough, wasnt feelin it!! But what he did have was a little 6x6 I beam. And some narrow steel plate. He has all the cool tools and a wire welder so right, wrong, or indifferent, i made a little i-beam mount. The welds are horrendous, but i insisted on doing it myself, 2nd time ive ever drawn an arc in my life....not purdy, but sturdy. Im a liitle concerned about how high the engine ended up being mounted in the air, shes a little top heavy. Even had i used the wood it would only made a 2" difference...so we shall find out how it goes. Couldnt resist seeing how it looked while running on the tractor, so i made a video....if this thing never actually rolls thru the yard on its own power, atleast i can say that i did infact mount a hit and miss engine to a garden tractor!!! I do have that, lol

MIght want rethink using an 8-speed for a loader. I like manuals over hydro's, but your hands are gonna be busy with the standard tranny. with a hydro, convert to foot controls, then one hand can be on the wheel with the other on the loader controls. With a standard, if your pushing into a pile of dirt or whatever, you need to operate the controls, and then shift back and forth to get a scoop of dirt. I have a 520H with a loader on it, and tho I have the foot control, it's not on yet. But even with the hydro, your hands are busy using the motion lever and loader controls trying to get it to do what you want. You could move the loader controls to the left side, but then the hoses are gonna be longer and potentially be in the way of something. The 1100 hydro is a pretty strong unit, so don't think you will hurt it. I have a diesel on mine, and almost stalled it couple times, but hydro never twitched...just food for thought....

@Machineguy, @PeacemakerJack, @pullstart, @Achto, here's the first load this old fella hauled since bringing it home, 2760 pounds of junk metal and plastic the F.I.L had laying around, went across the scales loaded at 10680 total, so around 7900 "empty".

she’s running and ready to go!! My 100$ turd!

There is no brake on an older hydro the hydro stops the tractor. if it doesn't creep siting on level ground then you are adjusted correctly. It will not hold it on a hill, that is what the parking brake is for (pulling the handle all the way up). Do not do that when you are moving. With the tow valve in the tow position and the handle pulled all the way up can you roll the tractor???

Good thinkin, have to excuse now me whilst I go collect my collective mind!

An added comment: ANYTIME and EVERY TIME you refill or 'top off' the fluid level, be CERTAIN to wipe off the filler tube BEFORE pouring in new fluid. Wipe off the tube, wipe the funnel clean, as well as the pour spout of the oil container. These Sundstrand Hydro-gear units are extremely susceptible to the slightest little bit of debris that will scar damage the relatively soft BRASS internal parts. When that happens, you'll get to rebuild the hydro pump. With proper care, they'll last for decades....mine is a 1972 model and never had an issue with it, except for the drippy cylinder.

You know how Richmond is , we got to be different . You could have a nice winter this year , and we could end up with snow axle deep to a Ferris wheel.

Now that is what I call one powerful leaf blower! Yeee Haaa! That's what I call one powerful leaf blower! Yeee. Haaa!

That would make a great snow blower for light fluffy snow!

I need to build me one of those blowers. I got one sitting in my garage that is collecting dust. What size is the pulley? How fast should they be spinning?

I Reaaaaaalllly need to get on building one of these. I have old air handler like that at home too. I just need to build some kind of bracket to mount it on a 1076.

953 is spot on. Its not just a simple swap. And if you really want a 520-8 message me this spring I may be selling mine and it has low hours, reconditioned engine and an electric lift.

Have only these two photos that I took a couple of days ago.

Hello wh500special, My wife and I have spent quite a lot of our trips out west in National Park campgrounds. We have a 35' fifth wheel. We've not been to Yellowstone, but have spent most of our trips in Southern Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and North East Arizona. The down side of our bigger RV is, even though the Parks are in many cases over a million acres, the campgrounds where made years ago and larger RV and campers can be a real challenge to get in and some even limit size. With that said the upside to staying in the park is that you are there! Two years ago we where in New Mexico with a first come first serve campground (only 20 sites). Needless to say we where not one of the lucky ones. The next closet campground was 95 miles!!! We made this trip three days in a row. The other thing to keep in mind is not to try to visit several parks in the same trip. The distances between parks in the west can be hundreds of miles and the bulk of your time is spent driving. PS.Since my wife and I love to hike we usually spend several days in one park. What we have found is that most people tend to come in, go to the visitors center, watch a video, walk on a paved path to see some artifacts, buy post cards and then leave and drive several hours to do the same thing at the next park. If you get a mile or so away from the visitors center we rarely encountered many people at all, so plan at least one long walk or hike. Hope you enjoy your trip and fall in love with the west like we did! Gary

I don’t even want to hear about the view from there or the smells!!!

Did a little more this evening after work. Pulled the kohler engine. It was heavy, lol!!! Pull the shroud away from the steering column, i like how it looks without it. To accomodate the big kohler the previous owner had welded some steel brackets on, I thought about leaving them to help get the height clearance for the flywheels, but decided to remove them....they gone!!! One of the bigger obstacles was thinking about how to line up the pulleys from the engine to the tractor. I dont really want to offset the engine any more than i have to. Turns out there are tapped holes on the drive pulley. 5/16". Not sure what there purpose is for , but sure look like the could be used to bolt up another pulley and extend it out abit. I need approx 3". So we,ll see. Next gonna see about mounting the Stover....I assure you, some lumber will be involved...old yankee workshop...yo!!!

With autumn coming on and the inevitable onslaught of leaves I decided to make an 18 HP leaf blower for a . I re-purposed an old air conditioner fan and fabricated a support from scrap angle iron and a mule drive. The present outlet was fabricated for proof of concept and to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am not a skilled tin knocker . It works fairly well but the outlet needs to be smaller to increase the velocity of the air stream, more later.

My two cents worth.... My wife and I just got got back from a 16-day trip Way Out West. Took a plain Jane, nothing fancy, mid-sized SUV that got 25.3 MPG average for the whole trip. The wife and I went to 15 National Parks, National Monuments, National Battlefields, Reservations and National Forests. We had a lot of seat time to discuss how we were traveling and if we would do it again, what would we change. Campers/RVs were a subject we talked about throughout the entire trip. We discussed the pros and cons of renting an RV if we would ever do it again. Here are some of our thoughts... Pros: - We would have everything we needed at our disposal, all the time. - No hotel charges. - Same bed every night. - Stop anywhere, anytime and sleep, catch a nap or just goof off. The world is our oyster and we could see it at our leisure. Cons: - The cost. Either the purchase price or rental charge - it's still going to cost you. How much you will realistically use a purchased unit has to to factor into your decision so you can calculate the expected cost per camping day. Rental RVs give you the ability to budget a fixed daily user fee. - Campground fees if you don't set up in a Walmart. You've still got to pay the Piper. National Park camping fees are pretty expensive, in my opinion. Private campground fees can run from cheap to very expensive depending on the amenities. You will also be camping next to a whole range of other campers. Better bring your earplugs. Note that some cities have ordinances against parking overnight in campers and they enforce them. - Fuel costs. Your gasoline use will be much more per mile than an SUV. I imagine at altitude, where my turbocharged four-cylinder struggled, an RV would really suck wind. - Visibility. In my limited experience with an RV, for anyone but the front seat passengers, the view isnt spectacular, especially in the economy models. - Maneuverability. I can't tell you how many times we have seen something that has enticed us to stop on a dime or turn around to go back and revisit or photograph the scenery. You just can't do that in an RV. Most of the National Parks we visited had designated turn offs that would fill up fast if there were bison, elk, grizzly bears or mountain goats visible. Kiss that opportunity goodbye if you're in a RV. Certain parks we have been to even bar certain vehicles from some of their roads due to narrow roads, steepness of the road grade and the combined weight of the pulling and towed vehicle. These roads also tend to be the most visually interesting. - Dining choices. If you bring your own kitchen you feel compelled to save money by making your own meals (at least we would). Heck, I am on vacation. I want to be pampered and explore the local food culture. Additionally, I sure don't want me or the wife to do any dishes. - Parking. I can power slide an SUV into a parallel parking spot in downtown "Any City, USA" and do want I want while the RVs circle town looking for a spot to park their rigs. OK, I would never power slide an SUV intentionally with my wife in the front seat, but when she's not there, all bets are off. Summary: Our determination (yours may be different and I'm sure others here will have their own opinions similar or wildly differing from ours), is to continue to stay in hotels, eat in decent restaurants, enjoy the local culture, be highly mobile and see the USA from the front seat of our Chevrolet. Good Luck with your decision. Dave

The ACR is built into the cam shaft and it allows the exhaust valve to open slightly near TDC below 200 RPMs.

You could place an ad in "Uncle Henry's" some one will "Have to have it " and trade you either a piece of land they don't actually own yet or a five gallon bucket of 65 deg Maine air. Might be handy come January.