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I think my granddaughter likes Grandpa's old Wheel Horse tractors. She loves rides around the property. 1054 was on the ride list the other night.

Fun with the kiddos horsing around today! Claudia got to drive Big Red around with the yard cart while her and the little boys cleaned up the remaining nasty old apples... They had fun making “making baskets” with the old apples it was about 45 degrees out but the sun made it feel like a comfortable late fall Wisconsin day. Won’t be long and we will probably be seeing at least traces of the white stuff on the ground. Meanwhile... Caleb and I plowed under the old strawberry garden. It was the first time plowing with Caleb’s Comanche and he had a blast. I was afraid that he was going to start plowing under the lawn when I had my back turned... I wouldn’t trade these days with my favorite little people for anything!

Here is the promised video. Hope you guys enjoy. @prondzy you were right, very fun tractor to plow with. @Sparky and @AMC RULEShard to believe watching the video that the paint is mostly original on this thing...shines up nicely for sure.

Caleb got the opportunity to do some plowing yesterday afternoon with Comanche for the first time and my dad’s old Bolens “sod bottom” plow. Those of you that followed our 875 resto thread saw that plow in multiple old converted slide pictures from the 1970’s. It’s been turning soil much longer than I’ve been around. It cuts an amazingly clean and square furrow and seems to pull pretty easy, of course my sandy loam soil doesn’t plow hard anyway. Caleb and I had a ton of fun playing on the 54 year old horse and it was certainly up to the task! The garden was our old strawberry garden that needed to be tilled under and prepared for next spring. Caleb is a lot lighter than I am even at 14 years old. I was plowing without any additional weight to strike out and make the first two passes. Then Caleb jumped on and made it about 10’ before spinning out! So, back to the shed and add the 80# land side weight. Then he was good to go. I took a video that I’ll try to post later...

Would like to thank @Shynon for the lead in this one I couldn't pass up the deal I got. Came with a 12 inch plow and weights on the rear this tractor is sweet the tire set up I wouldn't want it any other way. Just have to find a motor and put it in. I'll post more pictures tomorrow

Roughed in the 753 front half, the “bump” in it helps to clear the tensioner . I will lower the rear a little further, but now folks it’s time to get cleaned up for dinner.

What do you think?

Replaced the stock steering wheel on my C 160 with the fatter comfort grip one requested by my friend Arthur Itis. Got HHHOOOWWWAAARRRDDD!!! ready for snow. Filled rears,weights, reinforced chains, skinny knobbies in the front

Sorry I'm late for the party Jay. I did bring the "APPLE PIE".

Exactly! I’ve said it here many times - memories of riding with my Poppy are the very reason I got into these little machines. Wonderful memories with a man I loved dearly and looked up to!

Great pics, thanks for sharing! That is an heirloom tractor and you are making great memories with a precious one in your life. It is those memories that will stick with her for a lifetime long after you are gone. Well done sir!

Happy Happy 'Apples! Know ya don't drink so @Achto and I will toast ya to some real apple pie! He ain't smilin Craig... me thinks he lost his teeth

Sounds good. My dad had a “Country Gentleman” he used to play in the church band when I was a kid. I remember riding in his 64 Buick GS and listening to the Ventures on his 8 track. I found the vinyl version in a record store and bought it just to have. I also love listening to Danny Gatton, Stevie Ray and some Brian Setzer just to name a few. This is as close to a Wheelhorse song as I can find

Happy Birthday @roadapples, we are all glad you were born!

Not "today" but picked up a 417a 1985. Lots of parts came with it!

Kevin—that is a great practical item to have in your tractor shop! Saves the back BIG TIMES! I need to develop something like that in the near future. Unfortunately mine won’t be built in, but it will be nice to have something that would lift at least up to chest height or so. A HUGE thanks to my Local Circle buddy @WHX21 Jim for coming over and sacrificing part of his Saturday to begin the installation of heat in my shed. I built this platform to place the furnace on yesterday and Jim brought over the new equipment figured I’d include a pic of his “best side”! Next up is installation of the tin work and plumbing. He is a veteran in the HVAC business and it shows. Great to have friends with awesome skills willing to share...

Today, I got the Horses ready for winter. Bring on the snow! Of course, seeing how I did this the first weekend of November, we probably won't get snow for 3 months.

You can't spoil a rotten egg.

so here's a couple of vids i did while back in the spring with my new gretsch guitar and i'm a lefty

@Coulter Caleb, don't know if dad @PeacemakerJack has given you this little tip when lifting the plow at the end of the furrow, but here's my tip " put the in reverse back up about 6-10" and that plow will lift so much better" maybe even be a 1 arm bandit vs the 2 arm lift me off the seat struggle, other than that looked like "perfect" fun rolling sod and dirt !

@PeacemakerJack, @Machineguy, @TIGman, Was back over home today and had mom dig out some more pictures, I'm guessing circa 1978/79, I'm on the OCC "plowing" snow that's my dad standing beside me and our old land "yacht" '73 Impala in the background, as you can tell the "garage" had just been built from rough cut pine and hadn't been stained yet, Jeff.

Thanks for the laughs and the birthday wishes. Good friends and is a gift all year long....

Hopefully got the last 22 parts painted today, just assembly now and looking at the manual.

@gwest_ca, @pfrederi, this look a little better? I’ll extend the tensioner bracket to get to the pulley. Working with my new tractor pallet on the lift!

Did you hit your head? That is Jay's smile.

Learning to work (sort of) smarter, not harder. Built me a tractor jig for the center post car lift... and it’s closer to the heat source! I have a nearly unlimited source of pallets, some up to 10’ long. I imagine eventually all the tractors will get their own pallet, for any required storage in the back barn racking.. I’ll have close to 80’ of racking by the time I’m finished.

Lucky Kid! Lucky Grandpa!

I gotta say Caleb, you look better with a Wheelhorse in your pictures! Great work in the garden, I’m sure you’ve got a pretty alright coach!

Happy birthday Kate!!! Thanks for all you do to promote the preservation of garden tractors. Hope you have a great day!!

Now that’s one happy looking little girl! Excellent!

I think my granddaughter likes the Cub Cadet.

So I recently took this tractor to Tecumseh Trails in Ohio to meet up with a few other guys who also ride all terrain lawn tractors. I made a video about the trip. Enjoy!

well believe it or not i was a elvis vocalist for 25 years i just got out of a 14 year marriage and started to playing again......hadn't picked up a guitar in 3 years and played a piano for a while jerry lee lewis stuff ......i love boogie and rockabilly music would love to get down to the big show and show off the ol'953 lol write a wheel horse tractor song lol

here's another a old chuck berry tune lol

Thanks everyone! I’ve put a ton of hard work into this tractor. I actually tig welded everything which takes a long time but produces beautiful strong welds. A buddy made a Wheel Horse ad from a screenshot from the video you guys will get a kick out of. The rear tires are 25x10-12 bear claws. I’m running 1.5” wheel spacers in the rear. The front tires are douglas jr xc 18x6-8.

Pretty Cool seeing an 854 plowing a furrow!!

Yep moms old 126 Kodak Instamatic with the "flash cube" but hey that was 40 years ago...

That is sooooo cool Jeff! You know how I am a sucker for vintage pics and especially ones that have forum members in them from back in the day. I wish that one was a little clearer but I can still make out all the important details. Thank you for sharing such a Great old school pic How cool to be able to plow snow as a kid. I never had that opportunity because Dad had the ‘66 Scout with Plow. But I have plenty of seat time now between my 1772 with 60” Haban blade and Kelli’s 523D with the Deuce!

I will give him a call for you, saw him today at Menards.

You would love plowing! Definitely don’t want lots of rocks in it though...that would be frustrating! I shouldve had Caleb put on and off the weightsnext time!

Caleb is too used to the hydraulic lift on his JackRabbit now and so he had to flex some under used muscles to manually lift that plow. Hopefully he can bulk up a little over the winter and will be able to work that with a little more ease...

Almost like they're 'sposed to be there.

ohh no not at all ........................got to have variety

Huh?

WOW!!! That thing is a beast.

There's one way to find out. It's already broke so you got noth'n to loose by pulling it apart to see if you can fix it.

Gary A few pics of my 654 (or 604?) with original (no you can't have it ) Techy. Thing starts first pull and run well which is amazing for a Techy. I was threatened to be castrated by the fellas if I touched the patina. I was severely admonished just for knocking off the barn dust! Pay no never mind to the 502 belt guard, it was MIA but I managed to find one that worked at the Big Show with matching patina.

Thank you sir. Yes I was up in the air on actually restoring it or leave it the way it is and just buff her out. Have the push plow, mower deck, single bottom plow, disc, drag, and rear duals for it as well. The more people I talk to about it says just wash it and clean it up.