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I have always thought a 953 would look good with a narrow front end and finally decided to take the plunge. The tractor is more maneuverable than with the wide front end and steers great. This 953, which I bought from @Mike'sHorseBarn, has the Ross Steering box but the same thing could be done with the later models with a Fan Gear 953/1054 or GT-14. The entire steering system bolts in place with holes that were already in the frame and the entire process is reversible if I were to decide to go back to stock. I started with a foot long piece of 3/4" round stock (an old steering shaft) and bent it at the center to fifteen degrees so the tires would be canted in like they are on an old farm tractor. Then I made a fixture to hold the axle in place while welding it to a piece of one inch round stock (an old one inch axle). I mounted the tires (Deestone 3.50-6) and wheels and they looked great! Shaft collars were added inside and holes for cotter keys were drilled on the outer edges of the wheels. The excess 3/4" axles were cut off. Once the axle and pivot were welded together it was on to the bearings and attachment fabrication. I used 3/16" X 4" flat bar and driller and tapped them to secure it to the frame. Having a 963 frame hanging around made the job easier. A four lug one inch trailer hub is used as the pivot point. With the bearings in place I could determine the location for the snap ring groove to hold everything in place and cut off the rest of the axle. Next a steering arm was fabricated and welded in place. It was a tight fit between the frame and tire. Now it was time to fabricate a drag link between the steering box and the steering arm. I bought the ball joints from Lowell https://www.wheelhorsepartsandmore.com/steering.html#!/3-8-x-7-16-Ball-Joint-2-Tie-Rod-MTD-Cub-Cadet-Toro/p/84788581/category=23548038 and fabricated the drag link from 5/8" round stock. I drilled and tapped the ends and used 7/16-20 threaded rod to join the ball joints to the link. This was a fun project and I am pleased with the way it came out. Looks a lot like the image on my tractor crossing sign.

I planned to use the 417H to roll the lawn today. Thought it would be the perfect day after four warm days and over an inch of rain yesterday the frost heaves should flatten right out. Problem was it was 35F with 15MPH winds and spitting freezing rain and sleet. Oh yeah, there sits that 520H snow chucker that hasn't been used for three years. What could be better than sitting in a dry heated cab for a couple hours on a day like this. And it has the 2 link Vee Bar chains, loaded tires, and plenty of weight, so there was no wheel spin. I am convinced it is time to replace this blower with a snow plow and make her my all purpose nasty weather machine.

I was scrounging around for Mopar parts at a local swap meet I attend every year, and came across this little Bantam. The guy claimed it was made in 49 but I think it's newer than that. My neighbor had a Swisher Big Mow up until recently, which is similarly made, and I thought it was neat, so naturally I had to bring this home. It's front wheel drive, drives off of a pulley on the top of the engine, which in turn powers a tiny gear box between the front wheels. I had it running at the swap meet for a few seconds; it hammered hard and then locked up. It has a Clinton on it. It needs deck parts and a pulley on the crankshaft to run the deck and it would be complete. I'm still in the process of doing research on it, so if anyone knows anything about them I'd love to hear it! More pictures later...

Just buy all three of them you are going to be hooked after the first one anyway.

I would be after the C-100 myself. Also I prefer the Kohler motors and I think the C-111 is a Briggs motor.

Here's the next installment. Belt guard This one I kept track of time on and it took about 4 hours from start to finish. Kind of a long time for such a small part but at least it didn't get ruined half way through and a start over. Think it may get pinned on so it can be removed to show the details on the pulleys. The belt itself gave me some trouble so haven't figured out quite what to do about it, yet. Screwed up and the engine shaft is short and doesn't stick out past the belt guard. But I think this one will slide since there's no plans for a mower deck, sickle bar or blower. Probably a dozer blade though.

I have a dewalt 12" power miter saw and a sears radial arm saw if I could only have one I would take the dewalt if you are going to cut larger than 8" get the slider Brian

Well got the hitch and pin issue taken care off tonight. One down and many more to go. Forgot to bring in the axle key to start on a brass one for welding up the keyways. For the longest time I was a round hood fan, these short hood horses are starting to really grow on me.

@PeacemakerJack, @Professor1990, @pullstart, Driving around doing errands today I spotted this... Since I'm a Bowtie freak through and through I really got a kick out of it...kinda like the little Blue truck that can

The answers for your question are simple. However within that budget they get a little more complicated. So, staying away from price right now here is my take on the options. A radial arm saw belongs in a lumberyard. Its bulky, not precise,and most of all dangerous. Many years ago I spent about six months using one everyday for 10 hours a day. Stay away from them. A miter saw is the way to go. Portable, precise, relatively safe, space saving, versatile. As far as brand, some people like them Red , some people like them Blue.Within the low price range most of them are probably OK for your purpose and frequency of use. As for features and capabilities, your price range is where things get limited . Quality wise regardless of price , the Rolls Royces are the Makita and the AEG. Nothing in my experience in using them for over 40 years comes close. As for lower priced saws, probably the cheapest will be a Harbor Freight. I have never used one and would probably stay away from it. Stick with something you can get locally and well proven like a Dewalt. Any one of them regardless of brand are very capable. Now, if you combine the saw with the proper stand to support the material being cut, whether bought or made than things get much better. Using them on the floor is not the thing to do. The other thing to pay attention when you have it, is how you carry it around. I know that many have a handle for one to do that with. Don't use it. Carry it by grabbing the saw underneath . You do not want to put any stress whatsoever on the articulating part of the saw locked or not. Carrying it by the handle will knock it off adjustment and eventually actually damage it. Treat them as a precision instrument. If you do that along with learning the proper way of using it will be a pleasure to use specially if you do crown molding which is where they are the king of tools.

I have a Dewalt 12” compound miter saw. Does all I need and well worth the price. Pawn shops can be your best friends when looking for tools. 👍

So finally my daughter delivered the engine out of a probable b-80. We traded a Briggs with a cracked carb manifold for it. Both parties were happy. The engine looking good after a clean up. I hooked jumpers to the coil and directly to the starter and she instantly fired with a bit of carb spray. Another runner from Michigan to Ohio 😎. There are no tins on the engine at all. I might need some help with that. Now to get a temporary tank hooked up and put a picture on here to ID this guy.

Ed, I pinned it so it’ll be the top topic in this category and can’t slip down as more topics are started.

If you have the space then a radial saw can be nice when set up within a long permanent bench. You can have mine as I just don't have the space for it and you can spend the money on a good compound saw. Both have their place.

Woke up to snow wound up with about 4 inches of heavy wet stuff. Of course last week I tore down my principal plow horse . Had to usethe back up she has 42 inch plow (only 3 angles no skids and rubber chains also no weight on the hitch nor roller chain on the front wheels.(Her normal job is plowing the part of the drive with pavers. She got the job done but had some problems pushing the bigger piles. It has melted some this afternoon

The hub has to fit on??? Actually i did it all in less than an hour. Ground off the weld first with angle grinder then an emery disk on my drill. You could see the high spots because there would be a shadow of grit next to it. Then switched to strips of emery cloth. Used the old needle bearing to test clearance. One issue I could see on a badly worn axle would be keeping the brass key exactly perpendicular to the axle. I used a c clamp to hold my brass key in for welding.

New reproduction seats made to order. Brand new wood backing, new foam and hand stitched vinyl cover. Multiple color combinations and designs available. Top and bottom sets for a variety of models. Pics of square hood style and 953/1054. GT14 will be available in the next few weeks. Pics to follow on those. $130 prepaid. Free delivery to the show.

I agree with most above, especially @formariz. Everyone I've talked to said they regret buying the cheap discount lines as they can't even get them to cut a 90* angle correctly no matter how much they try to adjust them. Hunt around, a good, high quality used unit is about the same price as the mid or low level saws - make a better investment and get something that will perform as intended and actually last. The wood shop I worked at had one of the first ever Hitachi 12" slider compound miter units made - it was a prototype. The level of cuts was amazing - after we got that in the shop the radial arm saw sat gathering dust and was never used again. I've seen a lot of top of the line models of Hitachi, Makita and Bosh go really cheap on the FB marketplace and on CL - people buy them for one project, get lazy and never use them again, then dump them cheap. Just make sure to take a high quality angle gauge with you and test some compound 45* angle cuts back to back in each direction to test it. If the calibration is off, that is fine - what is important is its ability to repeat that same exact angle in the opposite direction. If it passes that test, it just needs calibrated. If it cannot make a left/right comparative cut without error in one direction that doesn't match - the saw has been tweaked and you want to avoid it. A simple, locking angle gauge can be used for the test if needed - just make sure the opposite cut is equal. Sarge

A combination set and calliper that belonged to my late father who was a toolmaker. Made in Athol, Mass. Age wise I can only guess. Maybe 80yrs old. Also same make, a hand held rev counter. How my father had American tools rather than the English Moore & Wright I can't say. Bottom right is a 0-1 Mitutoyo mic. The first precision tool I bought as an apprentice toolmaker when I was 16yrs. Makes that 57yrs. Cost me £3-50 in PSP. That's pounds, shillings and pence. Not decimal and would be a weeks wage. This little 0-1 mic was my paternal grandfathers. Got to be at least 100yrs. Make unknown. The years have taken their toll on the box.

As part of going solar check into your utilities requirements for them to "buy back" power from you. For all the hipe about solar, residential solar (without battery storage) can be hard (costly) on a utility systems daily load profile. In Texas, solar can save a utility money in the summer (long hot AC days) verses cost a utility in the winter. Think about your daily winter power use. In a winter morning 5-9 am, it ramps up high when you get up, turn the heat up, uses hot water, etc before the sun comes up, then the sun comes up it harms p a little and load is going down as the solar kicks in. Then load goes up at night 5-11pm when the solar is not there. Even if you install batteries and provide all your own solar power, you will still get a monthly bill from the utility for providing "wires" to your house. I'm not against solar, but having just retired from a utility, I can say there was a lot going on about how to handle residential solar and what to charge those customers. Some questions to ask the utility" Do I have to pay for any special equipment for you to buy back power (metering, protective relaying) Do I have to pay a "higher" wires or transmission fee. Is there a incentive (credit) if the utility can control my solar on and off. Does the utility pay a flat hourly rate per kw for solar or does it vary hourly based on the price of power each hour Are you entering into a long term contract, or can the utility change the requirements and pricing at any time. Then ask, what other special thing do you have that I don'y know enough about to ask about.

@stevebo Can you feature this on the home page so it stays visible to all? Thanks

I had a radial arm saw for many years. I got a 12" Dewalt Miter saw and sold the radial saw a few yeas later. I done major remodeling on 2 homes and am currently building my sons house all new cabinets. I've looked at the compound miter saws, but they don't cut much wider than a 12" miter saw. I've added the laser to my miter saw. It looks like a large washer that replaces a washer next to the blade and uses a little round battery. I also added a Dewalt work lite that replaces one of the handle pieces. My sons 5 year old Dewalt miter came with the laser and work lite. Look for a good used 12" miter saw. It will do framing to cabinet and crown mold. When I did the crown mold in our house I bought the little screw on guide from Dewalt and it helps. PS Crown molding messes with your mind, the angle cuts are upside down and backwards to what your eyes say they should be. I'm heading out to go sprays my sons cabinet drawers and lots of pull out shelves with clear lacquer as soon as it warms up to 60F, hopefully by 10am.

Not a Vintage Truck but definitely a vintage machine...for my “blue oval” buddies! Too early for my tastes to be driving these in our area yet. Still have snow piles melting everywhere that contain tons of salt crystals/brine solution. I won’t bring the Goat out till the snow is melted and we’ve had a couple of good rains to clean the roadways...

When I was just out of high school, I worked at a lumber yard. They had an industrial radial arm saw and massive built in fence. We used it to cut custom lumber to length. It worked great for that purpose. However, most of don’t have the space to have one big cross cut only saw. A good sliding miter saw will do simple cross cuts with the best of them but also gives you the advantages of cutting miters (casing, base, crown molding, etc.) I’ve always been a big fan of quality tools and it often seems like you get what you pay for. Case and point, I was going to buy a belt sander for a recent project. I went to the local box stores and looked at the best they had for about $150–I wasn’t impressed. I decided to check CL. I found an early 1990’s Bosch (probably a $350 tool) and I got it for $125. A man was clearing out his fathers estate. The tool was in really good condition and it built like a tank. I bought a 12” sliding compound DeWalt from CL last summer with stand for $350 with almost no perceptible wear on it and it works great! I’ll likely be using it today. If you narrow it down to purchasing a miter saw, then you need to compare price, features and ease of use...most of the good brands are quality tools...my .02 cents

I have a Radial Arm saw that has been collecting dust for years. It is a great accurate tool, but the compound miter saw is so much better that the only thing I do on the radial arm saw is cut tenons now. Mine is a Craftsman 10" compound miter saw which I have used for over twenty years. I added the laser guide and love it. I also bought the Harbor Freight stand for it and should have gone for the better one. The stand is OK, but not as strong as the Dewalt. If you plan to do any crown molding work you will LOVE the compound miter saw.

I had a radial arm for many, many years before it was sold due to our move to Florida in 2000. Radial arms can be a tad fussy but as long as you keep things squared up the accuracy is excellent. A saw that made the move with us is a 12" Dewalt compound miter saw on a Ridgid stand. I've used it hard for 30+ years and the accuracy remains perfect. It handles 98% of what I do but it's not a sliding compound saw and the width it can handle is, of course, limited. Part of the remodel process since we moved back was relocating the stairway which required cutting very expensive maple treads. I probably could have gotten away with cutting, flipping the tread and cutting again but the situation here could warrant a second saw (2 workshops). Already having the Dewalt I didn't want to spend the big bucks for a Dewalt slider but figured a lower end unit would be fine considering the limited needs I have for cutting wider stuff plus I have a good table saw when needed. I opted to get the 12" slider from Harbor Freight for I think about $140. Absolute complete total junk! Accuracy was impossible. I realize that Harbor Freight tools are a compromise but this is the first one I've ever returned. They do have some better saws now but they rival the price of a big name. Bottom line Eric, a cheap, inaccurate saw will frustrate you and hinder your process of honing your skills. With a limited budget you may want to keep your eyes open for a quality used one. Sorry John. We were typing at the same time and you posted before I was done. I don't mean to slam your saw. The 10" may be much better than the 12" but I wanted to be able to interchange blades.

From a recent collection buy out. 3/24/19 Up date The following has been sold: grader blade arm rests C-160 seat pan red RJ seat white RJ seat, tranny,frame,hood project rear ag tires and wheels 4/9/19 up Date The following has been sold axle bracket RJ lift sector hub caps all the metal fuel tanks

Pops 69 f100 unfortunately it is mine now. He passed back in September. We put a 460 and a c6 transmission in it and it demands respect no power and drum brakes all the way around. My oldest daughter wanted to drive boy was that a fun trip

Not me...I'm stayin on his arse. I want him sharp as a toothpick for the surgery.

I just might if the guy will gimmie a deal on all 3.

The B's prior to 76 were a tad shorter. The 76 and 77 were identical to the C's except for rear tire size, 22.750-12 vs 23.850-12, low back seat vs high back, headlights optional vs standard, 13" vs 15" steering wheel, of course engine size and a few minor things. All attachments would interchange but you needed to watch horsepower requirements mainly with the mower decks. In 78 both continued but the B's became light duty lawn tractors and nothing like the C's.

If the B-100 is a 76 or 77 it will be identical to the C-100 save for a couple cosmetic things and, of course, the motor. Go for the best of the two.

You found a hobby that you can sell. Make up some more and sell at the Big Show Richard.

OK John, we will let you get away with this one, but don't make a habit of it. This is amazing!

The reel is all toothpicks, even the gears but the engine is pine

Certainly not perfect missed a tiny bit at one end but it is nice an tight. Had to sand just a bit off the new key it sat a little proud. I have a bucket with several axles with messed up keyways. The brass key didn't seem to be affected so I can reuse it...at least for the older axles that used the #15 key. May ave to look into the broach set mentioned as I have a bunch of messed up hubs. Now I have to weld up the parking pawl and put in a new spring as you can see the original is heavily grooved (but it worked OK)

Dear Sirs, Im going to pick up this Wiedenmann leaf collector tomorrow. Never heard of it, to me at first sight....it could have been Wheel Horse...looks fantastic ! Really looking forward to it....and....i dont think i need to "paint" it, it will do as it is ... Anyway....just wanted to let u guys know..."wiedenmann" ...for me it was interesting in aspect to "attachments"/"Implements", hope it could be of interest of any of you guys.

I just went to WHP&M and looked at the pic's. I see the arms are on backwards, something didn't look right...lol

Welcome to the forum. Have tried to add the belt numbers and dimensions for each attachment to the file description page. May not be the rear discharge deck model you have but the belts will be the same. Click on the picture to view it. 1984 tiller for long frame tractors To determine the attachment model numbers save this D&A file for the 1984 C-125 8-speed. They may not be exactly what you have but they did not change much over the years so this is a good place to start. Garry

Was also able to hurry up an knock off the plow bracket before I got off work. This thing was bent three ways to Sunday, used hard by the looks of it. I took a torch to it and was able to straighten out the latch arms and the angle iron. Sand blasted it all real good and a couple coats of paint. I was pleased with the way it turned out. When I took it off it did not look like it had been installed right. But I will have to look for pics to see how the old style brackets are supposed to be installed before it goes back on.

I’m selling a 1979 C-141 8 and a 1986 310-8. Both run great and have mower decks.

Got to take Sam and the Mrs. home today it feels good having everyone at home

The 60"decks weigh 300+ lbs. They are a bear to install and remove. I would not put one on a manual lift tractor. If I felt I needed a 60" deck to reduce the mowing time, I would look for a 520H with a deck.

Ol' Jeff might be too far away to hunting for that 'un...but I'm sure I can find a couple like it nearby

Working it! Or I’m getting worked over..... something like that

I bought a 1/4" electric drill with circular saw attachment when I was fifteen (yes, electricity did exist back then). Don't remember the brand but the circular saw wouldn't cut anything but balsa wood!

The only damage will be to your chin when it bounces off the steering wheel. When you pop the clutch in high/third sound your back up beeper and hang on.

Thank you for the link, your video's have taken the fear out of tearing into the drive trains on these tractors. The last one that I did is going strong and I expect it to last long after I'm around to drive it. It give's me great satisfaction to bring these old tractors back. My love was brought on for these through my dad. He saved and pushed mowed a huge lawn until he could afford the Horse he wanted. I still have that C-160 auto, and it mows for me 45 years later. Again, thanks for all you do to help.

That key way looks pretty ruff. Not sure of your skills but here is what I would do with that. Fill the key way by welding it up, turn it down on a lathe to true it back up. Then cut a new full length key way on a mill. I assume that the key way in the hub is not in good shape either, this can be resolved by cutting a new key way 90degrees to the old one and drilling a new set screw hole over that key way. Pics to show the repairs that I did on my Raider 12.