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Well, all the birthday wishes worked. It was a great day. It started with 2 hours of quality seat time in the warm 520H. Then a nice walk with my Buddy. She appreciated the nice trail I had plowed. Then Mrs.K treated me to a dinner at the Shady Maple in New Holland, Pa. She got a break though....meals are free on your birthday. This is an amazing place. Every Wed. is pinochle card game night with 3 good friends. I won a buck. Then a little of that Wheel Horse Whisky. I tried to take a shot for each of you guys, but I lost count before I got to 33. Now, if I can crawl back the hall and find the bedroom. It was a good day...Thank you all.

Four Years Ago This Week! 20 below weather and I picked up a 1958 RJ Wheel Horse from Austin McCord in Underwood, Iowa. It had an extra transmission and I had one more for a total of three. I had discussed rebuilding one with Stevasaurus. I told him I would bring the transmissions back from my trip to Iowa to Elgin, Illinois to his home. I did not know it was going to be one of the coldest weeks in the decade! These transmissions are the start of the online tutorial that Steve made titled: "So You Want to Redo a Three Piece Transmission" ! Steves tutorial is the best source of nuances and useful information on rebuilding these early Wheel Horse three piece transmsisions in the RJ's and Suburbans. Thanks again Steve for all your help and guidance!

I had the electrical shop crimp ends onto a pair of cables that will be installed on a pure sine inverter. The shrink tube has a water proofing goop that extrudes from the ends during installation.

90W works fine in my 8 speed. I never clocked it, but the chute is set to deploy at 190MPH.

and when you receive the ambulance bill - you might need to go to the emergency room again

Winter pics? You want winter pics? I pulled my generator out to warm it up and make sure it was working. Here are the pics: OKay, it was 62* and sunny, but it is Winter here! Danny

Who’s that guy who resembles Steve, but with pants and a coat on? I bet that guy even had socks on!

I can probably find some but it was offset with a couple of sprockets and a chain. Just a quick thought for something more "heavy duty" is to use a couple of universal joints in the shaft and maybe in the steering wheel shaft too. A Ross type of steering mechanism would be easy to offset and give reliability. Or, if your ambitious enough, a plan I have for a build is use two frames welded side by side, cut one side off of two front axles after the axle pin and use coil over shocks from a frame to the front axles for front suspension. Now the frame will be wide enough to easily offset the steering with different length tie rods

When ordering chains get the 2 link spacing, Yes they are more expensive but they don't give you that bone jarring bump like 4 link chains do. Weights and chains will make a HUGE difference.

That was quite the adventure and a labor of love Lane. Dang, has it been 4 years already??

sounds just like mine! I would love to drop a TKO 600 5spd in mine one of these days. I like the idea of going with that Palamino copper. I think that is super cool especially when compared to the sea of gray vehicles in the average parking lot today. My car was originally dark green metallic with a black vinyl top. I have never cared for the vinyl tops that much personally although they were extremely popular when out cars were made and so I left mine off. I wanted a little lighter green and so I settled on a 1990’s GMC truck color called bright green metallic. It has a blue and green pearl in it with a medium coarse metallic. I have had tons of compliments on the color through the years. The funny thing is, if my car would’ve had a black interior, I would’ve likely painted it blue or red. Nothing wrong with those colors at all but you just tend to see them at cars shows much more frequently. The first Pontiac that I’ve ever seen that looked to have about the same color as mine was at Iola this year... And it was a ‘69 Lemans! My kids with ours on the last day of school back in June! I have attended Iola with my Goat probably 12 of the last 18 years. Maybe someone saw mine and liked the color or maybe they were looking at paint chips like me and just decided that it would be cool. Anyway...I’m looking forward to seeing your next set of progress pics. Do you have any old pics of the car that you could include in this thread? That would be awesome too...

The girls had some friends over last night. The homeschool academy is still on winter break until Monday. It’s a blustery 30 degrees, feels like 14 with a constant strong wind. Little MJ wanted to go for a tractor ride!

Definitely valve stems to the inside. It may seem like a PITA when you need to check the air pressure, but it will be much easier than removing the weights every tine that you want to check air pressure. I run all of my valve stems to the inside, weather I'm running weights or not.

Here’s a couple. My 2001 2500HD with a 6.0L gasser and a 2020 1500 with a 2.7L turbo gasser.

I stuck Chief up in the rack, making room to start working on the dump box tractor!

Not true. My wife is 250 lbs and can slip and fall on dry pavement. I just started pushing 200 in the last few years and I can run across a sheet of ice and not fall down.

Don’t want to start trouble, tell them you now have chest pains and they will get you right in,!!!

Transmission is a turbo 400 that has been rebuilt with a shift kit installed and a different converter.

If you are not going to do any work on the pump/hydrogear unit and are only tackling the axle portion it is a piece of cake, Unbolt the hydrogear unit and suspend it above the tractor then remove the axle unit. A lot less parts in there than on a manual transmission. This thread has a great write-up on the whole hydrogear setup.

Actually a set of meats that big with some tread on them would look killer tucked up under the bed and would take up some length on the visual side of it, meaning you wouldn’t have as much frame showing down the side under the bed. Keep it going Kev........

These are 27x10’s. Dare I say they are too big? I think I’ll find a set of 8” wide tires around here and go from there. No matter how I make it longer, one thing’s for sure. It needs to be longer! The hydro trans is bolted up for the time being.

And just like that, we have a pile of parts!

My only thing to add is that you need to be very sure your tester is grounded and the wire is always connected to the plug or ground. Some SSI units can be damaged if the engine is cranked and the ignition wire is not connected to anything. Not sure if the K would do that but I know the older Tecumseh's did.

Just sayin...Way too many visuals in this thread that are not conducive to keeping one’s lunch down...

It’s time for grout sealer! I have the entire bathroom empty except for necessities and all the tile is scrubbed, swept and vacuumed!

The car was Palamino Copper with a sandalwood vinyl top and I think it is going back that way. I used to now care for it in the old paint but do like the looks with the new stuff. It is going to be stock looking other than what I have done with the engine. A good buy on the pistons and rings kind of started that ball rolling. Then the aluminum heads and the 4" stroke crank for the 400 block.

1986 Land Rover 90. I pulled this out of a barn in the Lake District. Completely rebuilt it. Isuzu 2.8 turbo diesel with custom full width intercooler. Land Rover Discovery transfer box. Could reach 100mph depending on how brave I felt at the time. Owned it for 13 years and sold it 5yrs ago.

Happy Birthday ED!

The rubber tire squasher

More progress pics. Installed a 1/4" rod to stop the hood (thanks Lee!), whipped up some exhaust shield brackets and clamped them to the muffler since the studs were snapped off. Not sure how thick the muffler material is to attempt welding new studs on. Cant wait to put this baby to work!

Ed........... Now that's a birthday I would love to be my next!!! Even the crawl down the hall trying to find the bedroom!! You have with that last post become my favorite member here on Red Square with out a doubt my friend!!!!

I do if done right. The wheels still need to turn a little tighter to reduce the turning radius but the stability will be there as well. Instead of steering like a 12 ft plank. Kevin seems to have a bunch of room where he is operating so it's probably not as crucial so he can weigh the options whether it's worth to do or not. Don't forget, you can hang half or more of the bed off the back of the rear tires. Makes it easier to dump and shortens the wheel base. Seats on the front top edge of the bed will save about 18-24 inches of length. As you may be able to tell, a project like this has already ran through my head. Actually the little 2 seater doodle bug started out as your idea for this project but then it looked cool as just a little show cruiser so I never got around to building the Gator style custom. Hate to give up all of my ideas but I just don't have time for doing all the fun stuff now. If you use the 2 bottom holes in the frame to attach to the 2 top holes in the trans, then use another frame below that and use the 2 top holes in the frame attached to the 2 bottom holes in the trans, (cut off the excess hanging down), you end up with a beefy stacked frame in the middle of your stretched limo. Add some bracing welded between the 2 frames. The height of the top frame may end up making it like a console between the 2 seats but that gives a good place for adding lots of stuff like gauges, hydro valve controls, emergency brake handle, ect. ect. Now lengthen the front end instead of the back to fit your needs and the middle will now handle a much heavier load and not flex as much. Just another of things to think about and mock up. I have one partially built this way with the 2 frames attached to the trans. Used the top frame for the front axle, went with trailer hubs on the spidles and went with 6-12 tires and rims for the fronts. Makes it look more like a truck instead of a modified tractor. P.S. you can flip the bottom frame over too

Hahahahahaha I should be all set Chris but thanks for thinking of me anyway. Hubs I have for sure. Axles, probably.

No I won't part this one out for you!

Plow a dusting of fine, dry snow with 1995 Toro 520H. Snowblow banks and around buildings, with 1996 Toro 520H. 1/2 gallon gas, very windy, and clear blue sky. 55 degrees, dry, and short sleeve shirt in cab.

I'll tell Trina. She's about half cracked enough to try something like that. Maybe.

THIS IS WHAT I DO,,,,,,BUT I DID START WITH STEMS OUT......LEARNING BY EXAMPLE DID IT.....I HAD JUST PAINTED THE RIMS,,,,AND WEIGHTS.....AND HOW OFTEN DO WE CHECK THE AIR.....???? 2-3 TIMES A YEAR DO IT HERE..!!!!! AND MY WEIGHTS ARE ALWAYS ON.....I DO GREASE EVERYTHING WHEN THE AIR HOSE IS OUT... HAPPY TRACTOR,,HAPPY LIFE !!!!!!!!

No!! They're perfect..... IMHO of course....

🤣...sorry, but no, lol. I NEVER seem to see front wheel weights much, let alone factory WH---when i have some spare cash, that is---i am super happy to have scored these. But i will leave'em to ya in the will, how's that?😊 It has been a WheelHorse kind of Christmas for me😊😊 Now, if i hear back about that tub cart, yet...but dunno *shrug* ...it'll be complete😉 Well, i still gotta get an electric clutch... ...and... 😉🤣

Well here is some progress. I dug some of the major components out of the rack! The transmission was in one of the 2’ deep totes. I forgot how heavy it was!

And we’re only to page 3!

Considering the fact that it isn't a tested unit that is known to work well I wouldn't go over $ 75.00.

I don't know but give me his number and I'll negotiate the price

I would think that 90 wt would still be fine. I'm considering that you would still mow the lawn at about the old 2nd gear speed, and any snow plowing the original 3rd gear speed. If you are just racing around a go-cart track in the summer, you might just want to check it once to see how the trans is handling it. Remember...no shifting with out being at a complete stop.

A few more shots. It's in pretty good condition for a 28 year old tractor

You know me Jeff...I get busy with life and get focused on other stuff. Thanks for linking me to this thread and I’ll definitely follow along. Maybe I’ll start a “20 years after” thread showing pictures and indicating what I did with mine all those years ago. That way it is saved here digitally for posterity. Howie—thanks for the cool pics and since you are a member keep on posting updates and pictures as this progresses. I have been involved with two GTO restorations—my ‘69 and dad’s ‘67–and so I know what it takes and I can’t wait to see how yours turns out. Are you taking a stock approach or a modified route? What color scheme are you thinking? My dad owned a 1970 Ram Air IV Goat for about 6 months in the spring of 1973. He said it was the fastest car he ever drove in his life from 0-115mph but the insurance company wouldn’t cover the 20 year old in that machine and so he was forced to sell it. Knowing what he knows now, definitely wishes that he had kept it!

@PeacemakerJack, where you hiding Josh this man @Howie is a Poncho fan much like yourself. BTW I like em all just a bit more biased to the "Bowtie" I did a mild resto on my 78 Malibu's paint 19 years ago and full "killer" build on the stout lil 406SBC about 6 years ago... Those Poncho engines are torquey if the body turns out nice as you expect you'll love it for generations.

My 2018 3500, bought to haul both the family as well as the 5th Wheel. 6.7l Cummins, Aisin trans , Mega cab, nice little truck!