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When I disposed of the last Craftsman tractor I rolled over in my yard, and switched to more stable and higher quality machines, one of the first things I wanted of course was a front end loader attachment. I had learned to weld, I had a machine shop, I had wheel horses, I just needed the right frame of mind. Years, a new house and job, and a new boat later, I finally have achieved it. Last year after I lost my job, while I was preparing to move and look for a new job, a caught an ad for a GT-14 FEL, for $1200. More than it was work I am sure, considering the condition. The frame had been half modified to put on a D series, the motor was missing and there was no motor mount. I reconfigured the frame, built a hydraulic motor mount and today, I fired it up (and used it) for the first time. Never give up!

One of the small terminals on the 4 wire solenoid needs to be grounded.

Changing solenoid again, back to my 8N Ford spare, it works the new one doesn't. And maybe put on my new lifetime ground cable. I had welding lead laying around

Now I am helping my father in-law do the drain plumbing in their new house. January of 2019 their place burnt during the polar vortex and they are hoping to be in their new home before winter. The house is a pole building where 1/2 is living quarters and 1/2 is motorhome storage. There will be a floor drain and motorhome dump too.

I finished my mask yesterday, kind of...

Pushed the tractor out of its resting place i parked it at least 20 years ago, its a 80-8speed. not sure why i parked it. I plan on getting it running again.

My father had a couple that I enjoyed using, when my wife and I first got married in 1973 I had a Gilson 11 horse, by 1985 I was ready for something better. One of my friends from school had the wheel horse dealership at that time, so it took a while to convienence the wife why I needed a $4,000.00 dollar tractor. My friend told me if I took good care of it, it may be the last tractor I would have to buy. 417-8 with electric lift, still have it today along with a couple other horses. Included is a picture of a couple my father had.

Ok here goes, we moved into our new house in 1990. At the time I didn't have much money left for a fancy tractor so I bought a cheap Craftsman lawn tractor. One of my neighbors owned a 1979 C-161 8 speed that he bought new. I told him that if he every wanted to sell it let me know. Well one day in the spring of 2000 he called and said he was trading his Horse in on a new model and was I still interested in it. Well yea I was. I saw over those 10 years how well he maintained it and I was on my second cheap mower and it was about shot. So we made the deal and I've had it ever since. A few years later I needed a winter project so I took it apart and redid it completely. In the spring the first time I rolled it out he came running over saying how it looked just like it did when he brought it home new. 41 years old and still running strong!

I was looking for a loader and found one with a WH attached. Didn't know what it was and I intended to pull the loader and put it on one of my Cub Cadet's. Came here and found out what I had and before you know it, fell in love with the Horse! The folks on the forum is why I now have 4 and probably spend too much time here running my mouth!! Randy

Installed a foot pedal motion control on the 417A. All my hydros now have foot control.

May the Ghost of Joseph Lucas stay away from your project.

Idiot proof. Until you get an idiot punching the keys. Go back to Napa and ask for a ST82SB

Good point Richard but I was under the impression he's trying to use a Ford style solenoid. @Redneckdavis make sure you verify what type you're using. Either will work but the Ford style gets it's ground via the mounting bracket. If you're using the Ford type DO NOT ground the 'I' terminal. Just make sure the bracket is well grounded. If you're using the type 953 nut posted the small terminals feed the coil and one of them WILL need to be grounded.

When I was a kid, my Grandpa had a ~70's WH, likely a C series. We'd stay at Nana and Grandpas mountain home for a few weeks in the summer and Grandpa always put that WH (and all 5 of us) to work. Fast forward a few years; my neighbor noticed 13 year old me in the driveway all the time working with my older brother on his Chevelle. Her Dad owned a small engine shop, Toro/WH/Lawn Boy/Stihl/Bobcat/Little Wonder dealership and was looking for a sweeper. She mentioned me to her Dad. I got the job. And my WH love affair began. Part of my job was uncrating and assembling brand new WH tractors. Oh yes. I did. Every day after school and weekends. It's OK if you're jealous. Now, all these years later, I finally have my own. What's your story?

I finally had a chance to install the new shifter retaining set screw on the 310 today. Thanks @A-Z Tractor ! It took about 12 minutes to install. 7.5 minutes was getting out a #1 Phillips, allen keys and a 3/8" open end. And then I decided to mow. But it was beer:30 and I still don't have an adult beverage holder. I looked around the garage and found a solution (temporary) and installed it. May I present, "The Three Minute Beer Holder!" Oh, it'll never survive even the 1st leg strike, but it worked today. hahahah! And later, I found a Wheel Horse in its native environment.

I started installing the compressed air system for my shop. There will be two compressors feeding the system that will have four drops. One for the blast cabinet, one on each side of the shop and one under the lean to.

Looks like a Johnson Workhorse loader just like mine, Love It.

Interesting choice. My walk around the yard I only found my 8n with a 3wire. My 960 tractor, 78 f100, 79 bronco, 67 f100 and my 72 firetruck all 4 wire. But as far as ordering correctly, my horse is nowhere near stock. Either way you can't beat putting the old part on the counter. . If you have it. I am going to try grounding that extra terminal. 4 wire solenoid, challenge accepted

When you put the lens back on get 4 tiny o rings that will fit around the screws and fit into the well on the lens. helps cushion and prevent cracking...

12 horsepalidin, i use MEGUIRES PLASTIC X , MADE FOR FADED HEADLIGHT LENSES , https://www.walmart.com/ip/Meguiar-s-G12310-PlastX-Clear-Plastic-Cleaner-Polish-10-oz/16550253?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=2200&&adid=22222222227010027956&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=40838625392&wl4=pla-78651900512&wl5=9003292&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=16550253&veh=sem&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI74G4nI7m6gIV7wiICR0cAwsJEAQYASABEgIwDvD_BwE not only does it really clean up a lens , do it a couple of times , but it will make plastic squeaky clean , used it on all my car lights , look like new, pete

Nonsense, you'll have no problems. Polish that sucker up. Used without any issues on everything you see pictured here.

I picked up my '88 520H that was on it's way to the scrap yard with920 hours on the meter. It ran , but surged constantly. I removed the tins and found an oil leak under the oil filter mounting plate that had blown oil across the rear cylinder cooling fins totally clogging them with a sticky mass of grass clippings. Removed the heads and decarboned. Luckily the valves, seats, and pistons looked good. Cleaned the carb...three times until the surging stopped. I did vent the belt guard and added a heat collector that pumps all the heat into the cab. Added a foot motion control, loaded tires, wheel weights, chains, and a 54" snow blade. It is a beast of a snow remover.

Exactly. I always open them up for inspection when I first get them and they get new seals, boot and a gasket I put the 1.5-2 quarts in and I'm good to go for a long time. It's not going to get used up. I've pondered that too. Technically, the 6 and 8 speeds have more parts inside to displace the oil and raise the level meaning that, given the same amount of oil would sit at a higher level than a 3 or 4 speed. But then again, most of those extra parts don't sit in the oil at a stand still. Given the fact that so many of these tough transmission have survived living in a water sludge mix for years just knowing it's clean inside and it's being lubed properly is good enough for me to basically ignore them after that.

I’m a broken record but the single kohler 8 speeds are some of the best horses ever made period.

I changed the color of the wheels on my 520-H. I used Dupli-Color Ford Wimbledon White. If you chose to keep the original color use Silver Argent. You can get it in your favorate flavor for GM, Ford or MoPar.

Today I had the longest cultivator attachment in history. I just got into wheel horses about a month and a half ago and I just bought my second one last Friday. The goal today was to add a sleeve hitch, mount the cultivator, and loosen some dirt for removal with my other horse with a snow plow. EASY, right? Wrong. I brought the red swan (you guys will see why it's called this later on) up to my driveway to start work. I've only driven it around the yard a bit, but it sounded like there was an odd noise coming from the drivetrain. After I removed the old hitch (which was luckily not frozen) I decided to check the transmission oil level (8 speed). Well, that doesn't look good. I think I read on here before this is what happens when you get water mixed in with the oil...so out it goes. Definitely glad I didn't just ignore the noise and keep moving forward. I didn't want to just add new oil and hope all of the bad stuff was removed, so I refilled with engine oil from my truck's oil change and started the tractor and ran it through the gears. I didn't want to hurt everything using such a light weight oil, so I lifted the rear tires off the ground. My goal was to "wash" the inside with oil. Even if it's a lighter grade, it's better than water. I did this 3 times until I had normal looking oil coming back out of the transmission, then fillled it back up with gear oil. Now it's time to get back on track and finish that hitch, right. Wrong! While fussing with the transmission, I noticed this. Seems like the clutch pulley was rubbing on the right side of the guard for a while and may have been part of the odd noise I was hearing. I kept trying to reach in and see if I could fix it somehow, but the final verdict is I needed to get closer. So I took everything apart. Shout out to the PO who put the worst bolts known to man on this tractor to hold the seat on. I basically had to un-upholster the seat to get to the back side of the bolts to back them out and have access to the fender bolts. I was able to get away easy-ish with this one, the pulley had a stand-off side and a shorter side, so I was able to flip the pulley around and have the non-standoff side against the pivot arm. It rubbed the pivot arm a little bit, so I used a precision shim (random washer) to hold the pulley out a little bit. The pulley was now a bit closeto the arm and I didn't have much more room to move it out, so I removed the pulley and adjusted (bent with precision) the pulley arm to have a little more space with the washer in place. Before and after expert bending pics below. I put the covers back on and I had space for the pulley. The bolt head may be rubbing on the cover (I didn't notice this until later) but I'm, not to worried as it doesn't spin and only will rub when I put my foot on or off the clutch. Almost there! I also got a rear tach-a-matic recently so I figured I would install it as well. It is a different type than my other tractor, so I am not sure if I did it correctly. There is no hole in the main body for the hitch pin, just a hole in the lever arm. If someone can tell me what I am doing wrong I would appreciate it. I added hitch pins anyway to stop the levers from falling down and hitting the tires. Like this they are basically in the closed position, but nothing would stop me from pulling the lever upwards and opening the mount. We're here! the moment I was waiting for all night! I bet you forgot what my goal was by now, right? By far the easiest part of the night! Clevis hitch is installed with non-wheel horse chain.Someday I will get official parts for this. Now it's time to get the rest of the tractor together. I still have that cultivator to mount! First step is getting the cushion hack on the seat. Finally with seat on (with better bolts, of course) the Swan (notice the hood ornament, courtesy of PO) looks like a real tractor once again. Last step was adding the cultivator. I managed to complete 2/3rds of my goal today. I added the sleeve hitch and mounted the cultivator, but no seat time. Hopefully, I can get out tomorrow and play with some dirt!

Smart A$$

I will try to reglue the Digitizer later with a heatgun and hope i can reuse my ipad tomorrow back as usual. Robbed the last parts from the White Opel (Alu Rims and Trailerhook ignition line MAF sensor and several other needable Parts) and prepare it for trashing, maybe out local firefighter like it as a trainingobject for cut it down on a person safe training. That could give it a last good sense for Emergency life saver training.

I was looking at the one next to the ford tractor solenoid and figured that was the four wire he was talking about.

we have just seen the end of a long trial of three young traveller men who were caught stealing a quad bike from a remote farm in the middle of the night. They were dragging it behind a car when a police patrol came across them. One officer got out to chase one of them on foot. This thief had unhooked the tow rope from the quad and his mates drove off and left him. The officers feet were caught in the loop of the rope and he was dragged away by the fleeing car. He was pulled behind the vehicle, at speed, for over a mile. He died naked; his clothes were ripped off as he was dragged along. The thieves got away but were arrested shortly afterwards. Pc Harper had been married a month before he died. They denied killing him but were found guilty of manslaughter not murder. They will be sentenced in a few weeks, but will get a paltry time in prison. As an ex officer I am saddened and appalled that these scum will go to prison as heroes and come out in just a few years. They should never see the light of day again and if there was any real natural justice they would hang. Sorry to rant but this just keeps on happening and nothing changes. Our police, fire and ambulance staff are abused and assaulted every day and we let it happen. You boys over the pond have better ideas. Mick

A well maintained onan is hard to beat, I bought a 520-H new in 1989 hour meter stoped working with 777 hours on it fifteenish years ago. The amount I used it, did something almost every day, I'm guessing but must have close to 3000 hour's on it and still running strong. Had the dealer put a a new carb on it three years ago, other than that just good regular maintaining. Dealer said it was good for another thirty years. It lead to my addition, in the last ten years have added nine more, five in the last three months. Not all onans.

Lowes and HD have Arnold and/or MTD solenoid that will work just fine.

That's a forward-mounted version of what my father made up out of angle iron and old push mowers back in the 70s. Slick work there!

I've worked in Auto Parts in the past but mostly at dealerships which is a completely different world from wholesale or retail stores like Napa. @squonk Mike has quite a bit of experience at Napa in his past. He still has a lot of the knowledge and helps us out with numbers of things when we need them. The computer systems in today's parts stores are very close to idiot-proof. Unfortunately, they are also very dependent on putting the correct information in by someone who may or may not have experience in lawn mower repair. For most of these older Wheelhorses you can tell them you want a 3 post solenoid from a 75 f150 straight 6.

Thanks, every1, for the info n ideas!😊

Is that just a regular headlight bucket? Excellent! Its what i have here, so thatll get done, too! Thanks👍🏼

Capitalism at it's best, I got mine and some of yours.

I've been cutting 2-3 acres (primarily) with an Onan powered 416-H for around 17 years has around 1000 hours zero issues best garden tractor I've owned - and probably best vehicle I've owned also have 312-8 if you cut a lot of grass - the difference between the 312 and 416 is significant so much that I purchased another 416

Four wire usually is large posts are the battery to starter cables, one small wire from switch to solenoid for “start”, other small post to ground

Posted to FB this morning. Port Clinton, Ohio. $150. Text to 419-573-2122.

I was just thinking of becoming a supporter again been so busy lately it must be overdue I will check in to that today 😊

Seems like the travel distance of the idler arm is too far. Adjusting the brake band rod will catch and stop the travel of the pedal and idler arm when it gets tight on the drum. It can be a fine line between grabbing the brake and allowing the belt to clutch slip. Adjust the brake band rod nut so it stops the idler arm from going over that switch. Then adjust the pedal rod for the position of the pedal.

Get yesterday Mail, the Horse will arrive in first Weeks of August in Rotterdam Harbour. have to prepare all items for Custom..

@ArturHawk I follow the same method that Bob does. As far as checking the level if it doesn't have a dipstick... No leaks, no problem. I don't know the technical reason for having the extra half quart in an 8-speed when it does not have LSD but I always figured it was something to do with the high low shifter and as stated above, a little extra oil is certainly not going to hurt anything and a gear drive transmission.

Everyone's experience is different, the below are suppliers who you should further check into prior to making a purchase. Suppliers on this list have been posted about a number of times as having a failed transaction. The sole purpose of this list is for you to make a more informed decision when choosing a supplier of parts and services. As always RedSquare is not responsible for a failed transaction. 1. Brian Miller (GardenTracrtorPullingTips.com)

Yes Lowell makes pretty good stuff for Wheel Horses - no debate about it- and he does it in between a full time job, a family and a gnawing search for Wheel Horse tractors, attachments and collectibles!

I finished up a new stainless belt gaurd for the old Patiot.

I'm tellin' ya the smell of diesel drives women wild.

You blokes all had a real good day.... changed the fuel filters on the Dodge 6.7 Cummings today. Should have known to go at it not bare brested. Soaked my favorite mafia tee with diesel. Dan @Achto says go snug with the missus when you smell like that.. never mind. ..what a mess!