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Mrs Rules and I had the Senior out celebrating my best buddy Morgan's 5th birthday today. By providing some Wheel-Horse tractor rides to all the kids attending his party at our local horse farm, at least 20 kids there today, I am pretty confident a great time was had by all. Thanks to Mrs Rules for all the wonderful picts to share here too.

Here is my farm fresh 753 and after it was washed. Have my best driver (aka: grandson #7) pulling my deuce backward..........deuce is in 1st gear low transfer with 6 wheel drive engaged. The power of these WH's is just amazing.

Folks, I picked this up last Friday. It needs work but has a lot of good things going for it. The PO said the wiring went bad and he doesn't like to work on electrical (good for me, I'm OK with it). It was not running due to the tore up wiring. I see mouse chews and some disturbing "meltage" near the Rec/Reg. So far I have been going over things and taking stock. Lots of bolts missing and things that need lube/adjustment. The guy threw in an extra hood and a box full of parts including another shot wiring harness. I'm gonna have some questions about the hydro (my first) and I'll be posting over in that forum soon. Same with electrical. This one is going to take some time and I'm looking forward to it. So far I have cleaned a bunch of electrical connections just to get it spark. I found that the points were set so wide that they never closed. Now I have spark. Tomorrow I'm gonna try to get a pop out of it and then its off to the fuel delivery system. Bentoolong PS. the pics are from the POs ad. I'll put more up soon.

Picked up a C145 with 42" deck & blower for $400 this weekend. Separate buys 20 miles apart. Gamble is the tractor as it's been sitting 4-5 yrs with old fuel. Love that varnish stank! Motor turns over so there's hope. Maintenance from owner was absent at best. I think the hydro filter might be original and air filter was clogged. At least the engine and transmission had oil. So she's now mine & we'll see what happens as we flush change and replace the bad. The body is actually in good shape except the cracked up fender pan. Anyone got a metal replacement? The blower is a good score and only missing the long lift rod. If I can get this C-145 running then it will only be used for snowblowing here in MN. Does anyone have horror maintenance stories and still end up with a good running tractor without rebuilding?

Spent the day at one of our favorite places, Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania. Beautiful day to enjoy some outstanding beautiful plantings. The water lilies are out of this world.

I was reading a local newspaper article this morning and it appears as though Covid has struck the lawn tractor market with shortages. So, along with toilet paper and chicken wings we can add lawn and garden tractors. On the bright side I was able to convince my wife that my forward thinking has perched us upon a veritable goldmine.....😂😂😂

I usually replace the center zerks with a 1/4-28 SH set screw and just put the zerk back in for greasing.

Your piston rings are made of cast iron and will wear just like the cylinder walls. The Kohler manual clearly states you NEVER reuse old rings.

Rings seat or wear in when you run the engine. Once you pull them out you can never get them back in the exact orientation that they were in. This will cause them to leak, oil & compression. Besides this fact, you already have it apart why would you not change them?

The only thing different for a belt guard on a similar model tractor with a Kohler is the hole location for where it mounts to the engine. Not a big deal to make them fit. To make it run without a belt guard so the gears don't grind, you can support the belt around the engine pulley with little metal "fingers" made from round bar.

Had to go dig them up from the archive! Here is a selection of them. We prefabricated the main components (walls, trusses, door, floor, etc.) in the garage of the deck donor to minimize construction time once we got to the camp. These are the walls ready to load on the truck. We sheathed them at an angle to fully use the 10' lengths without having joints in the sheathing and not have any short pieces left over. These are rafters cut for the trusses. We bought a couple new bits since the deck didn't yield quite enough material! This is a main truss for over the front entrance (4x4 rafters with 2x4 scissors) There is a scissor truss. These give a nice height and visual interest to the interior. Roof is metal panels over purlins on the trusses since there its in a place that routinely gets lots of snow (23' a couple of years ago). There are very tall people in the family who had to duck into the previous outhouse so a tall door was a requirement! It makes up most of the front wall. Screening fills the spaces above the door and between the roof trusses at the tops of the wall for ventilation and to impede bugs. Rear wall was pieced from the remaining bits. Lower portion is an access door for the annual spring "cleanout" (after over-wintering, the contents are essentially compost which gets spread in the forest). This is the result

Maybe @pullstartshould get a pair of these. Steel toe flip flops. Yes they do exist.

I have a couple NOS steering gears. PM me if interested

Give those old rings to your local blacksmith! They are made of good steel they can reuse for making neat things!

First pull the shifter and make sure the forks are aligned correctly (Use a big screw driver to get them back right) if they are aligned and still locked up 953nut probably has your issue Identified....

I'm with the rest of the group, I replace them. As mentioned, if you got it apart, why NOT! With the influx of the import rebuild parts being crazy cheap, the last 2-3 engines I went into I just went ahead and got one of the 'kits' (On a side note here, I've been using them for some 5-6yrs and I have NO complaint with them) Well, I have to say that when I was a kid and at 14yrs bought a Cushman motor scooter for 40$, I would take that thing apart and put it back together... just because! I was fascinated by it - and til this day, at 80yrs, I still get a thrill out of tearing into an engine.

I have told my wife that when I kick the bucket she should just post the sad news on Red Square and let everything go for free. At that point I'm done with it so the time has come to give everything new homes.

@pullstart Here you go!

As long as there are idiots who take a 2 year old lawnmower to the dump, companies will keep selling them. Almost no one gardens anymore (present company excluded), unless they build some raised bed contraption. Zero turns are popular, but they only do one thing: mow grass very fast. Mine is built like a tank, but I wouldn't put a lawn trailer behind it for fear of the cost of repairs, and mine has full hydraulic pumps and cast iron wheel motors. Most of the newest "commercial grade" models have pot metal transmissions and still cost $15K. Can you imagine how expensive a cast iron transmission, hardened steel geared, bulletproof engined, top of the line comfort garden tractor would cost today? Heck, a Kohler Magnum or Onan P series alone would cost 3 to 4 thousand bucks. BUT- It would probably be worth it!

Here’s a couple fun ones.

Yes, with your permission I’m going to explain to my bride of 31 years that we are curators of Americana! On another note, I believe Deere and Simplicity still produce honest to goodness garden tractors. It must be a tough business though, my mid 90’s 520H with deck, two stage snow blower, wheel weights and chains was close to 8 grand in 1995 dollars. An x7 series Deere is probably over 10 grand but given inflation it’s not out of line.

Just found this site,thanks to a fellow member of SmokStak. I have collected garden tractors for 30 years roughly and have several Horse's of different models. Most are in rough condition that I prevented their loss to the scrapper. I have a couple disassembled RJ's and a 60 suburban but they were apart when I got them. 2 1964 Lawn rangers,from what I can tell of the serial numbers they were probably built on the same day. and several others. But the 2 that got me really digging for information are my recent purchases A E 141 and a B145.Which is the same as a E 14 Ge elec trak. I have a total of 12 electric machines, some in terrible condition but again, saved from the junk heap. I will be asking questions over time about the E-141.

So I picked up this one month's ago. Got it cheap and it came with a mowing deck and a plow. The bad news was that the engine was no good. When I got it home I realized that it was too nice to part out. I put new steering wheel on it and replaced the tires so I could roll it around. @squonkwas nice enough to pick up a 8hp engine for it at the Big Show. Neither of us has seen it run yet but hopefully it won't be long. During disassembly of it I can see there are a few teeth missing on the pinion gear for the steering. So I am looking for that gear. Make sense to replace it while it is all apart. So when I get that fixed I can put the replacement engine in. Advice on that small steering gear replacement???

I am feeling better each day.Tiday was the first day of school, so I had a lot of activity early this morning, I went straight to bed and took a four hour nap to recover. I haven't seen Howard since I left the hospital on the 31st, but I text him daily. He said most of the pain is gone and the healing has begun. Ad for me, I would say i am physically recovered, but my energy levels are still way down....I have a checkup tomorrow at the transplant center, so I guess I will get the official word from the doctors (and there are a lot of them) tomorrow.....thanks for the kind thoughts and prayers. Dave

That essentially what i had beet told by old timers. its good to see this in writing, it clarifies what I've always done, just never had a iron clad reason why.

I'm thinking it happened when the "previous owner installed the bearing. Probably got it wedged and whacked it .

It sure is fun running such old equipment with such young kids… some day they might realize how lucky they are/were!

I had one that was locked up like that, turned out one of the bolts going through the differential hade broken and was wedged.

Now, I heard a rumor that the small green machines at one of those home improvement chains were made by <insert name of yuuge lawn tractor manufacturer here> under license, and that the transmissions contained plastic parts good for the life of the warranty only. If that’s true, then a well preserved or shiny “new” Wheelhorse will one day become much more appreciated and sought after than they are now. They’re America at its best fer cryin out loud! Hat’s off to all you guys keeping them alive. We’re not hoarders, we’re curators!

The only way you'll see a ZTR on my lawn is when I'm unable to mow it my self and I have to hire somebody. Kind of a funny story. At my son's house in Buffalo. Everybody has a tiny yard. I can mow my son's yard in less than 15 minutes with a pusher and that includes getting it in an out of the shed. We're sitting on his front porch and this landscaping truck pulls up to mow the yard across the street. This guy fires up the 0 turn and starts mowing. The other 2 guys go grab the trimmers. The guy on the 0 turn is done and has it back on the trailer before 1 of the other guys gets his trimmer started!

One of my biggest fears.... When I take that long dirt nap, Mrs K. sells my guns, boats, fishing gear, and tractors for what I told her I paid for them.

Wow! I didn't remember posting that 5 years ago. I thought that tractor looked short but it can be deceiving. Its now been over 20 years since I've had a sickle. I'm looking for one now and I thought they could be adjusted to any frame length but I couldn't remember for sure. Too late on this one, already sold.

Beautiful old Quiet Blade! I've got the Standard, QB, and the Vortalex myself. Finished up an all brass GE 1914 model not too long ago. Have about 30 old fans in all, late 1890's to early 50s period. Love them all. Here's my little All Brass and a tiny 6 winged GE prototype unit. Getting a little tough to find them for reasonable prices these days. Too bad.. fun side work when the tractors and vehicles get to be too much. The brass GE came on trade for a clapped out old lawn mower.. had no idea it was a brass body at the time. Always tell myself I'll find a rough old dime store model and paint it in WH livery.. some day.

The hood and cast clutch pedal with the 3 piece trans indicate it's a 1961 model 401 You'll need a belt guard to keep from grinding the gears when shifting into gear. The belt guard supports the belt around the engine pulley to let it slack off the groove so it doesn't turn the trans pulley. Upon closer inspection of the hood it looks like someone modified a 1960 hood. 1960 hood had that square hole and that's where the throttle and choke controls were located. 1961 used the push/pull controls like what's on there but there was a round hole where the square one is now and a big electrical box plug was used to fill in the round hole. The foot rests aren't original. not bashing just providing information

Thank you, that might be easy, just can’t have long shoe laces… maybe I’ll buy some velcro sneakers!

Eric, I think he said he had a Predator engine on that 607. If so, he needs to figure out what he wants to do. If he stays with the replacement, finds a Tecumseh 6 hsp or puts a Kohler 8 in it. I'm not sure if the original belt guard would fit any of those engines...except the Tecky 6. We need to wait and see the pictures. EDIT...just looked at the manuals. The 607 with a Tecky engine uses belt guard # 5308. If a Kohler 8 was used, the guard is #4993. Might just have to make one, or have one made. Going to need pictures and measurements.

You and me bud. You and me. That's why I have The Paint Department... @AMC RULES Craig has done some wondrous work with certain polishes and a lot of elbow grease. The belt guard is probably going to be the same for any of the mid-60s short frame tractors. Anything with a Tecumseh 6 or Kohler 8 engine from 1965, 6, 7. Maybe a little earlier and later but I don't know.

Thanks. Just interested in learning more about what I bought. I already have a space cleared for it. Does anyone know what I can do to make the paint a little cleaner? No pictures right now, I will get some tomorrow once I pick it up.

Napa uses the Kohler # now. 2575701S About $17.00. There are 3 kits in the Connecticut DC

For the curious, here is the picture of the cracked bearing boss.

Yeah, just think... I actually volunteer for that service every year. 🤣😂🤣😂

It would be a great idea to familiarize yourself with the reference material that's here on Redsquare. There's nothing you're going to find and no situation you're going to get yourself into that one of us hasn't already encountered. There's a magnifying glass at the top of the page which is your search mechanism. Type in two or three words and hit that. When the results come up look just below where you put those words in and there are more mechanisms such as PHRASE, AND, etc. I find a very helpful to click on the word AND. I do so on a regular basis. That gives you the list of the threads that have ALL of the words you've used for your search. Parts availability for these machines is excellent. Amongst ourselves a lot of us buy sell or trade back and forth by shipping parts. There's also a list of site approved vendors in the Vendors Section.

Managed to get the big ol Bayliner started. Had to change the battery and double check all the ignition circuits. Changed Dugs pump belt to a more rubbery version. Completed order for Sweden, and started another.

Got back to this one today. Been a while, but it will get done eventually. I had to get my work space set up, and it took a while. I'm converting a vertical shaft Vanguard to horizontal. The vertical shaft engine blew a head gasket a couple years ago, and blew all the other seals when all that compression went into the case. Luckily I saw it happen, so I shut the engine down before it damaged anything further. I repowered that mower with a spare at the time, so that gave me a good parts donor. Last year I found a NOS horizontal block, so it's basically going to be a brand new engine when finished. The block came with bearings and seals installed, and cylinders already cross hatched from Briggs. It's as close to plug and play as I've ever seen for certain. The crank and pistons all checked out well within specs, and the pistons actually still look new when cleaned up. I'm putting in new rings, and everything else will come from the donor, except the bearing plate and oil pump, but I have one of those already. Of course I already have a full gasket/ seal kit ready to go as well. Gotta go through the heads next, so hopefully I'll have the new block built and sealed up in a few days.

Finally got round to swapping the fabric belt on Dugs hydraulic pump to a more "rubbery" one for better grip. Had been slipping when under a heavy load. We'll see if it helped when I go to pick up another heafty load.

No Horse building going on here today. Just putting one to work. Hiram has been standing proud around the yard way to long. Time for him to do something. Hay duty. Thanks to the town cutting the shoulders of the road the other day, our ducks have free hay for there run.