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Over my 72 years, I have dabbled with automotive body work from time to time. Back in the early 1990's I took a night school course in auto body. I learned a bit, but lots of things have changed since then. In 2009 when I decided to restore my B-100, the bug again bit me and I watched hours of YouTube videos on how to use hammer and dolly to remove dents. I found it fascinating, so i bought a set. Fast forward to 2018 when I bought a project 701 at the WHCC show. This is what the hood looked like. It's been over 4 years of working off and on with my hammers, and I think that I'm finally ready to put some primer on this thing.

Earlier this year, I bought a B-112, of which the deck needed some welding. I put it away in a shed as a future project. A few months later I saw an ad for a compatible NOS deck (5 of them, actually). I picked it up August 18, and believe it or not, it sat unopened in my garage until 15 minutes ago. Going as far back as when I was a little kid, I don't recall ever opening a Christmas present with as much anticipation, followed by happiness with what was in it, as I did today. The manual was printed September 1979. Do you think I should mail in the registration card? I'd hate to void my warranty!

Here’s a handful of line ups…

Greetings to all. New member here. I have recently rescued a Wheel Horse from the depths of a ravine which was an adventure in itself not to mention a running battle with an outlaw band of yellow jackets intent upon grievous assault and bodily injury inflicted on yours truly. I was doing a job in a nearby small town and lamented to the client that although I greatly admired the Wheel Horse tractors, I was, sad to say, not an owner of a single one. Client pointed toward a ravine out behind a big old barn and stated that there was one down there somewhere. It had been washed down the cliff in a rather heavy downpour that had lasted three days or so and had been down there ever since the side of the hill gave way. My heart skipped a beat when she said I could have it if I could figure out a way to get it out of there. Light of heart and with approximately a full inch of air under my feet I climbed about and eventually fell quite a ways down the cliff out back of the barn. When I came to rest I quickly looked about to confirm that there had been no witnesses to the rather ungraceful arrival down the hill and then proceeded to sort out some contusions, broken bones, and such. After searching around the side of the hill where one has to lay down on his side to stand up, you might imagine the joy of finding four wheels peeking out from under a rotted wooden pallet that they were still attached to. Underneath the four wheels is a red tractor complete with a green and brown camouflage covering. Recovery of the machine took two days during which I have noted that there have been some recent changes as far as nature is concerned, namely the earth has become much harder than I remember. The air has become thinner also. I have detected an alarming increase in the force of gravity too. Some of you may be better able to explain these physiological changes. Some past logging experience came in helpful to return the tractor topside. Once we finally had the tractor loaded up and were just leaving, I was a little less excited when the client stated offhandedly that there was a mowing deck and roto tiller attachment down the hill there somewhere too. Back down the hill I go but sure enough, I eventually find a big cutting deck and even further down the hill is the rototiller attachment. I find that I am finally the proud owner of a Toro Wheel Horse tractor. Looks like it says 520 on the lower side of the hood. Currently, the machine is being cleaned of years of mud,moss, and green slime. I am also in the process of eviction of the bee infestation. It is in surprisingly good condition considering the circumstances. Mower is about 60 inches across. Still has red paint all under the deck. Motor looks to be liquid cooled, and spins free. Absolutely cant wait to get it cleaned up and see if it will actually function. I feel that it is going to be great adventure.

Here's a couple of pictures of the bottom tab area. Before: After:

Here is a pic from last year. 11 's & a McLean. The heard has grown a little more since this pic.

New to this myself, all run. 63,65,74,75,75 and 75. The 753 is my next rehab. Have 2 more in the garage. One is a 8hp 4-speed that’s currently disassembled as I’m gonna try to restore it. Was my first horse. The other is a C81 rehab project. Both run.

Was having fun with Mason today. He challenged me to a drag race. 877 vs. 1277. It was a tie even with the lack of weight advantage he had. This pair of 1967s run good.

Maybe it’s a locking nut so it stays in place

So I picked up this d-180 from a guy a few months ago with a deck, he said that he had a blade and a snowblower for it also but they were up at his cabin. Last weekend he called and said he has them at his house so I went to pick them up. Blower is very well used, blade is missing some parts and he had this! Pretty sure its home made but it works pretty good!

There's showing of and then there's @Pullstartshowing off Am only a little jealous of all the above groups of machines So far I only have one WHEEL horse: And I guess my gf sorta tries to play along aswell, just doesn't have wheels.. nor a steering wheel for that matter..

our 3 "C" Series - two 175 h's and one 165-8 - plus of course plows, tiller, carts, roller, etc and assorted others including my original 312-8

By strict definition he sold US the loader hoe.... But you know as well as I do it's already been claimed as HER TRACTOR. The other day, even her mom said those words.

It's not overloaded, it's a full load ..... of family toys.

Let's begin this meeting with a moment of silence for all those out there still sick & suffering.... bug bit you good, love it!

here are a few others from our herd - some still here in our corral -- others that have moved on to other corrals elsewhere -- but hopefully still loved

I was in Wall Mart today. They had 0 tubes of grease of any kind. We used to sell multiple brands of grease at Napa when I was there. You really can't go wrong with Red n Tacky, Kendall Super-Blue or any Premium grease. Anything is going to work better if you grease it once in a while. No sense making a federal case and driving all over the place looking for green grease. These are 40 + year old garden tractors. They worked fine and lasted with good old fashioned grease that Grandpa used to use.

Liquid cooled? Maybe not a 520-H but a 520XI

Had to clean the hose barn one fine day so the composition of the picture leaves a bit to be desired but here is most of the herd. and a few random shots.

Hi Hodge, could be a spring also. It should be something outside of the transmission, I don't think it is something inside.

Sudden onset would point to failure of the bearing in the idler pulley. Pull off belt guard and take a peak

Evidently, Dad's 702 is not one of them - had the steering wheel shaft abrade thru the 50 year old OE wiring about 10 years ago - lost the S/G voltage regulator in the process, along with the toastacated wiring. I have added 25 Amp fuses in weather proof holders to both the C81 and the 854 8 speed. just because....

My A-hole neighbor came over while I was putting a VW engine together and using my torque wrench. He fancies himself a world class mechanic. He said; "REAL mechanics don't use torque wrenches" He doesn't own a torque wrench. He's always coming over asking for hardware... because he broke a bolt, and knows I keep a pretty good stock of hardware. I should say to him; "REAL mechanics don't break as many bolts as you do Popeye!"

I mounted the front tires on the rims, knowing full well there was gonna be some scratches to the fresh paint, I mounted in a way that all the scratches would be to the inside, then touched up those scratches with a brush. Also put some color on a few parts today, and yesterday. Black went on the pulleys yesterday, red today. Tomorrow I plan for a round of grey. Hope to start reassembly this weekend. Then once the bulk of the rolling chassis is back together, Ive gotta prep and paint the seat pan, and fenders. Also want to clean the carb and open up the motor to make sure nothing is too out of whack with it, then paint that, mount and tractor complete. So maybe another month and a bit.

When I restore a tractor I always put a 30amp fuse in the wire that provides power from the battery to the ignition switch. If there is an amp meter the fuse is installed between the battery & the amp meter. I figure that it is better to blow a fuse than take the chance of burning up the wiring. I use a spade type in line fuse with a sealed holder.

I like the short ones. Right now all I have is a 1075, an 856, and a 875. The bottom plow and trailer are part of the collection because the decals say they are.

@jeremi3210, aerosol red grease lubricant on that , cutter , every slide point . do some detailing on the functioning of it , typically neglected , when they are free to move / cycle the sound and ease of slide is impressive , pete

there’s something about wheelies and funny faces

Thank you all for the birthday wishes! Yes I did have a great day yesterday! Three boxes in the mail. A new old man sweater, a oil painting from 1929 and a iPad! I had a great dinner and a little bit of chocolate! I have my big pottery show at the local Putnam County Museum tomorrow night. I have collected American Art Pottery for many years and the local museum asked me to display in their new 12 ft by 7 ft display case.

Only when you drive an RJ or Suburban

How bad are they? You might be able to just let them soak in a vinegar or electrolysis bath.

I beg to differ Bill... 50/50 patience/talent... which I have 0% of either. Nice work Bob can't wait to see it in red.

I "sand" blast a LOT and for cleaning up an old wheel horse Its hard to beat 'Black Diamond' in FINE grit (red lettering) in 50# bags for about $12 at TSC (its the coal slag mentioned). Larger grits will be prone to clog your gun. You can get into some pretty pricy media with glass beads, etc, so that $12 price for Black Diamond along with doing a good job of cleaning is hard to beat. I'll go thru 5-6 bags doing a horse. I also must also stress that a pretty decent sized compressor is a must if you plan to do a lot of blasting -- The CFM (cubic feet minute) is the number to go by, Tank size is not critical as long as you can get a ..... minimum? of say 15-16 CFM which will almost certainly call for a 2 stage compressor. I have an 80gal tank with a 5hp motor running a 2 stage putting out 18-19 CFM and if I'm doing a big piece it will run constantly but will still be putting out the CFM which means I can continue working - I blast at around 100-110PSI (pounds square inch)

Congrats!

Thank you one and all for the birthday wishes. As many of you know the older we get the less important Birthdays become. BUT the alternative to having more birthdays is not that appealing either! Ps, Great too have so many friends,that I have never met! Squonk, I especially like your picture, so many don't know how true that statement is,can be very dangerous work. Bob Blough Jr.

WOW! GREAT WORK

You're brain cells got scrambled when @rjg854 and myself left you alone so you could chat in private with your new found friend!

I noticed the "Horror Fright" sandblaster cabinets use a cheap gun and large ceramic nozzles. The TP gun I had in my old cabinet had smaller nozzles, a replaceable orifice and used less air for the same result than the HF cab I had.

If you put the fuse inline with the ammeter and it blew you would kill power to the ignition switch and the engine would shut off on a battery ignition model.

Have a Great Day

Happy Birthday!

I also use glass beads in the blast cabinet but nearly everything that goes in there is needle gunned first, especially painted items. The time it takes to needle gun painter items will save you five times that amount of time in blasting and your blast media will last longer because it is not being contaminated with paint chips. Removes paint, rust and welding slag.

In my blasting cabinet I use a medium grit coal slag. https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/black-diamond-medium-blasting-abrasives?cm_vc=-10005 Silica sand is not recommended as there can be health issues linked to it. That being said, I do use silica sand in my pressure pot blaster for larger parts. This is used out side only and I wear breathing PPE. Both hard & soft paint can be difficult to blast, soft is more difficult in my opinion. A soft paint will absorb the shock from the media, causing it to bounce off instead of break through. In a few cases soft paint will kind of roll up in front of the media, kind of like blasting grease. Hard paint may be difficult to break through initially but once you do it usually peals off pretty well if you keep working from the clean edge of it. In either case the thicker the paint, the harder it blasts. Good air pressure and a good blasting tip are key to blasting. If your tip gets warn out you are not concentrating your media enough to work well, plus you go through more air faster. Same effect as trying to wash dirt off with your water hose nozzle set to fan pattern instead of a stream pattern.

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I've always held to this idea myself. That being said, I recently did some work on my FIL's tractor, and he uses an "oil soak" method much like what is mentioned in this thread. That deck was as free of clippings and buildup as I've ever seen, as well as any signs of corrosion. I've always been the guy that uses POR-15 and whatever existed before it to seal the underside of a deck. While I still say it is a good approach to prevent corrosion, the oil soak method definitely has its merits. I think the success of either depends on how often they are done and the type of lawn they are used on. Point being: I have no idea which works best. I think what matters is that one or the other is practiced regularly. An ounce of prevention goes a long way...

Older WHs didn't have any fuses and most of them didn't catch fire...

After two months of drought it has rained a lot the last few days. Rained again to day so I did some hub repair. Beats $126 for a new one...

Painted the seat for the 1045 and placed it on the tractor to get a look, think the regal red matches nicely. Now to let it finish drying. Little by little it’s getting there. Gitty up and cheers!