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A couple pics of the first horse in the barn.

Correct, trans would need to split to replace bearings. Cable swivel to connect wire to that lever. Yes, parts cost are getting crazy. http://www.psep.biz/index.htm Isavetractors is a great source for quality parts. Especially their replacement carbs

A little while back I came home with a trailer full of stuff. Some of that stuff happened to be a C-81 I got from @tigwelder, thanks by the way, it’s been put to good use. I hadn’t had a chance to mess with it and it sat in my garage. Along comes my neighbor friend. Real good guy named Jeff. He’s an old tinkerer from way back. He always messed with non-WH tractors prior. He had a small fleet of MW’s, Sears he was always tinkering on and through attrition they were pretty much used up and was in need of a tractor. Bing, an idea came into me head. I tells my friend hey I bet I have enough parts in my garage to make you a WH. How about I give you a tractor only catch is you’ll have to put it mostly together. Deal! So we did. Let me tell you guys, the sh*t eatin grin on his face tells it all. He couldn’t be happier. Now he’s gonna redo his hasty paint job and do it right and then buy a sticker kit. He bought a really nice set of wheels and tires for $50. He also bought a fuel pump. So he has about $70 in it. It’s bigger and stronger than any of those others he’s monkeyed with over the years. I was just happy to see it back and the smile on his face. It was worth every dime.

Rainy and nasty here today. Just to say I did something, I wire brushed and painted my front wheel weights to go on the repowered 310-8.

The first thing to check is: make sure your battery is in good shape, have it load tested.

My yard is pretty darn full right now.

Found a 1960 Suburban. Original motor turns & has compression, missing carb, air filter, & some ignition items too. He supposedly has the fuel tank. Needs parts for steering also. Paint/bodywork was done a while ago- it probably will buff up decent. Tires are new in front & rears look good. Transmission seems free & it will easily go into gears. It's buried in an old filthy garage surrounded by Bolens tractors. It appears like a lot of little things might be missing. Said he had a box of parts but the garage was such a disaster doubt he would find it. He said to make him an offer, he did say he wasn't giving it away though. I was gonna maybe try to hit him @$300??? He also has 1959 Suburban drop axle but it's a lot rougher. It's basically a roller. I really thought bout if I got it putting a Predator 212 in it to get it up & running while I hunt down & repair/restore original motor. Anyone had experience putting a 212 or any other Predator in a Suburban? I have a built up 212 in a minibike & it works great.

I once told my wife that I'd make my tractor collecting a trade off. She could get a new critter every time I got a tractor, and we'd split the barn right down the middle. By the time I blinked twice she had 8 goats, a donkey, 4 dogs and 3 cats. I got a corner in the barn, and feeding the critters cost way more than tractoring. I still don't know how it happened!

Get both, they where only made once, girlfriends come and go .

A small flock of turkeys along the roadside while driving for the junk yard pictures.

Some of the treasures in that yard. The Toyota from a different location.

No worry I just drank it...

Trying to get the Raider dependable, didn't get a chance to check it out good when I got it. The wiring was all rapped together and taped, the two best connections were put together with wire nuts. I just tore it a part trashed almost of the electrical and all the existing wiring. Kept the lighter and PTO switch should have trashed them too. Something was draining the battery and it was dead when I got home with it. I charged up the original battery it was only a year old. it's drained two batteries in a week. Disconnected the lighter and PTO switch and bypassed them. I'll see it the battery stays up now. The fuel pump is also giving up so I'll need one of them. I'll keep the lighter in place but it will not get hooked up. It is charging t 14.3 volts at the battery when running. i

Then check and clean all electrical connections, if good then may be a solenoid issue or starter issue. Don't buy parts till every connection is clean and tight . Bob

Thanks Eric, I think the tranny rebuild will be this winters project. I only have a small 1 bay garage and the Indian Roadmaster resides in there during the riding season. I won't need to run it very often this summer. I'm thinking I will take a double split shaft collar and make some sort of soft rubber washer and slide the washer up against the bad seal and hold it there with the shaft collar. I hope it will slow the leak enough for now. Kinda bubble gum I know but it will bide me some time until I can tackle the rebuild.

Best advice I got from a buddy was this story; Boy comes around to take Dad's daughter out for a first date. Dad says "son lets take a ride in my truck". Now this truck is a brand new, fully loaded, awesome bit of truckness...The boy heads to the passenger side and Dad says...."no, you drive". So the terrified boy gets behind the wheel and very carefully takes the truck out on the road. After a short drive with the boy being super careful with the truck, they pull back into the driveway. Dad says to the nervous wreck of a boy...."now you were REAL careful with this new truck 'cus you knew how much it meant to me right?" The boy frantically shakes his head yes. "Well", continues the Dad, "that daughter of mine means a WHOLE LOT MORE to me than this truck. So you just keep that in mind."

I see decks for sale at $100 to $400 depending on condition. Your shell and blades look pretty good, but with the center spindle needing rebuilt, you're some where in the middle. If the tensioner, idler pulley and the height setting system is good, you are probably around $200-$250. The grader blades are priced at $200 to $400.

Damn it Jim I'm halfway there.....

I’ve wondered many times as well. The snowblowers I thought went through the frame, like other early 60’s machines. They are great for hanging lead for plow day!

Yeah you will have to remove the transmission and break it open. Is demonstrated in your first post that you should be capable of identifying the opposite ends of a wrench 🔧 or screwdriver 🪛 so you would be fine doing that job. Plenty of tutorials. Several of us have been into a few transmissions over the last few years. About the only thing I buy OEM on purpose nowadays is the case gasket for when you split the transmissions. Other than that I have a long standing habit of trying to identify a part number and finding that piece for the least price I can. Sometimes local brick and mortar. Sometimes online. @squonk is a great source for NAPA part numbers if you have one of their stores handy. A quick search on this site and you will often find several part numbers of what it is you're looking for. isavetractors is a GREAT source of information... and I like Norm as a person but his prices are rarely the lowest.

It came out great Rob. Should last another 50 years.

Interesting... Im hoping one of you determines which one of you is correct. Could get flames in the wrong spot if @formariz is right and @8ntruck goes to snuff it out!!! I would not be a fan of such a system... flammable liquids next to the fireplace in the house...

Been doing some organizing in my yard.

Got my 2 patina round hoods cleaned up tonight.

Sometime if you get bored, Google "autorotation". Guaranteed to put you to sleep! Long story short, it's power off gliding for helicopters. Same principle that allows Pine and Maple leaves to spin when they drop. I trained in TH-67 and OH-58 helicopters, which are just Bell 206s with different paint. They auto with a 4-1 glide ratio, which is better than a Cessna. For every 1000 feet of altitude lost, they travel 4000 feet lateraly. Back when I flew, we practiced full touch down autos. At least 2-3 per day from altitude. The skids had "shoes" mounted so we didn't make sparks on the runway. Now, the Army doesn't teach full down autos, opting to teach power recovery at 50-75 feet before touchdown. The difficult part of autorotation happens in the last 50 feet. It's also the part that saves the aircraft. Since all Army helicopters have twin engines now, someone decided it wasn't important to learn the landing part. I would never fly with someone who hasn't practiced full down autos- not ever! Your FIL likely flew Hueys in Nam. I assure you, he knows all about full down autos!

Wheel Horse tractors are just like peanuts, you can't have just one.

First time Wheel Horse owner. Never knew there was a whole community out there dedicated to WH's. Very cool! I recently picked up a used WH C-81 or maybe it's a C-121. Can't really be sure. There's a tag riveted to the small panel in front of the shifters with the ammeter in it. The tag No is 91-08K802-29819 with s/n 617. That tag no would indicate it's a 1979 C-81 with an 8 HP Kohler. The decal on the side of the hood says C-121 8 speed but that has clearly been layered over at least one previous decal. The engine has no tags left on it, or maybe they are buried under 6 coats of paint. The only way I figured I could verify the engine is by bore diameter, so off with the head! Bore measured 3.374 so I figure that makes it a K301 8 HP, would that be correct? After cleaning up several generations of melted wires and butt splices galore I was able to get the electrical system functioning pretty well. When I had the head off of it, it appeared in great shape internally. No signs of burning oil, very lightly carboned, valves look great. It actually had good oil in it too. Pulled the fuel tank, dumped out the sludge, cleaned it out real well. Reinstalled it with new fuel lines and inline filter. It looked like the fuel pump had been replaced as it was a plastic body. Put some gas in the tank, siphoned some fuel into the line and stuck it on the pump. With just a few cranks it fired right up without even pulling the carb off! Next thing I pulled the dip stick on the transmission and it had oil on it!!! But of coarse that was just the 1/2" of oil that was floating on top of 1/2 gal of water. No boot at all at the base of the shifter. I suppose that's where most of the water was getting in. It was already apparent that the left side axle seal was leaking so that's on the list. I filled the tranny with a little bit of everything I had on the shelf. Mostly auto transmission fluid and a little motor oil. I'll run that around the yard a few times to flush things out and then put the 140 gear oil in it. Of coarse the stuff I was pouring in was also pouring out that axle seal as fast as I poured it in. All in all for the $450 I paid for it, with a solid engine, A heavy duty rear hitch and excellent sheet metal and tires, I'm a happy camper. Bought it just to move my boat around the yard and this beast will do that without even breaking a sweat. Very glad to have found this forum and look forward to sharing in your WH experiences. Crazy8

When she caught me sneaking one in the back I told her it was for her. ( It was a RJ-58 ) She still thinks she has one! LoL

Thanks for all the replies guys. I'm going to enjoy this forum. I just ordered a brake lining from Bob Maynard on this site! Thanks for the praise Eric. It is a real nice tractor and once I get all the mechanicals taken care of I'll work on spiffing it up some more.

Will clean and tighten everything tomorrow. Thank you

She's really supportive of my spending on hobbies etc. 9 cars, 8 vintage motorcycles, vintage moped, minibike, 22 scale rc cars/trucks, 6 rc boats, 4 rc airplanes, 2 boats, & a Bonanza airplane. All she asks is we go to church weekly. I promised her I'd finish her shed & I been working on it but weather has been cooperating. I'll definitely have to figure out the wire fingers. I think I understand what you mean though

Autolite 216

Looks more like an RJ than a Suburban. Rear fenders were an option on all of them. RJs ended in 1959. I thought all mid engine Suburbans (only made 1960 and 61) had drop axles and a different hood? Like the pic below? Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I've owned both a RJ-59 and a 551 Suburban, though both left a long time ago. That was the extent of my "burner" tractors.

K a set of GT 14 dash and console plates are headed to @buckrancher. Once he tries 'em out we should be able to add those to the store. Model for upper D dash is complete, but I need to a hole alignment test before we try a full print on those. Getting to start model of the lower D dash portion here in the next day or so.

Looks pretty good from here!

You need the part number for the gas cap too.

https://www.wheelhorseforum.com/forum/92-vendors/ Ther is also parts to.be had on FB if your so inclined but I prefer the guys I know here. After you have a horse or 30 you get the know who to go to for parts.

Interesting! My thoughts are the the soaked stone would go out if if immersed in the lamp oil. In theory, a lit match will do the same if immersed in petrol. If you can be fast enough. As I said. "In theory". Never tried it.

@Crazy8 and congrats on the Mo-chine you got there! Did I miss the

Wow what a welcome! And thanks for the input. I thought I had found a fair bit of info on-line for manuals and such but Wow it looks like Gwest sent me a Mother Load of info. I will definately check that axle bearing for play. If it's bad I suppose the tranny needs to come out and you have to split the case to replace it?? Believe it or not the one thing that is being a pain right now is the throttle cable. I can't seem to figure out how it's supposed to be routed to the engine or how it's supposed to connect to the pivoting lever thing which is connected to the govenor by a solid rod with e-clip. If anyone can shed some light or pictures of how it's supposed to look that would be great, and yes I need to be better in attaching pics. I'll get some today. Oh one more question for now. Can you share a short list of go-to web sites or other sources for parts? If I go to some of the OEM type sources the prices are CRAZY. I found Isavetractors.com. Norman does a nice job with his videos but I guess he is mainly a source for engine parts. I do have a key switch, air filter and set of points on the way from him.

When we had a woodstove, someone gave us one as a gift. Tried it once or twice but found it impractical. The odor of the kerosene lamp oil bothered my wife. It quickly became a conversation piece. EDIT: Wife said it was lamp oil. @Pullstart I honestly don't remember, but I think that it burned out in the lighting process. If not, it doesn't seem wise to put a burning bulb back into a pot of flammable liquid, even with a lid.

There, fixed it for you @Pullstart... Wisconsin uncles should rest easy now...

Not a real easy job to remove & install a loader. If I had a loader it would be dedicated to one tractor.

Take the cage off in November, call to em, and...

Now I'm starting to think you need to seek professional help!

Yes I'm sure he is! I flew helicopters in the Army, so I can vouch for one of two things: that pilot is very good, or completely crazy! Probably best to say he's a little of both! So many things to go wrong while doing that work. Helicopters are regularly used for work like that, but like everything else, accidents happen. It's a single engine helicopter, flying too low to perform a traditional autorotation, and too high for a hovering auto. Definitely a job I would not want. Same for pilot or lineman!

A GREAT BIG THANKS to @WHX?? for stopping over to help me wet sand this morning. With his help I was able to get some parts sprayed and still have some time left to do some other things today. Got a quite a few parts sprayed but still have a bunch left to spray yet. Didn't happen with out pics.

They are "seat king" liberators. I actually got this one from Fleabay, and it has a snapper logo on it. Still trying to do something with it, but it was NOS for $75, and new from seat king they are over $200. I have two of them now (first on the 523 below), and they are very comfortable. The open back is nice too. Plastic underside, but very tough.