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Some I have had and some I Owen.

I have ground down this flat on trannys that did not have it and modified the old style rails to match the new style.

I've never tried to take those out of an automatic so take this with a grain of salt. Neat little trick that I learned from Lincoln at A to Z Tractor in PA. I have used a 3/4 diameter bolt or threaded rod with a washer sized so that it fits just barely through the center hole. Must be a hair under 1 1/8? If you put a nut, the washer, and another nut. Tighten it all up. You now have a flange on a stick, so to speak. You can get that washer stuck in behind the bearing and use it as a driving point. Works slick.

After a year of unmotivation Break, i found again some motivation to finish my Transit Van. so i started again up in sheet Metal shaping. Built the First part... time to hammer it out in the real shape i adapted and formed it closer to the Form i need. Hammer and Dolly and several tries turns out that Way. i mag solder it in spot by spot Than a first adaption to the final shape And allway’s a checking the gaps... But it occurs that the Frontgrill is uneven. Better i use a lineal to line up the gap... Ok on the lineal it appears even but than.... Aarrrggghhhh what the Heck... it line up with the lineal but when i mount the grill - ooops look at the uneven gap but it was definitiv in the Front Grill, i checked it up with a lineal again - so let‘s see if i can it egalize as close as... better. But there when i line it up more, the right outline become a angle more than it should... ok let‘s see if i can egalize it little more... Close but not perfect but because the most part of it is hidden with the Front Bumper i let it as it is. Lots of more to work on...

Took a lot of pictures at the show of decals and dash panels. It payed off. Worked on the C series dash plates and got these checked off the list. I did have a little “wood imperfection” on the top one but at least the design works. Next is the 953/1054/Gt14 style plates. These will be used for keyracks / magnets, etc.

Most guys will discuss the pros and cons of the Onan engines till the cows come home. But to keep these happy, four simple things need to be done. The most important is making sure your rubber grommet around the oil filter that seals it to the cooling tin work is in place. Most every Onan I see is missing this on garden tractors. A very simple $6 part, but HIGHLY important to keeping that rear/right side cylinder cool. Without this little rubber part, you loose 30% of your cooling airflow on that side. And that figure is from Onan themselves and does not take into account the belt guard helping restrict cooling air flow on our Horses. Second thing is to do your valve lash adjustment sooner than the book says. In Onan factory schooling they taught us every 250ish hours vs the 600 in the book was the best practice. Valves being held slightly open is one the huge reasons we see popped valve seats on engines. Add in the missing grommet on the oil filter and we have a perfect storm to overheat the engine and superheat the valve seat=popped seat or thrown rods. Three...keep it clean, when you change the oil, clean up your mess, wipe it all down in there, shine a flashlight in there and look, is the seal under the flywheel seeping, or is the jug oil/grime free and dry? Pulling the left/front side cylinder head tin every spring or every oil change is good practice to check for the same along with rodent nests. And finally, run them at full throttle at all times after starting and till just prior to shutting them down. Onans do not tolerate overheating from extended RPM use like a Kohler can. Just nature of the beast and the design of the engine coming from the generator world. Once she is running, throttle up before driving off, drop back to 1/2 to 3/4 to engage PTO, then right back to full power 3600rpm + or - 50rpm with the PTO engaged. Nothing in the small engine world can match the snarl and power of an Onan B or P series, they just take a bit more upkeep to keep them happy. Mike

The BBT got her first restoration Pony out for a ride tonight. Swapped batteries from another tractor. Added some oil and gas. Replaced a bolt holding the solenoid we'd added years ago. Then went for a short cruise before we loaded up for Jim's.

Should make one an air tank for a set of horns 😎

This is a common problem on the older transmissions. It's caused by the shift rails allowing it to find two gears the same time. Basically the rails ride in blind holes and suction causes them to lag behind. Careful shifting as mentioned will minimize the issue. Wheel Horse knew of the problem and initially issued a service bulletin stating to switch to 40w oil. This was in hopes the thinner oil would minimize the suction. Very so-so results. In 1965 they came up with a solution. Shift rails with a deeper center (neutral) detent groove along with a longer (3/4" vs 11/16") stop pin. This would not allow the rails to move into a gear unless the other one was in neutral. The left rails are the newer type. Keep in mind that there are two types on the newer style. One as pictured with the grooves machined all the way around and the type with just the center groove ground deeper. Both work the same and since the rails don't rotate it doesn't matter. Note the installation exceptions. In order for this to be effective both rails must be replaced and a 3/4" stop pin installed. The detent balls and springs are the same. At this point they changed their specs back to the heavier gear oil but the 40w had made it's way into some owners manuals and didn't get changed making some people thing that's what should be used. In reality, it really doesn't matter. 40w will work fine but I prefer the 80w90 stuff.

Welcome to Red Square. Something you can try. Suspect it happens when shifting from 1st or Reverse (one shift rail) to 2nd or 3rd (the other shift rail) or just the opposite. When you come out of one gear pause in Neutral for a count of 5 before shifting to the next gear. The shift pattern is like a sideways H. Say you go from 3rd to Neutral hold it there. Don't let go of the rear shift rail. Pause. Then let go of the rear rail and slide through neutral to pickup the front shift rail R & 1st. Not necessary when shifting R to 1st, 1st to R or 2nd to 3rd, 3rd to 2nd. Let us know what you find and will explain what is happening.

Did some more work over the start of this week. Monday I got the engine out of the donor tractor. Took some sheet metal off of a spare engine that I’m using for parts for this engine since it didn’t have some of the covers. Sprayed down the engine in degreaser and washed it clean. Sanded down and painted the shroud covers. And hopefully by the end of this week the engine will be in and painted. Also put in the dash board with 2 new used throttle and choke cables since Mr.Kelly had to use these for one of his other tractors and this one didn’t have them hooked up with the predator.

I believe you are asking for double trouble. The new paint was put on for a reason. Once you go to the trouble of carefully removing the top layer, you will find that you should have gone ahead and removed it all. Paint remover (expensive) or sand blasting is your best method of removing it all.

I don't think the bearings are the same OD as the ones in a manual transmission. If I recall correctly they are slightly larger. But between a 700-series and 1100, the gearbox (transaxle per the manual) is identical. This rule is broken only on a 520-HC that has a slightly larger input gear on the pump. All others an adapter plate is used to mount the smaller 700 pump, and the return hydraulic lines are plugged.

I would check all ground connections, with particular attention being paid to the cable from battery to the frame.

Both tractors have the tall spindle and I have reinforced both sets.

Spent some time going through the recently purchased c-101 8 . Drained trans, and a half gallon of water drained out before the gear oil. Went over the k241 and got it running ,needs some maint items one being shaker plate mounts but runs great 👍 Is that the dreaded green paint of a JD I see

The Ugly Bruce got a good scrubbin today in preparation for being shown at @JCM Jim's Meet n Greet this weekend.

Bath time!!

Added a new seat, grab handles and headlight bezels onto the 418-8.

yesterday afternoon I went to get a tractor I guess you could call it off Facebook market, and I got there and went to take a look at it and it was a lot smaller than I thought, it is a 1965 toro professional 58 in cut reel mower, it has 2 bat wing reels in the front, it runs ok, carb leaks and needs rebuild and tank has crap in it, but pretty simple, I had it running for a good 2 minutes playing with the choke. its neat looking and I got pictures of the manual because he had the toro dealer book, he only had one horse a suburban that he would not let go of and a few springfeild type toros, he had over 100 tractors in a barn down the road I have not seen them yet but I want to buy a reel mower a push one he has also. but enough of that I'll get a few pics of it and it has a big crack in the hood. its plastic so we can plastic weld it. and the back wheel folds in for a storage mode I guess, I will add pics after I get home I just have 3 now.

Just grind the ones you have if the forks are good. The grinding does not have to be perfect.

Had that problem on my 418-c, solved it by buying a fender support from a 520.

Last few trips to the shop I have been working on the fuel tanks. I have more work to do on them before I can weld up the unwanted holes.

I like it. I have been waiting to get a wall to display mine. I have pretty much every grille throughout the years to hang up. Just need a good wall for the gt14 and 1054 grilles.

It has been a long time coming but we have red. I lost serious interest in this project after a huge paint failure which required total stripping of everything and starting over which after putting a lot of time into body work isn’t fun along with other things put it on the back burner. So now aside on waiting on some miscellaneous parts from toro the only paint work left is the nose of the hood and the hood stand. There is some used parts I need to find like a good rear rim but it’s not a high priority as I have a good set of rims off a 416 that I can use for the time being.

I had a 400 hour 518-H Eaton 700 hydro tractor where the pump/motor had died from PO abuse. I merged the engine and many other bits of it with a more recent 520-H chassis and the rest has been parted to other uses. The last big piece was the transaxle minus the pump/motor. I’ve torn that down to retrieve the hubs, 8-pinion differential, and axles as potential spares. The diff and axle bearings are all in fine shape--does it make sense to try to extract any of them? How? I’ve also got the gears and brake shaft which look nearly pristine--the brake drum is badly rusted.

I have two 312-8 tractors with the tall front spindles with 8" wheels and triribs.. The one with the 23 x 10.50 x12 rear tires there isn't any trouble attaching a deck. The other has been raised in the rear with 25 x 900 x 12 putting a deck on it I have to block up the deck to get the deck attached. The deck will need to be releveled on both. Here is a picture of the 312-8 with the 42" deck and 10.50 rear tires. Yes it got a little dry early this year. The other tractor I used for ground work, but I can put a deck on it If it need it.

The praying mantis will eat a lot of insects, they are great to have in the garden.

I was obviously going for the dead leaf on the left but you didn't see that.

Wasn't quite sure what object you wanted us to identify here.

Older Fords are like that too. The driver's side of the frame will be super clean/rust free, and the passenger side will rust out. After a bit of research I have determined that it's because the power steering doesn't leak all over the passenger side.

NOT ME!!! It isn't even close to spring yet.

Its about time you took a bath.........................................OH...............the Wheel Horses, not you..........................

Thanks Peter I got a few more pics and a few of it in “storage mode” and the mower ID and the engine ID

I have the axle and spindles here with me. Also was able to compare the ‘96 spindle with a ‘79 spindle that I have and it looks like the only difference is ride height by 1/2 inch. By putting the ‘96 axle and spindles on the ‘78 and using the ‘78 wheels and tires, the front on the tractor will sit 1/2 inch lower. The only other difference I see is the newer spindle uses a cotter pin and the older spindle uses an E-clip to hold the wheel on the spindle. So I think the problem is solved.

Obviously the PO used it as a mixing pan for concrete. This should be a good test for my new needle gun.

Just one question: Is that 2 hours on the autobahn or 2 hours on a

That's easy Cleat. It's the routine maintenance....blade sharpening.

I put our grass collection system on the 416h and while mowing, the blades kept slowing down for some strange, odd, unknown reason. I contemplated stopping and investigating the cause, but the grass wasn't too high and was mostly weeds so it was very slow, but bearable as my lawn is about 1/2 acre. I mean, I KNOW I didn't over grease the pto FOR SURE this time. I'm positive 😌. I've cleaned and regreased many times! Right? ....hmm. well, on 2nd thought, I HAVE been wrong once or twice before... 🥸

A much a fan of WH as I am, asking one machine to do everything perfectly is a daunting challenge. As I read your post, and living myself not too far from Middletown, it seems the single most frequent use will be mowing. How complicated is the mown area regarding edges, obstacles, and boundaries? You don’t mention any trees but if you (or your close neighbors) have them, then fall leaf cleanup might be the second most frequent. You don’t mention either, if you prefer to cut-and-leave, bag, mulch, or sweep. These are important factors. Individual snowfalls in this neck of the woods have exceeded 10 inches only a couple of times in the past decade. Last year there was only one significant dump plus a few that were under three inches. Snowfall is trending toward fewer inches of wetter and denser precipitation. A two-stage blower might do better than a single in the right snow, but you don’t mention the amount of area that needs clearing, its accessibility, the surface (paved or not), where to put moved snow, and slope. Very important factors for deciding between blade and blower. My 2¢? A 314-H or 416-H (or an older C-160 with hydro) with a 42” or 48” mower that you like and a dozer blade could do you well and, bonus, can tow stuff around like a trailer. Fill in some of the other info and I’ll be happy to refine my thinking!

I am officially declaring this rebuild: DONE !!! At least... To the point of full functionality. Known things to do: Add a couple spacers behind front wheels. Paint a few small things. We're going to add a steel reinforcement plate below the seat pan to stiffen it up some. Today I did the fabrication on the air cleaner and also made up a couple lower hood hinge adapter plates. We needed the plates because the hood was about 3/4" too far back... Bent, wrong, who knows? Here's a few pics. On the left is a piece of scrap I started with for both projects. On the right is the top brace seen in the following pics. In this pic you see the above brace, a lower one I made from an old tool box lock bar, and the extension pipe between the carb and air cleaner. That pipe is a piece of 1-1/2" id to od exhaust adapter cut to 5" length. How it sets with hood closed. And here's a shot of the lower hood hinge adapters. I cut the ends of the piece of scrap and drilled out the elongated holes to a round 1/2". Then drilled the holes for the other end with the existing tractor hinge pins to 3/8". Also drilled the hood holes from .46/.48 oblong to round .5 inches. After a fair pile of grinding and fitting they went in... Nice and snug. End result is it moved the hood forward 3/4" and up 1/2" for better engine clearance. I can't thank you all enough for the help you've given us.

My understanding is that if you wish to use a rear mounted vacuum bagger that is pto driven on the Eaton Hydro tractors (C175 on?), then you need a smaller plastic fan.....which as far as I am aware, is no longer available! I have been running a home brew vacuum bagger and thought I had managed to improve the fan to belt spacing but clearly hadn't, following the discovery of there no longer being any blades on my fan! The problem is mostly caused by the lack of clearance and it is not helped by the fact that the belt is very long and there's no lateral control of it (no guides). As the fan has hook type leading edge blades, they are prone to grabbing the belt and not leaving go...until the blade comes off. My thoughts are that if I can remove the ability of the blade to hook onto the belt, the problem will probably be solved. The odd occasional belt/blade strike should not then be a problem if the fan can't grab it. My solution then was to use a fan with a rim that acts as a shroud to protect the blades should the belt get too close.....but have been unable to find such a thing. Solution = CAD and 3D printing! So here's the latest version. It is unfortunately just a little too deep and the rim fouls the transmission drive belt so there's a revised version now printing. My very first attempt was ineffective, but this one produces a gale when running at 2200rpm (the fastest my lathe will go). I think the transmission runs at engine speed (3600rpm max) so I am hopeful that this fan will work well. Whether it survives the belt proximity, remains to be seen, but I'll update this post when I have the final version and have tried it for real. I haven't thought about what price to charge yet, but I'd be happy to print more if anyone is interested. My guess would be $25-40...they take hours to print and the cost depends very much on how solid you want the print to be (you can control the amount of infill and it's trade off between strength and weight and ultimately cost)

Guys, just grinding the flat on the rails will help but it won't fix it. The neutral detent must have the upgrade as well as the stop pin. There's plenty of the upgraded rails out there so just get the right ones. Keep in mind the 2nd/3/rd and 1st/reverse rails are different but they are almost always sold as a pair. I wouldn't go through the trouble of opening it up unless you do it right.

@Handy Don No worries, I've been down this path before. Thankfully, I've keep 2 spare's for this possibility!

Replaced the rear lights on the 418-8. Ordered a new seat and a set of used Simplicity slides based on a recommendation from @wallfish in an older post.

Day 8: Today got a few things accomplished. Got the front end back on the tractor. My dad is going to shorten the tie rods tommorow then the front end should be complete. Got the front attach 0 matic on. Put on the brake linkage. And adjusted. Got the rear shaker mount block on. Got another belt guide painted, And mid attach o matic painted. Still not sure what color I should paint the rims. Thoughts? Question: Is there any crossover bearing number for the front wheel bearings?

One machine to do it all is a selling point. Changing equipment gets harder to do as you get older. As has already been said one machine that performs for each job works best. Equipment still has to be remove for maintenance and repair but not as often and not when you need to switch to another job. My suggestion is if you already have one tractor that does one job well, keep it and get another tractor for the other job. Mowing three rounds backwards isn't that big of a deal.

I think a 314 or and 400 series would work well. In my opinion, a 2-stage snowblower would need to be a dedicated machine because they are heavy and a bi*ch to store/move and not easy to swap to a deck, as an example. I realize they do a better job than a single stage, but to me the trade-off isn’t worth it. Unless you need to throw the snow along way, I’d stick with the single stage. I mow about 1/2 acre with a 36” rear discharge deck. If it takes me a few extra passes then using a big deck, I’m OK with that. I’ve had 48 inch decks in the past and have sold them. Unless you have a big yard, I don’t see the need for it. Again, you have to think about the ease of changing the implements and moving them as well as storing them. And of course maintaining them. I also use a 42” rear discharge and a 42” side discharge but the 36” is might go to.