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We were heading to a cookout on the 4th when I saw a round hood for sale a few minutes from my house. It’s a 753 with a mower deck and a k161 for $100 so I took it. The engine spec indicates “tri powered corp” so not original but that’s ok. Just about everything is seized up on this but the rear wheels so I’m probably in for quite a project haha. wanted to post my find on the forum to see if anything stands out about it or if it looks pretty correct. I thought it would be cool to get a round hood eventually but who would’ve thought it would pop up right in my own street!

Not today, but I’m just getting around to what I did in the fourth. Drove our FD tanker on the local parade. 1996 Pete with a 425 hp Cat, 9-Speed coupled to a 1973 Trailmobile 6200 gallon tank trailer. We are one of only two departments to have tractor trailer tankers on all of Long Island. I was on the purchasing committee for tractor and am very proud of it. I have supplied countless thousands of gallons of water for all kinds of fires.

I’m a day late…just mowed with the ‘77 B-80. What a pleasure to operate!

Put the new to me C-101 to light duty work this weekend.

Careful Don, don't burn the paint off the muffler.

Yeah, I was going to say that the left front tire musta popped off on the ride home!

First off, having the left front rolling on an inner tube only speaks well of that tube’s quality!! If the engine isn’t original, it is at least a contemporary. Having the guards for the starter/generator belt, the drive belt, and the clutch/brake linkage there and in good shape is terrific. From here, it looks like a win. Well done!

My July 4th side shot

National Day of Rock ‘n’ Roll is an unofficial national day celebrated on July 7 by Americans. It’s a day to champion the pioneers that helped change the norms and redirect the history of music. The genre reflected the joy of an emerging youth culture and inspired both black and white artists. Rock ‘n’ Roll music evolved from the beats and lines of about six other popular musical genres. Its creation was one of the factors that shot a lot of American musicians to stardom. Join us as we give a salute to rock music.

believe it or not I said “wheel horse!” And my wife is the one who said turn around and check it out. I think we both knew it probably wouldn’t be there later. Luckily when I told the guy I’d take it with no further questions…. Tomorrow morning… he said no problem. Then I elbowed my coffee off the center console and we continued on to the cookout 🤪

I put everything back together Friday after putting in the new shift fork. I don't remember any issues alongt the way. Followed the manual then I would stop and have a coffee and watch more of stevasaurus in his videos and get tutoring and some laughs at that. I didn't have trouble getting the detent balls in. I used a 1'8" punch and once it was holding I switched to a small 1/8" screwdriver and that allowed the detent bolt and shift forks to slide past easier. I made sure not to forget to put the HI-LO fork in the slot of the linkage. I had a bit of trouble getting the case halfs together but it turned out to be the two pilot stubs on each case half and not the shafts. Once I discovered that, a simple twist let it drop on. I ended up broaching a new keyway slot on one of the hubs and hubs went on well after some nice polishing of the shafts. Seals went on easy. I did tape up the Woodruff key slots before installing seals. I had run my thumb across one ane got a nice slice in my thumb so I thought it smart to tape them. I only installed one seal instead of doubling them up.. Not enough room for two unless I pushed the outboard needle bearings in a bit, so I opted not to mess with those. I put it on the tractor last night and went over it today, checking all the bolts and going over the list and putting the tranny fluid in. I fired it up this afternoon, took it for a spin around the house and checked all the gears under power. All is good. Before I put the new HI-LO fork in I took it over to a welding instructor at our local college who reinforced it for me as well as repaired the broken one. Now I have a spare. Thanks to all who chimed in to help and to Master Stevasaurus whose videos I nearly memorized and enjoyed watching. He really is human.

Did you make it to the cookout? Man, I would have been in trouble pulling over to make that deal with the wife waiting UN-patiently in the car! Actually my wife is fairly cool about my tractors, but she has her limits Save those original rear tires if you can. Their about $160 each at Miller tire.

We know a guy! @formariz

How are your gardens doing this year? My corn is already 6' tall. And the green beans are doing great as well. Unfortunately I had to destroy the strawberry's as they were overrun by bindweed. And not producing much anymore they are around 7 years old too so it may have been time to go anyway. So I am working to destroy the bindweed. Seems to be hedge bindweed as it's climbing plants.

Replaced the lid to the septic tank I hit with the tractor Thank goodness for 4WD. Left front wheel was in the tank riser. (Thank goodness for tank risers, too!) 😩👃💩 Today I also spread a couple of yards of topsoil, evening out the lawn, and smoothing over exposed roots.

I wouldn't use solid wood in place of plywood if you plan to go all the way through with the design. It will be prone to splitting with all of those reliefs cut through. If you use a small flush trim router bit with the plywood as a guide you could set the depth to 1/16" or so to honor the pervious pattern without weakening the board.

Yep, @formariz has the knowledge for sure. A couple of years ago I rebuilt a splat-back rocker with a similar system of wedges holding the upper chair back. I learned that the holes in the seat base were slightly tapered and wider at the bottom than the top. All my wedges were wood (whew!). I drilled small holes at the seam between the wedge and the end of the back/arm support member and eye-dropped in some acetone to dissolve the glue. I put a long thin screw into the wedge to put tension on it and used a small punch and hammer to try to rock it loose. It worked for three of the four--the fourth got Dremeled and chiseled out. I did have to make new wedges for the reassembly. I’d fear that your steel wedges were an aftermarket repair using wedges intended for an axe or wood splitter or hammer handle. These have ridges along their sides. Possibly drill/tap two screws into it for pulling and rocking?

I always answer with "YOUR COUNTY mental health clinic, how may I direct your call?" It's quite effective.

My grandpa always said dirt was "the one thing nobody is making any more of", so I'd better keep whatever I could get. He also said it was the only thing that gained value no matter what the economy does. Hang on tight Kevin. Don't ever stop.

Very nice... Uhm... the left most open end wrench is facing left... Please have BBT flip it to correspond with its neighbors...

Hehe, you said "wang".

Here's something fun!

Dropped the transmission out of the 314-8 that I picked up at the show stuck in low range. I suppose there are a lot of different ways to drop a transmission. This is one way I do it. I put jack stands under the foot rest rods. Place the dolly under the center of the trans with a block. Jack up the front untill the trans rests on the block. I removed the high low pin and unbolt the trans from the frame. Low the jack a little so there is room to remove the high low shiftier. Of course I am splitting this one and have removed the hubs, brake drum and drive pulley. If anyone has a high low fork they are willing to part with let me know. tks.

terrific info -- love to learn from people with real life knowledge -- Sounds like i should consider two different strategies for in season use versus application for winter storage ! It is sooooo unfortunate to see these decks destroyed by grass rot from neglect -- i see people posting them for sale and they haven't even taken few minutes to clear leaves, branches, clippings from top side -- but then a photo of the underneath and it looks like an entire year of accumulated grass stuck to underneath as if blades would have challenge even turning let alone discharging more cut grass --- Of course end result is rot through holes ruining the deck !!!! I see others with major weld patch repairs! My original 37 inch 1989 side discharge deck from 36 yrs ago was recently rehabbed plus my grandson and I did some others -- some for family tractors - others for swaps with other WH users and we sold a few we found that were in poor shape after doing some rescue work on them -- Of course the preservation maintenance you mention is the obvious answer to having them last decades - thanks

Turning a hydro faster isn’t a great idea so I hope that wasn’t what was done to your tractor. The WH “HC” models (for “hydrostatic commercial”) had higher final-drive gearing in the transaxle to give them the higher speeds. I've always assumed that WH engineered the hydros to go slightly faster than the the discrete-geared tractors partly for marketing (to be able to charge more) and partly because ground speed was less directly dependent on engine speed. Only two gears need changing in the transaxle to alter the ratio between the hydro’s “motor" output and the final drive.

Running a bigger pulley on the B&S engine? Spinning the B&S engine faster than 3600RPMs? Just a couple of guesses.

I have 100 things going on right now. But I'm no stranger to electrical troubleshooting, so as soon as I can get my head above water I'll put a meter on these components and see what's going on. The help you guys have provided is overwhelming, in a great way. Much appreciated.

The guys above have you covered. My personal experience with tractor electrics is that component failure isn’t nearly as common as degraded connections and poor grounding. Hence I remind myself to work from likeliest to less likely when troubleshooting.

Boiled Linseed Oil. Be very careful using it. Rags soaked in it will spontaneously combust.

There’s a 399 Kohler on Marketplace for $25. Message sent!

A couple of years ago there was a person doing such a project. It is well documented from start to finish and very sucessful.

How about a picture of what's going on? Not too many of us have D-250s

Front half through one side of the wall and the back half through the other side of the wall and where you can see both at the same time.

Clean the contact surfaces with a file or fine grit sandpaper, gap them properly and run it.

I gotta start figuring out where that Safari 390 is going! Upside down or right side up? Through the wall? Bench work light? Tool box?

Here’s a video of the show. I still have more footage too, and will likely create a longer video as well. There are licenses needed to be able to rightfully post drone videos, and I need to make one with and one without the full drone footage, in case one gets taken down.

Workin on her tan today in the heat.

My mother passed away last August. She was 94 and lived at home until the last month. Couldn't ask for more than that! As we go through her estate my youngest son asked for her nice kitchen table & chairs. We think she bought these in the late 80's when the late 1960's chipboard / formica table we grew up with as kids collapsed. So they are probable 35 + years old and overall nice solid built, solid wood furniture. (except the darn plywood center pack piece) The finish is in fair condition. The bottom area around the legs is scuffed and the back chair hoop needs cleaning to remove some blackened/softened finish (from hand and hair oils I suspect) I've already cleaned the blackened finish off the hoop on this chair. I just used Mineral Spirts (paint thinner) so I wouldn't dissolve the good finish. I had some stain custom matched at Sherman Williams'. I've had fairly good luck using this Mimwax custom stain for repairs. My initial plan is to just touch up a few area and the new center piece. Then again I may wipe a light coat over the whole chair. Buff them with Scotch Brite and top coat them with satin polyurethane. I'll need to clean them several times to remove any silicone from furniture polish so i don't get "Fish Eyes" in my finish. Certainly open to suggestions on this. The back center of these chairs are made out of 3/8" ash plywood, which is splitting in the upper round area with the cutouts. I have some Ash I planned to 3/8" thick. I still have to do the design cutout on this first one and it is currently extra long. All of these chairs will gradually need this piece replaced. To disassemble the the chair back hoop I would need to remove these wedges. Some wedges are wood and some are steel. i could see removing the wood wedges with a Dremel, but might mess us the split for reassembly Then I would have to hope the glue releases, many be soaking it with alcohol. I'm concerned about doing more damage to other parts trying to disassemble it to repair that plywood piece. I've tried to think of how I could inject some glue into the plywood splitting areas. But really haven't come up with a good idea on that as some of them are weak and split up. The slots the plywood piece fits in are 3/4" deep on each end. The plywood piece is about a 1/4" shorter that the full length and has a very slight taper on each end. This particular plywood piece was so split that I could bend it a fair amount to remove it. I'm tackled lots of wood working, refinishing, remodeling projects, but far from a Master. So I would appreciate any suggestions as to how you would refurbish these chairs. Especially how you would tackle replacing that center plywood piece.

There is a good reason why that center piece is made out of plywood instead of solid wood. It will be hard for it not to possibly crack in several different areas as you make it, and if successful,in the future crack from pressure exerted on it is altogether likely. You would have to choose pieces with absolutely straight grain both in the length but most importantly in the thickness of piece to have a good chance of success. Most likely all the damage on them is what I see on the photo, cracked and missing pieces on the faces but still sound as a whole. I have done this exact repair in similar chairs in the past. 3/8 ash plywood is expensive and very hard to find. What I did was to fill the missing areas , sand both sides removing all finish and then veneering both sides with ash veneer. Veneer both sides simultaneously by pressing or clamping as a sandwich using straight 3/4 pieces for cowls. If you are not very familiar with the process using plain veneer you can get it with a thin backing usually a paper backing . Can be also obtained with a phenolic backing but it’s more expensive and thicker. That type can also be glued using contact cement although I am not a fan of that method. It can then by trimmed using a bearing flush trimming bit. You will have an original looking strong stable piece without the work involved in cutting the designs which is more difficult than what it seems. If the original piece is not salvageable I would still use 3/8” plywood and veneer it.

I'm sure Charlie won't mind if I use that one.

So did a little work on the 520-h the past few days. So we confirmed the owner wasn’t right and it has spark in both cylinders after all. Didnt look up what a good compression is on these but I got about 125 PSI in both cylinders. New ish battery and it cranks over and sounds good. All the gauges and warning lights seem to work too.

Richard. How fortunate we were to be teenagers in the '50s.

The mouth may be facing wrong but the label faces out.

The B+ terminal needs to have a connection to a 12 volt source to work. Check the 30 amp fuse and fuse holder.

July 4th Side Shot!

Fates of the Declaration signers: (From the interwebs) Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence? Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the revolutionary army, another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the revolutionary war. They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. What kind of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners, men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured. Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags. Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward. Vandals or soldiers or both, looted the properties of Ellery, Clymer, Hall, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton. At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. The owner quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt. Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months. John Hart was driven from his wife’s bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart. Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates. Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more. Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged: “For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”

Here is the link to my YouTube video from the Big Show Big Show Video

The 2026 featured Wheel Horse model(s) are 1045, 1055 and 1075. Ten horse powered Wheel Horse models from 1965. Wild Bill Richmond, VA

If you really wanna start something, heat some parts in the oven... Ask me how I know!

@lynnmor You'll be happy to know I replaced the temporary positive battery cable this afternoon. This was an automotive cable that had a bad end. Chopped that. Cut to length. Installed. Also started getting to the oil leak at the valve cover. I read a few weeks ago that the valve cover MUST BE SEALED in order to create vacuum to draw the engine oil to that location. It was definitely getting oil. It was also leaking it.