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Here's the 400 I went and pickup in Florida just needs a little of TLC to get it going again

Farmworker Appreciation Day is celebrated on August 6 annually. This day aims to raise awareness about the importance of the work that people do on the farm. The truth is that farmworkers work even under the hot summer sun to bring in the harvest. Every year, you can see them as you are driving by the fields. Most of their work only happens during summer, and this means that many of these individuals return to their home country when the season is over. Farmworkers are usually forgotten and this day is special to honor and thank them for all they have done. California became a major agricultural center after the Civil War in the United States. In the aforementioned state, farm labor was mostly imported from Asia. The immigrant labor force had begun to shift to Mexico by the 1930s. During World War II, due to a labor shortage, the Bracero Program was initiated. This program allowed Mexicans to work temporarily on U.S. farms. It ended in 1964, although Latin American legal and illegal immigrants continue to make up the vast majority of the U.S. agricultural workforce.

704 is back from its grave with new shoes it runs and drives good thanks for following me on this project will put some pictures of it when I paint it this winter

A tip I learned from my Amish neighbor. Put a dab of peanut butter every couple of feet on the wire. They stick their tongue on the wire one time and never return.

Oh no no no... The quantity of excrement spewing around the lunch table at the Annual Pullstart Acres Plow Day far exceeds the capacity of that little gem... Gonna need every square inch of capacity just to keep pace with them @Achto @WHX??Wisconsin fellers...

Steve, it was great meeting you and your brothers. Best of luck with your endeavors! I had room on the trailer to grab an old manure spreader that will be used as a yard trailer and kid hauler too!

Call AZ tractor, he may have the headlight bucket and lens that you'd need if you want to go original. Then just use LED bulbs in the sockets.

Not that wide but I think this still counts

Went and picked us up about 15 gallons of good usable gasoline that isn't laced with booze. Regular everyday 87 octane is running around $3, give or take. 90 octane non-ethanol was $4.31 and worth every single penny of the difference.

A number of zero turn mowers now use spindle bearings with type RST bearings. They have metal shields with rubber seals inside giving them better performance.

I’ll be nice to these ones… There should be the lights and remaining decals somewhere in the boxes. The seller said he saw them somewhere… That’s my 1445! I brought it along to help pull stuff up the trailer.

Another observation. If you move that throttle cable wire to the arm on the disc it will give it a much better throttle range and better control

The PA.gov website shows diesel is taxed at 74 cents and gas at 58. It appears PA has among the highest fuel taxes in the nation; significantly higher than where I live and work. Diesel engines had several strikes against them for being popular in cars in the US. One reason being that the engine itself costs more due to being stronger and heavier built than a gasoline engine. Another would be the reduced horsepower and typically sluggish performance compared to a similar gas engine. To top it off, the emissions profile is comparatively tough to deal with which adds cost and complexity that’s harder to hide in the cost of a smaller vehicle. Once the fuel got more expensive than regular gas, we also had to ask people to “do the math” on whether it made sense to use the heavier fuel…and that’s a tall ask. But I think the biggest culprit is perception. 1980’s GM in general - and Oldsmobile in particular - launched an underbaked converted gas engine that I feel cemented the reputation for slow, smoky, hard-starting engines that were trouble prone and expensive to repair…if you could find someone to repair them. Other manufactures joined the party with their smoky slugs too. Soot-spewing heavy trucks didn’t help the image either and neither did the perceived scarcity of fuel stations. it was uphill from there. Turbocharging helped keep some niche cars viable. Eventually there was some headway being made in the first fifteen years or so of the 2000’s. Better engine control yielded better driving characteristics. The new emissions equipment was getting rid of the soot and copious NOx emissions. Perceptions were getting steadily better. That was until VW ruined it for everybody by willfully and deliberately deactivating the emissions systems in their “clean diesel” cars and SUVs when they were driving on the road. They enabled the full suite of controls when the car was tested on a treadmill and in that moment they were squeaky clean, but on the road…whoa. When caught by curious researchers and regulators, VW then had the audacity to thumb their noses at the EPA and CARB and kept on cheating. Not to be outdone, other manufacturers were also caught up in the farce by using similar software cheats. Eventually the EPA threatened to stop their ability to sell any product in the US, so VW had no choice. The result of that episode of shameful behavior was effectively the death of diesel around western world. Perception revisited. Every one of those things were nails in the coffin for diesel cars in the US. But another big - yet most subtle - nail has been the cheap historic cost of gasoline in the US. I don’t want to pay more than I do and we all complain about the cost of gas from time to time, but our collective actions tell another tale. When you look around at the vehicles we choose to buy it should be pretty clear that fuel prices are not a big concern for very many people. If they were we’d have an entirely different mix of vehicles on the road and a fraction of the large 4x4 trucks and SUVs we all drive. Certainly fewer large boats and RVs too. Europe and some other parts of the world viewed the diesel passenger car more favorably. Here, regulators focused on air quality. There (Europe), the tax structure gave preference to diesel as its higher energy content and the engines’ better thermal efficiency reduced per-mile (per kilometer) CO2 production compared to gasoline. The lower cost of diesel fuel helped soften the blow for the expensive emissions systems that eventually made its way into those diesel cars. Their focus was on CO2 for what should be obvious reasons. There were other factors involved, but that was the overriding issue that made regulators more tolerant to conventional pollution and gave diesel the chance to thrive and gain acceptance. And a favorable perception. For the record, I am an enthusiastic diesel devotee. Until it became widely known it was a gross polluter, I loved my VW TDI Passat. That car easily got 50 mpg on a long trip where its 18 gallon tank could take me from St Louis, MO to Charlotte, NC without stopping. I like to tinker with my diesel Deere 332, Cub Cadet 1512, Simplicity 7790, and Ford LGT-14D. And I get great joy from firing up one of our little Hatz air cooled diesels I’m putting on equipment at work. But I’ve reconciled myself to the fact that diesel passenger cars - in the US at least - are likely just a thing of the past. I think it is exceedingly unlikely that the diesel could ever make a comeback to the passenger vehicle market. But that’s not the end of the world as there are more efficient and/or cheaper alternatives these days. Each with its baggage, benefits, and perceptions. Steve

Nice looking tandem of tractors and the lawns are nicely mowed! If the other "lawns" were properly mowed you might just have those sandwiches waiting ! LOL ( Couple of cocktails before bed tonight so never mind my sense of humor if that's inappropriate to you.)

Take those little $h!t$ for a ride so I guess it's still the same thing! Spreading cheer! LOL Looks like a nice beefy trailer

Remove both seals and grease them per the manual. Or leave both seals on the bearing and don't grease them as the seals will prevent dirt from entering the bearings as plus hold the existing grease in place. Personally, I'd choose to leave both of the seals on and leave the grease gun alone.

I know with the under seat tank it’s a solid 3 plus hours from a full tank. The most time I’m on it, I’m plowing my driveway in the winter, and I still have enough for at least an hour on the next storm. I haven’t run both tanks to empty yet though.

A little maintenence on the "Sparky" tractor. @Sparky The new owner has decided that new more aggressive shoes are acceptable. Needed a new shifter boot. Also doing a transmission fluid change. Our workshop smells like old gear ⚙️ oil 🛢

Got some parts in the mail new brake drum as you can tell in the photos the old one is trashed. Interestingly enough the new one is supposedly from a 93 520H same part number. And a sleeve hitch cross piece needs a weld but that's not a problem.

@Pullstart I'll tell ya what.... That spreader is doing you no good. You bring it here. BBT and I will babysit it for you.

Seems the last couple years I’ve had some unwelcome guests helping themselves to my sweet corn in my micro garden…so this year I decided to put up some resistance by installing an electric fence. The neighbors are seeing the little masked bandits helping themselves to their gardens…but so far my sweet corn is untouched. I guess time will tell …

Really nice to see you saved them Kev ... now put the angle grinder down and slowly step away ... The B hood looks to in nice shape and what's with the C series and the round hood fenders?? Looks interesting.

Time to hook up the plow!

Might as well double my post too Well that's a first for me! Put a bolt in it. But you should probably drop that oil pan and get the cast metal pieces out if they're still in there. Someone must've buried a bolt into the hole too deep and cracked open the inside of the block. A bolt will seal it.

If we could just get the wives to make some sandwiches, we could get this inaugural club meeting started! (and yes, the back section of yard was just mowed with my C-120)

Great progress, there. Very satisfying, I’m sure. Maybe it's the camera angle hiding it, but you’ll definitely need a brace to hold the weight of that muffler stack

Went down to Niles, MI today and struck a deal. The honey wagon jumped on after heading home. New kid hauler?

Another guy here that’s fond of the B-80. This is my ‘77 with the 8 speed. I run a 36” RD on it a few times in the summer. and she goes to a few tractor shows. Doesn’t see winter duty though.

The rear tires that were on Sparky are VERY resistant to be removed. My HF Manual Tire Changer won't do it. I found some other rims from stock. That'll be addressed later. The front wheels are the correct narrow types. The tri ribs will work great on them. I started adding some of the transmission fluid. I even remembered to install the drain plug!!!

Should be 1-1/8" axles but some of these transmissions at the time used different differential carrier bearings. Does not affect axle seal size.

I run 3 wires, one about 4 inches off the ground. I also run a ground line to all the post between the two hot strands. making sure there is good ground. Had to put it on a timer, runs 9pm to 7am. Wife was concerned with grand kids. I said they won't touch it twice. That's how I learned. (keeps neighbors out too) lol

I have some like this running now at least 5 years. I started out with doing just one and it is just as smooth as it was when installed. I figured the mule drive bearings are sealed and some of those are 25 years and counting. I know the ZZ bearings are used in the PTO. I wondered if there was a total seal this is what I found out. Based on the info, no go for the application.

@Handy Don beat me to it. The weight of the muffler may not seem like much but with engine vibration it will take a toll on the pipe or the threads in the engine block if you don't support it.

Well stated Steve. 👏 As a heavy truck 🚚 driver who's been in the industry long enough to see and deal with the emissions curfuffle I'd like to point out that the DEF systems are at best, OK. On paper they work well. In some trucks, the vast majority? they work fine.... But when a DEF system is faulty it is a rough screaming nightmare. There are thousands of horror stories about heavy trucks stranding and even financially draining their owners because of the emissions fiasco. Medium duty emissions hit the market in 2007. HD in 2012. I'm a Switch Seat driver. I have no dedicated machines at work. Because of this I've driven at least 150 different trucks over the years. In the last 15 years at least 50 or more. ALL OF THEM. Yes every single one... has had an emissions issue at some point. I find that greatly disturbing to say the least.

That is a straight thread and will require a good cleaning using spray brake cleaner and a suitable thread sealant on the bolt. Permatex #2 is a great choice for this. It's a bit messy to use, but coat the threads completely. That #2 never hardens (unlike their #1 sealant) and is fine with oil. Bolt length about 3/4" should be fine.

My trigger for picking up my first Wheel Horse was seeing my neighbor's Raider 10 buried back in the corner of his shed, along with a host of attachments. It has a hole in the side of the block, and he says he's saving it for a retirement project. When I brought home my C-120, he was almost as excited as I was. Well today he came rolling up on a '76 B-100 8-speed he picked up from the original owner who is heading for an assisted living facility. It was listed for $650 and my neighbor was going to give him the full asking price (w/snowplow). The gentleman showed him receipts for everything that has ever been done to it, including a recent one where his mechanic pulled the head and carb and gave it a full service. The old boy wanted to drive it one last time, so my neighbor let him drive it up on the trailer. When he went to pay, the old man says, "Well, I think it's going to a good home so just give me $500."

Definitely short frame. ’64 or maybe ’65, no later than ‘68? The ’63 was the first with the cast iron-capped springs but it still had the foot-operated quadrant release, while the one pictured has the bracket for the lever-grip release. BD-4264 or 6-4111 is my guess. Check for play in the blade pivot. If the blade was heavily used and the standard long-shoulder bolt was replaced with one having more threads, then the bolt and pivot socket likely have significant wear—not fatal, but less precise in use.

That's a blind hole for other purposes. Best guess is someone ran too long of a bolt in and blew out the boss on the inside. Run a 1/2" bolt in it gooped up with some silicone and run it like ya stole it.

Well that's a first for me! Put a bolt in it. But you should probably drop that oil pan and get the cast metal pieces out if they're still in there. Someone must've buried a bolt into the hole too deep and cracked open the inside of the block. A bolt will seal it.

It’s a paddle type manure spreader. Crappy topic, eh? The paddles and chain drives were pulled out. The back “gate” swings up, and I could sell it to my siblings in law as a seat belt for the littles!

Today was buttoning things up after work on the C-141. It’s coming together. The hood hinge was loose and the bolts didn’t stay tight. It was temporarily put together today I finalized it. The exhaust pipe was reattached. I also cut an unneeded bracket off the muffler and painted it. I also built a battery hold down. It’s safe now @ebinmaine no bungee cord here now. The last major thing is painting the bodywork. I also have to put the handles on the throttle and choke. Possibly more progress tomorrow.

She went with exactly what's on Millie. I believe those are the wheels we bought from you as well. Deestone 23 x 8.50 x 12 AG rears with Deestone 4.00 x 8 tri ribs up front. I'm still workin' on talking her into changing the seat. 💺 🪑 😀

Posting today because the work was last week at my son and daughter’s extremely remote and off-the-grid camp. “Clyde” (the camp tractor) needed some attention—reports from the field declared it was hard-starting, had grown loud, and was running poorly, requiring some choke always. I brought a replacement muffler, carb, and other parts it might need. Muffler had a number of rust-through holes. Replaced it and gained a 5 or 6db drop in sound level. Fuel was draining back from carb to tank after only a couple days. Added a primer bulb and starts are instantaneous. Rough running cause was revealed during the muffler swap—the Welch plug on the carb had fallen out. Amazingly, it was still there on top of the engine and I was able to clean out its port, wrangle it back into place and secure it. Going forward, I’ll be adding ⅜” Welch plugs to my spares kit as a guarantee that I’ll never need another one! Greased everything in sight and a lot of stuff that wasn’t. Topped up the oil in the engine and transaxle My “shop away from home.” A step up from relying on a shade tree. The tarp was a lifesaver when I inevitably dropped a nut, bolt, or washer. I took some heat about bringing a shop stool but by the end of the week all the assistants were converts. Sharpening one of the 80 knives on the flail mower. Had to replace six knives broken or lost due to overly enthusiastic attacks on saplings—I had some words for the operators on that 😉. Milwaukee’s ¾” x 18” M12 Bandfile is exactly the right tool for this job. I made a removable boom to fit into the 2” receiver of the front lift to help with moving around some heavy and awkward things. Until now, the lift was only used for the flail. Hoist.mov

Productive few days of doing an engine swap on my 418-A with one that I found locally that has a transmission issue. The original is worn out and starting to use alot of oil. It's all back together now and I mowed with it yesterday and the newer engine is working good so far. I also took the opportunity to replace the lift actuator with a unit that I rebuilt this past winter.

I have already done this on a couple of that passed through my shop on their way to a new owner. If it is going to the right new owner the price isn't the primary objective.

Thanks everyone. Looks like I'm back to the grind/hunt for a long frame blade.

Paint it That looks perfect the way it is, after all it is a survivor, buff that out and give it a clear coat.

I just looked it over the other day, as it had been taken off at some point and then re-attached and improperly clamped, causing it to blow exhaust onto the air filter. It's a loud muffler in my opinion. The baffles may not be great inside. The outer shell is is really good shape though.

That three point is nice!