Leaderboard

Put some bushing in a hydro belt take up. The old ones were shot. Got some bunting flange bearings at Amazon. reamed out the hole with a 5/8 drill, but started in straight with a step drill first. Worked okay was trying to keep it simple. I did add a keeper bolt threaded in the end to keep it all together due to eliminating the e clips on the shaft to accept the thicker flange bearings. Bearing were $3 and change each.

This is a good spot for this. You may remember me struggling to get a lug bolt out of a wheel a while back. It was a regular 7/16" bolt apparently driven in with an impact wrench WAAAAAY too tight. It was from a 68 Raider 9 that I have parted out. I tried everything up to welding a nut on it that was my last attempt at failing before I just set it aside to regain some form of sanity. Even though I doubt that I will be needing them I try real hard to save wheels that have the correct setback for Wheel Horses. They are a bit of an oddball. The same goes for saving hubs. These especially as they are the heavy hubs with factory double setscrews. Over the weeks of it just sitting in the garage I decided that the hubs were more important if I couldn't save both. I already had the bolt drilled out to something under 3/8". This morning I went ahead and drilled it to 3/8" which was as far as I wanted with hoped of not damaging the threads. It looked like this. I set it on 4x4's and smacked the hub opposite of the stuck bolt. It actually didn't take much. It snapped off clean and the culprit came right out. The hub threads didn't look bad at all. I chased them all with a 7/16" tap and a 3/8" for the setscrews and these hubs are in dandy shape! An added bonus is that the wheel is fine as well. You can see where the jammed bolt was but it's not harmed. Bottom hole. My only New Years resolution is to never make resolutions. But I'd say this is a good start. Happy New Years!

January 1, 1959, Johnny Cash played his first of many free prison concerts at San Quentin State Prison on January 1, 1959, a pivotal event that inspired a young Merle Haggard, then an inmate, to pursue music, kicking off Cash's lifelong advocacy for prisoners and leading to iconic albums like At Folsom Prison and At San Quentin.

Changed out the powered worm gear snowblower chute with a powered chain drive.

Happy New Year everyone !!! With the day off I figured I'd take advantage of getting paid to work on my own stuff. A little progress report for y'all. First off I degreased the parts so that they would be ready for the blast cabinet. With the dishes done it was time to move on to repairs. First off get the drag link that a PO welded to the fan gear removed. Hood stand had some fatigue cracks that needed to be addressed. Tool box also had some fatigue cracks. Drilled some holes at the end of the cracks, beveled them out & welded them up. @AlexR was recently asking about spindle repairs. The spindles on this tractor had some pretty severe wear. I welded these then trimmed them back down to size with a grinder & a file. Bearing now fits snug on the spindle. That's all for today.

My nephew and I displayed at the Badger Steam and Gas show this year, he went into the swap meet unattended and came back with this 855 horse, I'm not the best documentor and we have it partially torn down now, but after using the site to get the wiring and voltage regulator sorted out I figured maybe you guys would like to see what we are up to.

Scored a 1992 Wheel Horse 312-8 today with deck & front blade for 100 bucks. I got homework to do. Engine has no spark plug wire or left side engine cover. Engine does turn over by hand & seems to have compression. Can't get the PTO to engage, the shaft isn't sliding in. Choke cable stuck, throttle cable operates. Deck has minor rot on the right side, but I bought the tractor for snow plowing, I will sell the deck. I had 60s & 70s Cub Cadets & John Deere tractors. I know decks & mule drives were pricey in 2019 when I sold all my garden tractors & bought a new Cub cadet XT1 LT42 with rear bagger, brush guard & arm rests. I missed a garden tractor to plow with. A walk behind snowblower just don't get it done. Snowblower for her is in the future too. Maybe even a sleeve hitch and tiller.

It has new shoes on now and it roll

Showing your age Don ...

Thank you kpinnc! The PTO issue is repaired for now. I found out the engine needs to be running @ idle to engage the PTO. I served 1970-1990/ Field Artillery- 105 towed, Armor & Cavalry-M551 Sheridan, M48A5,M60A1 &M60A3, I was also a Combat Engineer. Yeah, I loved blowin' things up. Welcome home brother.

Bought one, 1992 312-8 with deck and front blade. Engine needs work.

Some of the best covers as well!

CD’s ! C’mon Eric, who still has CD’s? Besides probably most of us here 🤣 along with a collection of cassettes and maybe even 8-Tracks. I gave my 8-Tracks away to my neighbor who has an 8-Track player in his 1969 Dodge Charger. Oh! And vinyl I’m sure many of us still have vinyl as well!👍🏻

Put juice to my new headlights on 1257 today. Halogen bulbs and pretty bright, 2nd pic is in shop and pitch dark. Dont remember what the watts are. Thought about going with led bulbs but IDK if it would be worth the extra coin.

Too cold for lots of pics & vids. Got this one of grandson #2. Sleddig.mov

Git-R-Done

All of the missing engine tins can be found. Any Magnum 10-16hp are the same. The flywheel cover is plastic and the same applies for it. If turning that flywheel proves she has compression, she WILL run. A 312 is a great machine. You can definitely use it for what you're planning. A little love goes a long way on these old tractors. You also already have the rear axle hitch for tillers, snow blades and even grader blades. Well done!

I never liked 100+ amps flowing around the steering gear behind the fuel tank.

I replaced the high amperage switch with a standard switch and installed a solenoid.

I havent been to that one in Portage @whx but it is definitely going on the calendar for this year, I'm only about 35 minutes from there. I'll try to get a build thread going once I get in the shop again. The tractor is about half torn down but you guys will get the idea haha.

I bought both albums back in 1970, a couple of years later the 8 tracks, a few years later the cassettes, then the CDs, then, well you get the picture. I still have the albums and the CDs the 8 tracks and cassettes never last long, the vinyl is still my go to at the house, CDs are for road trips. Johnny, was one of of the few who transcended music genres, his American series, the last of his albums exemplify that.

And the 5xi series hub is tight against the case as well, with a plastic (nylon? delrin?) washer sandwiched between the hub and the case.

I think we might have a winner!

I’m absolutely loving the 520hc with the 2 stage!

As long as the chute is pointed downwind!

Yesterday was in the mid-30’s so the stuff on the sled hill got a bit soft. Last night we got a nice snow/sleet coating from the front edge of a sharp cold front. Today the hill was as close as I can remember to perfect. Icy hard base under a thin layer of crunchy, icy snow. Fast but steerable. Wahoo!

Pffft, like I've never had a nickname related to me setting something on fire or blowing something up before.

So I've been out there quite a bit in the last two weeks since the lift went it. The torpedo is keeping up well enough, it's chilly enough to not sweat, but warm enough I can get down to short sleeves. Unfortunately last night one of the lift rams sprung a pretty good leak. The installer and I were both a little worried that might happen because it sat completely unused for so long. On the bright side it looks pretty easy to get the cylinders out and reseal them. The guy I had install it services our lifts at work, he said he can get me the parts I need. I'm hoping to be back up and running by next weekend.

@JoeM thats what i,m talking about ! its like people dent even think about bushings / bearings , often say , make the rust run out ! like red aerosol spray tube lube , to get into areas , also have been a fan of SUPER LUBE , HYDRAULIC OIL / GREASE , incredible temp range . how dare you take care of a neglected area ! just kidding , do that all the time , just got in from plowing , with my graphite sprayed blade , ridiculous angular slide off , another experiment , on my heavily improved plow blade frame , did that years ago , heim joints , steering quadrant , lever detailing , for smooth easy , blade swing . your improvement area , is what you want to get after , like a REPEDITIVE PROBLEM ? take it apart and kill it ! very common to find problem , a functional stage issue , a collection of neglect . good job , keep in touch , pete

Engine ready to install. Negative battery cable is installed at this time as well. I placed some thick paper towels down on engine plate to protect the paint. Engine sat into place then the two Right side bolts and washers dropped in to maintain a rough alignment. I ripped the paper towels and put them back under the engine to keep the paint protected during the next step. Left side bolts and washers dropped into place. Engine will need to be tilted up to get the bolts in, this step is a bit tricky and might be better with two people. All nuts, washers, lockwashers, and negative battery cable installed but left loose. Note the location of the negative battery cable and it's toothed lockwashers. Paper towel removed. Engine slid forward as far as it will go then using a straight edge I verified that the engine and transmission pullies were in alignment. All four bolts were then snugged and then torqued to 30 ft/lb. Tractor as of today.

Good progress today. The engine is off and setting in a roller dolly. Battery tray is out too. Next is the steering system. I've decided that since this tractor has great potential as a worker I'll install one of the Gear ⚙️ reduction steering setups I have.

Yep, have these on the front of the 520-8, much improved steering in the snow!

Engine plate ready to install. Tractor ready for engine plate to be installed. All hardware installed and nuts left just loose enough that the plate can move. Plate pulled fully forward as far as it will move (this will give maximum belt tension later on). Plate checked to be sure it is square to the frame. Left side bolts snugged to hold plate in proper position. Battery cable clips orientated as they were during disassembly then right side bolts snugged. All four bolts torqued to 30 ft/lb.

Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) said "Hurt" is not my song anymore, it's Johnny's.

@sqrlgtr am a a serious fan of , LED TAIL LIGHTS , the red gow on the back of the tractor , says it all , just takes center stage of night safety , usually my local / walmart has a good , light selection . regularly check over anything , to verify function , pete

Back in the mid 80s to early 90s I worked at a teen center. It was built in a former bar/restaurant. Every Friday and Saturday evening there was a club style dance. Two different nights for two different age groups. One of my many various tasks was being a DJ. I was one of several. They had a decent collection of their own music and some of us had our own too. At peak I had nearly two hundred CDs 💿 and several dozen cassette tapes. I used few records because the needle would bounce at home. The teen center had piles of them. Nowadays I still have over a hundred CDs 💿 and a few tapes 📼 along with a few records. I've been adding to my CD collection when someone posts to the What Are You Listening To thread.

Is that a 1 1/8 center? Something you made? 3 & 4 speeds and all hydros were tight to the case. 6 & 8 speeds have room.

@buckrancher makes very nice covers for those seat pans,

This is what I did. Larger diameter plates with the five bolts to the outside of the hub would let it work with studs but just back them out if you need to remove the hub. I've got another blank plate to make a backer that can fit behind the entire hub but I haven't needed that so it's not drilled out. I will if the need arises or I just feel like it. Sometimes there isn’t the clearance between the hub and tranny case.

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone! Great info, I think our tractor is pretty complete, except for some consumable parts but who knows what we will find the more we get apart. My nephew bought it at the Badger Steam and Gas show last year and the plan is to have it back at the show this year. Do any of you Wisconsin guys make it to that show? I know there are a couple displays with Wheel Horses there.

Found this kind of interesting. Maybe some of the other old folks here might too. Dolenz, the only surviving Monkees band member, marked the anniversary of the No. 1 milestone with a social media post in mid-December 2025, telling fans, “Hard to believe it’s been nearly 60 years, but this month in 1966, ‘I’m a Believer’ hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. I sang it. It was written by Neil Diamond. And it changed everything for us.”

Chris: one thing i do on the steering column after putting on hood is use a two part 3/4 inch collar to secure the steering wheel shaft under the hood! That makes it ten times easier to remove, change or repair the steering parts. They cost less than ten dollars but well worth it. This photo is of a dual collar split but you get the single split collar!

Was out around 7am clearing driveway with the 702. Snow was lighter so it didnt do too bad. 7hp is still not a lot to run a blower. I was having fun playing out there. Fortunately, no issues with drive belt this time........🤞 20251231_072629.mp4

Early 1968 models had battery ignition and used this switch #7263. This switch carried the heavy starter load. Very expensive at $136 at Parts Tree. Late 1968 models had magneto ignition and used a similar switch but for magneto ignition. In 1972 some models went back to battery ignition and added a solenoid which eliminated the heavy wiring to the 92-6785 switch. Much more efficient going from battery to solenoid to starter. 7263 switch 92-6785 switch with 4 key positions now $94 at Parts Tree A better replacement switch for a solenoid and battery ignition is switch 103990 with 3 key positions now $30 at Parts Tree. Less expensive and available everywhere. Used the above for price comparison. Shop around.

Beach Boys, Now that's good music there got to see them twice in concert. My wife has some kind of music radio in her car she pays each month for and it has a lot of options. Last fall my 8 track's radio in the El Camino finally gave up the ghost. The 8 track has been worthless for years in part due to the 8 track tapes getting brittle and breaking. I bought some retro am/fm radio as replacement--high dollar in my opinion, just ok sound but at least it looks somewhat original. I wish I had kept the original am/fm that came with it. I usually listen to talk radio. Seldom play music. My 1992 GMC has a cassette player that sometimes I play on longer drives. I don't guess I appreciate modern music be it country and western as well as church music as others do. Kinda like the older slower stuff whereas I can understand the words.

boom boom new nickname???

One of his song covers didn't work out so well (in my opinion, anyhow) - Bridge Over Troubled Water. I still remember the Jonny Cash tracks the city would play at the skating rink in the winter.

I'll second that Lane and never again battle getting a one piece over thick paint.

Make a big old New Years Resolution, Stay off of Facebook!

Yep, I didnt know any of that. Couple of great country music artists right there!