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RedSquare mentioned around the 1:02:00 mark

Just got me a 418-8 tonight, been wanting one ever since I got a 418-A couple summers ago. Needs some cleaning up but runs sweet and decent older 48" deck. Of course the paper ID tag is wasted on it. What would be the model number on it?

Kinda kept this project quiet over the winter. Purchased it from @Buckeyes last year. Although I have original 4hp Kohler (w/matching patina) I decided to go with a more unique powerplant. 3hp diesel. Some modification needed to make it all work. Air cleaner wouldn't fit under hood so I had to improvise & use aftermarket. Slight modification to original belt guard mounting to get it to fit. Got original throttle lever to work w/diesel throttle control. Tried to make it look as original/subtle as I could. Usually starts on the 1st pull thanks to decompression lever. Think it will be my cruiser for when I attend shows..... 20260210_130010.mp4

April 13, 1976, The US reintroduces the discontinued and never-popular $2 bill to mark the nation’s bicentennial. The bill carries a portrait of Thomas Jefferson, born on April 13, 1743.

Treated the lawn today with Scott’s Max Weed and Feed. Never used Max before but Weed and Weed in the past did pretty well! Used my 1962 Wheel Horse 702 and my Stryker spreader! Took about one hour. 51% chance of rain this evening and 100% in Wednesday! So i took a chsnce by spreading today!

Just back from enjoying a visit with some old friends in Ocean City, Md.

Your title is made up of the four most expensive words in the whole English language

Love the 418's. I too would love to acquire the elusive 418-C.

So, this winter was a little brutal as far as work on my Wheel Horse collection, but I did stay busy working on my oiler collection. Between my brother-in-law, my wife, and me, we covered a lot of antique shops in Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Florida. It wasn't just for my oilers, but my wife collects old restaurant creamers. So here are some updated pictures of my oilers There are no two exactly alike Mrs. M collects creamers. Here is her collection. Just like my collection, no two are alike.

Ready for mowing!

Excellent addition. You get bonus points for keeping the larger OE style muffler where the showerhead would have been. If any body asks about the diesel fuel smell, tell them you just got done flushing the transmission & must have spilled some!!

On my 518-H, I resorted to removing one rear wheel and supporting the axle case on a small dolly. That let the wheel-less hub rotate through the differential when the wheeled side was turning. Later, while it was in the shop, I’d use a wheeled jack under the transaxle to hoist the rear then move it. Lastly, I got a set of “car skates." In the end, the 518-H donated its topsides to a 520-H chassis, the Eaton 700 got donated to member in need, the dolly got cannibalized, and the skates went to @ebinmaine!

The 854 got a spiffy new set of adjustable tie rods commissioned from @ri702bill. Beautiful craftsmanship! Much improved steering now that the toe-out has been corrected. When giving it a test ride, I discovered that the tractor's left turn radius is a few inches tighter than its right turn radius when the spindle arms are hitting their respective stops. Only quirk is that the ball ends that I sourced have SAE threading on both the male and female parts, but the flats are metric! The shaft flats are SAE because Bill turned them from SAE hex stock.

11/16/25 I was going to look at a 314-8 with a BerVac 46” snowblower and a 42” RD (pretty mint!). 462 hrs!! He was the original owner and had all the paperwork from when it was new. So, we struck a killer of a deal. Did I mention that he said it hadn’t run in 6 or 7 years?! I rolled the dice, (I mean, hey it was a Kohler!!) I got it home. It was snowy out but i got the mouse nest out from under the motor tin and i pushed it back into the garage for the winter. Till today!! I did all the usual… cleaned out the tank, put in a new shut off valve, new lines, filter and primer bulb. I rebuilt the fuel pump and cleaned out the carb. There may have been a few things i forgot in there. But, primed the motor and it fired right to life!! It was a bit Smokey at first, 30 seconds into it and it didn’t smoke a bit! I made it around the yard once and the drive belt had had enough, it was toast!!

Just buried an old friend today. Your post and todays service reminded me that we need to enjoy fellowship with those who we have grown-up and grown-old with.

The pressed steel bearings are not as durable

Mine is easier: KIAK Keep It Away from Kevin...

See you next year, with it at the fuel station! That will run all year on a tank!

I have some left over shirts from plow day. 4 size XL, 5 size L at the moment. $20 each.

@redbaron I have replaced the shaft on a 14 hp. I turned engine upside down, used two small magnets, one to get rod lined up, flag orientation with gov gear, pull rod through hole with other magnet Take your time, I dropped rod down, then maneuvered into position with magnets. PIA, but can be done, you have to stick tongue out and bite down. Good luck.

You'll have to go to FB to contact him. Matt Castagno. He goes to the show every year.

My mom has been poking around going through old stuff at the house. She found this newspaper clipping from summer of 1974. Bruce of course is my late father. @Qball Yes... The Ugly Bruce. The plant in the following piece is still alive and thriving. If it was blooming in 1917 it was at least several years old then. So now it's 110? More? Horticultural Happening In Petersham By RUTH BASSINGTHWAITE PETERSHAM - Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Banks of Hardwick road recently had a "horticultural happening" in their home. A spider lily plant, last known to blossom some 15 years ago, began to bloom with one after another of the slender flowers appearing as day followed day. The bulb from which the plant has grown is known to be at least 60 years old, members of the family say. It belonged to the late Mrs. Lizzie Rich, Banks' great grandmother. In June of 1917 the plant responded to the bridal blooming month by wholeheartedly for the wedding of Edward and Mildred (Rich) Welch, the present owners' grandparents. Mrs. Vernon Banks, formerly Roberta Welch, had the plant for many years, but, not considering herself a green thumb expert, just "let it be" until her son and wife set up their own home. Mrs. Banks considers her daughter-in-law to be "a good hand with flowers" and it must be so. The younger Mrs. Banks noted that it was possible to witness the unfolding bud to flower production in an hour or two. How she had time to watch is a mystery to us as "almost four year old" Eric, and Heidi and Alana, nine month old twins, provide plenty of action every hour of every day.

You know the rules, front ends on Friday only or we will be forced to call out the Photo Police. Since you appear to be a first time offender we can let you off with a warning.

Getting ready to paint the thing Got it all mask off

Before reinstalling the large flange bushings for the C series Lift Lever, I decided to add a shallow grease groove centered in the ID. (@peter lena would approve) The 60 degree internal threading tool works perfectly for this. Judging by the fine powdery chips prodiced, these bushings are made of iron.... I did not expect that.

I like to use the sealed bearings. Usually get a couple hundred hours out of them. https://www.amazon.com/Pack-PGN-Flanged-Ball-Bearing/dp/B08HR2JNGJ/ref=sr_1_2_sspa

Burned out my last electrode for my plasma cutter last week. Place I bought it from said they'd discontinued the unit, and it's consumables. I use it enough that I ordered a new one, higher output, and then the next day they found me a link to the Amaze-On store for the company that made it for them where I could still get the consumables. New one arrived today, so I had to set it up and test it out. I think it works pretty well. Burned this out for the wife. It isn't perfect, but we both have some rough edges... Our first initials on the top, last in the middle, then the kids at the bottom.

If you fertilize it, it grows faster...I do not seed the snow clouds why would I want to make the grass grow faster... ???

Compression release style cam and governor out of a K181. Everything you see in this pic. $50

After looking at all of the Tin Man photos from the movie, I am convinced that my oiler is identical to the one in the picture.

There are plenty of YT videos out there about doing this. My favorites are from the custom car fabricators that take longbed Chevy C10 pickups and shorten both the frame & bed to OE shortbed dimensions, without ruining the time weathered patina where the cuts & welds were done. That is some first class work...

After a bunch of hours learning to fly a sailplane, I realized the hobby was incompatible with my responsibilities and commitments. Still, treading a fine line between lift and gravity was exhilarating and made me pay close attention to what I was doing!

STILL amazes me that Elmer Pond designed the Unidrive in a couple of months and that with only a few changes it was still being installed in new tractors for over 50 years. The depth of his understanding about machinery and manufacturing is hard to fathom, even today.

Took off the exhaust that came on engine, like air filter it wouldn't fit under hood. Tried to make exhaust look as original as possible.

My dad was a pilot (last of the old Barn Stormers) and always said exactly that.

If the transmission needs more than the shifter fixed, there are great videos in the "Instructional's, Transmission" section herein. They are not hard to work on, I find them enjoyable to rebuild.....once you get the stubborn hubs off the rear axles. By the way,, horses are herd animals. I hope you have a large shed/barn. You will have more than you can count and be hiding them in the bushes so your wife can't count how many you have! Don't fight it, It's an addiction Lot's of friendly help here and you've come to the best place on the planet to feed that addiction REDSQUARE !

That looks like it is for a d series

I see your point - it often requires a detour, but seldom to a deadend road.... Those bushings and the lack of them at all where the clutch goes thru the frame are almost impossible to lubricate under normal use except with a hit-or-miss spray wand. So....

1272 posts in... I wonder how many were actually done only on a Friday? Me personally I would NEVER make that type of intentional confusalation.

Try @grnlark he may be able to set you up. Does excellent work. Very fussy.

if your only motivation for the electric fuel pump was the now-discovered failed mechanical pump, You may choose to revert with a replacement. However, if you are happy with the electric, there is no need to replace the mechanical pump--use a gasket and a simple plate to cover the hole where the fuel pump fits. The seal needs only to be strong enough to handle the fluctuating crankcase pressure and keep splashing oil from seeping out.

Go get two cheap dollies from Harbor Freight (about 10 bucks each) and lift the rear wheels onto it. At least you can shuffle it around on smooth surfaces. A 12hp Kohler is worth rebuilding. Can be expensive but well worth it. Hardest part is finding a shop to do the bore and grind the crank.

Here’s a video of it running after 3 minutes, (if you can see the video) IMG_5520.mov

More pictures of the diesel all painted my 74 year old dad did an awesome job using spray paint

Some patina on the "Oil Burner" & a few custom Decals from Terry - you could pass it off as an early diesel prototype from WH.

Here are a couple pictures of my tiller

@Red Barrons thanks for the insight into your problem , having changed over to electric pumps years a go , recommend carbole low pressure 2-3.5 psi model , have in use for years , also have mine mounted up front on frame , others refer to rear mounting , as better pusher , never had an issue , wired into start , also have fuel filters at tank and before carb , with clear hose and check valve , holding standing fuel to carb , verifying set up , love to eliminate repetitive problems , fuel related ,problems eliminated with , all new hose, tank and carb bowl , clean out , and sta bil in ALL MY GAS , ounce or two , result ? no fuel debris in any related filter , isn't that what you want ? added a blank over that fuel pump , area . pete

You will learn much about these fine tractors here. You can find your model in the manual section. Does it have identification tag on it like in the area under the steering wheel or a side plate where the lift handle is. I would start there. enjoy it.

Gave the snow machine a bath to get rid of the salt and mud and cinders. It will go in the shed soon to free up some garage space.