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ALL of the above! And then some..... Honestly.... a LOT of the desire to own a Wheelhorse is the great folks in this forum. The extreme desire to help is unmatched. Period.

Here's a totaled Eclipse!

Yesterday we saw several Model T Ford tractor conversion kits, here are a few more. Farm Tractor Co., Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and Knickerbocker Motors, Inc., New York, merged to create the Knickerbocker Forma-Tractor, which went into receivership in 1920. Knickerbocker Forma-Tractor kit initially sold for $250 ($ 3,000 today), That price included a water pump, (Model T’s thermosiphon cooling system had no water pump), a larger cooling fan and an oversize radiator. I’m not too sure how well this remote steering would work out! PullFord was another very popular conversion system which was made by Ford Motor Company and also offered a front mounted flat-belt pulley system. Shaw Manufacturing who went on to manufacture garden tractors like the Shaw Do-All was another kit maker Merchandising giants Sears, Robuck & Company and Montgomery Ward also sold kits to convert Henry Ford’s Model T into a tractor Magazine articles also offered suggestions about converting the Model T to a tractor. Most of the kits on the market would move the drive wheels forward of the car’s axle for a shorter wheelbase and greater maneuverability. I don’t know who manufactured this one but it places the drive wheels behind the axle.

Saw me one today...

So I emptied the garage out today. Figured I would take a family photo. Guess which one isn't related. Still love it, but just not family.

In this order: -The longevity of them overall. -How easy they are to work on, over other brands of equal quality. -Usually fair priced.

About Wheel Horse tractors. I think there are two things in my mind that contribute the most. One is the simplicity of design. Easy to work on. The next is value. Even with the high price tags when new, they have a high level of unpaired soundness.

Oh, and their purty to look at.

Longevity

Oodles of interchange parts & implements that fit over more than a decade...

Here's where I mounted my pump

They are strong… they are simple… but maybe more importantly…sexy!

It was an amazing experience, spectacular actually, We had champagne and snacks on the deck in the backyard garden. We had100% totality and almost no cloud cover. Starting watching the partial about 2:15. Around 2:50 only a quarter of the sun was still showing. By 3:06 it was completely covered. The solar lights in the backyard flower garden were on. The streetlights were on. The temp dropped four or five degrees off on 78 degrees. The dogs quit barking. The aura, the corona and the total experience was breathtaking!. Yes, the last photo is real! Some guy traveling to Indiana made his own spaceship vehicle.

Up in VT for the eclipse. Incredible view from St. Albans. Looking for something to eat in Burlington, found this place

Actually worked pretty good if it stays in auto darking... Gonna have a party and get totalled...

Faces from 2 old friends.

Oh no! You got the Work Horse dirty!!!! Just kidding Tim. Man your yard is a bit moist!

Been there…

They predicted sunny skies 3 days ago. I knew when they cancelled school for the day we were done for. The kiss of death is closing schools for a weather event. so we were socked in pretty good with clouds. But it got REALLY DARK at 3:22 PM! Here is a picture my son sent from Buffalo

My oldest sister is a retired Science teacher, so this was right up her alley... me - been there, done that in 1979...big whoop. Told her if I wanted to see a full Corona, I can go to the local Liquor Store and get 6 in a cardboard holder....

I also use a very big washer up against the oil seal as you pop the PVC pipe piece with a rubber mallet!

And a black hood !

Right color though...!

That’s a rear weight for an early Simplicity Broadmoor . It’s notched to work with the factory stops welded on the front of the RJ frame . The show is still up in t air with my daughter being pregnant .

@953 nut Short story about Model T's on the farm. My paternal grandfather lived on a 100 acre farm which one of his older sons farmed. Granddaddy always drove a wagon never had been behind the steering wheel of anything. A couple of the younger sons purchased a model T after the great depression and decided that the old man needed to learn drive as he and grandma were getting to the point that climbing up in the wagon was difficult. Put the old man behind the wheel and explained everything . Started the T and off they went. Granddaddy ruined about 15 acres of corn. I am pretty sure "here hold my beer" was involved. The older son came by a few days later mad as a wet hen demanding payment for the destroyed field . He was still made about the ruined crop when he died at age 90.

So true. I joke about safety protection or my lack of in days gone by, but Tinnitus is no joke. I suffer from hearing loss and severe tinnitus caused by the thousands of hours I spent in the lab studying the cavitation on model hydro turbines under a 800HP dynamometer with noise levels over 120db. And hundreds of hours inside full sized hydro turbines while a deafening 1 million HP turbine is spinning a 60'daimeter generator on both sides of the one I am inspecting. All with no hearing protection. Tinnitus is no joke. Please use Hearing Protection.

I got my first wheel horse way back for $50, for a similar reason. PO changed the solenoid and starter. But he apparently didn't notice the large green blob of corrosion on the positive battery terminal. I had it running 10 minutes after I got it home. It sat in a barn for two years before I bought it. And now:

It is the correct one. It is the thin belt guard used on the 551. Just checked the parts book and my early 551 with the Suburban metal tag serial #; that is the correct guard. Mine has the extra hole as well. Apparently all the 3999 guards had the extra hole so they could be used on both the 3 piece and 2 piece transmissions when they ran out of the earlier guards

We had clear sky until about a half hour before the eclipse then totally cloudy, Got to see a bit of it but like ZJim @WHX?? the auto-darkening didn't work so had to use the old stand-by # 12 mask. Didn't see muck of it but seven years back we were in the perfect spot and had clear skies so at least I've seen one, just not this one.

Definitely be removing the wheel and that side will be raised up. It’s low on gear oil now so hope not to lose any. Thanks for the reminder though.

Thanks guys! I’m gonna order one up and get her done.

I was working on my 875 and completely forgot about it. My son stopped by and said that there was still a sliver left, so he gave me his eclipse glasses and I saw just tiny bit. Oh well, if I live long enough I'll try to remember the next one.

Yep just pick the old one out. Tape the keyway to avoid nicks. Grease & carefully tap the new one in with a piece of pvc 1 1/4 I think?

I have taken the tractor completely apart now, and I have clear coated the frame transmission and a few steering parts tonight i am going to try to finish sandblasting the rims tonight, I am repainting the rims because I need new front rims so I decided to make them match , the rest of the tractor will be cleaned and clear coated, I got new 4.80-4/8 ags off Amazon for the back I will put some pictures of the frame and transmission clear coated

In this transmission section you can scroll down a few threads from the very top and find one that says "Bearings and seals cross.... ". Take a look at the second PDF and you'll find the numbers that you need. If that's a regular B80 transmission it should be three, 1-in seals and one, 3/4-in seal. We have two vendors you could try. K&B or Wheel Horse parts and more. You could also take those numbers in the chart and have someone local to you cross reference them.

This is the one that I use. https://www.amazon.com/Solid-State-Fuel-Pump-FPF-60304N/dp/B08WHXTKH4/ref=sr_1_3?crid=31UEMKWJZGORJ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.h2n14b5HW3EZ1PZzNFusjRXEbE6__yF-S-RK6W4JCIQtRyXx505-spqE_FuBjV4zS-tEQX5yyXRb-H2AGHBu3TS4B37tS_4RpCI4gD5PukHUv84qrlznvq73EXqNdEWjZpCV3FmMOraCN1tLzFlqrLQdDEBIFqbNdbjtcQkBc7M5v572GoLKbTtqIgd9K9W_Z_hW6cgHeikSozWpPFaBHBJJLAC58hKJU_t25-uU2T0.eQhw9KqWvsn8MO5tqNsBPn5OSsk7Wf6K4CtQExf-Now&dib_tag=se&keywords=facet+electric+fuel+pump+12v+for+low+pressure+for+carburetor&qid=1712571260&sprefix=facet+low+pressure+%2Caps%2C176&sr=8-3 If you chose another brand, make sure that it is less than 4psi max.

Well.........my earthquake tiller would not start one day.

A dealer replacement motor Jim. Most likely doesn't have WH specs and different in other aspects but designed to be a "universal" replacement to cover most applications. Often required specific parts from OEM motor for OEM function. Sometimes sold as a "short block" just requiring more parts from motor being replaced. Sheet metal, ignition components, starters etc. Another tell tale is a service motor (Kohlers) are painted in a light gray primer looking color. Sometimes painted OEM color by the dealer. An upcharge customers often declined.

Mine will probably be me doing something stupid. I do it so often that sometimes just making it through the day can be a surprise. But yeah, I remember cleaning a bad run of pc boards through a freon evaporator bare handed for four shifts in a week. Old timers would laugh about MSDS sheets, and claim "boys, we used to eat this stuff", no matter what it was. Times have certainly changed. We did extremely dangerous, nasty, highly toxic work and we're still here. I guess the next generation will live longer, because they wear rubber gloves to take the trash out...

Unfortunately, I thought the clothes dryer was out of balance! LOL (And it was running at the same time so not sure.) Some of the military planes and or helicopters that go by shake the house more. Sorry, nothing good or exciting to report. Just too far away

WE HAVE POWER !!!

I moved the snow machine to the long term shed where she can hibernate for the summer. Fixed the 312-8 internitten starting problem. By the marks on the starter, the PO blamed it on the starter. It was actually a loose seat switch connector that made it a $175 roller.

I believe I have it resolved. Put the hitch bracket back like it was in first pic then found out the long curved arm where it attaches totge upright arm of the plow (center of this pic) was frozen. Once lubed up and pushed that connection point, the plow pivoted and now is in proper position when lowered and lifts nicely off the ground when raised.

Today's menu - Get this baby ready to light the fire. In order to do this I needed to have "dead man" throttle control. My plan is to turn the brake peddle into the gas peddle. Gathered the basic parts to make this happen. Starting with a piece of pipe that I bought for some reason. Guess this must of been the reason. I did not think that I would be able to weld to the cast metal that the peddle is made of very well, so the piece of pipe gave me some thing to weld to. I cut the threaded ends off from the pipe and the cut it length wise so that it would fit the curve of the brake peddle. Then cut the rest of the parts to make this into a gas peddle. Next up, burn these parts together. Drilled and tapped the peddle so that the assembly could be bolted in place. 2 more pieces required to make this work, a bracket to hold the throttle cable, and a bracket for a positive stop. All three completed. Gave all these parts a quick squirt with some flat black to keep from rusting. Adjustable wide open positive stop installed. Throttle cable holder and foot peddle bracket installed, with a return spring for the peddle. Also installed a return spring on the engine side of the throttle. I think the weed eater piston shift knob turned out well. With these parts installed it was time to light the fire. Good news!! It fired right up. Runs great and runs through all the gears well, butt... the strait pipe is loud and and um, loud!!! A few shots of it out in the sun light. Only thing left now is the fire suppression system "fire extinguisher" and scale it out to get the weight dialed in.

my C-100 starts up in less than a second, and it still needs maintenance (planned for this fall) I had a checklist I followed for long crank times (2-3 seconds of cranking or more) starting with checking if it had FRESH fuel (less than 30-60 days since pumped at gas station, and this was BEFORE Ethanol fuels started showing up - and Leaded gas was still a thing.) .. Rather than write a novel, I'll make bullet point list: 1) Fresh gas 2) Good, properly gapped, correct spark plug (H10 for 10-16HP K series & Magnum cast iron singles, .030 gap) 3) Pop off air cleaner and make sure choke was fully closing (no slop - even a fraction of a degree "open" can cause a start up issue.) also check air filter (Too much gas/not enough air can cause a hard start as well!, so I'd also look for wet gas dripping out of carb..) 4) Compression Test (minimum 75 PSI) - Otherwise, valves, head bolts, head gasket, ring wear, warped heads may be suspects. If it can't "Blow", it probably doesn't "Suck" very good either. 5) DVOM on negative side of coil measuring for full battery voltage (12.8V down to no more than about 9V while cranking) - at the same time if less than 12.8V , battery needs charged, or there's a voltage drop (often at switch or connector - I have had switches fail to deliver full 12V on the start position, but just fine on run, so they'd fire right up as soon as you let go the key) 6) usually checked with #3, a good strong blue spark on a spark tester with a 1/4" / 6mm Gap *while connected to spark plug* (marginal ignition systems can fire a spark tester, and fire a plug, but not under compression!) - any suspicion here, the point cover is popped off and points checked. 7) if it has set for a while without running, verify fuel pump can pump enough gas (flow rate) - typically can fill a quart bottle in less than a minute (Though it is a lot of cranking, so I'd use a smaller 8 Oz bottle filled in less than 15 seconds) 8) if fuel pump flow checks out, leave outlet hose unhooked for a few minutes and see if the level of fuel in the hose drops (check valves leaking) and if they leak just a little, I'll also check the carburetor - If the float needle is marginal, sometimes it allows fuel from the carb bowl to flow back as the fuel pump loses charge. 9) finally, if everything else checks out, I'll do a cranking amps test on the starter (I forget what my amps were but if it went over 15-20 amps or so, I'd be looking at compression release, voltage drops, and or considering possibly worn starter brushes, etc.) - High amps cranking means it'll not be cranking as robustly as it might be expected (Similar to low battery voltage) and often related to excessively low voltages on negative side of coil (through points) This is just from memory, so i may have skipped or forgotten a step or two - When you got used to doing these checks 3-4 times a day (if not more) every day during busy season, it became second nature... so often I'll be doing these checks even if the problem is not a "long crank" complaint. Long story short, I never found any need to add a primer bulb to any Horse I worked on, as I pretty much always located and fixed (as long as the customer OK'd it , otherwise they'd say "I'll live with it")