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Nothing beats sand/bead blasting providing you're not the guy doin it!

July 9, 1877, the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club begins its first lawn tennis tournament at Wimbledon, then an outer-suburb of London. Twenty-two amateurs showed up to compete in the Gentlemen’s Singles tournament, the only event at the first Wimbledon. The winner was to take home a 25-guinea trophy.

I always tape mine up, after sanding, blasting or what ever i had to do tyo get them in good enough shape to prime and paint.

Today's progress so far has been welding up a cracked seat pan, putting the tranny on, putting the front axle on, putting wheels on it, cutting the top of the tower off because it was too tall, putting the fenders together and putting them on, measuring where to cut the too long steering shaf, and setting the little bits and pieces on it for mock up.

I had a set of rusty old wheels I picked up a while back that need pressed into service now that I need to re-shoe the B-80. Decided to prep, paint, mount them, and then simply swap out the old ones. Although I do have a wire brush attachment that fits the weed wacker (and it does do some really mean grinding work), I opted to get the set of four sandblasted locally for $40 and forego the mess. I’ll use my lazy susan painting thingy to spin and spray them (once the humidity drops). Many here swear by inserting playing cards around the rim after mounting the tires and before a final spray to leave a nice clean finish unmarred by tools. I will be trying that or some similar masking technique. I hope to need nothing other than a set of tire spoons to mount the rims and will install tubes from the get go. Will post pics once done (could be a while but I do anticipate finishing up before @ebinmaine completes his Colossus project). For paint color, all I can say is: Good luck and have fun!

If I get to a point where I can print metal at home I can assure you it will not be for a supposed tractor that was made in this era. I'll just keep printing off old wheel horses.

Geez... Ya think 20 years from now there will be a loyal following of folks devoted to "restoring" Big Box Store pressed tin & plastic "tractors"?? (at least that is what they sell them as....) Methinks not. Those are better off being recycled into useful things, like Tuna Fish cans & curtain rods.

Fred - You can use that or 75X90W oil. Changing the brake shaft seal is rather simple and there is no need to split the Unidrive case to do so. Check that shaft for up & down or side to side play with the brake band & drum removed. IF there is play in either direction, the bearing inside needs to be replaced... much more work. A bit of in & out play is normal.

There was a guy doing some blasting when I picked up my finished wheels. Between the fans and the blasting was that operation ever loud! I think it was $40 well spent.

For any really really rusted surfaces - that are thick enough to withstand the process - I highly recommend using a needle scaler. Works great on WH rims and the outer side of truck brake drums. A bonus - it leaves a mildly rough clean surface that cleans up with acetone and provides great adhesion for the primer. Mount the tire after prep but before any painting. Yes, the plastic coated playing cards work great.

We've tried several methods. Hand sanding starting with 80 grit works well to break out the really rough stuff. After that it's your wire brush of choice or sand flap wheels. Definitely recommend the acetone just before painting. That too removes some rust. Color here is Rust-Oleum 2X Cottage White.

I always just use a cordless drill with wire brushes to get it down to bare metal, after that clean well with acetone or similar residue free liquid to clean surface for primer. Rust-Oleum primer and then after that dries Rust-Oleum cottage white. Can also use a gloss clear if you wish. Sometimes if there is extra paint or lots of rust I will use a 4 1/2 grinder with a wire brush attachment to more quickly clean it up.

Welcome! That’s a 1987-1989 414-8. The data on those year’s was on a decal on the rear fender which you don’t have. Very capable rig…I have the same machine here.

Replace the seal. Keep an eye out for a different deck. Keep it goin'... Absolutely agreed! I'd spend several thousand dollars fully restoring a Wheelhorse instead of buying a new (insert name here)

Acetone is a chemical that occurs naturally in our bodies. It's not known as a carcinogen at this time and as long as exposure is minimal, sickness is avoided for most people... Use at your education and risk.

obviously it depends on what is your end goal ??? Do you want rims that look ok nice or wheel rims that are factory beautiful showroom quality - - i have done numerous sets of rims myself - grinder - wire wheel - needle scaler - hand sanding -- etc -- but frankly if you think longer term spreading the expense $ over 10-20 years and want a really sweet finished look then the best decision is professional sand blast -- then do your painting -- one dominant reason is it's pretty challenging to get tools into cracks and joint areas on the rims to clean the rust -- which the sand blasting does so well -- no fuss, no mess, no labor time!

No, I wouldn’t waste that! Especially if it came from Van!

This is my strategy. My recent experience with new Firestone 6-12s, which have incredibly stiff sidewalls, ultimately defeated me and I took them to a shop for mounting. Then I touched up the paint and had them do the inflation because I couldn’t get the stiff walls to seat solidly, even with a heavy strap compressing the tread. Got them back and lowered the pressure to 15psi and with a short drive, one came unseated again. Soooo. I’ll be leaving the pressure at 20+ until the sidewalls get used to being spread out! With tubes, these problems are moot, but Firestone recommended no tubes.

Maybe some ‘shine?!

That was a steal of a deal

Currently fabbing up an adapter to use this Zero Turn cargo carrier I got at the show in a slot hitch so it will fit multiple tractors.

A good coat of self etching primer followed by a couple of coats of the color of your choice with ample dry time should be applied prior to mounting the tire, then all is needed will be a touch up.

That sucker has a very cool look to it with those rear fenders right on the tires! Is that the placement or are they just mocked up and sitting on the rear tires?

The playng cards work for me.

We had a really good time this year with lots of joking around and bust'n balls the whole way! It was worth everything when he chose that tractor and took off full throttle in 3rd and kept going until we couldn't see him anymore. Jay yells to his father "I guess you'll see him at home" LOL We did work on it for quite a while on Friday to get all the small things in order SO MANY different people helped out and made this possible but it all started a while ago with @ebinmaine Eric donating 2 tractors when the discussion of building a tractor and giving it away to a youngster started right here on RS. When people got wind of a donated tractor happening lots of people helped out and many of the vendors stepped up too and donated some of the things we needed. Thinking we could try and do this every year so the WHCC can have a 17 year old and under raffle every year. Who's got a roller? AND, they let me wire the next one too! A 603 my father bought. We took off the briggs engine and transplanted a S/G Kohler 8 hp on to it.

Looks like a jacobson crashed into a parts bin.

I got my cracked f plate welded up today. How come you gave a frame with a cracked f plate Kevin, I want a refund. At least it gave me some welding practice.

I’m heading today to pick up my new Horse Hauler! I’ve opted for a 7x16x7’ vee nose. The weight capacity, towing capacity of Eloise, and everything aligned to fit 6 tractors for shows if desired. It’ll also fit the Triumph if we chose to haul that to a camp site or show. The brand I’m getting comes outfitted with a full OSB interior. Tail spoiler and ramp loading lights are standard too. Time to customize! I want to be able to wash it out if needed. Has anyone ever done a roll on bed liner on OSB? Thinking I could run it 6-10” up the walls, then plate the walls with either diamond plate aluminum or simple race car aluminum. The race car sheets are in stock, diamond plate would be cool. Next will have 4 rows of e-track on the floor, and a row on each wall too. Pics coming soon!

I’m looking for the recommended process to restore old wheels from grinding to sanding to painting. Also what tools are preferred in the process?

I found these knobs while looking around online. My order hasn’t been shipped yet, but we’ll see how the process goes as Carr Lane deals primarily with industrial customers. So far so good though. Not to step on anyone’s toes but I thought I’d try them out and see how it goes.

The winner was to take home a 25-guinea trophy. That is $35.21 in today's dollars.

I have the same tractor mine is a 1989, you also have the air filter cover missing.

Check this out comment #7 to narrow down your model year based on the engine numbers Since you have a magnum engine on there it appears if the engine is original its a 87-89 model year The model is the 414-8 which is the 400 series 14 hp and 8 speed manual

My E-tracks came today. I also ordered a roll of rubber flooring. It should be able to fold 6” up each wall. Wall boards of whatever sort will overlap, allowing a controlled spray down if need be.

@sqrlgtr @rjg854 you guys are right on. I will still be using my manual tractor for ground engaging work such as plowing and discing in my garden. It did great this year, no need to switch that up.

I assume you use some sort of protective gloves - which do you use? They all seem to start dissolving prematurely for me.

If I was there when the smoke was let out, I would have been on the ground laughing so hard they would have had to call an ambulance to take me to a hospital!

Over the years TORO made some odd looking reel riding mowers for golf courses, that would be my guess.

That would be the placement but we were thinking about raising them up by like an 1/8 to a 1/4 inch, not too much that it looks stupid, just enough to have a little more tire clearance

Hello Everyone I'm from California. Just signed up. I own a 1973 Wheel Horse C-120 with the 12hp Kohler. I use it mainly for mowing and snow plowing around the property. It’s been a solid machine and I’m slowly working on getting it cleaned up. I'm joining to pick up tech tips, parts info, and to see what other guys are doing with their Horses. I’ve got a lot of respect for the history behind these tractors. Appreciate any advice and glad to be part of the community.

@Lee1977 2 birds one stone takes care of the brace and belt gaurd..

My thinkin’ is the rod needs to travel the same distance to achieve the same braking effect, and by moving the rod to the inner hole, a longer travel of the pedal would be required to achieve that. Either way, we both know what’s going on here. Lol.

Engine looks like a big-block 10 or 12 ho Kholer, but it's installed backwards.

I went cheap on mine, The ACE guys said to use porch paint. Hit holds up well. I just use a leaf blower to clean it out. (I did put glass sand in the paint but would leave it out or use less next time) But you might have other plans. I looked at epoxy, matting, bed liner etc. It got pricey pretty quick.

Got my steering put together and drilled the holes in the f plate reinforcement plate

The thing in your 2nd post is a land plow. It is a 2 bottom and is the fancy one instead of hooking to to 3 point hitch to lift this one is hydraulic. It can go on any tractor with remote hydraulics anything more then 30hp.

If you want it to last forever, build a ramp and run the tractor up so you can clean the deck completely after every mowing. Coat it with oil for long periods of storage.