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likely the last weekend to do leaves here in the Hudson River Valley, NY - most trees now bare - most nites below 30 - daytime in 40-50+ - However, before cleaning the mower deck and servicing it for winter to install plow -- We did our fall family tradition of a full day of leaves at daughter's house - transported over my C175 S1 with its 42 inch side discharge deck -- grandson's did their thing driving the horse -- including much mowing/mulching, plus pulling the sweeper - plus, a few hand blowers moving the heavy leaf volume piles and rows - - and adding in abundant supply of acorns - - Leaf volume was enormous -- as well as the leaves themselves huge -- add also damp leaves from recent rain. Always impressive what the wh tractors will do -- fully expected i'd overheat a belt or pulley or simply burn one out, or break something straining to move and mulch those rows of leaves - - not to mention the leaves sticking in the mule pulleys and top of the deck between the belt/pulley covers - - more than once I was thinking pushing the leaves with a plow on the tractor would have been better idea than mowing/mulching them ?? Maybe next year will be smart to do both with two tractors???????? Thankfully, the tractor performed like the beast it is - all went well -- did however need to fill that Kohler twin with gas a second time - but grandsons loved riding in circles plus mulching the rows - I did the heavier areas where many years of tractor driving operational experience paid off. Busy day but rewarding to see that nice clean yard when finished and the pride of grandsons participating in a WH family project tradition.

As Thanksgiving offers me a time to reflect on and appreciate my many blessings, I felt it appropriate to thank you all for the camaraderie, knowledge, challenges, failures, successes, fellowship, banter, etc. I just can't turn it off Life is challenging and we need more of this. Thank you.

Agreed. A simple, small gathering here this year. I removed the leaf from the kitchen table after my wife passed... no need for it anymore. And out of respect, my kids do not sit in "her" chair when they come over....

I recoated the inside of the cavity with mold release, sealed the hole around the wires, suspended the voltmeter in place with some tape, and poured the resin. I removed the casting from the cavity and washed off the mold release. I was pretty happy with the way it turned out. I removed the old battery icon from the dashboard decal by glass bead blasting to remove the translucent red and a bit of acetone to remove the black battery image. I tried blasting a test piece from an old dashboard decal first, and was pleased that it didn't warp the plastic, which is almost paper thin. I painted the newly-cleared area black, cut out a small rectangle to match the voltmeter, and attached a small piece of clear plastic sheet behind the cutout. The reason for the cutout is that the decal sheet has some significant surface texture on the front surface (NOT from the bead blasting) that produced a fuzzy/halo effect around the numbers, and the cutout eliminated that problem. I then mounted the light assembly and decal sheet on the tractor and installed the dashboard 'lens' over the whole thing. The wiring was easy, as it only involved rerouting the wires that were previously connected to the old battery light module. Just some cuts, crimps, heat shrink, and a couple of cable ties. It works great and allows me to check the voltage at a glance. When I turned on the ignition without starting the engine, it read 12.3 volts, which was accurate and in the proper voltage range. Here you see it with the engine running and charging, and it's showing what I consider to be within the proper charging voltage range.

I push leaves with the every year... works great on pavement, sometimes digs in on the grass, so I stick to hard surface movement...

it's not 1:1 drive it's under - 20/23, axle ratios and tyre diameters are factored in and ratio is spot on. Driveshaft is splined, but actually only moves 1/8" when the axle tilts. Brake drum works as before - it's a newer version of my 4x4 wheel horse I built 12 years ago.

although it was a small space, I got to plow up a little plot of sod for my cousin to plant a garden next spring. I realized in short order that GhostRider and the Punisher were like bringing a “bazooka to a knife fight”😅. I should’ve dug out Caleb’s Comanche (854) and the 8” sod bottom plow…maybe next time🤔 Still had fun turning earth though… hauled it down in my little enclosed trailer—first time using that, it worked well.

Looks like a metal lathe to me. I'm going to guess that the original owner ran that lathe from an overhead line shaft. My dad mentioned a lession he learned about running a line shaft driven piece of equipment - always keep one hand on the machine frame when moving the leather drive belt to change speeds. If one doesn't, one will experience a static discharge when they touch the machine.

I am old enough to remember the hand-cranked oil dispensers at gas filling stations. Glass bottles with metal lids. I collect small oil cans, but I also have a couple old glass bottles. The one in the picture is a genuine bottle with spout. There are a lot of fakes found in antique stores nowadays. Most of the fake spouts are screwed to quart Mason jars. Back in the day, oil sales were regulated. If you find an original jar it will have several marks embossed in the glass. A fill-to line, and a State approval mark. In this case it was marked for Pennsylvania. Just a few worthless facts...

my 4x4 wheel horses, both use the brake drum, so that was the logical thing to do. Front differental is a peerless built into a custom casing, Rear box is from a mower.

Test Run

Back home today and feeling ok. Besides a blood clot in my leg nothing major was really found, but I need to follow up with a cardiologist now. I am beginning to run through all the medical specialties it seems. A big scare and perhaps and hopefully a big eye opening event. Thank you everyone for the kind words, and prayers . Nice to know people like all of you.

Well....I was browsing Marketplace looking for Wheel Horse parts and ran cross a tractor that was 16 miles from me. I'm not sure why but I ended up buying it It's a 1975 and came with the snow plow and a 36" mower deck. It came out of Ohio but it doesn't look like it was ever really stored outside. It runs although the engine has hesitation issues and stumbles when at higher rpms. I did time the engine and it helped but I'm guessing the carburetor needs cleaning as well.

This was a simple idea, which, as usual, I made more complicated. The battery indicator light bulb (idiot light) on my GT18 was missing, and after installing a bulb, I found that the battery light was always ON, even though the charging system checked out perfectly. A quick check led me to a faulty battery light module, which contains a voltage comparator circuit. The failed module is probably why a previous owner removed the bulb. Here's the culprit: A new OEM battery light module was WAY too expensive. I saw some generic aftermarket modules for less cash, but instead of staying with the old idiot-light system, I decided to have some fun and replace it with a voltmeter. The voltmeter would have to fit in the little plastic trapezoidal cavity that was the former home of the battery light, so I poked around a bit and found some miniature, low-cost, self-powered, two-wire voltmeters. There are tons of these on eBay and elsewhere. Be careful to check the specs, as there are a lot of variants. The ones that were already potted (above right) wouldn't fit unless I modified the dashboard, due to the wires coming out of the side, and I'm trying not to be too 'invasive' as to any upgrades, so I opted to use one of the other voltmeters and pot it myself. One of those would easily fit into the battery light cavity if I clipped the two mounting ears off the circuit board. I did a preliminary potting step by applying a dab of non-corrosive, non-conductive silicone onto the little circuit board, being careful to squish the silicone to fill in any voids. I didn't think it was worth setting up a vacuum-impregnating rig. The next step would be to make a cast around the voltmeter in the battery light cavity, using some two-part urethane rubber casting resin that had been sitting around on a shelf for a while, and I wanted to start using it before it went past its use-by date. However, before making a cast around the voltmeter, I decided to make a test casting. I applied a coat of PVA mold release on the inside of the battery light cavity. I then mixed the urethane rubber resin and poured it in. After it cured, the test piece came out fairly easily and looked good. The next step would be to do the actual casting around the voltmeter (see my next post).

you could always go to one of the beaches and push sand

My son doesn’t come on here anymore, but here is a 704 that he has been making into a 4x4. complete scratch built axle, and a lot of lathe and milling…. I’ll try sort some build pics out!

Dry leafs real can clean a mower deck bottom. I have some leafs but they mulch up. I did a blade to push walnuts this year. my neighbors tree had a bunker crop.

B-80 are great machines.Love mine ,mows great . Good find !

Check the bottom of the pin that rubs on the parking pawl lever. I have had some that had a groove worn in them.

Thanks for the top view. I'm going to soak the pipe nipple in Kroil for a few days and then I'll attempt the extraction. Heck, it's only been screwed into the block for 50 years, what could go wrong

National Parfait Day is on November 25 every year, and we will be celebrating it by having a tall glass of parfait dessert with cherry and butterscotch toppings. Did you know the parfait recipe first appeared in an 1890s French cookbook? Parfait, meaning “perfect” in English, is a dessert of French origin consisting of cream, egg, sugar, and syrup. These basic ingredients are boiled together to create a custard-like puree. This is different from the American parfait, which contains granola, nuts, yogurt, and liqueurs, with fruits or whipped cream toppings. Parfait is usually served in tall clear glassware, with a long spoon called a ‘parfait spoon.’

We have over a hundred trees lining both sides of the creek and around the property that we mow. Various species drop leaves at different times so I get lots of seat time grinding up the leaves and sweeping the debris. The poplars are the first to drop and they are pulverized by the mower to the point that no cleanup is needed. @JoeM is absolutely correct about leaves cleaning the deck bottom, I sprayed my deck bottom with Plasti Dip Spray seven or eight years ago and by the end of leaf season it looks as good as the day I applied it. The red oaks and pair trees are about finished dropping so one more pass will be needed after Thanksgiving.

Looks like a metal lathe to me. I see a 4 jaw chuck and some other tooling under it. Would be nice to know what is all there and if it is slopped out at all. Not sure why the motor is mounted on the wood post. Looks big and heavy.

Seconded. I was talking about this to somebody maybe a week ago. Trina and I have been through tune-ups or mechanical refreshments on at least 16 engines now. I have changed exactly one single set of points. And to be honest, I'm not sure I really needed to do that. The rest of them I filed and cleaned. Also seconded.

You need the lever with the sharp Z bend towards the bottom. Clears the footrest and angled back to clear the PTO.

Absolutely agreed. Thank you everyone.

The small town I grew up in had one gas station on every road leading out of town, four. Two were modern and two still had the old tall pumps and one was a general store but by today's standards a 7/11 and free air. It was the early sixties and remember my mom getting gas and those bottles at the pumps. I even ask the guy what is that? A deep brown greenish liquid. (just like me it looks a lot different now) Ten years later, working in a garage for change, we used a drum and pumped into a galvanized container that held a gallon. We never kept track just filled up with the dipstick. Back then people checked their own oil often, mostly out of necessity, and the last thing you wanted to do is short change someone. Oh Boy that was a big deal. Sold oil by the paper quarts over the counter at that time I know now cars and some trucks don't even have dip sticks on their transmissions. I think my truck calls for 150k fluid changes on trans and diffs. Just in the 130 range now, probably replace the truck not the fluids before that time comes. .

If that 1/2" belt is clean and you have the sleeve, take it back to TSC for a refund and buy a green Aramid 5/8 X 82 belt.

I love my B-80’s. They are great workers! Good luck!

Nice score.. and with a couple attachments I have a ‘77 B-80 and she’s a great machine! Mowed occasionally with the 36” RD and then get hosed off and dragged to the local tractor shows

Last year, hornets built a nest against one of our garage windows, which provided a direct view into their nest. I left it up for a while, since it was interesting to watch what was going on inside. For some reason they abandoned the nest. Maybe they wanted more privacy or they heard me talking about spraying it. Outside: Inside: When the nest was there, I couldn't open the window, but since those pictures were taken, I installed new putty around the glass and made up some screens, so there won't be any more hornet nests against the glass.

It is one of their larger so called “ engine lathe”. It is a metal lathe. It is from the early 1900s. One however with sometimes needed modifications can use just about any metal lathe for wood the same however not many times being able to be so with a wood lathe for metal. As for getting it depends on the price and one’s affinity for old machinery . If it has Babbitt bearings most likely they have to be “repoured “. Not a difficult job but requires a little knowledge on subject. Definitely an eye catching awesome thing to look at like all machinery from that period. A period of great human ingenuity and quality work that as seen here still functions as it designed to do. To me they have a unique “presence” that immediately draws one’s attention. The motor is of course a modern one but perhaps one of the best motors ever made in this country. To me any American made Baldor or Marathon of the period of that one is far superior from anything in that category that you buy today. When one comes across something like that in someone’s shop that is pretty much intact, look around at everything else. That is not an ordinary individual that uses something like that. You may be surprised at all the other treasures he has. It all tells a story as to what type of individual he was ( or hopefully still is).

here's a thought for perhaps using the plow on the lawn to move leaves but wanting to avoid the plow edge digging into the lawn -- I have seen You Tubes of guys who want to avoid damage to plowing snow on asphalt cutting a seam in a 48 inch PVC plastic pipe and installing ( sliding ) entire pipe over the plow bottom wear edge blade. It is effective and pipe smoothly slides over driveway for snow -- so thinking maybe it would be solution to install pvc pipe on plow to move large piles of lawn leaves? See photo below

Had a chance to watch the engagement & disengagement of the drive belts from an overhead lineshaft years ago. This guy has the Cadillac of mechanisms - a pull rope to engage the drive sheave. I ones I saw were more "Old School" - he used a 10 foot wooden pole with a hook at the end to walk the belt onto or off of the pulley!! Not my idea of fun.

Perzackly. I initially put the muffler on before the PTO stuff was installed. Then I found out the error of my ways. On goes the street 45°. I wanted the muffler horizontal but couldn't with the 45°. Adding another 45° would have worked but it set the muffler further out that I wanted. I was lucky and the old nipple came out pretty easy but I don't think you'll be as lucky. Using the locknuts lets me not tighten the nipple as much for future removal. It holds just fine. I've been thinking about switching to a stack just for fun. I've also thought about an original Nelson that I have on the shelf but I'd have to relocate the coil to do so.

Yeah, I don't really care to get it under the hood either. I found a thread posted by Racinbob where he used a 45 out of the head of his B-80. I kinda like that approach. Here's a couple of pictures from his thread. I almost forgot to add the link to Racinbob post.

Fixed it for ya

And the potting helps to seal out moisture too... Excellent alternative choice, excellent results. And a full scope post too.

A couple more - look at the heavy reduction in the primary v belt drive - about 5:1 or so. The oilcup on top of the bearing housing and the split clamp tell me it might Babbitt, not ball bearings like a model T Ford. Same era.... Definitely a low RPM device. But, if that old timer could talk, it would have a distinct Yankee accent..

The condenser suppresses the arc that occurs when the points open and if it is not doing its job the ignition system won't perform properly. A set of points with a good condenser should las at least 200 hours of operation. At 25 hours of operation per year that would be about eight years.

I'll be sweeping the last of my leaves today and then a final mowing. It is always Thanksgiving weekend for the final cleanup. This year was much different than past years with the timing of the leaf drop, the trees that usually drop early are now late and the late ones dropped early. I have a large Ginkgo the usually drops all of its leaves inside of 24 hours, this year it has been dropping for more than a week and still isn't done.

Our leaves can set by the road for several days before the vac truck comes around. With the wind from a lot of semi traffic, the piles get spread out. I use my C-120 with the snowplow on front to keep them stacked up as best I can. It has a plastic wear bar so, with a little care, I can push them out of my yard without much damage.

I disagree - wood lathe. I do not see either a front mounted leadscrew or a method (change gears or selector gearbox) to select the pitch of the thread you wish to cut. Ditto, no compound slide for cutting threads. Cas would identify the Forstner type driver bit in the chuck for turning wooden spindles. The "original" 1/2 HP or so electric motor is still mounted behind it. A 2HP motor is overkill - unless the original was 3400 RPM and the larger one is 1725. Shift the V belt to the one of your choice... Bear (pun intended!) in mind it is not 110 volts either - and not a convertible 110 / 220 either. I said "original" about the motor. Usually on a machine of its age with a high-top mounted step pulley, it could have been truly driven by a 10 foot flat belt from an overhead line shaft that ran the length of the mill. That shaft would have been powered by either a waterfall or turbine. Interesting piece of local history, but not what I would call a lifetime investment....

Often wondered about making a rake for the bottom of one of them plows just never got around to it. I have some ol broke hay rake teeth that would probably bolt behind the wear bar. Might have to revisit hat idea.

Your stock plow angle arm can be bent in a vice as well, to clear the foot rest. Lots of variations there, and commonly modified.

@meadowfield, your son is a chip off the old block, outstanding workmanship just like your "BENDY" and "C4" Wheel Horses.

Welded a new bolting edge to the $45 plow I picked up last week. The edge was worn half way thru a couple of the bolts. I don't understand why we let this happen. I do like the way he fixed this problem. Now I have a warm weather and a cold weather plow machine.

No worries. This kind of thing happens all the time around here. Once you have one , you kind of want one of each model. BTW. Nice looking tractor.

I love reading "What is the best oil?" posts.