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Got the herd out to graze and to rearrange for summer use. Yes, they all started and ran to drive into the lineup.

I pretty much got it finished up this week. A seat from Matt Castagno, I added seat springs so made a new steering wheel shaft and raised the steering wheel. New decals from Terry and a new headlight lens. A nice original paint tractor with a few added touches. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.

I was contacted by someone who i had sold a tractor to in the past. He said he had a 701 he wanted to get rid of and I was the first person he thought of! Only cost me a B1 Allis Chalmers! (He's an allis guy). He had two decks for it and i bought a plow too. Got home late so I didn't mess with it, ill save that for later this week. Its been sitting and gonna need the carb gone through, but it did start on carb cleaner.

Gone wrong.

Bud put a gear drive deck I sold him onto a C-120. Looks like something WH should have offered from the factory!

Had some great quality SEAT TIME this evening. One of several reasons we're clearing the forest from beside the house 🏠 is to get the tractors over there to harvest firewood. I figured I'd start the experimentation with pathways today. It... Is... ROUGH !!... over there. Wow. Rocks 🪨. Sticks. Holes 🕳. Pits. Highs. Lows. Tree stumps galore. I started out by dropping the Boss splitter off the back off my 1974 C160-8 Cinnamon Horse and backing the splitter in the barn. Then had to move this 5 x 8 utility trailer full of cull/junk vinyl boards outta the path. This is the leftovers of a large pile we bought years ago to redo the trim on the house. Project done. These will go to the Transfer Station when I get time. I took a trailerless solo cruise over to scope out the area. Keep in mind this was a thick stand of hemlock and beech just weeks ago! Next I hitched up to the black dump trailer to fetch out some 14" hemlock I'd cut for the outdoor fire pit and/or indoor kindling. Brought that up out to the splitting pile. Then went and got the pole trailer I rebuilt last year. Put that to great use today! Note here how the angle of the trailer is in comparison to the tractor. 😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬 This is a pile of hemlock 5" - 8" diameter by 6 - 10 ft length that Trina wanted saved for garden border logs. The trailer is approximately 6 feet between the poles. In this picture my destination is directly over the top of the trailer way out in the clearing. Ain't no short path there yet. I had to go up a wicked hill out to the front of the house, across the front of the barn, down around beside the barn... and follow the path around to the garden. Probably a 400 or 500 foot drive to get here. Give or take.... Got everything unloaded and put away and the machines are settin a spell resting up. Great workout! Lots accomplished in a short time.

Proud papa here. My daughter defended her dissertation two weeks ago and earned her doctorate in higher education. No she will not become a professor in all likelihood.. She is employed by the university and does research projects as directed by them. She loves her job and is getting good feedback and appreciation from her group. She is living in Ann Arbor so we see her when we can. As always Go Blue!!

Wasn’t really sure what I would end up with on this 125.00 314H and 48” Blade. First was a good scrubbing after installing a temporary spindle and front tires. Then some fresh gas and battery. With fingers crossed and a few shots of carb cleaner it came to life. Motor sounds good and the hydro seems strong. Next up will be new filters, fluids, belt, spark plug. Still need to find the correct right front spindle. I’m a happy camper with this one.

Some work on new steel box for WH trailer (dump trailer). Undercarriage needed some work,but that is the base for new "dump box" , aside original platform for hauling wood (2 in 1). Materials: old 2 wheel wheelbarrow, old bed frame, scrap metal and some new metal pieces. Fit for wooden pallet 120x80 cm. My original modified patform for hauling wood, hay, grass,branches etc

Not “to” my WH but “for” it. In the fall, I made a small cart to hold my 36” RD Gear mower deck for easier storage and movement during its off season. An unanticipated benefit was easy access for sharpening and cleaning and for re-greasing one of the gearboxes. Now that I’ve got the mower back on the tractor, I decided to upgrade the cart so that it’ll hold the blade. Here it is with the mower and now with the blade.

I couldn't help myself. 9 hours round trip and haven't gotten it off the trailer yet but it's a really solid c-161

Found this original Wheel Horse shop coat at the Le Sueur swap meet today.

I planted this Rhubarb two years ago. I thought it froze out with the cold temps this winter. No strawberries yet but I have plenty of frozen blackberries from last year. So my first attempt at a blackberry / rhubarb pie. Mrs K even gave me a

Got home from work and the kids wanted to play outside. After a bit my youngest decided to go to the barn because he wanted a tractor ride. He picked out the C120 and we did a few laps. Then my oldest decided she wanted to try and drive it. So I let her try but seat set up was too tall for her to fully reach the clutch and brake pedals so I grabbed the 10-8 since it’s just the one pedal and seat straight on the fender and she fit it pretty good. While she drove around I grabbed the gorilla cart and put the two youngest in that attached to the 120. Great way to end a long work day.

Made some non slip pads tonight for the foot boards on the 418. Got the rubber from work and custom made with some gorilla spray adhesive. Not bad for first time with a utility knife. Lol!!

I picked up a well worn 867 several months ago. Took it apart to determine what I had to work with and started a list of parts I’d need to bring it back to life. I Found the matches under the fender pan.

At the end of summer last year my D-160 started weeping fuel like a SR-22 Black Bird sitting on the tarmac waiting for take off. Today I decided to pull the tank & see what was going on. After a good wire brushing things did not look good. Figured that I would try silver soldering the holes & low spots up. Took some time, don't look real pretty but at this point I believed that I had it sealed up. Here is a trick to check your work if you do some thing like this. Make a paste out of water & baking soda. Brush it over your work and allow it to dry. Once it is dry put some gas in the tank and allow it to sit. If you have a leak the past will show exactly where it is. It will turn yellowish where ever the gas seeps through.. My paste stayed nice & white except for 2 little spots that were stained by left over flux. These spots did not grow when I put gas in the tank so it should be ready to install again. Just wanted to share this leak detecting trick with you all.

Busy day Wheel Horsing around: Picked up this non running 1054 this morning about 1 hour away from my house. PO said it's been sitting in his garage for 25 years. He has a bunch of Cub Cadets and a couple Cub High Boys that belonged to his father and working to slowly sell. Engine was free, shifted into all gears so I decided to give it a go. Cleaned and flushed the fuel system, had no spark so cleaned the points, added my special tractor fuel and it fired right up. Managed to get the engine oil and trans oil changed before calling it a night. Oh, and bonus, it has a K301 swap. So 2 more HP for future plowing. Doesn't have a seat back, front grill, and start/gen belt cover. More to come on this. IMG_8754.mp4 When I got back from picking up the 1054, the weather was nice and it hasn't rained in almost 1 week so time to start prepping the garden. I may have planted a little too much cover crop in the fall, but it sure did plow nice. Although not enough to have an official plow day like the WI @WHX??and MI @Pullstart ones. IMG_9441.mp4

Zach cuttin’ lawn for the first time this season on BlackBeard!

I was just minding my own business and I get a message request on Messenger. Older gentleman asks me if I would be interested in this 1964 704, his grandpa had bought it new. We chatted and he found me from my many responses on Facebook groups and figured I would be the one that would be able to save it. He told me make an offer. So because I already have too many and a non original 704 already. I made a offer and He said come and get it.. needs carb/fuel pump cleaned up but has spark. Should have it running before Memorial Day Parade. A little cleaning up and Patina will be in great shape. Always garaged and only ever mowed during its life.

My favorite Frankentractor started acting up this week. Slow to crank sometimes, and shut off unexpectedly every 15-20 mins. Crank right back up and die 5 mins later. Swapped both magnetos, since both originals "tested" within specs. Best I can tell one of them flaked out when hot. Once again purrs like a kitten (a dang big one ) now. I really love this machine. It was my first Wheel Horse and it has been awesome for 30 years!

Worked the 654 hard today. We've had tons of rain so far this spring. Have an 81yr old neighbor lady. Her landscape guy hasn't shown up to cut her lawn. I told her I'd mow before the city cites her. We had rain this morning so it was very wet & muddy. Her grass was at least 6-8" tall.

Got these 16 x 6.50 - 8 for 10 bucks ea.

Just took my seat on the plane..how come nobody wants to ask about my shirt OR talk tractors .

Well technically anyway. Just thought it was pretty cool and intersting. Bought this at the Zagray show Sat. from young man who bought stuff from me about 12-13 years ago. He was a pretty young man back then. Anyway, he started this replica RJ project. He told me those front rims are completely turned down on a lathe. Took him a long time. They may look like pulleys but under closer inspection they're not. He did the proportions by scale but forget what ratio he said it was. Not sure if it will stay like it is or if I'll do more to build it. I did sand the steering wheel smooth already as it was still a little rough and turned it black instead of the pink body filler. Also removed some rust from the shaft so it could slide down into position .

Nothing like a hot cup of coffee on a dreary day

Spent the weekend doing a little fishing. Managed to limit out on trout Fri, Sat, & Sun. Mostly Brown trout & a couple Rainbow's. After this mornings catch they all took an 8hr bath in some brine in preparation for the smoker. I keep one smoker just for fish. Built this one several years ago out of a small electric water heater. Steam pan inside helps keep the meat moist. After 2.5hrs at 185 degrees.

Forgot to attach the one to give it some scale for size. It's close enough that one of the little Ohlsson & Rice engines could fit

some may have to car pool

A few months ago I got the tranny apart, found some nice gears to replace bad ones and had to get a new pulley for the 5/8” input shaft. The hub on front of the pulley needed turned down to allow belt alignment so I had that done and then added a couple more set screws to help hold it in place. I also added a second drain plug to the tranny case.

This tractor needed a lot of repair or replacement parts so I met up with a buddy who supplied me with most all the parts needed to put a nice tractor together.

Well... maybe. Your mileage may vary. I tried for several days to figure out how to hold the wheels and rotate them so I could cut them straight. I started to build a jig to hold them, but then realized that was against hillbilly rule #7: Use what you have on hand. So I put a tractor on jack stands and removed a Wheel. Then mounted the bare rim and used a sharpie to mark the cut line all the way around. Sat on a 5 gallon bucket and lightly cut into the wheel on the lines until it cut all the way. It gets a little sketchy when the cutting wheel first breaks through. You have to turn the grinder to rotate the same direction as the wheel is turning so it doesn't grab. Ask me how I know... Holding the two halves together to get the welding started was interesting. Grinding deep "V" shapes in the backside to fill didn't help. Angle iron around inside or out didn't work. I used a couple big magnets to tack the first joint, and welding clamps two inches at a time until all the way around. But it turned out great. Rim is 9 inches wide bead to bead and the bonus is that the extra parts make up a nice set of 6 inch wheels, so nothing is wasted. Wheel has no wobble after everything was finished. Plenty good enough for a slow garden tractor. Took all evening to do one wheel. Learned a few tricks so the second one should go much faster.

Finally able to wrap this project up. Well, almost. will get into that at the end of this post. First we'll take a look back at where I started. And finally some pictures after a few hours work. Thanks for following along. Sure looks purty, just wish I could get it running right. I spent a fair amount of time trying different things with the engine today, but I just can't seem to get it to run good at high RPMs. Been a while since I've had an engine kick my but like this. I know that I have to be missing something, just wish that some type of epiphany would hurry up & hit me.

Put a 48" deck on my front mount. replaced 42. Truth here I abuse this machine use it more like a bush hog clearing pathways ... This is a tired old 48 with some see though parts and several welded patches...

I already have a wife

I gave up my seat time so the girl grandchild could enjoy some of her own. It won't be long and she won't have time to share grandpa's tractor. Enjoy it while I can,

Well here is my recent 418-8 after the crud clean up, repairs, and then some quick paint. New seat as well. The tins had so much rust/blistered up metal that I thought I would sand the worst of them down and spray rusty metal primer and a quick coats of paint. Hopefully to stop further corrosion. I had some IH red on hand so thats what she got. I know the paint color dont match with the hoods factory color, but I dont really care at this point. The hood was pretty clean and thats something I could do later time. Shes going to be a worker so it dont matter. It has one of the sweetest sounding motor that Ive ever heard, sounds better than my 418-A I just got to finish painting the rear wheels black and it should be complete. 1 pic is the before, and 2 the after.

Guess you will need to build another shed to store it.

Got the tri-ribs swapped over, replaced the front tie rods, and topped off the trans oil. Then gave my youngest a ride around the yard. It’s nice having this back up and running fully again.

I ran into all kinds of problems with the engine, the block was cracked, the replacement needed bored and all the other usual stuff. I finally found what I needed, had the machine work done and got it back together a few weeks ago.

I thought I might play in the snow with this tractor so I picked up some weights and a very nice blade.

Picked up this C-81 today in Big Indian NY (Catskills). Bit rougher that I was looking for but the price was right! Haven’t run in probably 3 years, so will need a lotta going over. The steering wheel has left the chat . The soup can was removed on the Burger King parking lot near the Newburgh bridge when we stopped for lunch Saw an eagle on the way, very cool! Haven’t ran the numbers but I think it’s a 79.

It's here. Definitely looks a little better in the photos. It's definitely restorable!

Old Horse still gettin her done today, weekly workout. Photo on trailer 2014 the day I brought home. Old Kohler still sounds sweet under a load. Somewhere in life it picked up a 16hp motor. IMG_9609.mov IMG_9609.mov

Following a good rain, I took advantage of the soften ground and dragged the driveway. About once a year I stir the gravel. Looks like time to get a load of gravel delivered got a few areas of clay poking through. .

e Delivered the 314A to a new owner today. The young lady was in dire need of a tractor to do the first mowing.

Front End Funday?

Got the 48 all hooked up had to buy a new belt. 42 takes 102" 48 takes 103" Hard to believe it makes a difference...it does. To wet to start mowing the paths. I like the front mount as it knocks some of the Tics down before they hit my leg Already had one.. Going to need lots of DEET this year. Did a short test may have to get a bigger horse the 48 put a load on the 14hp.

gotta luv the Blackhoods

Looonng first post.... LOTS to write.... For several years we've been considering an upgrade to our old wood splitter. It's a very well (re)built decades old unit that was home shop rebuilt in 2012 by a local logger. After 14 seasons of splitting it's understandably getting tired. We started a thread here, got some great info. We researched on other sites and spoke to our favorite small engine repair place. We decided that it would need the entire hydraulic system replaced and a new larger engine to meet the goals. Not at all opposed to this but it would easily cost $2,000 +. While doing research online we found a couple dual action splitters. Very intriguing. We started a thread on that here: ..... And again learned some great information along with creating some additional thought processes. We decided to get the Boss model over the HF model because of several factors. 1. Kohler engine on the Boss. 2. Too many pivot/ wear points on the HF. 3. Hydraulic control lever is centered on the Boss vs one sided operation in the HF. This is a very convenient feature for Trina in particular because she's prone to jumping around wherever the workload can be accomplished the best. 4. Overall frame strength and build quality appears better on the Boss than the HF according to multiple online sources. 5. The Boss is certified for road towing. The HF is not. (We'll visit that below) The new Boss splitter arrived this week. Overall it looks good. I agree with #4 above. The welds are solid. The frame is good thick steel. The cylinder is encapsulated in a square slider tube which is encapsulated in the frame. Purely a flat surface sliding design with no bearings. @Ed Kennell Grease will be applied. Often. @peter lena North American design but made in china. Build quality is reasonable except for a few things. The trailer tongue mount is too narrow for the main frame. We had to use washers to set the tongue to one side and add longer bolts to the other side. I WOULD NOT tow this unit on the road the way it's sent. IMHO it was not safe. That - quite frankly - pi$$ed me off. This side is flush. This side is not. See the space difference... Now imagine trying to "tighten" that enough to close the space using low quality hardware... or even great quality hardware. Not happening buster. The entire hardware package is the unfortunate cheap trash we see all too often on cheap items. Nut & bolt head sizes are inconsistent (WTH??) and lacking quality. I upgraded several bolts, added washers, and replaced the disgustingly lightweight axle castle nuts with better quality pieces. We were unable to drive the steel press fit axle dust caps in so we popped the plastic ones back on. This is fine unless/until we ever need to road tow it. The axle inner seal surface isn't even properly machined. If this was going to be towed often or long distance it would eat seals. Fast. After using it for only a few minutes it's developed an issue already. Like many splitters, It has a two stage hydraulic system. When the pressure reaches a certain level the system changes from high speed low pressure to low speed high pressure. This one WAS working like that. Now it starts high speed. Goes low speed and stays there. Shut it off and move the lever to release system pressure. Restart and repeat. I'm hoping it's an adjustment, not a defective part. We've run some decent sized beech wood through it. That went well. Power level seems good. We're thinking it should be faster though. That may be related to the above issue or possibly because it's new and needs to break in. Or.... it's just slower than we hoped. Again, overall I believe it'll be a good addition once the bugs are worked out. The work habits obviously are very different from a single action to this dual action. The fact that one can use both directions is very nice. Very weird at first too. Once a different and properly adjusted set of habits is developed we can see a new kind of usefulness. We did get the additional cross piece to split horizontally. It has its place but also has its challenges. The second split is nice IF the pieces of wood separate correctly. Because we use a lot of beech wood, that isn't practical much of the time. I'll document repairs and changes in this thread. Some changes we figured on making even before purchase, no matter what splitter we got. 1. Wheel size, tongue height & length increase. The OE tires are 4.00/4.80 x 8. Seems most splitters are standard at that. I'd likely add a set of 5 lug hubs and increase to a full size tire like we did on the other splitter. Tongue height and length will be adjusted to level and to compensate for the additional table length..(Next comment) 2. Larger flat work table. As you can see in the last picture above there are small catch shelves on the sides. The principal is good. The upward angle is actually a bit of a challenge to work with. The wood pieces want to fall back into the work area. Remember gravity? We're thinking about adding a much larger, flat work table to catch the pieces on both sides. Start the split. Set one half aside. Work with the other. Have plenty of space to move the shrinking pieces around and off the table.