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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.

Pinckneyville, Illinois, I believe.

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.

I do not change attachments any more to much bending reaching lifting etc. So today it was time to swap out the snow horses for the grass horses. Sweepster came down yesterday, no wind, got some the TWP road out of the yard and back on the road also the driveway, have some more to do but too windy today. Storage shed is in the distance up the hill.

RedSquare mentioned around the 1:02:00 mark

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

To start off I hope everyone had a great Easter with family. As I was getting rid of old In active phone numbers I came across the young mans number who bought the last of many wheel horse items I had left. Including my very first one. My 854 , which I took down and redid all but the engine. There's a old thread on here during that journey. I luved that old machine. Than I got a perfect restored plowblade from Mike / Sqounk. Has anyone seen him or Craig? Anyway, I asked Chris about my old 854. He sold it. And gave me a picture of it. She looks great. I told him.lf his friend ever sells it. I want the first call. I was foolish never to keep it. It straightened me out during my stroke recovery. And got me here. And to 1 PA meet. I met many good folks here. And still enjoy reading on here. Anyway here is the picture. I hope you guys enjoy it . Glenn

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

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.

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.

Being 80 I have learned to plan my work, once on the floor do EVERYTHING while you are down there, if I can remember why I got down there in thre first place.

Work continues on the C81 I picked up last July. Three of the four shaker plate isolation mounts were bad - one far worse than the rest - the steel center sleeve was completely broken out of the rubber. All 4 were questionable on the parts donor too. The fix I decided on was to reuse the eight steel flange shells and discard the rubber & sleeves. I made up four make & four female aluminum inserts - they pilot into each other when assembled. An 8 inch length of 1-1/2 diameter aluminum set me back about 14 bucks. Additional centering rings were made to pilot into the steel plate. Not having CNC capability on my lathe, it was fairly labor intensive to turn up the aluminum parts, but the result almost looks like the originals when I did the powder coating...

Couple pics of the 1974 C160-8 Cinnamon Horse and Mackissic chipper shredder at work today. The one with the tractor was the very beginning of the first pile. The one not showing the tractor is the end of the second pile. I would say a good strong 4+ hours of work today, off n on. Quite a lot of chips produced. Have to be very very careful. The interior hammers will suck in the material at extremely high speed. But the outside blade, you have to push the material into it. It's quite an extreme workout to operate this thing. This pile is about the size of the tractor. Also, Jaxon was here for a visit today. Him & BBT worked hard, and played hard.

First mowing this year. Used the 310-8 and Trac Vac to clean up all the winter duff. Did my lawn and all the right o ways around the farm. Then paid a visit to my neighbors green house for flowers.

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 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.

Early model Crescent, modernized from overhead line shaft operation to electric with safety features. Built late eighteen hundreds, runs on Babbitt can accommodate blades up to two inches wide, currently fitted with 1.250" Crescent Machine Company was founded in Leetonia, Ohio in 1893. It manufactured a line of industrial woodworking machinery, particularly band saws. In 1940, it was bought by Pittsburgh Equitable Meter and Manufacturing Company, which became the Rockwell Manufacturing Company in 1946. Leaving in the morning to bring her home.

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.

Here you go then The line up 73 16 Auto & C160 68 Raider 12 68 Commando 854

This is my Jaxon (great nephew). Wonder if they will be posting about each other's Wheel Horses' 20/30years from now on here

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.

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!!

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...

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

Cleaned up a downed apple tree at my mom’s house today. The tree had just started good apple 🍎 production! Uses the 314- 8 of my brothers anddhis 4 wheel wagon as our other Wheel Horse cart was being used by their neighbor . Five loads in the four wheel wagon and she was cleaned up!

I failed to clean the tub before the warden saw it. Cost me $15K for a new bathroom. Don't ever use the wardens tub to tan a bear hide.

Saturday I got the 416-H ready for mowing duty by installing the 60” deck and Peco vacuum system. I cut real low to vacuum up the small sticks and debris from the winter, then put the C-101 to light duty work spreading lime. Tractor and spreader are both about the same age. The spreader I picked up off an estate I was working on, it was in the basement like new!

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.

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.

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!

It's a runner! Wiring isn't 100% done. Going to try to get that finished up tomorrow. It still needs tuning but I may have to do that at Pullstart's.

Wife wanted a raised bed garden…it happened today ( still needs to be filled).