Wheelhorse thoughts

[mae 46]

So nice to have this club/site. Still using my 1996 314-H. In the late 80’s I worked in the Wheelhorse offices/factory in South Bend. Didn’t work for them but for the finance company Borg Warner Acceptance Co. our office was in their facility and we financed / Floorplanned all there dealers. I had all dealers in the NE PA up through Maine. Remember walking the assembly line etc. John Munn was running the company at that time. Knew most everyone in the offices. Solid people!  PA had some big dealers.  Only after moving to TN in 1989 I purchased my tractor as I knew Toro was going to eliminate the old quality stuff. The last National Lawn and Garden show I attended in Louisville Toro had 4 or 5 of the “real” Wheelhorse units there but they were stuffed in the corner. You could tell they didn’t want them front and center. So, I went to the local TN dealer and ordered one before it was too late. Recall the dealer asking me why I wanted a 314-H just to cut grass. My answer was because I never wanted to buy another tractor. This to date is true! I’m in Ohio and gave the yard one last cut today and put the old girl away until spring. Have only posted once when I joined a number of years ago but wanted to share my story and love for my tractor. She’s a great machine!  Thanks for allowing such a long message. 
Mike

[oliver2-44 10,997]

Thanks for the story. 
We would love to hear more about anything in the factory

I’m in central Texas. Best I can tell there were some WH dealer in East Texas and far NE Texas.  Also seems like there were some Louisiana dealers.  Maybe the used tractors to sein crawfish from the bayous. If you have any info about dealers this far South I would enjoy hearing it 

[ri702bill 10,133]

7 hours ago, mae said:

as I knew Toro was going to eliminate the old quality stuff

And that is exactly why my interest lies with early to mid 1960's Round Hoods, except for the C81's that "followed me home".

Thanks for sharing the story. And 

[Retired Wrencher 6,082]

@mae thanks for the post and your thoughts.   I would say we all enjoy the history of these fine tractors. Would’ve been cool to have a walk-through with the assembly line and watching them being put together. At least we have a lot of information with manuals and other literature to look at every day. After all these years of being here, I still find something new to look at. If you can’t find it in the manual section it doesn’t exist. Enjoy your day.

Edited 10 hours ago by Retired Wrencher

[953 nut 62,368]

Great introduction. We can all imagine walking the line at the Wheel Horse factory, but you actually did it. If you have some stories or renaissances about the factory we would love to hear them,

To the rest of the throw-away society a 1996 garden tractor would seem soooooooooooo  old but to us it is the latest and greatest. The 300 series is about as good as it gets, built tough, no plastic hoods and fenders, Kohler for power and will outlive me in all likelihood.

[Teddy da Bear62 137]

I live a scant 9 miles north of Mecca....error I mean the Wheel Horse factory ..lol

I own old man Chandler's personal Wheel Horse which I got from his daughter some years ago.

For those who don't know.  Chandler was the first wheel horse dealership.  They built the horses out back and sold them up front. (corner of Auten Rd. & 933 S. before moving to their Ireland Rd. location in South Bend)

 

I will never forget going there in early 60's with my dad.  If he mentioned Chandler's?

I was already sitting on the front seat of our 63 t-bird.

Funny how I can remember dad, the T-bird, Chandler's, (building still there), but don't know what I had to eat for breakfast yesterday.

 

 

Edited 8 hours ago by Teddy da Bear62

[ebinmaine 74,726]

10 hours ago, mae said:

Thanks for allowing such a long message. 
Mike

 

Thank you for posting this! 

 

Love reading the memories of people that have been around WH long term and especially those connected to the original production. 

 

59 minutes ago, Teddy da Bear62 said:

I live a scant 9 miles north of Mecca

 

 

 

Very cool.  

 

 

59 minutes ago, Teddy da Bear62 said:

I own old man Chandler's personal Wheel Horse which I got from his daughter some years ago.

 

More cool.  

 

 

59 minutes ago, Teddy da Bear62 said:

 

I will never forget going there in early 60's with my dad.  If he mentioned Chandler's?

I was already sitting on the front seat of our 63 t-bird.

Funny how I can remember dad, the T-bird, Chandler's, (building still there), but don't know what I had to eat for breakfast yesterday.

 

Hehehe. 

 

Me too.  

[Racinbob 12,255]

I've mentioned it a few times before I did get to tour the Wheel Horse plant back when they were still building the square hoods. I only wish I had some pictures but, of course, that was before the cell phone thing. One of the things that stood out was their paint line. I don't have a clue as to how they even managed a decent paint job. Ironically, some years later after the Toro thing and them moving to Minnesota the plant was empty and for sale. A large South Bend contractor was considering it but backed down. There was a tremendous amount of red paint residue on the ground behind the building where apparently the air handlers discharged it. They weren't allowing any testing to be done prior to the sale and any ground contamination was to be the buyers responsibility. The potential of 10's of thousands in costs. 

 

Some years later I was walking through the Studebaker Museum when it was at the old Sears building downtown. I was there as a contractor and laying out a fire alarm system and that allowed me on the upper floors where the public couldn't go. Somewhere along the way I spotted some red things covered in plastic. Of course I inquired and we went over to look at them. Yup, the Wheel Horses intended to be on display. They came from the Wheel Horse plant when Toro moved them but never put on display. Again, no cell phone picture taker thingy.

 

Fast forward to 2022. I took my Grandson to the new Studebaker Museum, now on Chapin Street. I had heard rumors that they had the Wheel Horses on display. I thought we had seen everything but then I saw a door leading to a basement. Open to the public of course I went down. Obviously from the other items down there it was for the things that they didn't think would attract the most attention. Sure enough.

 

They were poorly tagged and there were errors. Also it wasn't all the tractors I saw in the old building. I was disappointed and contacted the Museum. I volunteered my assistance to basically bring the display up to the standards they deserve as part of South Bends history. Their curator at the time, Ken Slater, emailed me back and said they were in the middle of some higher priority projects but when they get to the tractors they might take me up on my offer. That was the last I heard from him.

 

Something I hear quite often and wholeheartedly disagree with is when was the last of the 'good ones' built. The most common I hear is mid to late 90's. Not so. It was 2007. Period. I currently have five tractors from 1964 to 2005. The best way I can put it that if I strip down to the chassis my 1976 that I purchased new and my 2005 purchased in 2009 there is no difference in quality. Sure there are things that the 76 holds over the 05 but it comes to lesser items like sheet metal and some minor stuff.......kinda like everything else in this world. But not where it counts. Don't get me wrong now. I would still prefer the 76 but Toro actually did us collectors a major favor by keeping the same basic machine as long as they did. I'm running a 1970's 48" deck I purchased new to on the 05 and have been for several years. That interchangeability alone amazes some people. Four of the five tractors I currently have are Kohler K's and I love them. The 05 is a Kohler Command. I won't live long enough to verify longevity but in smoothness the Command beats the snot out of the K's. Now, let's not even discuss the electrical systems. But that's not Toros fault. From the very first day I looked at the 2005 schematic I knew the day would come when I had an electrical issue. I also knew that I would enjoy removing 100% of it and starting from scratch. So far that hasn't been needed. I've just ummmmm.......tweaked...... ummmmm no, improved a few of the things I didn't like.  

[nylyon-(Admin) 8,389]

14 hours ago, mae said:

My answer was because I never wanted to buy another tractor.

 

Not sure that the others would agree with this

Great story, thank you for sharing. 

[JoeM 8,963]

7 hours ago, Racinbob said:

Toro actually did us collectors a major favor by keeping the same basic machine as long as they did.

 

Also, Toro is not a four letter word by any means. (not your words Bob) Their high end stuff and commercial machines are all over golf courses. Lots kick them down, but they shelled out the bucks for WH and put their name on them....figure if I spent that kind of $ I would too. 

I think back about the times I looked at new WH machines. My goodness, raising kids and living the dream left little money for cutting grass equipment. Hard to believe so many sold for the prices they ask. (worth every penny) I started out used and I am still running used. Go figure.