I'm Not Sure Why, But I Now Have a B-80

[BradKahler 95]

1 hour ago, Easton Rich said:

That’s your mule drive. You only need it if you wanna run a deck. I’ve got some if you want a better one.

 

This is what mine looks like.

 

 

[ebinmaine 74,970]

7 hours ago, BradKahler said:

There is an issue with the brake pedal when pushing on it, it hits the lever for the blade.  My best guess is the blade lever is bent to a position where it shouldn't be.

 

 

 

 

It's possible that you have the wrong lever. Some have a forward bend or a sideways Z built in. 

Easy enough to swap out. 

 

 

On the pipe nipple into the engine,  can you raise the hood and snap a couple pics of what's there now?

 

 

As far as switching implements,  Wheelhorse had a main selling point of how easy it was to change out certain things. 

You have two very easy-to-switch pieces with a Long frame plow vs a narrow deck. 

 

Personally  - I firmly believe that every tractor should have its own job and every implement should have it own tractor. 

This makes it a necessity to aquire more tractors. 

[Racinbob 12,293]

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

 

 

[Pullstart 68,405]

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.

[Retired Wrencher 6,107]

13 hours ago, Sparky said:

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 

 

 

Still a looker Mike.

[Retired Wrencher 6,107]

Brad that a nice 74 B80. This was my second wheel horse very stout little tractor for its size. Enjoy it take care of it and I’ll take care of you.

[Achto 30,038]

10 hours ago, BradKahler said:

I'll go ahead and replace the points

 

It's your call, but I hardly ever change the points unless they are really bad. The material that they make the new points out of just does not seem to hold up as well. If you do decide to change them, I suggest Kohler brand.

[ebinmaine 74,970]

1 minute ago, Achto said:

 

It's your call, but I hardly ever change the points unless they are really bad.

 

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.

1 minute ago, Achto said:

The material that they make the new points out of just does not seem to hold up as well. If you do decide to change them, I suggest Kohler brand.

 

Also seconded.

[953 nut 62,584]

12 hours ago, BradKahler said:

I cleaned up the points today and set the timing but I don't like the looks of the points themselves.  I'll go ahead and replace the points and condenser and see what happens.

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.

[BradKahler 95]

5 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

 

It's possible that you have the wrong lever. Some have a forward bend or a sideways Z built in. 

Easy enough to swap out. 

 

Thanks for the tip.  I think I'll just fabricate a whole new lever arm.  Shouldn't be to difficult to do.  

 

5 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

 

On the pipe nipple into the engine,  can you raise the hood and snap a couple pics of what's there now?

 

5 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

 

As far as switching implements,  Wheelhorse had a main selling point of how easy it was to change out certain things. 

You have two very easy-to-switch pieces with a Long frame plow vs a narrow deck. 

 

Personally  - I firmly believe that every tractor should have its own job and every implement should have it own tractor. 

This makes it a necessity to aquire more tractors. 

 

Well...I've got two now, the 656 will have a grader blade and this one will primarily be used to mow areas where my zero turn mower is to big to get into.  We normally don't get much snow so the snow blade will likely not be used often.

 

[BradKahler 95]

5 hours ago, Racinbob said:

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

 

 

 

Thanks for the picture, that should be easy enough to reproduce.

 

[BradKahler 95]

2 hours ago, Achto said:

 

It's your call, but I hardly ever change the points unless they are really bad. The material that they make the new points out of just does not seem to hold up as well. If you do decide to change them, I suggest Kohler brand.

 

That's a good point about the quality of the new replacement parts.  The points I bought from my 51 Dodge truck were total crap.  

[ebinmaine 74,970]

2 minutes ago, BradKahler said:

 

 

 

 

Undo that exhaust clamp. That muffler should come off in your hands. What's left should be a stub of pipe.

 

I would NOT remove that from the engine.

 

I would use it to mount the Gravely style muffler right onto.

[BradKahler 95]

31 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

Undo that exhaust clamp. That muffler should come off in your hands. What's left should be a stub of pipe.

 

I would NOT remove that from the engine.

 

I would use it to mount the Gravely style muffler right onto.

 

I don't believe there is room for a Gravely muffler with the current pipe nipple.  It would likely require a 45 fitting to gain clearance.

 

 

[ebinmaine 74,970]

1 minute ago, BradKahler said:

 

I don't believe there is room for a Gravely muffler with the current pipe nipple.  It would likely require a 45 fitting to gain clearance.

 

I can see your logic but I still wouldn't try to remove that. You might be better off to just keep that where it is and use it as your beginning point. If you want to put a Gravely Muffler under the hood, you're going to need to construct some piping of some sort.

 

I've used them on several tractors and I always leave them out from underneath. I don't like having that amount of heat next to the fuel pump or carburetor.

 

 

[BradKahler 95]

18 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

 

I can see your logic but I still wouldn't try to remove that. You might be better off to just keep that where it is and use it as your beginning point. If you want to put a Gravely Muffler under the hood, you're going to need to construct some piping of some sort.

 

I've used them on several tractors and I always leave them out from underneath. I don't like having that amount of heat next to the fuel pump or carburetor.

 

 

 

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. 

 

 

 

 

Edited 20 hours ago by BradKahler

[Racinbob 12,293]

24 minutes ago, BradKahler said:

 

I don't believe there is room for a Gravely muffler with the current pipe nipple.  It would likely require a 45 fitting to gain clearance.

 

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. 

 

Edited 20 hours ago by Racinbob

[BradKahler 95]

2 minutes ago, Racinbob said:

 

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.

 

 

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 

 

[Lee1977 7,419]

Close by and for sale is reason enough to buy it.

[Wheelhorse#1 1,886]

B-80 are great machines.Love mine ,mows great .

Good find !

 

 

[BradKahler 95]

It's safe to say the condenser has seen better days.  I've got another one on order.  Between the condenser, carburetor rebuild and replacing the exhaust system it'll be a week or so before I can start the engine again.

 

 

[ebinmaine 74,970]

6 minutes ago, BradKahler said:

replacing the ...

 

system

 

You REALLY  should replace the WHOLE  fuel system as well. All the lines. Filter. Remove and clean out the tank and fuel pump. 

Most people use ethanol laced fuel and it's terrible for any older system without maintenance.  

 

 

[BradKahler 95]

I got bored this afternoon so I decided to see just how frozen the exhaust nipple was.  It had soaked in Kroil for a few hours so I smacked the open end a few times with a large hammer.  Next using a 24" pipe wrench I tried tightening it some. I don't think it moved but couldn't be sure.  Using a 24" wrench I tried to loosen it.  After a bit of leaning on the wrench it actually gave in.  I reversed the process and tightened it again and then when I tried to loosen it again it turned about an 1/8 of a turn.  From there it was just coming out.  The nipple did deform when it first started to loosen but that just made it easier for the pipe wrench to get a grip on it. 

 

Exhaust parts are on order so now I wait....

 

 

[BradKahler 95]

2 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

 

You REALLY  should replace the WHOLE  fuel system as well. All the lines. Filter. Remove and clean out the tank and fuel pump. 

Most people use ethanol laced fuel and it's terrible for any older system without maintenance.  

 

 

 

Yep, all that is already in process.  

[ebinmaine 74,970]

2 minutes ago, BradKahler said:

I got bored this afternoon so I decided to see just how frozen the exhaust nipple was.  It had soaked in Kroil for a few hours

 

Kroil. Just ain't much better than that. 

 

 

IMHO  "pb" is a joke with good marketing and it's been proven by experiments online. 

 

2 minutes ago, BradKahler said:

so I smacked the open end a few times with a large hammer. 

 

 

Just a minor word of caution here. 

Remember that these are cast iron blocks. Occasionally brittle.  

 

 

2 minutes ago, BradKahler said:

Next using a 24" pipe wrench I tried tightening it some. I don't think it moved but couldn't be sure.  Using a 24" wrench I tried to loosen it.  After a bit of leaning on the wrench it actually gave in.  I reversed the process and tightened it again and then when I tried to loosen it again it turned about an 1/8 of a turn.  From there it was just coming out. 

 

Excellent work!