‘99 314-8 i got it running!!

[AHS 1,673]

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!!

[AHS 1,673]

Here’s a video of it running after 3 minutes, (if you can see the video)

[My_horse 97]

Looks like mine!  Have fun with it. I have the bervac rear weight bracket and weights for mine when I used the blower. I just have the single stage WH blower. The weights pretty much make it unstoppable!  

[ebinmaine 78,074]

9 hours ago, AHS said:

Fired right to life

Niiiiice 

[AHS 1,673]

10 hours ago, My_horse said:

Looks like mine!  Have fun with it. I have the bervac rear weight bracket and weights for mine when I used the blower. I just have the single stage WH blower. The weights pretty much make it unstoppable!  

Ya, the weights and chains were thrown in with it!

[Retired Wrencher 6,550]

AHS: That looks like a great worker for you. Keep checking things until you feel you have all the bugs out. Enjoy the ride.

[AHS 1,673]

6 hours ago, Retired Wrencher said:

AHS: That looks like a great worker for you. Keep checking things until you feel you have all the bugs out. Enjoy the ride.

Yes! I was worried about the tranny belt, cause it hadn’t been driven in so long!! Well the belt is in pieces!! I got a new belt ordered. I have snowblowed / mowed with an ‘00 312, i got rid of that. The 314 is next!!!

[sqrlgtr 2,459]

On 4/12/2026 at 7:17 PM, AHS said:

it fired right to life!!

Always a great feeling. I have a  99 (I think) 312-8 that must be its little bro looks just like yours with them fancy floorboards and such . I didnt relize how much better I liked the 8" front wheels better than the 6" until I got them beside each other. Anyone know what year they went back to the 8" wheels.

Edited Tuesday at 06:14 PM by sqrlgtr

[OutdoorEnvy 1,810]

Great work!  It's satisfying on so many levels to bring one back to life and put it back to work!  Good on ya!  

[AHS 1,673]

5 hours ago, OutdoorEnvy said:

Great work!  It's satisfying on so many levels to bring one back to life and put it back to work!  Good on ya!  

I have this problem! Will it run? How cheap can i get for? Ive got Wheelhorse / Toro problems!!! Ive got “wheelhorse”,’toro’ and “Wheel horse” in my marketplace finds. I have Wheelhorse problems, i need to seek help!!! BUT!!! There’s always 1 other guy who has 15+ Wheelhorses… and i think, “nah it’ll be fine!!”

[SylvanLakeWH 30,990]

 

[AHS 1,673]

6 hours ago, sqrlgtr said:

Always a great feeling. I have a  99 (I think) 312-8 that must be its little bro looks just like yours with them fancy floorboards and such . I didnt relize how much better I liked the 8" front wheels better than the 6" until I got them beside each other. Anyone know what year they went back to the 8" wheels.

I don’t know if you could get the 8” wheels specifically? Im assuming that it whatever the dealer had? I think* the 310 and the 312s were 6”? Im almost certain one you got into the 314s, and the 99+ 315 they had 8” front wheels. Ive had plenty of 310s and 312s with 6” front wheels. There may have been 310s or 312s that had 8” front wheels!! 

[Retired Wrencher 6,550]

17 hours ago, AHS said:

Yes! I was worried about the tranny belt, cause it hadn’t been driven in so long!! Well the belt is in pieces!! I got a new belt ordered. I have snowblowed / mowed with an ‘00 312, i got rid of that. The 314 is next!!!

Good luck with all your projects. Just take your time and enjoy what you’re doing.

[rick 283]

Wheel Horse garden tractors were not matched with a deck when shipped, you bought the tractor and chose a deck at time of purchase/order.  The 6" wheels were/are required when the tractor is equipped with the 37" cutting deck.  The 37" deck has two blades with the left blade offset to the front causing interference with the 8" left front tire on sharp left turns. The lower horsepower rated tractors were more apt to be purchased with the 37" deck than the 14 horsepower and up units. 

Now why in the world my 1990 416H tractor was factory equipped with 6" wheels is a mystery to me.

[sqrlgtr 2,459]

2 hours ago, rick said:

Now why in the world my 1990 416H tractor was factory equipped with 6" wheels is a mystery to me.

[Retired Wrencher 6,550]

15 hours ago, sqrlgtr said:

I guess we can say the same thing about the 73 no name 8 had a totally different rims and tires on them with extended axels.. Also, If I remember correctly. They only had a 3 bolt rims and very small tires front and rear.

[clueless 3,366]

19 hours ago, rick said:

Wheel Horse garden tractors were not matched with a deck when shipped, you bought the tractor and chose a deck at time of purchase/order.  The 6" wheels were/are required when the tractor is equipped with the 37" cutting deck.  The 37" deck has two blades with the left blade offset to the front causing interference with the 8" left front tire on sharp left turns. The lower horsepower rated tractors were more apt to be purchased with the 37" deck than the 14 horsepower and up units. 

Now why in the world my 1990 416H tractor was factory equipped with 6" wheels is a mystery to me.

you could get the 37" deck on the 400 series also if you ordered it, it just came with the 6" wheels. An optional bagger kit was for the 37" deck.

[sqrlgtr 2,459]

A few tid bits of info I had not heard before in above post. 

 

1 hour ago, Retired Wrencher said:

I guess we can say the same thing about the 73 no name 8 had a totally different rims and tires on them with extended axels.. Also, If I remember correctly. They only had a 3 bolt rims and very small tires front and rear.

I had seen one before and thought that someone had done this on there on and didn't realize they came from the factory like that.

[kpinnc 17,670]

1 hour ago, sqrlgtr said:

they came from the factory like that.

 

Yep. 10 inch rear wheels, 6 inch fronts. Rear axles were about 2.5 inches longer than standard to make up for the wheel offset. Mine did have 5 bolt hubs though. 

[rick 283]

4 hours ago, clueless said:

you could get the 37" deck on the 400 series also if you ordered it, it just came with the 6" wheels. An optional bagger kit was for the 37" deck.

Understood, but who would do that?

[SylvanLakeWH 30,990]

25 minutes ago, rick said:

Understood, but who would do that?

Pedestrian gate access only yards... only way to get through is if smaller mower deck...

[clueless 3,366]

1 hour ago, rick said:

Understood, but who would do that?

Obviously someone who wanted a bagger.

[clueless 3,366]

4 hours ago, kpinnc said:

 

Yep. 10 inch rear wheels, 6 inch fronts. Rear axles were about 2.5 inches longer than standard to make up for the wheel offset. Mine did have 5 bolt hubs though. 

Rear axles??