You win some and you lose some

[tbbahner 28]

Well, I must have let my guard down on the C160 I bought recently. Didn't do a good job a checking it out. I've completed my typical evaluation and found the following -

Frame is cracked at the footrest supports. If you look at a Horse and the hood doesn't open/close right, look at it closely. If no hood damage, suspect frame problem. You can see the sag in the pic below. Has anyone ever repaired one at this spot?

Frame to tranny mount has been re-enforced which is ok.

One axle hub is shot.

Governor gear has broken lose and is laying by cam shaft. Usually adjustment will fix governor not kicking in. No such luck on this one.

Engine bored .020. Cylinder wall scratched. Will probably take it out to .030. This is kind of surprising as engine had good power and didn't smoke at all. Valves and everything else ok.

Tranny ok, just needs typical lube changed.

Anyway, I've been buying these things for over 10 years and this is one has more problems than I usually run into. I now know a couple more things to look for.

Hope this helps some new people out when looking at equipment.

Tom B

[MikesRJ 558]

Damn, can't imagine how you could have missed that sag. Excited about a new buy perhaps? Call it a "lesson learned", and do better with the next one is all you can do. Good luck with it.

[rmaynard 16,293]

It's a shame you are not closer to Maryland. I have a good C-160 frame sitting in my garage.

Bob

[DoctorHfuhruhurr 137]

May I ask what you paid for it? Maybe the sum of the parts was worth it (or not).

[wheel horse 1045 2]

i had the same problem with bent frame and it sucks

[420lse 18]

Can't imagine the stress applied to these, otherwise stout machines. Clint said it best " mans got to know his limitations", especally his . You shouldn't have a problem finding a frame. Thanks for the post and the education.

[Rideawaysenior 25]

I did some damage like that to a 312 that I had as a kid. It was from dumping the clutch and riding wheelies and then letting the front end slam to the ground. I'm much older now and only a little smarter. Smart enough to know that intentional wheelies are a no no.

[rickv1957 74]

Never seen a frame broke,yet,Rick

[catman81056 3]

I wouldn't be afraid to weld the frame back together, but I'm a welder/fabricator. If you go that way, "v" the crack good and use a straight edge to true it up then weld the hell out of it. Don't worry about weld buildup, just grind the surfaces smooth when done.

[Don1977 605]

Is the other side bent, can't tell from the picture. It broke in the hole for the foot peddle and foot rest support. I would believe it could be straitened and welded with out much trouble. You could build up the weld on around the rod on the inside of the frame, it wouldn't hurt a thing.

[jusjeepn 59]

Do you own a welder? It's just steel... If you don't have one I'm sure you know someone who does. And if you don't know someone who does, take it to a muffler shop. They'll probably fix you up for about $10-$20. Easy fix! No need to throw away a perfectly good frame!

[sorekiwi 761]

I have a 520 that has had the frame repaired at that spot, and seen a 300 series frame broken there too.

I think the problem is that instead of drilling a hole in each frame rail to poke the footrest rod through, they decided to slot it and poke the bar up into the slot leaving the frame unsupported on the bottom.

I have heard one opinion that blames the big heavy 60" deck for loading the frame too much, and causing the break at the weak spot.

The repair on mine (not done by me) is good, the rails are dead straight and flat, and I am not worried about it at all. I have squirrelled away another frame in case I get bored and decide to change it one day. But I'll need a good reason to go to the trouble. If I do change it I might reinforce that spot, I've been thinking about a couple of braces from bottom of the footrest bar to the lower side of the frame.

You should be able to find another frame somewhere pretty reasonable. I have a couple here, but I'm a bit too far away from you.

[Shuboxlover 480]

tbbahner........is that the one from north of Kansas City a bit?

[tbbahner 28]

Thanks for all the responses.

Mike, with all the tin, footrests, etc. on, the sag wasn't as evident. But you're right, I should have noticed it.

Yeh Bob, seems most of the WH stuff is further east.

I rarely pay any more than I can get out of parting them out. I paide under $425 asking price, w/deck, blade, rusty WH cart.

Its awful hard for me to put an old Horse down. I'll end up trying to fix her up.

I'll get out the grinder and try to glob some weld on the frame while I look for a replacement. My welding skills aren't the best but if it passes the Bahner drop test, it should do for a while. Bahner drop test - throw it across the shop as high and far as you can, if it holds, its good.

Will keep you posted.

Tom B

[mavfreak 11]

I am a welder. Perp time is important take the time to remove all the paint and any grease or oil around crack/break and get your hand grinder out and put a "v" grove in the crack about 1/3 as deap as the material is thick. This give somewhere for the weld to go. And a little advise to you is just before you weld your frame pratice on something. Something close to same thickness of the frame, try to get a good setting on your welder. This will get you mind in the game befor you go at your frame. and you can always grind it off and start over. I good weld on there and it would outlast the tractor. Take your time welding is fun if you let it be. So have some fun and fath in yourself B)

[Old Dave 0]

Tom I had seen that on C/L and the guy had e-mailed me 4 photos of the tractor, one of each side of the machine and the one of the left side looked like the frame was crooked. He didn't have any pictures of the deck, blade or cart since they were buried in the snow and I didn't go look at it since it was an hour away. My oldest son is looking for one to buy so his wife can mow their yard but he wants a Hydrostat like mine. You will do fine on this one, the C-161 you posted pictures of turned out very nice. Good luck.

Dave

[Duff 206]

Thought I'd jump in here with a combination question/observation. On all three of the frames for my 312's (which I guess is pretty much the standard frame for all the 300's, 400's, some of the C's, and maybe more?) I've been puzzled by how Wheel Horse installed the foot rests. Instead of boring holes in the frame as Sorekiwi comments above, they did indeed cut a slot in it and weld the foot rest pegs into the slot. But what puzzled me when I rebuilt my first 312 and has sort of bothered me ever since is just how little weld material they used to hold those parts in place.

I'm not a welder so some of this is purely out of ignorance: would it have been that hard or expensive to have welded all the way around the peg/rod and then just touched it with a grinder to smooth things up? Given the overall quality of these tractors it just seems like a really silly place to try to save a few cents in manufacturing, and it did introduce a weak spot in the frame that with time and load could create a stress fracture.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Duff

:party:

[Operator 7]

Go for a weld on frame! I bought a 520 just for the 60" deck and didn't notice it untill I was pressure washing it top to bottom, got underneth the footpads and seen the repair that was done on both sides PO had welded frame plus put a gusset under the frame for more support. Then painted it black!

Randy

[mavfreak 11]

well i do my best at answering this. The slot in my guess was mabe for ease of assembly and so they could make this line up and square. The "tack" weld you speak of is really all it needed to hold the footrest in place. Now the strength of the steal was afected but really if you think of it and the age of these tractors and the abuse we ALL put them though has handled it well. I think if they were breaking of the assembly line then WH would have taken care of it then. Without getting into a metalagery leason and figuring out the stress put for the steel I think the handled it well. But It has really made me take a look at my tractor and I beleive I have what looks like a crack in this same area. So in the next couple of weeks I'm going to inspect alittle more closely. And I'll even make sure to look at this when I go to buy my next horse. Which will be soon I'm thinking about a 308-8. but I have to wait for some of this snow to melt. Anyway I don't think WH did anything wrong with the way they built there tractors. But with age leaves us to deal with it.

P.S. I don't think this would stop me from buying but it would affect the price. But I'm a welder so a broke fram is't a big deal to me.

[Shuboxlover 480]

I thought that was the one. He sent me some pics too.....I also noticed that it was sagging a bit, I almost jumped on it too. But with all the stuff you got with it, you still did o.k. in my book.....was that a 42" or 48" deck that came with it?

With a little bit of sweat equity, you'll have a great tractor and you won't be sorry.

If you can make a GT-1142 frame work, I have one that I would not ask a lot for.

CONGRATS :clap:

[tbbahner 28]

Thanks again for the comments. Because these things are built so tuff, I think people tend to forget that they're a garden tractor and not a heavy farm tractor. We ask a lot of them at times.

Thanks for the tips on welding. I'll take the frame in to my brothers to weld since my cheapo welder only has a hi/lo setting, while I look for a replacement.

Shubox, it is a 48" SD deck in good shape, 42" blade that needs some work.

Tom B

[mavfreak 11]

I did a quick inspection of my frame last night, It is not cracked like I thought it might be. I noticed what looked like a crack but I pulled off floor plate and then belt cover. paint is flaking but no crack. Thought maybe the frame was bent but a straigt edge showes nothing of the sort. I'm hoping that maybe I just didn't prep it good enough and paint is coming off. Even still I'm going to be swapping out the trans soon for an 8 speed at that time I will try adding in a gusit and stranghthen this part of frame. I tryed taking pictures but there were of poor quality so I didn't post them. When I tear down to repair this and swap out trans I'll be sure to try to post pictures. When i built the 3 point hitch for this it put alot of weight on back of tractor that I did a hard wheel stand . I have since added weight to the front and fixed that issue but that worried me that is why paint flaked cause I bent it.

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