1989 312-8 restoration - DONE!

[Duff 206]

Hi, gents!

Well, it took a few months, but the old girl has been reborn , and the Kohler M12 purrs like a kitten after six years of hibernation in a dusty garage. I have you guys to thank for the help along the way.

Frankly, I was a little surprised at how easily the engine started after being completely "dry" for that long, and that there is apparently no residual gunk in the carb. Also, even with 969 hours the engine has no raps, knocks and doesn't smoke. Whew! The tranny sounds and feels tight.

Now I have to tackle the mower deck which, amazingly, is in pretty darned good shape except for some surface rust. The guy who had this tractor must have hosed off the underside of the deck after each use. I am one very lucky WH owner!

Now if the darned mud will dry up a little around here I can go out and play!

Again, guys, thanks loads!

Deereman (West Lebanon, NH)

[kj4kicks 154]

Lookin' Good !! :thumbs:

[Greg B. 1]

Good lookin' rig, there, Deereman. Sounds like you caught some breaks.

Greg B.

[T-Mo-(Moderator) 4,610]

It looks great. And it's good to hear that "Murphy's Law" didn't create any obstacles for you. I can 't wait to see pictures of it in action. :thumbs:

[baerpath 517]

Went to a large garden tractor auction today over 270 garden tractors, one of the highest auction amounts was for a 312-8 $1400.00 Very few cubs or Deeres got near that price. Tells ya the Wheel Horses hold there value

Duane

[Sparky-(Admin) 23,169]

Good lookin tractor! I like the black rims .

Mike...........

[TR_DIGGER 3]

:thumbs: Very nice lookin tractor :thumbs:

[refracman 167]

Lookin good Deerman,

and ya gotta love them Kohlers

[Stigian 1,234]

That be nice work there Deereman

It makes me want to give my 312-8 a good make-over :thumbs:

[bambooheels 0]

very nice looking tractor, you did a greatjob.

[DOC in Kentucky 178]

Great looking tractor

Where did you get the idea for the black wheels? They look good with the standard paint scheme. Don't mind if I copy your idea, do you :thumbs:

[charger10us 1]

Good looking job I too like the black wheels,, makes it look more tough..

Billy in Va.

[Duff 206]

Doc, please feel free to use the paint scheme!

I don't know what prompted the color choice - I think I just wanted to match the black trim on the rest of the tractor (dash, shift cover, etc.).

I'm working on the mower deck now. Might make the deck red and the lift linkages gloss black to continue the "theme".

Workin' on a Horse is just way too much fun.....and addicitve! My "out" is my wife has a quarterhorse (the four legged, hayburning type), so she can't get on my case too bad about the amount of time I spend on my own "Horse".

Life is good......

Deereman

[bigben 0]

That looks just like my 416-8.

[Craig Arndt 6]

Yes, I concur. The black wheels are pretty cool, can't complain about it, really gives the tractor a great look.

I need to redo my wheels, I'm thinking, thinking mind you of chrome. I saw some chrome paint and thought, that would really make those babies shine. But I would only do the outside and do standard grey inside- inside of my wheels get too green from the deck.

[DMESS 24]

VERY nice! What was your decal source? OEM or aftermarket? Some of the "maroon stripe" decals are still available from Toro and some are not. Looks great!

[Duff 206]

Actually, the hood decals and the one across the rear of the tractor are the originals. I taped them off and sanded/repainted VERY carefully around them. I had found a set on the internet from a parts supplier at something ridiculous like $43 each and decided the originals really weren't in that bad shape, so I salvaged 'em. The decals for the shifter, e-brake and PTO clutch are replacement OEM's from Jack's in MD - great parts supplier, BTW.

Took a great ride today around the woods now the snow has melted and gave the running gear a good workout. Tight 'n right, as they say!

Now back to restoring the mower deck, and praying for a mid-mount grader blade to come up for sale somewhere in New England!

Cheers!

Deereman

[Rollerman 290]

Deerman I haven't chimed in yet on this...But deffinatley want to say superb job on your 312!

I may have missed something...but what route did you go for your paint...ie brand, application & so on?

The black wheels do look nice too...I've been useing charcoal metallic on some of mine.

Not the original color...but the added flash stands out...just like your black wheels. :thumbs:

[SunDown 0]

I may have missed something...but what route did you go for your paint...ie brand, application & so on?

I was just going to ask this question myself...so i will second this question.

I have some slight rust on mine so im thinking about having the tins media blasted, but from there, Im guessing a little smoothing work with plastic filler, primed and painted. the question of where to get the proper color comes to mind. The decals were another question but I see that you saved a couple of yours, mine are long ago faded so I'd need to source all of them.

great post and your horse sure turned out nice.

[Duff 206]

Thanks for the kudos, fellas. It has been and continues to be a labor of love.

As to the paint....I am a man of fairly simple means and don't have a spray set up or booth, so what you see was done with spray cans - very, very carefully, mind you, but spray cans nonetheless. A fellow I work with runs a body shop as a sideline and was suprised when he stopped by to look at the tractor and found I'd done it with cans. A little dust in the finish, but no alligatoring, orange peel or runs!

The red is Rustoleum 7765 Regal Red, and the black Rustoleum Gloss Black.

I was fortunate in that I didn't have any significant pitting or dents to deal with, so the prep was mostly hours of careful sanding with a 5" Porter Cable orbital using 120 grit discs. I intentionally left the surface at the 120 finish to give it some "tooth" for the paint to adhere to. Although the surface was pretty smooth, after a complete rubdown with acetone I used Rustoleum Rusty Metal primer because it has a little more body to it and tends to fill minor blemishes quite nicely.

I followed the primer with three coats of the red or black, as appropriate to the location, applying the coats wet on wet and watching overlap carefully to preserve some uniformity in the thickness of the coating. Although I already new this from experience, Rustoleum tells you to apply subsequent coats within an hour of each other and they mean it! I had a brain cramp :imstupid: and tried to repaint the front wheels after the local tire shop dinged them up pretty bad putting on new skins. The new paint was only about a week old, and when I hit it with fresh paint everything wrinkled badly. I'm living with this until the paint is really dry, then I'll probably have them sandblasted and I'll repaint them again. Lesson re-learned.

Since I don't have a booth, the tailgate of my pickup out in the driveway became my "paint booth." Even though it was cold (30's most of the time), I made sure the metal was nice and warm, raced out and painted, then brought the piece back into my warm shop and hung it while I did another piece. At least in the winter there's not much dust in the air, so that was a plus.

And that, gents, is how a poor man repainted his beloved tractor!

Cheers!

Deereman

[Sparky-(Admin) 23,169]

Umm...So whats the tailgate of yer truck look like . Can we get a pic of that .

Mike.............

PS. Just havin some fun, no offence intended

[T-Mo-(Moderator) 4,610]

Don't worry, I've seen many of the rattle can paint jobs. It takes a particular talent to paint with those. A talent that some how has eluded me. I think the fact that you used rattle cans makes it that much more impressive. :thumbs:

[Duff 206]

Hi, Mike!

Well....let's say I mananged to keep "most" of the paint off the tailgate with plastic tarps, but with wind and such, let's say the black Rhinoliner has quite a red "tint" these days! Now maybe if I paint some more black parts........

Seeya!

Deereman! :thumbs:

[stevinator 1]

Deereman, nice job.You and I have the same style paint shop.Right now no leaves or bugs. :thumbs:

[SunDown 0]

my neighbor was out painting his snapper rider today....I had been meaning to get to what deereman has done to his....so now I pretty much have to so as not to be the neighborhood rustbucket.

I was thinking about doing the roll on technique as described in this thread....Roll-On Rustoleum Paint Tech