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judd

500 Special questions

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judd

I am new to Red Square and I recently bought a 500 Special but the hood is different to the ones that I have seen posted. This one doesn't have the light cutout like the ones I've seen online. I have added some pictures of it below. I want to restore this and would like to know if anything else isn't original on it. I also noticed that it is missing the racing flag decals, did all 500 Specials have them or not. It also has a 7HP Kohler. Any information or history you have would be useful in helping me to restore this. :thumbs:

Here is the model # and serial # to this tractor:

Model # 1-3631

Serial # 509291

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mavfreak

:thumbs:

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racinfool40

1st :) You can look in the picture Gallery under 1968 500 special theirs a few pics. I don'y know much about these models, I'm sure some one will be along shortly to point you in the right direction!! :thumbs:

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jhunsch

:thumbs:

:)

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Gene_S

Looks like a nice starter for a project!!!

You will find all this info in the threads "TT" supplied you here plus more!!!

:thumbs:

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sorekiwi

:thumbs:

Your serial makes the tractor a late model one which did not have the cut-out for headlamps in the front of the hood.

As far as I know, all 500 Specials had the crossed flag decal. Some had the number 6 on them, some did not and there seems to be no relationship to the serial number as to whether the 6 was there or not.

By the mismatch in color, it looks like your dash surround panel may have been switched out. It appears your dash has been switched out as well, the 500 Special shouldnt have the big square headlamp switch in there.

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Your front tires look too wide, it should have 4.00-8' sawtooth tires on there, the rear tires are correct.

The seat should be a fibreglass panned one. Good luck trying to find one!

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Your steering wheel is correct for the tractor, there was at least 2 different types used.

I have 2 of these tractors, one is halfway thru a restoration (and hasnt been touched in about a year). I am reasonably sure that it will be getting a recoil start Kohler like you have. It looks right in there, even if it isnt strictly "correct".

My second one needs a restoration, but is complete and has the correct spec H60 in it. If I ever get to that tractor, I'll keep it as correct as possible. I was moving that tractor last week and thought I really should sell that one to someone who has the time to devote to it.

Yell if there's any more pictures you need.

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BPjunk

Keep in mind that when Wheel Horse built a "special or commemorative" model tractor the stock of older parts got used up. ( i.e model 603, 500 SPECIAL and 25th Anniversary) This is why you find the nonhead light hoods used on the second production run on the 1968 500 SPECIAL. :)

The crossed flag decal with the #6 (denoting the horse power of the recoil start Tecumseh engine used on this model) was used primarily on the first run of this tractor. Since the crossed flag decal was also applied on the tractors that participated at the Indianopolis Raceway Track (i.e. jockeying race cars and various other duties) and these tractors were not 6hp models the #6 was omitted for the second run of the decal.

An original Tecumseh H-60 that was used on the 500 SPECIAL will not have the threaded bolt holes for a starter motor and will use the flat forward facing muffler that is held inplace by two 1/4 x 20 Phillips heads bolts.

I am always amazed when another 500 SPECIAL is found, from research I think around 2,500 to 3,000 were produced. At the 2008 Wheel Horse Show when the 500 SPECIAL was the featured model there were 23 of this model in attendance ! :thumbs:

Wild Bill

Attached Image

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zeedubbya

I'm gonna bring back a year old thread because I am very curious about this tractor. I am somewhat new to wheel horses as well, and picked up a 500 special for this winters restoration project. Serial number is 509320. I was at first kind of disappointed when I picked this one up because it had a kohler motor in it and looked as though dash panel was changed.

I did a lot of digging around for more info about this model and came across 4 examples of 500 specials with a Kohler in them. I didnt think much of it until I dug up this thread and lo and behold a 500 special with the same dash as mine and a kohler motor! What are the odds? It made me think that possibly during a certain production run of these they put the kohler in them and maybe even a different dash? As wild bill stated--they did use spare parts on special editions. I was told by another Redsquare member to cross ref the motor, and sure enough it's a d serial number which is 1968. Does anyone have any explanation for this?

I am beginning to wonder if the 500 special with kohlers were possibly produced. Or maybe a dealer somewhere did this? I cannot see how this kohler couldn't be the original motor by looking it over really good. The dash maybe i could see being changed out, but then to find it's twin on red square with close serial numbers-SCRATCHHEAD UNTIL IT BLEEDS! Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Will put some pics on tomorrow when I get back to my computer.

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speedyleedy

i also had two 500 special one had 7hr kohler the other had a h60 both were complete :dunno:

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VinsRJ

Its pretty well documented that all 500 Specials came from the factory with recoil Tech H60s. It is also been documented that WH dealers were swapping out the recoil Techs for electric start Kohlers to make it easier to sell the 500's. Additionally, the Tech H60 used was not the best motor on the face of the planet and through rods at will. Its my guess that alot of original 500 owners made the up-grade to a Kohler when the Tech lost its life.

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zeedubbya

So I guess its safe to assume that some of the 500 specials would have had kohlers put in them either at the dealer per a customers request or were put in after the Tecumseh went out of them? So now the big question? Should I try to find an original h60 for it or leave the kohler? The kohler runs great! Any input would be greatly appreciated!!

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Kelly

Well I'm a big Kohler fan, and if you don't care if it's 100% orig. leave the Kohler in it.

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Ken B

If the Kohler runs that good why go out of your way looking for an H60? I have had many a Tecumseh thru the yrs. on Sears Super Suburbans in the 10-12 hp range and they ran sweet and were very long lasting, With that said I will say lower hp Tecumseh's always seem to run as if they are a little dizzy, good one day and crap the next. Most of the time they are noisy and sound like they are going to fly apart. I'm not saying that there aren't some very good running one's out there, I just think you will be a little dissapointed with its performance compared to your Kohler.

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zeedubbya

Here is just another little tidbit of information that I just found. The 500 special evidently came with the dash that Judd and I both have as well as the other dash that sorekiwi listed. Here is a couple pages from the owners manual parts list (just got from Toro today). I really think its great that this "special edition" had a some subtle differences like the hood and the dash. It really paints the history of these tractors. Thanks for all the advice, and any further comments would be much appreciated.

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500 spec dash from parts manual by kworth99, on Flickr

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Parts list page from 500 spec manual by kworth99, on Flickr

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VinsRJ

Here is a pic of my 500 Special dash, as you can see its a little different from the others posted. IMO its the original as all of the other 500 aspects are intact; for example the fiberglass seat pan, steering wheel and mint ID tag.

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zeedubbya

I agree yours is correct as well-I am pretty sure it's just a rusty version of the dashes that sorekiwi posted. I believe there was two different style dashes along with two different hoods and maybe just maybe different motors as well. I'm going to continue to research these things in an effort to further understand the history of this "special" tractor. Thanks for the input!

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