My first Wheel Horse, very nice 1985 312-8

[Wheel Horse Kid 105]

That is cool that you were able to get all of the original manuals!

[Arrowhead 0]

Very nice machine John.

[Duff 206]

as stated allready regular maintance,especially air filters and engine oil,if you do them more often than not that kohler will out live you,i would change the rear end oil,it uses 80-90 weight gear oil,i beleive 2 quarts,its well worth doing to preserve the bearings,dont forget to grease all the zerks,and the mower ones are really important too do,i have a deck from 86 and the bearings are still orig because ever since i bought it new i greased it every other time i mow,just a few squirts and thats all she needs

That is another one of the best parts of this deal..... The feller changed all the fluids, greeased all the fittings and installed a new air filter before he brought it to me. Then he gave me a extra new Oregon brand air filter and filter wrap. The fluids in it looked fine to me but he insisted he wanted to do it. I bought myself one of those mini hand-held grease guns the other day just to keep everything greased up, I am planning to use the marine grade grease unless someone here has a better suggestion? Is there any particular brand and/or weight of oil that I should be using in the engine?

No problem with marine grade grease. For oil, the thinking around here from those with far more knowledge than I is to use a good quality HD 30 weight oil. Small hint, too: check your clutch and brake pedals and see of there's a grease fitting on them to keep them lubricated on the shafts. If not, it's really easy to drill and tap them and install fittings. I've gotten a couple of parts tractors where the pedals and shafts showed a lot of wear simply because there were no fittings and the PO's had obviously never taken them off, cleaned and lubed them. You've got a great machine there, so we'd love to see it run for another 25 years! Oh - does you machine have an in-line fuel filter? If not, that's another easy, inexpensive and incredibly worthwhile addition!

Duff :thumbs: