My modified 857 at work and play

[rustyoldjunk 127]

Seems that i read somewhere that Cecil Pond was a Farmall fan himself and that was an influence in the early styling designs of these tractors.

[ronhatch 405]

Bill and Ken; thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences on the mowing quality of the different mowers. That's the kind of thing I'm looking for.

Maybe I'll modify a 42" simplicity deck to fit my Wheel Horse. There I go again, being sacrilegious. Me bad. .

Bill; Yes, I am pulling a 48" Brinley core aireator with a little over 300 lbs. of weight on it. Please note; I beefed it up by adding 3 braces (3/4" conduct) running from the tongue to each side and one running to the middle shaft support. If I remember correctly, they recommend a max wt. of 125 lbs of weight. Without bracing, I can understand why it's limited to 125lbs. In my timber clay, 125 lbs wouldn't get the job done, but with the extra weight it works great. I take my time and let it penetrate all the way to the the wheels which is about 2 1/2 to 3". The only thing you need to be aware of is little stones, etc plugging up one of the tubes. And, yes, it pulls hard. I don't stop going up a hill or I would just spin my tires trying to get going again. In fact, the front used to get pretty light until I put windshield washer fluid in the front tires. It helps the steering when I'm plowing snow too.

Does anyone know of a web site that shows pictures and talks about the different Wheel Horse models before Toro bought them out? I'm just trying to become more knowledgeable.

Thanks, Ron

[855ownerJoel 32]

If my memory is correct the 10 and 12 hp have same size base pattern,but the 8hp is a smaller crankshaft pto size and base size. Would need to do some interesting modifications. Unsure why you want to increase the power to a 10hp, the 8 has plenty of power for a deck with the k series motor.

[leeave96 487]

Does anyone know of a web site that shows pictures and talks about the different Wheel Horse models before Toro bought them out? I'm just trying to become more knowledgeable.

Thanks, Ron

Ron - I think this site is probably your best resource for finding the Wheelhorse models prior to when Toro bought them. One thing to keep in mind is that even though Toro bought Wheelhorse, they pretty much continued to make the same tractor - except with Toro added to the logo later and a change at some point to Toro red in paint. We all bash Toro for killing off the Wheelhorse garden tractors but I think they did a pretty good job of keeping our "classic" tractors intact until the bitter end. Another thing Toro has is outstanding documentation of these tractors, manuals, parts lists, etc. You can go to their website and the master parts viewer or download the manuals in PDF format for free.

But I think that rather than adapt a Simplicity deck to a Wheelhorse, you might consider adding to your fleet a dedicated mowing Wheelhorse. Can't have just one...

Good luck,

Bill