What is Your Limit - Before You Part Out???

[leeave96 487]

I have three great Wheelhorse tractors and several other color tractors too. I'm always on the look-out for another Wheelhorse, but am a becoming little more careful about what I get myself into...

Question is - where do you draw the line on your your tractors in terms of keeping vs kicking them to a new home?

As an example, I've got another color tractor with a 12 hp Kohler and it has a broken rod and the crank has aluminum galled on it. An engine rebuild is in order and that will cost some heavy $$$'s. I'm beginning to wonder if the best route for this tractor is a classified add and use the rebuild $$$'s for another tractor purchase or two! I mean if you spend $600 or $700 or more on an engine rebuild IMHO you got by default a keeper. OTOH you may get a decent tractor or two for the same rebuild $$$'s.

I can see spending a goodly amount of $$$'s and time on your go-to/keep sake tractors, but once the heard reaches a certain point, it becomes hard to justify the expense - expecially when you can use that $$$/time on another project.

In my case, I most always fall to the "I think I'll just keep it" side of things, but as my heard has grown I'm wondering what is your limit before you kick the tractor to the curb and look for something else.

Thanks!

Bill

[DoctorHfuhruhurr 135]

Never. If I were to sell something I'd come to find I needed a part on the tractor I just sold the next day. :D

[Irv 115]

I kinda feel the same way, buy another tractor with a good Kohler and transplant if yours is better or buy one of those 13 hp Honda clones at HF for $300, unless it's a keepsake that you want to be original.

[can whlvr 991]

good qustion,i feel the same way towards almost having to keep them after spending some cash on them,i have rbuilt a few tractors including complete engine rebuilds,i cant get the money that i put into them back,not even close,so u just use them,but its nice to get tractors with decent engine and drive train,then its not so expensive to fix them up,i too am at the point where it has to be a really good tractor and fair price before i even look at them to buy,as far as what point to not spend on them,thats different for every one,but ultamately it boils down to money,sometimes a horse has to be sacrificed to keep other better shape tractors going,and if its past what a person wants to throw at it then i guess she has to go or be parted

[leeave96 487]

OK - wasn't thinking clearly when I started this thread. Why would I post such a topic on this forum - YOU GUYS DON'T THROW AWAY ANYTHING!!!!!!!

:laughing-rofl:

[MalMac 1,328]

With the cost of parts that have a unlimited amount they can go up, I am starting to thin and sell a lot of what I have amassed over time. I think one has to look hard at what they do with there tractors. I would say most on here work there tractors. I know some of us have are garage queens and a few of us are just collectors. As time revolves Wheel Horse will move from a working tractor to just a collector tractor. Parts are already getting past the point of common sense. I myself have sold over 10 tractors in the last couple of years because of just what the topic of this post states. It has got to the point of my personnel limit as to the cost. Even getting old used parts are getting costly. I grew up around Wheel Horse because my family was a dealer, but now it's time for me to start getting rid of things except for what I use and a couple to collect and put my money elsewhere on equipment of a more modern theme. There is some nice equipment out there but the cost is enough to scare anybody. On the other hand one would be surprised at what they wrap up in these little red tractors we call a Whee Horse. i will always be faithful to these little red beast and you will always find a tractor or two around here. Just my personnel situation I have reached my limit. I hate looking at this hobby with reality in mine. Puts a damper on the fun.

[546cowboy 301]

I struggle with that a lot when I see one for sale on CL. It seems you never really know what you are getting until you see it in person. Then after spending money for gas and the time to go get it, then you have to decide whether to take it or write off the money you've already spent. I am not a collector so I have to be able to at least break even on these and I really hate to see one parted out on Ebay. But the facts are that you can't just buy them and let them sit outside in the weather to rot away.

As for rebuilding motors, I just can't justify spending that much when I'll never get my money back. I have never parted out one yet, sold parts tractors but no parting out. Being retired I am on a limited income and I realize I can't save them all!

Edited February 12, 2013 by 546cowboy

[stevasaurus 22,235]

Saving horses, does not mean you have to save them for yourself, or put any money in them. We have a great network here and a ton of members that are looking for that one horse to make whole. I think it is a team effort. If one falls in your lap, and you don't need it or can't use it, show it in a post and see if it can go to a good home. Promoting this hobby is priceless. Ten years from now...someone will join Red Square and talk about how he got his first horse from some guy that saved it from scrap. :woohoo:

Edited February 12, 2013 by stevasaurus

[KC9KAS 4,741]

OK - wasn't thinking clearly when I started this thread. Why would I post such a topic on this forum - YOU GUYS DON'T THROW AWAY ANYTHING!!!!!!!

Now you are seeing the light!

[6wheeler 586]

I hate to say it. But, I am one of those guys . If the machine starts to nickle and dime me to death. Or the parts become un-available or extremely over priced? Then bye-bye. That includes tractors, cars, trucks and even larger equipment. When I was an owner-operator, if the trucks or trailers started having too much trouble or breaking down frequently they had to be replaced. The same came to the farm equipment when I grew up on the farm. Down time is money. I can fix most anything with little or no problems. I can also jerry-rig just about anything and make it work. But, inevitably they are just going to plain wear out. I am not brand-loyal to any piece of equipment. These Wheel Horses do much better than alot of other machines I have owned and with good maintenance they will keep working. So, I don't mind spending a little extra time to keep them working well. But, they too will get tired. You just can't put a million hours on something and expect it to last forever. When they get too worn out? Its parts or scrap. :twocents-mytwocents:

[Whmaverick 54]

I'm always looking for one to save. If I don't need it or want it, it gets offered up. Sometimes I make a little, some times I brake even. I always seem to have one on the launch pad being restored, right now I have a few items on CL. I would buy em all if I had the money and a shelter big enough for em. When I do rescue one it's cause I'm gonna give it a better life, if not I mayaswell leave it where it is, right? Such is life though, sometimes ya gotta take a step back to take some steps forward. I confessed already that this is an illness, but I can think of worse illnesses. LOL.

[jay in nc 209]

i save lots of things from the scrappers. but don't get me wrong i junk off lots of stuff too. my latest horse i saved was a 310-8 with no engine. i sold this one to a member here who had a running engine, so 2 parts tractors became 1 running unit! jay

[welderman85 53]

i try to save everthing maybe im young and dumb but i like the challange of save stuff that others call junk. but it easy to put to much money in to things. I kinda look at it this way i have a 314 h with tons of hours and i will have to rebuild it soon i justify it by looking at what you can buy today compaired to the money to fix a horse. my Dad gave me a new cub caget that he bought it had 50 hours on it when i got it. it cuts grass and thats it they make a plow for it but i would be scared to use it. new machines cant compare to our horses unless you buy a cut tractor i say save them all money is only paper

[cruisnblue48 783]

To answer the original question where to draw the line between keeping my tractors or kicking any of them out, I wouldn't know... haven't reached that point yet. I have acquired five Wheel Horses in the past year and a half and would take in more given the right circumstances. In reference to Stevasaurus' reply, I am that "someone" that never thought once about Wheel Horse tractors for at least 30 some years. My dad originally purchased a new 552 WH in 1962 then sold it sometime in the '70s. My uncle found it a year and a half ago and gave it to me. The previous owner pretty much let it outside to rot. Most people would have sent this tractor to the scrap yard or parted it out but I was dang lucky to have the opportunity now in my life to restore it. Nearly 75% done, I am planning on riding my dad's 552 tractor this summer after what will be a two year project. The time, money, and sentimental attachment I have in this particular tractor is far more than anyone else can ever come close else to imagining. I have also rescued a 551 Suburban last summer from a wooded lot where it was left to rot... making a rat rod out of this one. I also have an RJ58 that runs but needed some TLC... doing a full blown original restore for this one. I would imagine that a lot of really nice WH tractors either get scrapped or parted out because their previous or current owners have no clue that there are serious WH collectors out there who would love to have them in their collections. As for me, in just the past couple of years, I have great enjoyment in saving a few tractors that someone else didn't want and bringing them back to life once again. Happy Wheel Horse collecting y'all!!!