Brand new to the forum and Wheel Horse tractors

[Galjin 0]

Howdy all, joined the forum because I have a wheel Horse D-160, loader tractor. Got a good deal on it, seemed to be enough familiar parts on it so thought I d give red tractors a try, got to say I am less than impressed, seems to have no pulling power at all, Parts when available are very spendy. But I am gonna give it a go and get this girl going as strong as possible,

I have a fondness for vintage machines and have spent many happy/frustrating hours combing over elder machines and restoring their useful service. Up to this point I limited myself to JD 100, 200, 300 series. Mostly 318 s as they are IMHO the best of the bunch.

So anyway for this here beast in my garage, the 16 HP Onan is now running, strong, Rebuilt the hydrolic cylinders on the ac loader, thing will pick up a house, but the tractor would only haul the front door (down hill). Now I know the trac should have more power, I just took apart and reassembled the linkage removed as much also as possible, at least I have full range of motion forward and back, i now chasing the leaks as they appear to be getting worse, maybe I should have left the old hydro fluid in, as the manifold didn t leak as bad, found the O rings on a site couple sites, really three bucks seems a bit much for an O ring, gonna cost excess of 23.00 to change the 4 primary and 4 secondary manifold O rings. I checked the threads but no one seems to have posted the sizes or a more cost effective vender, so any suggestions would be welcome. Really thinking the square ones are unique but the round ones should be able to be cross matches. So any ideas or suggestions are appreciated.

Take care glad I found this forum, lots of knowledge on forums.

[wh500special 2,352]

Welcome aboard!

 

I tend to agree that Deere really got things right with the 318 style machines.  I have two of them now and am impressed every time I use them.

 

Hopefully, you're lacking traction at the rear wheels and you're not having transmission problems...If not:

 

The lack of power you describe can be from any number of things, but I'd be willing to bet the Hydro motor and/or pump are just worn out and fluid is recirculating internally.  Does it get worse when the tractor gets hot?  The filtration setup on the inlet side of a WH hydro is little more than a window screen and if any dirt ever found its way into the system the valve plates get worn pretty quickly.  Plus, your tractor is nearly 40 years old and has been probably used pretty hard (since it has a loader on it) so things are bound to be closer to the ends of their lives.   

 

Rebuilding is possible, but you want to disassemble as much of the hydraulic system and transaxle as possible to clean things out thoroughly before reinstalling components.  Internal hydro parts are basically no longer available, but there are a bunch of guys on this forum who can walk you through the process.  Nothing is extremely complex, but you need to know what to look for.

 

When operating properly you ought to find the D-series to be nearly as capable as the Deeres with which you're familiar.

 

Hang in there!

 

Steve

[CasualObserver 3,411]

I live only a few miles from you, over in Kasson!  Glad to have you on the forum, unfortunately, I will be of no help on your D problems.... the only thing I know about those is I don't want one! (They're to big for my storage, and I just have no interest in owning one)  Keep the faith though... plenty of knowledgeable people here who have done it all and salvage parts guys who can get you fixed up. 

[Galjin 0]

Thank you for the welcome, Steve, yes the problem gets worse when she is hot, initially I thought it was traction, however after adding 10 gal of rv antifreeze to each rear tire, chains, it won't push into a pile of wood chips. So I adjusted the linkage last night but did not give it a go with any work, thought I d do that tonight,

Really not looking forward to pulling the pump, etc to clean rebuild, but might be a rewarding experience, never had a tractor with a bad tranny or pump before, Always kind of viewed them as almost bullet proof, different color trac tho.

It did start to whine too. Still hopeful the asjustments will make a difference, I am thinking the additional 1/4 inch of travel will have positive results, If not will check the inlet valve etc perhaps it s o ring is shot too,

Ingot to get one of those demystification (service manuel) books on this tractor,

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[Hodge71 690]

 

I regret to inform you that with the symptoms you're describing you're hydro system is probably for all intents and purposes shot. You bought a used up tractor. My D had the same exact symptoms as yours. The good news is you sound like you quite a bit of mechanical ability, so all is not lost. I rebuilt my pump and hydro motor and I can tell you that my 18 Auto will pull the house, foundation, and everything inside it uphill against the wind in a tornado. Absolutely mind boggling power.  PM Kelly (Our Parts Guy)  on here, and check ebay too. You will probably have to buy 3 pumps on there though until you get enough to make 1 good one. I do have  athread on rebuilding a pump on here and the process is the same for the motor. 

Edited July 25, 2013 by hodge71

[Galjin 0]

Wow, thanks fer all the input, !!/, Hoping to get work out of it this year, Might be a bit optimistic If'n it'll be a parts quest, good thing is pretty sure the same pump and tranny go into the c series

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[Hodge71 690]

 If'n it'll be a parts quest, good thing is pretty sure the same pump and tranny go into the c series



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True, same pump and motor but the D uses a divorced system and the C series used a married system. You'll have to split them and use the metal lines to connect the 2 on your D

[Galjin 0]

Would using the metal tubes be the only "alimony" payment after the divorce?

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[Charlie Smith 142]

Hey there.

Welcome here to red square I've been a member here now for just about a year... And all I can say is this is a fantastic site everyone's friendly and helpful 5* hope to see you making a few posts around,

-Charlie

[VinsRJ 723]

Welcome to RS!

[Jake Kuhn 1,581]

Welcome.to red square!

[Galjin 0]

Once again thank you for the welcomes, seems like I found an alternate place to hide, as far as my horse, might just need to look for a home for it. I really need something that I can use to care for my other horses, the hay munching kind, gonna think it over heading out of town to visit my son so .... Might look around for a similar sized trac to put the loader on, the loader iOS in good shape, putting it on a different trac could be a pandora s box too.

Hate decisions involving my toys cause I never want to get rid of them

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[Shynon 7,491]

Welcome great to see another Minnesotan in the house.

[AMC RULES 37,236]

[JC 1965 1,534]

Hello and 

[rydogg 186]

Welcome to the forum!!   I am only about 20 minutes west from you sometimes I go through Stewie on my way to Roch.  I have a couple c series parts tractors that still have the hydro transmission in them....let me know if you need some parts.

[KATO 115]

WELCOME TO

[dyt4000 2]

[stevasaurus 23,460]

Welcome to Red Square.    We have a show coming up the weekend before Labor Day in LaSueur that a bunch of us go to.  There is a link to it in the Show Section.  Come on over and meet some of the members.  Bring a tractor/s to show if you want...dose not have to be Red.

[speedyleedy 205]

 Welcome to