Yellow WH Industrial..?

[Stepney 2,314]

Do these exist? I've been talking with a friend who saw a 'yellow' Wheel Horse RJ style, it had 'Industrial' by the deck lift. He also recalls a yellow C series industrial.. whom the father bought new. I've never heard of these, but I'm no expert.. do these really exist..? Described as Yellow with black lettering. I dunno..

 

Stepney.

[whfan74 2,015]

I have a friend with a yellow c-series used at the highway dept. There wasn't a drop of red paint ever on it.

[AMC RULES 36,961]

[T McCool 287]

Yes, we want pictures!

[Tankman 3,515]

Impossible to think of a yeller Horsey! We need pic's (normal protocol of course).    

[546cowboy 301]

 Never seen one and you are not helping here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[whfan74 2,015]

I will see if I can grab some for you.

[Lane Ranger 10,576]

I bought a mower deck for a Lawn Ranger several years ago for a $1.00 off of Ebay.  I had to pick it up in Northern Illinois near  I-39 near Rochelle, Illinois.  The owner said I got a very good deal -which I did.   When we talked he use to be an employee of the Illinois Toll Road.  He indicated to me that the Illinois Toll Road bought yellow Wheel Horse tractors for the the Illinois Tollway oases from Wheel Horse.   He use to mow with one and said that they had several at each Oasis location .

[Lane Ranger 10,576]

Here is an example of another machine they used from the Chicago Tribune last year!

 

 

Illinois Tollway's robotic mower like a Roomba for embankments

 

$42,000 machine mows grassy slopes while reducing costs, safety risks, agency says

 

August 12, 2013|Jon Hilkevitch | Getting Around

 

 

 

 

 

956

 

Illinois Tollway worker Paul Borkowski drives a Spider ILD02 remote-control lawnmower near Interstate 90 and the Tri-State Tollway intersection last week in Rosemont.

 

Illinois Tollway worker Paul Borkowski drives a Spider ILD02 remote-control lawnmower near Interstate 90 and the Tri-State Tollway intersection last week in Rosemont. (Armando L. Sanchez, Photo for the Chicago Tribune)

Drivers on the Illinois Tollway this summer may have seen what look like yellow disk-shaped robots roaming steep, grassy embankments on the sides of the highway, not far from workers wearing safety vests and just standing around.

Neither is exactly what it might appear to be.

The four-wheel-drive machines, which from a distance look a little like giant versions of a robotic vacuum cleaner that sweeps floors and carpets in homes (and drives pets crazy), are actually remote-controlled slope mowers.

 

The mower is driven and steered using a control panel that can be hung around the neck of an operator standing on flat ground as far as a football field away.

Called the Spider ILDO2, the slope mower is manufactured by Dvorak Ltd. of the Czech Republic. Tollway crews responsible for mowing the grass and chopping down thick invasive brush along the rights of way have nicknamed the $42,000 machine Spider-Man, because to them it's a superhero.

The Spider won't climb walls, but it ventures up slopes and down into ditches at a pitch of up to 40 degrees, where tractors are at risk of tipping over, where riding or walk-behind mowers may not be able to ascend from deep gullies, and where weed wackers simply can't cut it, according to toll authority maintenance officials.

"I like it a lot because it goes where tractors can't go and keeps us safely on top of steep slopes so you don't have to worry about slipping down,'' Paul Borkowski, a tollway equipment operator, said Friday while directing the Spider up and down a hill and around trees in the infield adjacent to the ramp from northbound I-294 to westbound I-90 near O'Hare International Airport.

 

The slope mower has four blades and four wheels that pivot 360 degrees and it runs at two speeds, "turtle'' and "jack rabbit.''

The Spider cuts a 50-inch-wide swath on each swipe.

"It pretty much mulches the daylights out of the grass,'' Borkowski said.

The tollway owns four Spiders, which were purchased in late 2012 and are getting their first full season of use now, said Michael Zadel, roadway maintenance manager at the toll authority.

 

"When drivers see it, they are curious and often stop and ask,'' Zadel said.

The machines have performed well and so far have been low-maintenance, said Kerry Brown, a tollway roadway maintenance section manager.

While the Spider has been cost-effective compared with traditional landscaping, the big advantage has been reducing the risk of accidents and injuries, Brown said.

The Spiders have proven to be an especially valuable tool for getting into hard-to-reach spots to trim the brush that grows up against noise walls that separate toll roads from residential neighborhoods, and retaining walls and other areas difficult to access with traditional grass-cutting equipment, Zadel said.

"After we constructed the noise walls we were starting to get complaints from neighbors about the appearance of high grasses because these areas had been mowed before, typically to the fence line," Zadel said.  Now, homeowners are "ecstatic" about the cleaned-up appearance, Brown said. "We satisfied all of our complaints,'' which were received from municipalities including Rosemont, Schiller Park, Northbrook, Glenview and Des Plaines, he said.

 

"A lot of our good equipment is born of frustration,'' Zadel said.

The tollway usually assigns two equipment operators to each Spider. Besides the control operator, a second worker scouts the area before the Spider goes in to look for large rocks, fallen tree limbs and anything else in the deep grass that could damage the Spider's blades.

In especially steep terrain, the accomplice hooks a cable winch on the Spider to a highway guardrail or a tollway truck, to help pull the mower back up to the top after making the plunge.  "The Spider is a lifesaver in these tight areas,'' said Nick Petrecca, a tollway equipment operator working with Borkowski on Friday.

The Illinois Department of Transportation does not use any remote-controlled mowers, officials said, but IDOT may do so in the future.

"Steep slopes are always risky, and if there are ever any safety concerns, the work is delayed until the ground is dry,'' said IDOT spokeswoman Jae Miller.

Your Getting Around reporter took the Spider for a spin trimming grass around a stand of trees and, despite my low aptitude for playing video games, I pretty quickly got the hang of working the two main toggles — one to turn the wheels and the other to go forward or backward — as well as buttons to engage and disengage the blades, raise and lower the cutting length and control the engine speed.

 

Borkowski joked that, after growing accustomed to using the Spider, he finds it hard to mow the grass outside his home the old-fashioned way.

"I wish I had one of these. I showed a video of Spider-Man to my daughter and she thinks it's awesome,'' he said.

Dvorak sells a residential version, called the Spider Mini, for about $8,000.

 

Contact Getting Around at jhilkevitch@tribune.com or c/o the Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611; on Twitter @jhilkevitch; and at facebook.com/jhilkevitch. Read recent columns at chicagotribune.com/gettingaround.

Edited July 30, 2014 by Lane Ranger

[Geno 1,928]

This may shed some light on my C145 Auto. I have all the paperwork, sales reciept and wheel horse ID card where a doctor in Dayton bought one I now own new.  The oddest thing was as I started pressure washing it some of the paint came off in several places and it was yellow underneath.  I have wondered about this for months. 

[AMC RULES 36,961]

The yellow you're referring to is called zinc-chromemate...

was previously discussed here in this thread.    

 

[baerpath 517]

This GT14 came from a municipality here in NY No red paint under the yellow and gray on the rims. The hood also was yellow with black painted over it

[CasualObserver 3,406]

The yellow you're referring to is called zinc-chromemate...

was previously discussed here in this thread.

That's just speculation. There's no documentation of it and it's too sporadic throughout production to just say it for certain.

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[Stepney 2,314]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/t1.0-9/10403502_693489444077331_9045047675434337821_n.jpg

 

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/t31.0-8/10494918_693489400744002_7330726659391616959_o.jpg

 

https://scontent-b-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/t31.0-8/10386910_693489464077329_6782150305147529377_o.jpg

 

These are what he sent me.

[CasualObserver 3,406]

I'd say it's someone's fun paint job. Where are the pictures from? There's a 1972 Wheel Horse Safari Snowmobile in the background of the first picture.

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[Stepney 2,314]

Some show in the Ohio area. No idea, I'll ask him tonight.

[Tim Bergfeld 55]

Yellow horse = a palomino he should name it trigger

[T McCool 287]

Stepney, that things cool! The steeler freaks around here would go nuts over that haha. I actually like it for what it is. I am however not a steeler fan :)

[Stepney 2,314]

Steelers?? No idea what that means, and I didn't take those pictures. A fellow Lawn-Boy nut took them at a show. 'Tis neat though!

[Tim Bergfeld 55]

Ok truth be told some cities ordered tractors in certain colors I have seen yellow fords and john deere tractors because the state orders that color on them but I looked and cannot find a yellow horse anywhere on line. I would say he has a rare tractor

[T McCool 287]

I love the look! And I live 20 min. Outside of Pittsburgh. The football fans around here are crazy...

[JERSEYHAWG / Glenn 4,487]

Some show in the Ohio area. No idea, I'll ask him tonight.

 

 

 

 For a second there I thought you posted some SNOW in the Ohio area.                                                                                     That will be soon enough.           Glenn

[546cowboy 301]

 Well Golly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited July 31, 2014 by 546cowboy

[whfan74 2,015]

Here it is as promised.......

[can whlvr 991]

I like it