Black hoods?

[ben06351 19]

I too have a 1980 C-105 Black hood. Can't wait to get her back together. Had to pull the engine last year just waiting to find the time to put her back together.

[oaktown1987 82]

I like them all my least favorite is the newest style

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[oldblue1993 98]

I will admit this one has already grown on me "I love the engines that are to others shot, but with a little work run the best" . My b-80's engine I found in a swamp, best runnin kohler I have ever seen with nothing more then an oil change.

 I did a quick fix on the rust because it was so bad in spot I just couldnt see it like that. figure I have all winter so now I can do a little at a time. I can tell it has very little run time on her and I really dont think much has ever been done to it, which

makes it even better to tear into. I still havent figured out a purpose for it yet other then I know I had to have it.

 I usr to have a wheelhorse dealer down rhe road from me, that I would help out at every know and then "washing em before they went back to the owners" and I remember the blackhood because that was the time they stopped selling them. I was young and didnt really pay attention as to why.

  Anyways with that being said I have one now and it just got me really thinking about it.

[Road-Track 39]

The C series Black hoods with Kohler engines where the ultimate Wheelhorse when Wheelhorse was still Wheelhorse.   They were the last of the breed.

I have a 83" C145 hydro and a 84" C165 8 speed. These are my go to tractors for everything.

 

Today I am hauling firewood with the C145. I use the hydro for mowing and snow blowing and the C165 for rototilling, snowplowing and 2nd mower if needed.

 

Personally with the steel rear pans they are just aggressive!  Anyone putting down or steering away from Black hoods, probably isn't into rugged well built tractors.

 

I like the part about the using the hood for a workbench. It works great and keeps your beer from sliding off.     

[bo dawg 477]

I love the blk hoods the best myself, I own 4 of them. 195, 2 175's, and a 161 with the fiberglass hood, except the BS twin was scraped out for a K 16hp. Old computor crashed with all my pics. Haven't got new pics installed yet.

[oaktown1987 82]

Did they come with briggs and kohler

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[Theroundhousernr 589]

Yes. The c161 was an early black hood with a fiberglass hood and a dash like a B80. It had a B&S 16 hp opposed twin.

[oaktown1987 82]

Thank u does it have a different dash and do the rest have metal hood

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[SousaKerry 500]

The 161 was a unique animal. Kind of a mismash of parts. The hood was fiberglass and slightly different to fit to the older style hood stands. After the c-1x5 series was launched in 80 they all had steel hoods and plastic fenders (not fiberglass) in 81 the hydros recieved the much improved Eaton 11 trasmission. Sometime in 84 they started getting metal fender pans.

Oddly enough the modern hood started in 82 or so with the el cheapo box store lt1100 hood. Toro decided unfortunatly to run with that ugly hood from then on.

My guess as to why the back hood was discontinued was it was expensive ro manufacture. Being that the hood stand was die cast aluminum and the hood itself was several pieces welded together.

My first tractor btw was an 81 c-125 that wanted a 5 hp upgrade and is now a c-175. She is my main worker and is a beast. Certainly one of the best tractors they ever made. You can have your ugly 520's I'll keep my blackhood and its trouble free kohler.

[JackC 616]

While we are on Black Hoods, here is another one of my beauties. This is a 1979 C-161 with fiberglass hood and plastic fender.  The fender seems to be much stronger than the later version of the plastic fenders.  I can tell you there is no iron oxide (rust) anywhere on this horse.  As others have reported the hood is a great place to hold your tools or beer cans.  The spots on the hood in the first picture are from two beer cans.  The spots did wipe off.

 

 

 

 

[km3h 543]

You guys are making me jealous. I may have to find one of these machines and see what makes it tick.

One thing though. Why does everyone seem to knock the Briggs and Stratton opposed twin? I have found that engine to be very strong and reliable.

[Theroundhousernr 589]

I've never owned one but heard they are just fine. I have not heard a lot of bad things at all. Even the ones in the Work horses.

[bo dawg 477]

I never owned a BS twin either but heard they didn't last long. Throw bearings easy I heard among being a poor engineered engine.

I heard the fiberglass hood was made for 2 years, 78-79. They were suppose to be called a C-171 with the 17hp twin Kohlers, but the Kohler wasnt ready yet. So WH went with the BS twin which also had hood clearance issues on the original metal hoods. So they went with fiberglass hoods and also made a cutout notch for the exhaust to clear. Metal hoods was made again on the 1980-84 years. Thats what I heard from a guy that heard it from Ed Cole at the WH show who worked at WH.

 

I love the sq hood as well as the fiberglass. But I dont care much for the deep well plastic fender pan. I like the metal fenders.

[Molon_Labe 731]

While we are on Black Hoods, here is another one of my beauties. This is a 1979 C-161 with fiberglass hood and plastic fender.  The fender seems to be much stronger than the later version of the plastic fenders.  I can tell you there is no iron oxide (rust) anywhere on this horse.  As others have reported the hood is a great place to hold your tools or beer cans.  The spots on the hood in the first picture are from two beer cans.  The spots did wipe off.

 

 

 

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Just to throw another wrench in the gears, this is also a 1979 C-161 with the original Kohler K341

[bo dawg 477]

You could have purchased either way, there were options.

[SousaKerry 500]

I liked to think that the fiberglass hood may have come from the design department trying to come up with the next generation hood in a pre-production form, i.e. concept car.  Drawing from my work experience in Engineering I bet the meeting went something like this

 

 

Marketing: "Hey we want to put one of these newer design smaller twins in a C series tractor. to beat Cub to market" 

 

Engineer:"it won't fit under the hood, we need the new hood"

 

Tooling department: "We don't have room in the schedule to make the dies for 18 months."

 

Design Dept. lurking in the back corner: "hey we got a mold out back for the fiberglass prototype"  

 

Everyone:  "Sweet lets run with it"

 

Production Dept.  "Hey wait a minute we haven't laid fiber glass since the Ride Away Senior 83's and Cecil did that.  Put the labor hours for that hood at 40 hours a piece.

 

Sales: "Dang why are these new twins so expensive?"

 

Marketing: "Don't worry about, AMC doesn't care how much money we loose, sell them at a loss we just need them in the spring catalog"

 

Accounting: "Dang it Cecil would have never allowed this"

 

Marketing: Well the new boss in Detroit doesn't care and we really really want it. <holding breath and turning blue>

 

 

6 months later at the Dealer Meeting

 

Dealers:  "fiberglass what the heck is that, that's for corvette's not tractors, I ain't gonna order many because I will never sell them.  My customers want steel and reliability not cheap plastic hoods."

[Ken B 3,116]

I really like the black hoods myself. They have a sturdy feel to them, the hoods aren't all tinny and rattly and they have a big tractor feel to them when you are riding one. I wouldn't mind finding one and doing a full restore on one. It would have to have a twin under the hood, nice fat 10.50's on the back with tri ribs and a forward swept axle up front! I have seen some real nice restored black hoods out there but I gotta say Ole Martin has set the bar REAL high with his!

Here is a pic of one I had a few yrs. ago. Yep, shoulda kept it but there musta been something else I couldn't live without!

[redone 45]

Guys I have a question.about those hoods on 175 and 105 were is this stop suppose to be on these hoods. Mine just fall all the way to the ground. Trying to figure this out.

Thanks for your help

Bill

[Road-Track 39]

Here is the info you require!

 

Cheers!

WH bracket.pdf

[Zach w 11]

I have parts for tge 175 all but engine. Let me know. I'll send pics if I have it.

[123GO 78]

On 10/3/2014 at 11:16 AM, Martin said:

my c125 gets just as much love as the others. i think they are a good looking model, no different than any of the other wheel horses i own. can't resist posting a pic or two of mine.....

 

 

 

  I know its an old post but what tractor did this seat pan come off of? Or is it original?

 Any fabrication done on it?

 It just appears smaller than most pans? 

 Ol' tractor sure looks good here. 

  My black hood has a cracked fiberglass pan. Imagine that...lol

[SylvanLakeWH 24,182]

8 minutes ago, 123GO said:

 

  I know its an old post but what tractor did this seat pan come off of? Or is it original?

 Any fabrication done on it?

 It just appears smaller than most pans? 

 Ol' tractor sure looks good here. 

  My black hood has a cracked fiberglass pan. Imagine that...lol

Any of the C pans will fit to replace the Black Hoods fiberglass… 

 

Here’s mine:

 

[123GO 78]

1 hour ago, SylvanLakeWH said:

Any of the C pans will fit to replace the Black Hoods fiberglass… 

 

Here’s mine:

 

 I thought they all fit as long as the tank filler cap is there? Some C's dont have the hole for the filler cap.

 But I see his has shorter fenders than Ive seen? Not much sticks out over its tires, most are more like yours?

Thanks

[SylvanLakeWH 24,182]

If no gas access hole simply cut one…

 

His looks shorter I’m thinking because tires are wider…

[Jeff-C175 7,195]

27 minutes ago, SylvanLakeWH said:

looks shorter

 

Looks like it's chopped a bit to me.  Probably to clear those monster meats.