Looking for a suburban in the uk

[Dan27 8]

Hi, it's the second time I've posted on here, I'm hoping I'll have more luck this time round. I'm trying to track down a suburban 400 in the uk, specifically my old suburban 400. My dad restored it for me when I was younger and I showed it at shows in Cumbria, at the time wheelhorse didn't have much of a presence in the uk and we struggled to find info about it.

I sold it in 2006-2007 stupidly.

 

My last post seemed to be met with slight suspicion, I can assure people I'm not out to steal it, or try to rip someone off, however I would really like to know who owns it now, and if the opportunity arose to buy it back, it has a lot of sentimental attachment, and it has a few identifying items I can list to aid finding the exact machine:

 

first the brake/clutch pedal has a hole drilled in it, this was due to me being too short to reach the pedal when I first got it and my dad made an extension so I could drive it.

 

as stated, there wasn't much around wheelhorse wise at the time, therefore the attachments were all home made/modified. I believe there was a small plough, a homemade grubber, a homemade roller (it had a platform on a frame on top to add extra weights) a small trailer, and a front snow plough. I seem to recall the plough being modified from a Howard item but I could be wrong.

 

the trailer it was carried on. Again this was a home made effort, a twin axle trailer specifically built to take the tractor and attachments. The small trailer for the tractor sat on a frame over the bonnet of the tractor.

 

I know it's still around, and I know it came up for sale about 8 years ago. Again, I know people are suspicious about people sniffing round things, but somebody knows this tractor and its current owner, and if you could contact me for a phone number to pass along, I'd be incredibly greatful. 

Edited August 13, 2016 by Dan27

[neil 2,398]

I remember you asking the question once before & im sorry that you haven't found it yet , I'm pretty sure that the current owner is not a member here at Redsquare as I have been around  here for a good few years and was probably one of the first few of UK members . I would imagine that if you keep digging on a few other vintage machinery forums you may get lucky & as the suburbans are pretty rare here in UK there can be many owners of them . I myself own 2 that were UK tractors and I know of a couple of other suburban owners from UK . Although I  have seen some pictures of some vintage shows  with suburbans  in the background so naturally it is still out there . Do you have any other information on the person that you sold it too as to where they were located , this may narrow it down to what part of the country it may be . 

Try our sister site.    www.myoldmachine.com & also  vintage horticultural garden machinery club , these are the two main UK forums that may know of its whereabouts , in the mean time I will keep my eyes & ears open for you .

[Dan27 8]

Hi Neil, unfortunately I don't have any info on who bought it or where it went from us, other than it appeared on eBay about 8 ish years ago  as you say, they are rare and this one is pretty recognisable, certainly when it appeared on eBay last it still had its attachments and trailer. 

[SylvanLakeWH 24,230]

Cool story and I wish you luck in your search!

 

 

[Racinbob 10,361]

Good luck with your search. Do let us know if you find it. One thing though. The tractor in the pictures is a 551 based on the decals, footrests and battery location. 

[Dan27 8]

2 hours ago, Racinbob said:

Good luck with your search. Do let us know if you find it. One thing though. The tractor in the pictures is a 551 based on the decals, footrests and battery location. 

Ah ok, like I say when we owned it there was absolutely diddly squat about wheel horses in the uk, in fact most places just looked at you like you had two heads when you mentioned one!! So we had to essentially guess what it was from scraps of info here and there. Is it a suburban 551 or just a wheelhorse 551?

[Racinbob 10,361]

Sure. It also was the only mid engine with the two piece unidrive case rather that the three piece. I sure hope you find it. I understand the attachment. I just restored a Suburban 400. That was special to me because it's the same model that my dad bought new when I was five years old. I like that front grill. Do you recall the purpose of that?

[Dan27 8]

9 minutes ago, Racinbob said:

Sure. It also was the only mid engine with the two piece unidrive case rather that the three piece. I sure hope you find it. I understand the attachment. I just restored a Suburban 400. That was special to me because it's the same model that my dad bought new when I was five years old. I like that front grill. Do you recall the purpose of that?

The front grille was fitted after my sister managed to drive it into the side of the Ferguson te20 you can just see the front wheel of, denting the bonnet. Dad decided after that it needed extra protection

[Racinbob 10,361]

Cool. It looks great and almost like a factory option. My wife was moving the kids John Deere from the back to the front of their house. The gate on the wood fence was closed when she came up to it. Being more accustomed to my Wheel Horses she tried to stop by stepping on the right side pedal. Well.....being a hydro you know what that accomplished. She wiped out the gate, hinges and all.

[Dan27 8]

Considering his only formal qualifications are as a wagon/crane driver and he was brought up on a farm, he's a bloody good fabricator! I'm a sheet metal worker by trade and sometimes he comes up with solutions I hadn't even considered  I really hope I can find this tractor, it'd mean a lot to me and him.

 

This is what he currently takes to shows, it's a floataire factory tug, we have te receipts from 1960 when it was bought new by Bradford parks department as a runaround for the groundskeeper. When dad got it it had sat unloved for years outside in a timber yard and looked scrap. I think all told it took him 2 hours to get it running and a couple of weeks to get to this condition. It seems it's actually rarer than the wheel horse, we've never seen another in the flesh and only two others have cropped up for sale in the time he's had it, both not running original engines or modified in other ways.

[meadowfield 2,545]

 there is a surburban that crops up at the Driffield Steam Rally - I'll have another look for the pics...

[Sa-Bear 3]

3 hours ago, meadowfield said:

 there is a surburban that crops up at the Driffield Steam Rally - I'll have another look for the pics...

 

Hi,

Dan27 is my brother and like he said in his original post our Dad would be made up if we could find out what happened to his original Wheelhorse, so if you could find any pictures that might happen to be the same tractor that would be amazing.

 

I've just bought a 1968 Wheelhorse Lawn Ranger, mainly for my 8yr old daughter to enter into shows but also for my dad to restore and tinker with, so I would imagine ill be on here a bit gather information.