By
Brandon Byers
I know I'm half a year ahead of schedule!
I picked this 1974 D-180 up early last year. It had a pretty hard life, and the previous owner gave his best attempt at keeping it alive. Hydro was strong so I serviced it and put it to work mowing all year. I decided if it would make it through the season then it would get some TLC. By fall it was burning about a quart of oil an hour but it made it. I have no clue how many hours are on it, every hole, bushing, bearing on this tractor is pooched. If you look closely, somebody used two 1" NPT Pipe Flanges to rebuild the mounting points for the upper 3 point cylinder. Hey it works!
I rebuilt the steering gearbox and re-bushed the front axle along with making new spindles.
I had the 482 Kohler bored .20 over (it was .10 over already) and gave it a rebuild with the intention of putting it back to work on snow duty.
I then dawned on me that this tractor will be 50 years old next year - and these old D's are becoming harder and harder to find anymore. So I decided to customize it a bit and go for what a maybe a dealership would offer for a 50th anniversary model if Wheel Horse was still in business today (In another universe, maybe!)
As D's aren't known for their looks - and I can't leave anything alone. I took approximately 2 Inches out of the grille and bezel.
I updated most of the wiring and lights. Gave it a new set of Carlisle Ags along with Vredestein front ribs. It got a new seat and I painted all the accents aluminum.
I patched, rebuilt the 48" deck and put new blades, wheels, and hardware on it. The Blade & 3 point scoop somebody adapted to it also got some attention.
Lastly I stripped it most of the way down and painted it with IH red acrylic urethane enamel.
I always forget to take pictures during my projects but here's a few:
Before:
After:
Thanks for reading!!
By Jayzauto
By 83mercedes