Requiem for an "Army" Commando 8

[dtallon 320]

Picked up this little Commando 8 today.  I looked at it more as buying a mid-mount grader blade, a Lawn Ranger dozer blade, and getting the tractor for free.  The tired old girl may not be worth much more than that.  In addition to being rusty and worn, all the tires are shot (I took 2 fronts with me just to make it easier to roll onto the trailer), the engine is locked up, and one front spindle is even seized in the axle and won't turn.  There are a few good parts there, but probably a bunch of broken bolts and seized parts in the way of getting them off. 

 

 

While this tractor may be lacking in physical value, it certainly has an interesting story.  The seller was actually quite fond of the tractor, and was embarrassed about letting it get to this condition.  He was quite a talker, and we ended up chatting about the history of the tractor and how it intertwined with his own life story.  After hearing it all, I feel a bit reluctant to part it out (it IS in pretty rough shape though) so in honor of the tough little guy, I thought I would tell it's story here.  

 

The tractor started life in 1968.  It was sold by the dealer in Decatur, IL.  The seller recounted that the dealer started by selling Wheel Horses as a travelling salesman, and that Wheel Horse convinced him to set up a store with a showroom, and would give him a credit back on his purchases to reinvest in the store.  The Commando 8 was originally sold to an older gentleman, who unfortunately had a stroke not long after getting it.  The stroke wasn't fatal, but he was no longer able to use the manual lift so he traded the Commando on one with hydraulic lift.  

 

Mark, the seller, served in the Army in Vietnam driving an M113 armored personnel carrier.  He showed me pictures of his tank after it hit a land mine, which he referred to as "his last day in Vietnam".  He later mentioned injuries he sustained in that attack to both knees and his foot.  He was rightfully proud of his service and enjoys reconnecting with the men he served with.  He showed me some pictures of incredible scale models he had built of the M113's, and planned to give one to each of the surviving guys he served with when he meets up with them again in a few weeks. Very cool.

 

When he returned home from Vietnam in 1971, he decided that the old Montgomery Wards riding mower he had been using just wasn't up to the task of mowing the rough yard he had.  He wanted a real garden tractor with a floating mower deck.  He and the Wheel Horse dealer worked out a deal on a slightly used Commando 8.  He didn't take it with him right away, and when he returned to get it, he was a little early and caught the dealer using it with the grader blade to level the gravel in his parking lot.  The dealer was embarrassed to get caught using a sold tractor, so he threw in the grader blade as part of the deal.  The dozer blade was a later purchase from a friend who also had a Wheel Horse.  

 

It sounded like the Commando had a fairly active life.  It's primary job was mowing.  Mark mentioned his wife used it to mow and one time she ran it out of oil and the engine locked up.  He said he took it to a machine shop and after getting into it they found that other than a new piston and rings, all the block really needed was honing and it ran fine after that.  Mark told stories about using the grader blade to level various projects, and how he used it to help dig a basement by hauling cart-fulls of dirt out of the hole.  

 

Mark was proud of his tractor and even though he wasn't a collector, he was a Wheel Horse fan and seemed to know quite a bit about Wheel Horse tractors and company history.  He held on to it planning to restore the tractor "someday", but realized he wasn't ever going to get around to it, and even if he did it was going to take alot more work than he initially thought.  (He also seemed excited about freeing up some garage space.)  He enjoyed seeing a few pictures of my restored Wheel Horses.  As I was tying down the tractor on the trailer, he went into the house and came back with a Wheel Horse hat he had purchased a few years back that he wanted me to have.

 

I hadn't planned on spending 2 hours picking up the tractor, but fortunately it was a rare day where I had taken the day off and didn't have anywhere I really had to be.  Sure, I had other things I could have done, but I could tell he was really enjoying having a captive audience, and to be honest, I found his stories interesting.  This long, holiday weekend will be a good one to see if the tractor has any life left in it, and what scars it might have from it's life experiences.    

[R. L. Addison 299]

 

I hope it was a good buy, I called and talked to him about it and had every intention of buying it, but, alas not in the Lords will for me. I was trying to sell "D" series parts for the money, but they aren't moving, the market seemed to dry up as I was tearing it (the "D" series) down with several others deciding to part theirs out also. Que sera sera and good luck with it.

[JERSEYHAWG / Glenn 4,498]

Very nice story, thanks for sharing it. 

 

Glenn

[elliot ness 1,916]

Nice story.

[953 nut 58,176]

            Well , now that you know the history of the tractor and have begun to bond with it the only logical thing to do is give it a good home and welcome it to your herd.                                                Let the restoration begin!                         

Perhaps an Army paint scheme would be appropriate.      

Edited September 2, 2017 by 953 nut
fat finger

[AMC RULES 37,147]

 

                             Seems it would make for the perfect candidate to do up a custom ARMY  ...to honor, and then, share with your seller.   

 

 

 

 

Edited September 2, 2017 by AMC RULES

[Retired Wrencher 5,658]

dtallon  Every thing has a purpose with these. Try putting some Marvel down in the cylinder to try and free up. Be patient with it does work that way you now where you are with this engine.. Other than that it can be saved.Or a great parts tractor. I had a 6 like that took my time with it and it turned out to be a good worker.Enjoy the project.

Edited September 2, 2017 by Retierd Wrencher

[dclarke 4,076]

Nice story, Dave! Thanks for sharing it.

[EricF 589]

That's some fine and interesting history behind that tractor. You may find it's worth bringing back to life. Given the simplicity of the prior engine repair, it may be simple to get it running again. The spindle can probably be taken apart and cleaned up or replaced. Stuck fasteners happen even on newer Horses (Had my fair share on my 520H...) -- the great thing about Wheel Horse is that they generally are standard SAE fasteners that you can get replacements for at a hardware store that stocks a good selection of nuts, bolts, and other fasteners. Pretty much the same for bearings -- I've learned that either they're standard sizes that are easy enough to obtain, or you can get them from vendors here on Red Square. The biggest cost to restore it to working condition may be time, more so than money.

[artfull dodger 440]

I bet some PB blaster or soda pop(cant remember if its coke or pepsi) will help free up a stuck piston.  I bet that old girl can come back to life again.  I have gotten worse running again.  Interesting that some Commando 8's had and some didnt have the Hi/Lo rear ends.  My Autism Horse is a 1968 Commando 8 with the Hi/Lo range.  Good luck on the Horse, the back story would make it special to me.    Mike the Aspie

[CasualObserver 3,410]

Really glad someone here picked that up. I'd been watching that on CL for a couple weeks. It was only about 20 minutes from my parents place and figured I'd follow up on it if it was still there when I get down that way.  Worth the price of admission for the grader blade but the accompanying stories really make that any awesome score. Congrats. 

[dtallon 320]

The good/bad thing about this hobby is that eventually you accumulate enough parts to bring most Wheel Horses back to life if you really want to...  I put about a day and a half of the holiday weekend into this one trying to get it running.  I kept expecting to run into a showstopper, and it fought me every inch of the way, but I didn't find anything that couldn't be overcome or overlooked for now.

 

As it turns out, the tractor was a mix of good and bad.  First, the bad.  The steering system is in really bad shape.  I did free up the spindles, but the front axle pivot is worn quite a bit.  One tie rod is so worn it will randomly fall off.  The worst though is the steering shaft.  It literally looks like somebody tired to tear it out of the tractor.  The dash surround is ripped apart with a crude attempt at a repair.  The casting the steering shaft rests in on the bottom is also cracked all the way through on one side.  Not surprisingly, there is lots of flex when you try to steer.  

 

 

I had already swapped out the rotted front tires, but when I went to swap in some good rears, I found the wheels were rusted to the hubs.  At least the lug bolts came out without breaking off, but it took alot of PB Blast and pounding with a chisel to separate the rims from the hubs. While I was back there, I checked out the hitch.  It's got the slot hitch, but it is rusted solid and wouldn't move.  It budged a little with alot of heat and PB blaster, but I decided to move on and save that project for later.  So far, for the most part, if it needs to come apart or move, it's a safe bet it's locked up.  

 

Enough of the bad, how about some good news...  Surprisingly, the engine is not locked up.  The seller said it was, so I didn't even bother trying it when I picked up the tractor.  I'm not sure if bouncing around on the trailer on the way home (US 51 between Decatur and Bloomington is terrible!) unstuck it or what, but it turned perfectly fine by hand when I tried it when I got home.  It had hardly any oil in it, so I took care of that.  The key switch was bad, but after swapping in a good one and hooking up power, not only was the engine free, but the S/G turned it over. I had to clean up the points, but sure enough it had spark too.  Do I dare press my luck on fuel?...  The gas tank was remarkably clean inside, but the shut off was rusted solid in the off position.  Hooking it up to a temporary tank and cranking it over, the fuel pump worked fine, but it would only sputter on starting fluid.  After cleaning the carb... it runs!

 

Reinvigorated with that success, I decided to go the next step and see if I could get the tractor to move under it's own power.  Tapping into my stock of used parts, I came up with a battery, ground cable, throttle cable, a drive belt, and a muffler.  It was looking pretty homely with no hood and a temporary gas tank strapped on, so I thought a chrome stack would help improve things.  I again fired it up and took it for a spin around the yard, which I'm sure was quite amusing for the neighbors.  Surprisingly, there was not a bit of smoke out of the engine at start up or during operation.  It surged pretty bad coasting down hill or on flat ground, but putting it under load going uphill it smoothed out. I tried to clean the carb one more time, and played with the main and idle screws, but still couldn't get it to smooth out.  At that point the loose tie rod popped off again and refused to stay on.  I decided that was a sign to call it quits for now.  

 

 

So, I'm not really sure what is in store for the Commando. The history of the tractor tugs on the heartstrings, but I already have an 854 that is mechanically the same tractor, and is already redone.  I also already have two other tractor projects in the pipeline that I want to get to, and some of the parts I used to get this one running are earmarked for those.  One of those projects involves putting a K181 and an 8-speed trans in a Lawn Ranger, so it's tempting to pull the engine for use in that project.  For that matter, the engine currently in my 854 smokes, so I could swap the Commando engine into that tractor as well.  Any decision on the Commando's fate will have to wait.  Over the weekend I also picked up a 312-8 that was headed to the scrap yard.  I want the 8-speed for the previously mentioned Lawn Ranger project, but, like the Commando, plan to try to revive it to see what is good and what is not.  The fun continues...

[953 nut 58,176]

       That first victory lap on a  that others have given up for dead is soooooo satisfying!