What have you done to your Wheel Horse today?

[TonyToro Jr. 2,155]

Hauled some brush with the C-121 today 

[Blue Chips 246]

I'm almost done refurbishing my GT18. I added fresh fuel today, changed all of the oil and filters, and took it for a longer test drive. The fresh fuel eliminated the slight lag from idle to a sudden wide-open throttle, and it's running great.

 

 

 

I slipped an old seat cover over the original seat, which is still in pretty good shape, with only a couple of small hairline cracks that don't go all the way through. I may try some vinyl conditioner on it to see if it softens up a bit.

 

 

There are still a few tweaks left to do on it:

• I need to make the final adjustments to the brake and motion-control linkages.
• The battery light is always on (it's charging fine) so I need to address that, either with a different battery light module or going to a voltmeter instead of a warning light.
• There's a wobble in the left front wheel, which I plan to replace with a rim that I got from @JoeM.
• I haven't decided about decals yet. It's a GT18, but I believe I've bumped up the CH18 to 20HP, so I don't know if I want a GT18 decal or not. Maybe I'll just skip the decals.

 

 

 

Edited Friday at 04:00 AM by Blue Chips

[Handy Don 14,790]

GT-18+

[JoeM 8,981]

1 hour ago, Blue Chips said:

I'm almost done refurbishing my GT18.

Nice work Chips!

[kpinnc 15,838]

1 hour ago, Blue Chips said:

haven't decided about decals yet. It's a GT18, but I believe I've bumped up the CH18 to 20HP, so I don't know if I want a GT18 decal or not. Maybe I'll just skip the decals.

 

Terry (Vinylguy in the vendor section) can make you some decals any way you like, and everyone here can vouch for his work and how nice the decals are. Almost everything I've purchased from him has been custom work. I think he has some 5xi stuff anyway, so he already has size templates to work with. 

 

Your tractor looks great! Even if it isn't red it is still a beauty! 

[JoeM 8,981]

I got new shims and gasket for the M12 that was leaking oil. Reinstalled the bearing cover and checked the end play,  

Made some dowels to hold the 4 shims and gasket. Shims were .003 and gasket was .010.

Used longer bolts to pull cover in while I tapped on it with a plastic dead blow. Whet smooth until the purple wire decided it wanted in on the action and drooped in between. I removed it probably going to reroute anyway.

 

 

I did notice once the plate was seated there was no end play, I tapped the crank with the dead blow back and forth a few times and that loosened her up. Total was .008

I checked it before I took it apart and it was .004. I did add the same number of shims. 

 

 

Edited Friday at 06:24 PM by JoeM

[Sodaking27 1,058]

Heart beat replacement for the C175. Met up with Lincoln from A to Z and picked up this KT17 series 2. Most likely will be after the holidays before I get the chance to install it.

 

Looks to be a 1995.

 

[pfrederi 19,025]

1 hour ago, Sodaking27 said:

Heart beat replacement for the C175. Met up with Lincoln from A to Z and picked up this KT17 series 2. Most likely will be after the holidays before I get the chance to install it.

 

Looks to be a 1995.

 

 

 

I have a Gray KT17-2 also.  same spec number (Wheel Horse) but by serial number 1987.  Always figured WH ordered replacement engines to go in place of failed KT-17-1...

[kpinnc 15,838]

Built my FIL a locking swivel seat for his Charger. He has a little difficulty getting on and off the tractor, so this will let him sit and swivel to center. 

 

Had to make two different adapters while trying to raise the seat as little as possible. But it worked out nice. 

 

Now we gotta figure out a latch for the fender pan. I have rebuilt the area under the seat that wears and allows rapid dismount over the rear of the tractor  but I think it needs one more safety added. May use a hood latch from a semi between the fender and footrest on the left side. 

 

Can't load a pic for some reason. I'll add it later. 

 

 

Edited Friday at 10:43 PM by kpinnc

[ebinmaine 74,760]

8 minutes ago, kpinnc said:

hood latch from a semi between

 

 

Like the 300/400 hoods?

[kpinnc 15,838]

1 minute ago, ebinmaine said:

Like the 300/400 hoods?

 

No, he said he has one from a semi truck hood latch. Almost like an old toolbox latch. 

[ebinmaine 74,760]

34 minutes ago, kpinnc said:

 

No, he said he has one from a semi truck hood latch. Almost like an old toolbox latch. 

 

That's OLD truck hood latch..

 

I ain't seen a LATCH for a hood in many years.  

 

 

[Bar Nuthin 1,548]

Today, I changed the name of the tractor, formerly known as Frankenhorse, to Johnny Cash. It's a '73 16-auto, with a '72 14 Horse Kohler, a '74 (or later) Sundstrand Hydro, and a '71 hydraulic lift.

 

Even though I knew the Sundstrand was newer, I brain farted when looking up the mounting gasket to the transaxle and ordered the gasket for a 1973 (#5955) from @daveoman1966, who even noted that they were for hydrogear only, but it didn't register in my tiny brain.

To make it more confusing you can substitute the #102759 for the #5955, but not the other way around.

Additionally, there's a seller on eBay listing #5955 gaskets as #102759 - so my first picture reference was misleading 

I'm only out a few bucks, but having to wait on parts is torture.  Anyone needing gasket #5955 let me know. 

[Ed Kennell 43,227]

I saw this 48" long frame plow on FBMP for cheap, so I made the 1 hr RT this morning. I never saw this warning decal before.   Wheel Horse?

 

[AlexR 2,254]

Got them washed up and parked in the barn for winter, still need to get the snow blower on one sometime.

[WHGuy413 2,835]

@WheelHorse_Kid and I have been working on getting stuff squared away for winter. Had these 5 out of the garage so decided to snap a photo.

[Ed Kennell 43,227]

On 11/15/2025 at 5:26 PM, Handy Don said:

@Ed Kennell your JPG image isn’t visible. 

Karl fixed the problem.

[kpinnc 15,838]

On 11/14/2025 at 5:41 PM, kpinnc said:

Can't load a pic for some reason. I'll add it later.

 

Karl @nylyon fixed it. My pics load again. Here is the swivel setup. 

 

Locks about every 30 degrees of rotation unless the handle is pulled. 

 

 

[JoeM 8,981]

On 11/15/2025 at 12:34 PM, Ed Kennell said:

I never saw this warning decal before

Just another sticker for the dumb asses, contrived by law suits. And drives the cost up for us. 

[ebinmaine 74,760]

On 11/15/2025 at 12:34 PM, Ed Kennell said:

warning decal

 

1 hour ago, JoeM said:

Just another sticker for the dumb asses, contrived by law suits. And drives the cost up for us. 

 

 

Not sure on the date those were on Wheelhorse plows. 

We've seen that decal wording several times here. 

 

[Ed Kennell 43,227]

2 hours ago, JoeM said:

On 11/15/2025 at 12:34 PM, Ed Kennell said:

I never saw this warning decal before

Just another sticker for the dumb asses,

Why Joe, shouldn't we let them drive their snow plows into tall structures at high speed?

[953 nut 62,407]

Safety first!

[ebinmaine 74,760]

@OldWorkHorse came byfor a visit. 

 

3 YEARS ago he and I had  @Pullstart send us a chunk of pvc to make dual wheel spacers. 

 

Steve and I used a table saw and some patience to cut several slices about 2.25" wide. 

 

 

 

 

[OldWorkHorse 3,113]

19 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

@OldWorkHorse came byfor a visit. 

 

3 YEARS ago he and I had  @Pullstart send us a chunk of pvc to make dual wheel spacers. 

 

Steve and I used a table saw and some patience to cut several slices about 2.25" wide. 

Like @ebinmaine said we finally remembered to finish a project only took 3 ish years . The spacers fit nice and came out good. Thanks to @Pullstart for the material to make them. Going to clean them up a bit and fine tune them but had to see what the C-170 could possibly look like after all this time! 

[8ntruck 8,199]

Morgan, the 14-8 got tapped for lawn sweep towing duty today.  The neighbor just obtained an older, but lightly used Agri Fab sweeper (for free!), so he came over with his 60" Cub Cadet zero turn hitched to his new toy to help me and sort out the sweeper setup - his leaves are pretty much taken care of through his 60" deck into the grass collected bags.

 

The job went pretty quickly with both of us working.  Once our burn area was filled up, I tended the fires and used the leaf blower to do the detail work around the fences and flower beds. 

 

We had a 'controlled burn' into the lawn at one point.  I'm claiming that it was an experiment to see if that patch of grass will be healthier next year, what with the 'regenerative' properties of a forest or prairie fire are supposed to give.

 

At one point I got caught in a sudden wind shift that singed a bit of hair off.  I was raking around the edge of the fire, and must have been in some superheated smoke that flashed off when the wind shifted.