What have you done to your Wheel Horse today?

[lynnmor 8,760]

6 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

 

A#1 note here. I'm not a scientist. 

 

That said, to the best of my knowledge, no off the shelf chemical does anything to cancel the negative effects of ethanol on rubber. 

 

 

You've done exceedingly well. 

I've had first hand personal experience with at least a dozen machines that were affected by ethanol over the years. 

Dried up carb components. 

Fuel lines aged prematurely. 

Carbs and pumps leaking.  

 

We've seen ethanol destroy (someone else's supplied) cheap rubber fuel line in just one mowing season. 

 

Disgusting stuff and it has no place in an engine. Period.  

 

 

I agree that it had no place in gasoline, it is there to force people to buy it and in turn to buy the farm votes. I had issues years ago before ethanol resistant fuel system materials were available.  My thought is that many of the problems are brought on by the users allowing the fuel to be exposed to the atmosphere.  I was going to move to all ethanol free, but that isn’t going to happen at current inflated prices.

 

If folks think that they can buy 9 gallons of gasoline and a gallon of ethanol and then pour in a small amount of snake oil they can make that gallon of corn squeezins go away have at it.

[Handy Don 16,333]

Not “to” my WH but “for” it.

In the fall, I made a small cart to hold my 36” RD Gear mower deck for easier storage and movement during its off season. An unanticipated benefit was easy access for sharpening and cleaning and for re-greasing one of the gearboxes.

Now that I’ve got the mower back on the tractor, I decided to upgrade the cart so that it’ll hold the blade.

 

Here it is with the mower and now with the blade.

        

 

 

[sqrlgtr 2,651]

Mounted some Vredstien V61’s, added some liquid ballast and got um back on 520H.

[Chris689 207]

Back moving under its own power sooner than I anticipated. Need to have the AGS mounted next and swap the tri-ribs from the C120 over and remount the dozer blade. 

[CasaytheMann 61]

Rebuilt the carb after the parts came in and reinstalled it. Cleaned the gas tank, installed new fuel line, filter, and shut off valve. Went to the local gas station that the net said had ethanol free gas. They did. $5.80 a gallon. Went to Walmart, bought a 5 gallon gas tank, and went back. Once I got home and put some in the WH it was time to check operation. Turned the key and it cranked, and cranked, and cranked until the battery wore down. Stuck the charger on it and started looking to see why it wouldn't start. 🤔 Low and behold I forgot to plug the new harness into the new fuel solenoid.🤦‍♂️ Started right up! I did not shut the gas off because I want to see if the new parts took care of the previous leak.

 

 

Edited yesterday at 04:19 AM by CasaytheMann

[rick 292]

Last summer I used E10 in the 314-8 to mow the whole season.  I had no problems this spring when I started mowing again.  I won't use it in my mixed fuel though.

[Stan50 117]

 With propane system there will be no problem with ethanol . That video is very interesting -  Propane kit , NashFuel kit for 10,12 HP Kohler engines. Any advice regarding Propane conversion pros and cons?

Thera are many videos with propane converted riding mowers, but no Wheel Horses  

[CasaytheMann 61]

Went and changed the deck belt today. I saw no fuel leaks anywhere which confirms the rubber seals and O Rings were degraded, most likely caused by the ethanol. 

[Handy Don 16,333]

56 minutes ago, Stan50 said:

 With propane system there will be no problem with ethanol . That video is very interesting -  Propane kit , NashFuel kit for 10,12 HP Kohler engines. Any advice regarding Propane conversion pros and cons?

Thera are many videos with propane converted riding mowers, but no Wheel Horses  

The videos show the pros emphatically. There is a lot to like with propane and the hardware to switch a Kohler to propane (or to dual fuel) is readily obtained.

Things to keep in mind:

- Propane will yield somewhat lower horsepower than gasoline for a given engine displacement/compression ratio.

- Sizing a propane tank big enough to run the engine for as long as you need it. The inter web tells us a standard 20 lb propane tank contains approximately 430,000 to 455,000 BTUs. In one gallon of gasoline there are approximately 114,000 to 125,000 BTUs. So about 3.5 gallons of gas (a full 300, 400, or 500 tank) equals one 20 lb tank. Near me a tank refill ~$20; a gas refill ~$15. 

- Where on the tractor to mount it safely, including plumbing

- Refueling convenience (i.e. switching tanks and getting refills) 

Edited 18 hours ago by Handy Don

[sqrlgtr 2,651]

Replaced rectifier on the 520H and installed a Wheel Horse head fuse block cover gifted to me from @WHX??. Btw the rectifier fixed my charging problem, from looks of the gauge face must not have worked for a long time. 

[Achto 31,638]

I finally decide to take the time to pay attention to this 704 that I bought last fall. First off - pull the rope & see if it runs. Yep that's right, I brought it home, and stuffed it in the shed. Never even tried to see if it ran. Good news, after a bunch of pulls and some coaxing I have it starting easy and running good with no smoke. 

 

Here are a couple pics of when I brought it home. There are a few discrepancies but most of the correct parts came with it. 

 

The correct gas tank and rear wheels where included in the purchase. Did a little shopping in my parts collection and also in Jim's collection to find the rest of the parts needed. Top tin for the engine, gas cap, a different set of front wheel covers, clutch spring, and a hood that is in better shape. Ready to show and enjoy now. This tractor is how ever on my resto list. 

 

Pictures after a light make over.

Edited 16 hours ago by Achto

[702854boy 656]

18 minutes ago, Achto said:

 

 

@Achto, could you include the idler pulley and arm thingy with the mower deck as it looks like that is specific to the deck?

[Razorback 1,265]

Spent some time looking at my 36RD deck. Last season I had put the deck on the tractor just for the fun of it. (Now I remember.... The front wheel bushings on my normal mower were shot and I was waiting for parts to arrive) I don't remember using the deck before. I don't normally mow with the C160... it's a garden machine. While I was using it, the middle blade fell off! The bolt securing the blade broke. Again, I don't remember ever doing anything with this deck since I acquired the tractor, so I'm guessing the PO over-tightened the bolt. Anyway, today I sharpened the blades, used an easy-out to get the remainder of the bolt out of the spindle shaft, and then cleaned up the underside of the deck. While doing all of this, I noticed there was no bolt on the top side of this same spindle (!), so I remedied that using a bolt, washer, and split washer out of my pile o'stuff. Sometime soon I will put the deck on the tractor and see how it does. Thankful that this was a rather simple fix, requiring no bearings, spindles, etc. 

Our yard is almost an acre, so this smaller deck is just what came with the tractor. A few years back, a neighbor GAVE me a 42SD deck! I might try that one, too. (We normally mow with a Craftsman PGT-9000 that has a 54" deck). 

Edited 13 hours ago by Razorback

[Chris689 207]

Got the tri-ribs swapped over, replaced the front tie rods, and topped off the trans oil. Then gave my youngest a ride around the yard. It’s nice having this back up and running fully again. 

[ML3 2,254]

Slowly getting the tractors outta storage in back shed. Wanna go thru them one at a time getting them ready for summer. Hasn't been easy cause we've had so much rain. Yard is like a swamp & don't wanna have a mess moving them from shed to garage. Got the rat rod all ready & added a simple belt guard. Have been fortunate so far not to get my jeans jammed up in pulleys/belt. Try to keep moving on to next ones....

[WHX?? 56,187]

Replaced a melted fuse block on the 520 FEL. Not a fun job but doable.  The usual 30 amp fuse was the culprit. This one had the fuse cover on it. The cover did protect dirt from getting in but high current thru the fuse eventually created a runaway situation. The lesson here is @sqrlgtr even with a cover it pays to inspect it. This is the same circuit that can take out the nine pin.

 

More fun ... started parting out this one. More on another thread why it was a parts tractor and it wasn't the mouse house or Squonkies favorite oil filter. 

 

 

Edited 49 minutes ago by WHX??