What have you done to your Wheel Horse today?

[Handy Don 16,798]

23 hours ago, sqrlgtr said:

me thinks the ball/tongue will still be even to top of axle and I tried making the hitch as tight as possible to tractor. Actually going to drill a new hole for the hitch pin and slid ball in another inch or so that will help also, I hope. .. This is going to be my firewood hauler at least thats the plan anyhow. Ive pulled some pretty heavy loads with a hitch that I made that goes on the sleeve type hitch and this one isn't much taller if any at all, just hated putting all that tongue weight on my lift cables .

Moving the hitch closer to the tractor only modestly offsets the torque from the tongue weight. It does NOT change the torque caused by drag (the effort needed to pull the trailer along). A wheelie can happen extremely quickly with no time to react--and having a 600 lb tractor on your chest and a trailer tongue under your back can be, well, hurtful.

 

As noted, locking the hitch snugly onto the ball and leaving the trailer’s jack wheel close to the ground can be a partial anti-wheelie solution, but if the jack wheel hangs up...

 

Also, pay attention to the trailer tongue--putting the hitch ball in close, you may restrict your turning radius!

If you have the option, modifying the trailer tongue so that its hitch is at or below the height of the tractor axle is the way to go. 

Edited yesterday at 01:34 AM by Handy Don

[Blaine 88]

Success. 
 

 

[sqrlgtr 3,065]

17 hours ago, Handy Don said:

If you have the option, modifying the trailer tongue so that its hitch is at or below the height of the tractor axle is the way to go. 

yeah it should be just level or a little bit below tractor axle and Most of the weight is on the 3/4' pin at bottom of trans so that will help a bunch.

[adsm08 4,692]

So Thursday, while getting ready for the show we found some holes in the boy's mower deck.

 

This afternoon I had him strip it down to repair the shell. I will probably also replace the double belts and re-bearing the whole thing while it is apart.

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile I was futzing with the 1076 I bought from @Ed Kennell at the show. I wanted to get the deck on and try it out as a mowing machine, but first I had to straighten the forks a bit:

 

 

 

In the end I got the deck on, but there were other issues, and I ended up using the 855 to mow for the first time this year. The Commando has been dominating lawn care duty so far this year.

 

[lynnmor 8,863]

May I suggest a visit to this webpage:

[mrc 1,088]

hello adsm08,

 

license plate for deck repair...NICE!

 

also great to see a young man learning something besides computer/phone skills. 

 

regards

mike 

Edited 2 hours ago by mrc

[adsm08 4,692]

29 minutes ago, mrc said:

hello adsm08,

 

license plate for deck repair...NICE!

 

also great to see a young man learning something besides computer/phone skills. 

 

regards

mike 

 

The license plates were already there when I got it. Ed even joked it's the only WH licensed to drive on the turn pike. I'm on the fence about trying to repair that deck. The area around the spindles seems pretty solid, there is a lot of metal that needs replaced everywhere else. It may be better to just look for a different deck.

 

He much prefers working with his hands over doing computer things. He plays video games, and watches TV, and spends most of the evening most nights talking/texting his girlfriend, but he only has so much patience for a screen, or for sitting still, in a day.

 

@lynnmor

As for eye protection, we are well supplied with safety glasses, and use them when needed. Most of this job was done with hand tools, because we were working with carriage bolts, and impact guns strip the holes on carriage bolts.

 

In regards to the picture that I'm sure prompted that comment, he wasn't running the gun, just looking under to line up on the bolt that he couldn't break loose by hand. The deck shell was plenty of protection in this case.

 

 

Edited 2 hours ago by adsm08

[Ed Kennell 46,358]

10 minutes ago, adsm08 said:

It may be better to just look for a different deck.

Most of those side drive decks have seen a lot of use.    The spindles in that one seemed really good.   May have some value to someone rebuilding one.

You may want to convert to a front mule drive if you look for a better deck.

[Bill D 2,948]

I'm big on eye protection.   I'd wouldn't be able to run trains anymore if I lost an eye.  I had a coworker who had a deer head fall off the wall and puncture his eye. There's actually a video on YouTube about it.

Edited 1 hour ago by Bill D

[adsm08 4,692]

8 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:

You may want to convert to a front mule drive if you look for a better deck.

 

I had also considered that. Took me five minutes to get the deck on, including straightening the mounting forks. Took me another 20 to figure out that goofy belt setup.

[Handy Don 16,798]

4 hours ago, adsm08 said:

This afternoon I had him strip it down to repair the shell. I will probably also replace the double belts and re-bearing the whole thing while it is apart.

The cross-shaft bearings are probably ok, but the spindle bearings are probably worn. Part # 1508 spindle bearing (4) ==> Koyo B-1212 needle bearings. You’ll also need new seals 1303 oil seal (2) ==> Timken 312518. 

Be sure to help your apprentice out during spindle disassembly because the order of components is critical and, if it was a later model with thrust bearings, they’ll almost certainly look like greasy washers! (From the photo, there was a serious dearth of grease on the gears--they should be buried in grease!)

Lastly, be prepared to put some shims behind one of the cross-shaft bevel gears (between the gear and the step in the shaft) upon reassembly to take out gear lash. It took me three times to get this right and in the end the shims left about .05” of lash to account for heat expansion.

Good luck to you both! PM me if you come up with other questions.

Edited 8 minutes ago by Handy Don

[adsm08 4,692]

5 minutes ago, Handy Don said:

The cross-shaft bearings are probably ok

 

The inboard seals have fallen out of the cross shaft bearings and the guts appear to have been exposed for some time. They aren't super rotten, but they are patinaed to match the rest of the tractor.