Picked up a pair of 520-H's... school me

[1990Onan520-H 15]

Hi all, first post. Been a long time wheel horse fan. My father bought a 516-H new back in 87 and still runs it to this day as his main workhorse for mowing and general yard work. I finally bought my first house and naturally wanted a classic wheel horse. I ended up picking up a 91 244-H with a 42" deck to start, but decided next year that I want to cut back a whole bunch of trees and brush to open up some space. Also decided I want to get a snow blower setup.

 

That being said I started looking for something bigger and came across a pair of 520-H's and fell in love, so went and picked them up. Both have engine issues and one of the two was road hard and put away wet, she's rough but still runs and moves under her own power. I ran the serial numbers off the plates on the rear fenders and one comes up as a 90 and the other a 91.

 

The 90... after cleaning it up she's not too bad, hour meter reads 800 some odd hours and I feel that is accurate. Runs and moves but has a dead cylinder. The odd thing about this mower is it has the faster steering and I thought that was a 91 and up thing.

 

The 91... after cleaning this one up it's still rough haha. It did a lot of plowing and hauling and it shows. Also paint is very faded so it spent a lot of its life outside. Also sat for a long long time before I picked it up. Gas smells very old and even after a wash there is still green moss all over it. This one reads just over 1200 hours and I feel that is accurate too. It will run for 30 seconds or so and just shut off once it gets some heat in it. Also odd is that this one has slower steering. So do I have this gear reduction steering thing backwards or was the reduction what made the steering slower?

Edited October 23, 2018 by 1990Onan520-H

[1990Onan520-H 15]

Few shots after clean up.

[KC9KAS 4,741]

@1990Onan520-H  to 

[Tankman 3,515]

  to our gang of Horse nuts. Great Horses you got there, you'll love 'em!

[ohiofarmer 3,157]

  I always tell people to check the idler pulley/arm that tensions the transmission drive belt. There is a plastic bushing that lets the tensioner pivot and that bushing is in a very thin section of sheet metal in the transmission tunnel. If that bushing wears through, it creates a rapidly wearing condition as the surrounding metal wears in an egg shaped hole.  The resulting vibration gets so bad that the belt gets thrown off the pulley.   Definitely a design flaw on the later machines...

 

 I have a 416-8 and that tractor has a air loaded shock that does not wear so fast as the 520, which has a conventional spring

[cleat 4,947]

Good looking machines.

 

Yes, the gear reduction is slower but much easier.

 

I prefer the faster steering for mowing but the gear reduction is nice with the heavy 2 stage snow blower.

 

However, both work fine if they are set up properly with proper lubrication and all excess play removed.

 

 

[oliver2-44 8,852]

More 520 experts will be along, great Horses

[1990Onan520-H 15]

4 hours ago, Tankman said:

  to our gang of Horse nuts. Great Horses you got there, you'll love 'em!

 

Thanks! Random question but were these your old 520's? I could have sworn I saw a picture you posted of your son on one that looks just like the guys son I picked them up off of. He was just oh maybe 15 years older lol.

 

 

2 hours ago, ohiofarmer said:

  I always tell people to check the idler pulley/arm that tensions the transmission drive belt. There is a plastic bushing that lets the tensioner pivot and that bushing is in a very thin section of sheet metal in the transmission tunnel. If that bushing wears through, it creates a rapidly wearing condition as the surrounding metal wears in an egg shaped hole.  The resulting vibration gets so bad that the belt gets thrown off the pulley.   Definitely a design flaw on the later machines...

 

 I have a 416-8 and that tractor has a air loaded shock that does not wear so fast as the 520, which has a conventional spring

 

Thanks for the tip. The 91 (the really beat up one) that I am now calling swamp thing, has a god awful knocking noise coming from what sounds like behind the engine, but in front of the hydro. Maybe that's this issue?

 

2 hours ago, cleat said:

Good looking machines.

 

Yes, the gear reduction is slower but much easier.

 

I prefer the faster steering for mowing but the gear reduction is nice with the heavy 2 stage snow blower.

 

However, both work fine if they are set up properly with proper lubrication and all excess play removed.

 

 

 

Ok that makes sense. That actually works out because my plan was to set the 90 up as my summer mower and the 91 as the winter machine with the snow blower since it's already fairly well trashed.

Edited October 23, 2018 by 1990Onan520-H

[Pullstart 59,644]

 to  @1990Onan520-H!

[Tankman 3,515]

Wasn't one of my sons but, they wish pray for hydros. I've only have one '90 520-8.

Was always Kohler but, this Onan purrs like a lion.  

[Daron1965 644]

 

Better be careful keeping them together, before you know it,  you will have a stable full of them.   

[1990Onan520-H 15]

5 minutes ago, Daron1965 said:

 

Better be careful keeping them together, before you know it,  you will have a stable full of them.   

Took me 4 months to own 3 horses. It Will only get worse... Or better? Huh? More is better.