Leaderboard

Well the big day has come and it really was an exciting time for me and my daughter. Every Friday in her Kindergarten class they have a show and tell time. They have the students bring in items according to what letter of the alphabet that they have worked on during the week as a theme. My wife wrote the letters out on the calendar and a couple of weeks ago I noticed that we were getting closer to the letter "T" I thought well this might be fun to be able to see your tractor for the first time and share it with all of the kids in your class as well. Well I took the day off as the babysitter was out of town who normally watches my little boy during the day. I took him to preschool this morning, went and did some errands, stopped out at the barn and did a few quick things, and then headed back to get my little boy. We headed back to the barn and I started working on the tractor some more. Everything is not done on the tractor but it was close enough. It was a mad scramble for the last hour I had before I needed to load it up and head to school. I do not have the ignition switch in yet, along with the wiring for it. I knew 5 and 6 year olds wouldn't know the difference, so it was no big deal. I was starting to worry as it was spitting rain and snow all morning. I really didn't want to set it outside and have the kids freezing just to see it. So since a Lawn Ranger goes easily through a standard door, I started thinking. I actually unloaded it in the back of the school and rolled it in by the custodial office and my gymnasium. I had it just inside the doors out of sight from the majority of kids at school. I went in to the office and saw her teacher and said that I was all ready. She was very supportive and excited for the kids to see it. So I walked down and found my wife, she is a teacher in the same building also, and brought her down to see it. We then walked down together to get my little girl, Addison, and brought her down before the rest of the kids so we could enjoy it as a family first. She absolutely loved it and it seemed that it was a little overwhelming to her as she was trying to take it all in. I didn't know how she would react when she saw it. She was happy but like I said........a little overwhelmed and didn't know what to think. A few minutes later her class came down as well as another kindergarten class. She had the neat opportunity to sit on the tractor as the kids gathered around. The kids had a question/answer time and I was suprised on how much my daughter picked up. She really made her dad proud. When the kids were asking her questions I could see the excitement come out a little more as she soon became a "rock star" with the kids in her class. We spent probably about 20 minutes gathered around the tractor and the kids asked me questions about it as well. The other teachers really got in to it as well and were very intrigued and asked me plenty of questions about it. It was fun for the whole family and a day I will never forget. I loaded it back up and made a detour over to our powder coater and showed him and his wife. I thanked them for the huge part they had in making this a great project and how the color came out better than expected. I headed back to the barn, unloaded it, and attached a little fun accessory to suprise her with when she got there from school. She screamed with delight! This dad had tears in his eyes and would do it all over again in a heartbeat.............wait a minute, I will be as the 500 Special is getting torn down soon for my little boy! Thanks so much to Gene H. our powder coater, Terry (the Vinylguy) for the custom decals, Gene Simpson (Gene_S) for the awesome seat cover and seat pan, Stephen Jones (Rollerman) for the steering wheel, Vic McNeal for the replacement motor, my wife for putting up with me being gone late nights working on this, and most importantly to my dad who allowed me to do this while giving me little pointers along the way. He knew how important it was to me to do this on my own. Hope you enjoy the pictures. Just a quick reminder of where we started........... Here is my favorite little girl sitting on her tractor for the first time.......... Sitting on that seat proudly in front of her class ready to answer any question thrown at her....... Letting her classmates walk around the tractor as she answers some more questions............ A great photo of the belt guard decal..........we all know how talented Terry really is! Some random shots in the school hallway! Painted the front letters to match the decals, rims, and motor.......... Back at the barn and added the suprise for my little girl............ Now finally, here is why I did what I did!!!!!

FYI -- Just got a brief note from Mike Martino (author: The Wheel Horse Story), that I'ld like to share: " I have begun working on the final edition which will hopefully be released in summer 2013. It is going to be amazing and much bigger. God Bless, Mike " Looking forward to a newer & better book. Glen

I feel good, whoa-oa-oa-oa I knew that I would, whoa-oa-oa-oa

Hi all, Today they delivered my new horse for the collection, a 416-8 with onan P216G. It's in almost new condition with only small rust on floorboards. Further than that almost looks like it came from the store as a new one. It gets even better cause the engine only has 180 hours on it!!! BUT there is also a downside on it. As it came from a wheelhorse dealer in the past they took of the intake, carb, airfilter and starter motor to use on an other one that had to be fixed for a customer. It also misses the front screen and some bolts here and there on the engine. Also no idler pulley on the clutch assembly and 3 red lenses are missing on the control panel. I do have acces to an 18 hp onan that came from a 518H but I don't know if parts are interchangeable. Someone of you out there has to confirm it for me please! Should carb and intake, etc. from a P218G work on mine P216G? Please help. Also there is no oil filter on the engine and it doesn't seem there ever been one there as there is a bolt. It does have a rubber round flap that covers the side of the engine shroud wich says oil filter. Strange...does it need an oil filter? Engine has real 180 hours on it and has tons of compression when turned by hand. I'm pretty sure there is no internal damage. Hope to get her running soon. I also need to find an online manual an parts viewer for the engine and tractor it self. Could someone help me with this? Here the numbers. Tractor: ID number: R1160802 10115 9331 Engine: P216G-I/10957C Serial number: J893614503 Part number: 117349 Well I think that's all for now and because you all like pics, here ya go!

Looks awsome Scott!! That last picture says it all, the way she is hanging onto your arm with a smile! Nice job . Mike........ PS...wonder how many kids went home and asked their parents where their tractor is .

Yep, he's making videos. He's hooked.... :)

I've done three of these now, and had similar problems the first time. As has already been said, the problems are in no way because of anything Terry has done. The quality of his work is what makes this possible to begin with! I've found that cutting the decal in 3 pieces, just as Craig did, it goes on much easier. This also allows for the decal to be pressed into that hard little turn from both sides separately without stretching the vinyl and damaging it. Terry makes these decals slightly oversize to allow for trimming, which comes in quite handy here. I cut mine on an office paper shear, so I get a perfectly straight line. Then apply the black half first, then the center section, with a tiny overlap being made with the chrome side so there is no chance of water running into the seam. Repeat for the top part- small overlap after getting the seam squeezed in nice and tight. Never had any problems so far!

Having met Mike briefly only a couple times, I have only good things to say about him and his obvious love for these tractors and this hobby. Like only a few others, he is an asset to our hobby. In our small collector's community, the man is almost legendary. I hope this edition however- should it actually be printed and distributed, is better than the second. Mike's first edition was beautifully simple, technically informative, and was a very high-quality printing. Both books also told a wonderful story of the American dream that is often missed by the rest of us. They tell a story of a man born to a generation that is sorely missed these days. That first book is a cherished part of my collection, as I have tractors that I would sell before I sold it. But in this case, the original was far better than the second "special edition". Sure it had a few new pictures and additional information, but it by no means was an improvement. The book itself was nowhere near the quality (poor picture quality, and poor physical construction) of the first edition. On my copy, the back is broken apart for no reason, and it has all but fell apart just sitting on the bookshelf in my living room. Had I not received my copy directly from Mike at the WHCC show, and had it not had both his and Mr. Pond's signatures in it, I would have put it on Ebay long ago. Since I have a copy of the first edition as well, the memory of how I got the second far outweighs what was actually in it. Meeting Cecil Pond was truly an honor that I will not soon forget. Make no mistake, I am not bashing Mr. Martino. I am both proud and humbled to have actually met him, and I imagine he has very little say in the choices made by his publisher and printing houses. I would think the demand of the limited first edition was a driving force in the printing of the second, and the folks responsible for printing it just took the cheapest route possible to make a quick buck. I hope the final edition will be made like the first, by a quality printer who takes pride in what they produce. What they did to the material for the second edition was a shame. A part of Cecil Pond's legacy was a testament to hard work, perseverance, and taking pride in everything he did, all the while treating others with fairness. Hopefully the publisher will remember that when they order prints of this final edition.

I want that tractor in my living room to sit on while I watch TV

Goes to show the deals are still out there! Nice score!

When I had my 800, I used latches off a reg. plow bracket, they bolted right on.

Hay! My b-day wish come true! Its snowing! not enough to plow this morning, but plenty of it will be here when I get home from my trip! So all of the members that don't like this storm can blame me :P

Nice score. Looks like an easy resto if you decide to go that route. :beer:

Well it will be a few days before I take and figure out how to post the pictures -- But tonight I bought the 418-A with the 'new' snow/dirt blade -- I called the owner's son this PM to ask about seeing the blade -- So I met him at his father's (the owner of the tractor) house to see the blade -- It really is 'almost' NOS -- The story was that it may have been used to remove the snow from the 50 ft drive 2 or 3 times -- I also saw the yard where the 875 hrs were logged (looks like 875 'easy' hours i.e. smaller, flat, well-maintained yard) -- I then made an offer, rejected, counter offer............anyway he took $100 off his list (it wasn't inexpensive, but it is what I've wanted for quite sometime) -- So I am pretty excited -- Anyway the blade got loaded into the back of my truck; the owner said "pay me with a check", which was really nice of him and off I went to the dealership where the tractor is setting -- The dealer was still there at 6:45, told him I would be picking the tractor up Saturday AM -- Now I need to figure out where to put some of the stuff I have setting in our garage to get this tractor inside -- OK now my 310-8 has a new long lost 'big brother' coming to live with him

What a deal!!! Thats a good lookin old horse, very solid. Congratulations.

Is that an overhead valve Tecumseh???? Nice touch on that tractor. I love little things that improve upon, but pay homage to the original design. Very nice. I think from here on, I'll always have some restoration in the works. I plan to send the PO a picture once it's finished. :)

Keep in mind that duallies or 26x12x12 tires won't improve traction, they will increase floatation. Our tractors don't have the weight to make that wide foot print work. Unless you really add quite a bit of weight (300lbs or more), which will greatly increase the possibility of a transmission failure, you're better off with at most single 23x10.50-12 tires. I think 8.50 ag tires are probably the best traction you can get in the weight range of a standard Wheel Horse.

Valspar Tractor&Implement High Gloss Enamel, 4432-01 IH RED, 4432-15 IH White Don't tell me that was spray bombed? I used a 1" brush. Just Kidding. I used a SPRAY GUN.

Have done a pilot project with Led now .. it works quite well, I made a new light bensel that is completely flat and put the LED on I have used 4x Super Bright Car Light Panel Lamps White 1156 36-LED

I have a 520 and LOVE it....BUT....every time I get on it and use it, in the back of my mind I say to myself...."is today the day the valve seat gives up the ghost"? and mine only has 385 hours on it. I love the Onan, it runs SUPER smooth and creates TONS of power!!! I'm sure a good running P216 would be the same. That being said, with the two tractors you have presented, I think I would go with the 418A...I think you would love the hydro and I have never heard anything bad about that twin 18 Kohler!!! Good luck, and when you get it home post some pics!!!!