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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.

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!!!!!

Well today I have really made some progress ! pulled both hubs off - which was good news as we thought we might have had to split the diff and press them out ! dropped the transmission and oil... converted the GT14 into a hostess trolley of sorts... a rather natty coffee table if a little oily removed the pump and motor stopped for a refuel... back on with things, splitting the gearbox to see what goes on inside it's very clean, but wait there's a bearing shot to pieces and what remains of the parking brake.... I wonder where the rest is??? well there is a neat little pile of filings on the strainer and heres just how clean the insides have come up - note the trashed torrington bearing. Fingers crossed I'll get new seals and bearings early next week then I can get it back together. mark

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!

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

Looking at the IPL for the GT14 transmission, the part #'s are different for the end caps of the 10 pinion diff (when compared to the numbers for a 5060 transmission). I dont have a 10 pinion diff available to look at, but from hazy, alcohol affected memory the end caps on the GT diff pictured do look larger than what I am used to seeing. Now what I am wondering is if the needle roller bearing pictured is 2 1/2" OD and 1/2" wide, so it would fit in a "normal" case. Then a hardened sleeve could be pressed onto a "normal" diff, and this used to replace they now NLA ball bearing in a "normal" box? Mark, do you think you could take some measurements of that bearing each side of the diff? or even the Torrington part # if you can see it?

I have 74 B-80 that I recently restored, it has a 36" side discharge deck that I took the baffle out of, so it discharges out the side and back. I did this because I don't pick up my grass and so it would not get plugged up with grass. Anyway I replaced the idler pulley and all of the spindles, they are just cartridges complete with spindle shaft and bearings that you just press into the old housings, well I noticed the deck starting to make noise so I took the deck off for closer inspection. I found some twine wrapped around one of the outside blades and it was making the blade a little stiff so I removed it and the blade felt fine. I removed the belt cover and the belt so I could feel each individual spindle, they felt fine to me. I put the deck back on, and it was still making noise. I started messing with the pto belt, and I noticed that if I loosened the belt some the noise got quieter, so I'm thinking it must be the center spindle bearing, but it felt fine to me. This thing has only mowed about 10 acres since rebiuld. Can running the pto belt a little to tight cause a spindle bearing to fail this quickly? Has anybody else had this happen to them? Oh the bearings are new in the bull drive as well, and here is a pic of the mower. Of course these pics are of when it had just been rebiult. Thanks in advance. Matt

I know nothing about your spindle bearings Matt, but I can tell you...that tractor is gorgeous. Really nice job on the resto. :thumbs:

We actually got our first snow of the season this past Sunday night. A big whopping 1/2" of snow covered everything here. Of course it was gone by noon Monday, and by yesterday the highs were in the mid 70's with lots of Sun.

Wait a minute here.... you got a girl friend and you're out playing in the mud?? Whats up with that Charlie?

Yes I did! Bob gave me a very nice wheel Horse spring jacket, I also got some nice goody's from Glen, and At Kellys we got some killer deals! My brother got one of the best deals of the day when Kelly took us to his secret spot He found a old walk behind tiller that had nice tines on it for his tiller and enough pieces of tire chains to make a real nice set of two link chains for his electro 12 for $10 for all! It was a very nice day off work! and birthday! Just wish I could have spend more time with Glen, Kelly, And Bob as time flew buy talking about Horses! :handgestures-thumbup:

You say you will wax it for me!! Yea, route the fuel hose correctly, add a fuel filter, air filter, and adjust the mule drive belt, and it will be ready for action.

Scott, Great looking tractor! She has to be the happiest little girl in the world. She is on cloud nine. I also want you to know that I am available for adoption.

i woulnt think that the bearing assembly should have worn out that quick,i rebuilt a 36 once and those bearings wernt cheap,i dont like that they are non greasable but only 10 acres,maybe you got a bad bearing,are they chinese,when i did mine my parts guy told me to stay away from the cheap option for those bearing spindle combo,it cost me 200 dollars for the set,and that was without blades,thats why im not a fan of that style spindle,i like the greasable with the 40mm bearing,cheap to rebuild

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

just break down and get a trailer like mine, its an 8'6'' X 22' gooseneck. and look theres even room for one more on the back.

and heres the video to prove it !