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well heres the last chapter in this saga, the seat.......i constantly hear about the lack of seat on this one, that ive gone onto other tractors and dont care about the seat.to be honest the horse blanket served me well, but i must admit the seat that i just installed looks awesome.im very happy with it, i wanted red and white instead of the black and white and i also didnt like how the lines for the colors go on the back rest at an angle, so i asked the trimshop i got it done at to change these few things. i made up the plywood bases and fitted the backrest with hidden nuts to be able to bolt it to the backrest frame....anyway heres how it looks, jeanine hasnt seen it yet,(its now her tractor) but i think shes going to be happy with it........ seat bases cut out and fitted..... seat all finished........ alright, i think i should be done with the seat now, maybe....... i could probably put the blanket back on for special occasions, hey mike? (ol550) right after i post this i think i will upload one of the seat pics to the gallery, just to get the word out that the blanket has been retired........ :handgestures-thumbup:

Well I too would like to see the Tires as Scotty Is having the Book at his Show and I dont think it would be right to Steal The Thunder and take away any chance of raising $$$ for Maxes Cause. Yep looking forward to seeing Ole Friends and making new ones. MJ and I have been making plenty of juice for fri and sat nights Bon fire. As far as tractors I havent worked on nuttin think I might bring my ole 633 and 704 and bring them. I also have a C-120 that I bought from a guy that I might PU on the way. Susa sorry ya cant bring yer Boy cause I get good deals from him! Anyways look fwd to seeing everyone there. Everyone drive safe.

I got a C121 from a friend for free a few months ago with a deck, a blower and cab. It had been put out to pasture about 6 years ago. His dad bought it new from the factory and was used daily until it started to run bad. During the teardown, I found the id tag under the cab mount bolted to the dash tower and members confirmed it to be a 1979 C121. The motor problem turned out to be a bad ground, all the fasteners on the sheetmetal were rusted. I sanded the sheetmetal and sprayed it with rustoleum, leaving most of the dents for history and the fact it will still be a worker. So today she rolled out and went back to work. Here's my bud Jon dragging his driveway with springs and 160 lbs of concrete. The blower is next on the list as winter is coming, not soon enough! :ranting:

I thought for a while before I welded that bush in. My first thoughts were to bolt in a spherical bearing like what is on the front of the lower steering shaft (I think Duke did something like this on one of his tractors. For a non-welder I think that would be the easiest and cheapest fix, I think the last one of those bearings I bought from Toro was about $8. I did think about boring a hole in a piece of 1/4" thick flat bar, pressing a brass bush into that and bolting that to the sheet metal. Then I thought "screw it" and just welded the bush directly into the sheetmetal. Including removing the oil light, test switch and the upper console the whole repair took 15 minutes. I was lucky that the steering wheel just slid off the shaft as soon as I removed the roll pin. But if you took the bush and console to your local welding shop, it would take 2 minutes for them to tack it in for you. There is an alignment issue that you do need to take into account. The bush is round where it passes through the sheetmetal, but there are two flats machined into it, 180 degrees apart. I assume that the hole in the console was originally machined the same shape, but mine was all wallowed out on the rearmost side. I found by pushing the flat on the bush up against the forward-most flat on the hole in the console that the column didnt appear to bind, so that's where I located the bush for welding. I hope that makes some sense. A day later I feel happy about the fix. At the time it seemed a little hillbilly, but I'm happy with the way it turned out, and I'm 100% sure that its better than the crap they designed in the factory. To change the subject a little, I got the motor running today with a new high tension wire. Runs awesome even with a really shitty looking plug, old gas and probably a carb full of crud. No knocks, no smoke, I'm stoked!

not sure about the pattern, i just sort of marked out where i wanted the colors to be and they took it from there. i was very happy when i saw it for the first time today. nice work..... they charged me $55 for materials and $95 for labor. i was worried at first about the cost, ive heard of guys getting them done cheaper, but i didnt have a problem handing over the money in the end.... as far as the colors go, jeanine wanted the red instead of black, i wasnt bothered either way..................

I'm guilty of the same fix Mike. It never fails that the retainer is rusted in place, which was just high enough to allow the bushing to slop around. It's a good temp fix that will hold it until someone tears the whole thing apart later. Mine has been that way for over 10 years...

Here is my current collection. Note: The 520-H was originally bought for parts but discovered it had quite a bit of life left. After taking off the front end and steering and installing it on the 414-8 I decided to use it as my plow tractor (re-powered with a Magnum 16HP). The 414-8 is my mowing tractor. The 310-8 which was my first tractor (purchased) new will be put in reserve along with the 1963 633... http://www.flickr.com/photos/80248409@N04/sets/72157630028602839/

Louvers? We don't need no stinking louvers...or toes either. :)

I like the "My ex got the other half". But it does ruin a Wheel Horse

As far as manuals, there's lots of free downloadable versions around... You should be able to find owner's manuals and parts manuals for your tractor and mower deck on the Toro web site (www.toro.com). Look for a link to manuals there, and then enter 1-0465 for the tractor and 5-1010 for the mower (that's probably your deck model number, see if you can find an ID tag on yours to make sure). If there's a box for your serial number, just leave it blank. The original engine on your tractor would have been a Kohler K301S, spec. no. 47421D -- there's an owner's manual and service manual under the Files tab here on RedSquare: http://www.wheelhors...81241301321341/ You may be able to find a parts manual for that engine on the Kohler web site (www.kohlerengines.com). If your transmission is original, it will be a Sundstrand 90-1136. I don't know anything about these, but there's a repair manual here that appears to cover that particular model: See what you can find, and then feel free to ask if there's anything you can't locate.

I havent managed to stick my toes into the belt yet:

Good lookin 701! Your boy looks happy to be part of the show. Just keep your eye on thresher and antique tractor shows. If you are able the North Central Indiana Meet and Greet is a one day event and well worth the trip. Mike

I've drunk more than my fair share over the years, but even with my thickest beer goggles on I cant make those things look cute!

My .02c.... $1300 is a lot of money, but without knowing what was replaced, what parts went in and what machining was done I dont think you can say "he was robbed". Genuine Kohler parts are expensive. But the quality is there, and there are a ton of 40 year old engines still running on their original parts out there. The cheapy import parts are attractive because of their cost, but I'm betting they wont last 40 or 50 years. Your $80 rebuild kit contains piston, rod, rings and gaskets. Its very possible that the engine needed a lot more stuff than just that -valves, guides, lifters. governor gears, crankshaft bearings? Machining costs add up too. Boring, crankgrind, cam grind, valve seats etc. And maybe the crank was too worn to clean up at .010" under? Even a weld up and remachine is reasonably expensive. Same goes for the cam, and maybe the block needed sleeving? I couldnt spend $1300 on a rebuild, but I do believe it is quite possible to do it if you are paying someone to do it. By the way, you can get a new K-181 for just under $1300: http://www.smallenginewarehouse.com/product.asp?PN=K181-30538&desc=Kohler Sounds like this guy was wanting to keep everything original, so he chose to rebuild his original engine.

got tires mounted...... dash and a few other pieces painted. fitting better than it was a week ago!!! planning on getting it up on the wheels next, then will be time to focus on the engine and working on straightening the hood to something half decent.........

Don't get me wrong, I like the look of the Miller tire paint...but I think it's counterintuitive to the preservation of used tires(drys them out even more). I think most people are aware of RuGLYDE, you mostly see it being used in tire shops when mounting up new tires...it's what they dress the bead with before mounting the tire on the rim. This stuff is amazing, actually remoisturizes the rubber. Those little dry checks, and cracks actually seem to close back up, and are virtually unnoticeable with regular applications. I too start cleaning old tires with Wesleys Bleach White, then I put the RuGLYDE into a old spray bottle and use full strength. Spray it on the tires liberally, place them in a large plastic garbage bag, and let them sit...the longer the better. Keep turning them over every day or so, so they remain wet in the bag. After about a week, take them out and give them a bath...you'll be amazed at the results. Cost is about the same as the Miller's, but it's a gallon size container, and when used like this, lasts forever. Available off the shelf at your local NAPA dealer. Just another option, that's all.

Roger, I heard that Terry's shop is getting really busy again so he may not be checking the forum regularly. If you go directly to his web site (ReDoYourHorse.com), you may get a quicker reply. I can tell you, though, that his decals are of the best quality you'll find anywhere! Duff :thumbs: