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Well I dunno why I never mentioned this but 5 months ago my Daughter had a Baby Boy (Harley) Kids sure know how to come up with those $100 handles..... Anyways she brought him by today, so I came in from working on the Chucker and was able to play with him a little bit. I have 4 sisters, 2 daughters, and they had 3 daughters before this guy came along and thought I would never see a boy. My granddaughter Henny sure likes the Horses but I think she may have some competition now. Oh and as most grand parents do you can see he is dressed appropriately! "GO BLUE" ~Duke

Steve I've always liked those Animusic things.... sat and watched a few hours of it during a PBS telethon when I was home sick once. Just amazing.

Almost Halloween... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaKnRUfh_5I

Hey everyone - I have a Mastercool infrared temp gun that i use when doing A/C work and I decided to use it on my 520 after mowing 2 acres with the 48" deck & vacuum bagger. The fins on the rear cylinder read approximately 9 degrees cooler than the front cylinder. This sort of debunks the theory that the oil filter causes additional heat on the rear cylinder. This even debunks the theory that a vented belt guard is needed. So..... why does the rear valve seat go bad on so many of these models??? My theory is that many 520 owners rarely clean out the fins on these tractors (even a simple hose down after mowing) and somehow the grass/dirt/grime collects more on the rear cylinders than the front. IF the rear cylinder is cooler because more air is running past it than the front, this will explain why more grass/dirt/grime collects there rather than the front cylinder.

Check this out...a little toking music...YUKI & TATSUKI in SINGAPORE This is just wild... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmREjs6NYVY&feature=related

digatron makes some great gages. Temp, tach, ext temp, i could even get mph. dont forget oil press

Sounds like your puttin out bait. Maybe try a small pressure mat developed for the military. Cover the hole with it and when he bangs on it he blows himself to hell and back and there is nothing left to pick up. Kinda self solving and self cleaning! :ychain:

FWIW, I think the issue with the valve seats coming loose is dissimilar metals. Steel seats and aluminum block - different rates of expansion with temperature. The hotter the engine, the more potential movement. I think as you heat aluminum, the valve seat hole would expand at a higher rate than the steel seat and the seat comes loose. OTOH - I could be completely wrong - IT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME!!!!!!!! Thanks! Bill

Before... After... Sent from my Galaxy S iii with Tapatalk 2

The one other observation I make is how many manufacturers do we know that drove a 60" deck with 20 HP? Is it possible you could run a 48" deck and never encounter the problem with a 520? I have to wonder if there is a narrow margine between high temp and a failure temp given the two dissimilar metals.

Got Patriotic. Red, White, and of course Blue.

An interesting thread. I bought my 520H with a broken rod (rear cylinder) and it ran fine, idled great, but was gutless as hell. I'd actually assumed it had a valve seat problem and was actually pleased to find it had a broken rod- a broken rod is a relatively easy fix, a valve seat is always a little bit of a lottery as to whether the repair will stay together. My conclusion on the broken rod was that the motor had been run low on oil - scored main bearings. I have always said that I thought the grass or leaf buildup on the intake screen was more of a problem than the non-vented belt gaurd. I have actually disabled my seat switch so I can lean forward and sweep the debri off the screen when I need to (without having to stop). The tractors that have the Onans mounted across the chassis probably dont have this same problem, and also seem to have less valve seat issues. I am not sure that you will hear a beeper when mowing at 3600 rpm. I would be tempted to put a BIG light on the dash somewhere - maybe something like the rectangular side lights off a trailer up on top of the dash. Many years ago it was common for race and rally cars to use a tailight with a 35 watt bulb as an oil pressure light and it seened to work well.

Thanks be to the gods.

:wh: you are correct sir theres no way i would mount that green stuff on a wheelhorse. for now the doors will be painted/dyed and the cab painted next year my neibor is going to reskin the doors and sew up all new vinyl for it hoepefuly when im done hopefully it will look factory/good

Well they say the value of anything is what anyone is willing to pay. But that being said I'm sure not willing in most cases. But then when I walk by the line up at the box store at 3 grand a pop makes me think about that pile of plastic. And that reminds me of my good buddy (old wheel horse dealer) Accidentaly dropped a 13 inch pine on his favorite horse of course beat the hood out ,straightendup the steering wheel and was off and running. IIf this had been plastic he would still be sweeping up the pieces, and there really isn't much market for junk plastic !!

The new K-341 thumper in town.

Listen to Troy...you gotta..."SHOOT EM LIZABETH" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJx-pi_vIoM

........................................ GATLIN GUN!

I'd shoot the little (wood)pecker !!

Not being an engine guy, and not having an Onan I do not know if this makes sense, but being an analyst I do have a couple of observations here. The temperature has always been stated as the culprit.. do we have any idea where this notion came from? Did someone do some research about it in the past that has been forgotten? The observed differential does not seem to account for much at all. Even if we discount measurement errors, a 25 degree difference does not sound like much. I do not have an Onan manual, but other engine's spec sheets often give much larger ranges for normal operating temperature. Are the front and rear rods and valve seats identical? (or other parts of the mechanism? ) Maybe the issue is a design or manufacturing one. We also have two different things that happen, the valve seat coming loose and rod breaking. While the temperature/carbon theory would explain both effects, there is nothing that says that these two things are related. Maybe there are two issues that result in different failures? This list is not based on any knowledge of anything, just in listening to the discussion here. it might be worth some interested party's time to make a list of the questions, and the group can collectively figure out how to answer them. Afraid I am not going to volunteer, because as I said, I do not have one of these.

:) According to Tractor Data. 657 should have HH60. The 6 being a 6HP, 5 electric start and 7, 1967 year. :flags-usa:

If available, what would a NEW Kwik-Way or comparable brand loader for one of these tractors sell for? After a few years of use, how much less would that loader system (well maintained) sell for? Why are well engineered, very high quality garden tractors such as Wheel Horses supposed to depreciate so much from their new sale price? Compact Utility Tractors don't seem to depreciate very much very quickly. Why should a Wheel Horse?

Well, they say your home is your biggest investment in life. I'm thinking...Woody's gotta go...permanently.

Think I'll open a new battery store....buy a new battery and get your choice of a FREE Wheel Horses ....how about that?

Steve, you know me. I can't leave them alone. Now that it's apart, it's not going back together unless it looks like it just came off the showroom floor.

I used it this summer, thinned and used hardener I've been a bodyman for near 30 years so I have at least some knowledge of how to paint, and I will never waste my money on it again. That is all I will say about it right now.

Bicycle inner tubes work well too.

Same principle as Bob's, but I usually use an old piece of car innertube. My dad taught me long ago they make great multi-purpose rubber bands if you take it and cut it into various size rings. Of course.... kind of hard to find car innertubes these days I suppose. Rubber bands wrapped around or one of the wife's floppy jar opener thingys will give you something to grip also.