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Hi guys, have some really nice weather here today so I decided to get a few of the horses out today. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. ~Jake from left to right. 55, early 56, early 58, 59, 59 with a 400 hood, 401, 702, b80, and c120

Hey a postage stamp yard is no reason Not to have a horse or 12 ! It literally takes me more time moving stuff than it does to mow! Less yard = bigger Garage & less time mowing = more time playing!

"A Veteran - whether active duty, retired, national guard, or reserve - is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to the 'United States of America', for an amount of 'up to and including my life.'†My branch, the U. S. Coast Guard has for the official motto: " Semper Paratus" (Always Ready.) The Coast Guard's unofficial motto is "You have to go out, you don't have to come back." The history of the unofficial motto dates from the United States Life Saving Service and to the men who launched small boats to row out to attempt rescues. "A ship was stranded off Cape Hatteras on the Diamond Shoals and one of the lifesaving crew reported the fact that this ship had run ashore on the dangerous shoals. The old skipper gave the command to man the lifeboat and one of the men shouted out that we might make it out to the wreck but we would never make it back. The old skipper looked around and said, 'The Blue Book says we've got to go out and it doesn't say a damn thing about having to come back.'" Etheridge was not exaggerating. The Regulations of the Life-Saving Service of 1899, Article VI "Action at Wrecks," section 252, page 58, state that: "In attempting a rescue the keeper will select either the boat, breeches buoy, or life car, as in his judgment is best suited to effectively cope with the existing conditions. If the device first selected fails after such trial as satisfies him that no further attempt with it is feasible, he will resort to one of the others, and if that fails, then to the remaining one, and he will not desist from his efforts until by actual trial the impossibility of effecting a rescue is demonstrated. The statement of the keeper that he did not try to use the boat because the sea or surf was too heavy will not be accepted unless attempts to launch it were actually made and failed (underlining added), or unless the conformation of the coast--as bluffs, precipitous banks, etc.--is such as to unquestionable preclude the use of a boat." This section of the Regulations remained in force after the creation of the Coast Guard in 1915. The new Instructions for United States Coast Guard Stations, 1934 edition, copied Section 252 word for word as it appeared in 1899. [1934 Instructions for United States Coast Guard Stations, Paragraph 28, page 4]. A salute to the Coasties and other service men and women; and a sailor's prayer for those who lost their lives at sea.

I met with Charles today and we did the old swaparoo. I got a 633 and a 61 Burban and lots of "extra's" outta the deal, he got a C-161. The plans for the 633 are to try to find a coil for it, (hint hint) get her going and leave the tractor as it is as a worker, hauling fire wood and pushing snow as my main snow machine. From my own experience, the 633 will handle most of the snow that we get. Anything the 633 can't handle I'll have the 520 on stand by. The plans for the Burban are a custom job for my son Cole, nothing crazy, just custom enough. This will keep him off My 60 Suburban Custom. The Lauson won't be used, I have a nice lower hr. K91 Kohler that is going to take its place. I pulled the deck and motor off the Burban today and degreased the tractor. I'm going to do all fab work first and then take it all apart for rebuild and restore.

Sorry Jim, but I only had one and she is very happily married. I remember the good things my Father-in-Law did for me way back when I was younger. He was a good man, and I always appreciated the things he did for me. So I make it a point to do the same for my Son-in-Law. Besides, if I can get him addicted to Wheel Horses (like the rest of us here), then I'll have some help and good company working on them later on as my collection grows :wh:

Past and present.

Got any more single daughters? :ychain:

Nice haul, maybe the SIL will return the favor and get you a can of red paint for your horse trailer this X-mas.

Looks like today and tomorrow might just be all the indian summer we get this year. Unless you own a Techie too...then it's an indian summer all year long.

Thank you, racinfool is helping me out, appreciate it!

Hi guys, just found a beautiful 702! It is all original in fantastic shape! It came with a snowplow, grader blade, and a mower deck. I hooked the grader blade up tonight and ran it for about an hr, its one nice machine! I plan to leave this all original but she's still going to get worked. Here are some pictures of it. ~Jake

Well hit the road this morning at 5 a.m. and made a trip to Chi-town. Didn't want to be gone and consumed by the trip for the day so headed west under the dark sky. Arrived at my destination at approximately 6:55 a.m. Chicago time. Talked for about 5 minutes.......hard for some of you to believe I know. Loaded these babies up and headed back east. Arrived in Warsaw at 10:59 a.m. Haven't had a chance to sit down and look up the years on these machines yet. The one in the front is older with a 10 h.p. Kohler and a pretty beat up mowing deck. The one in the back is a 12 h.p. Kohler with snow blade. Was told before I came that the one with the blade ran fine, which it does, and the other one did not. Unloaded it off the trailer, poured some gas in, changed the spark plug, hooked up some loose wires, cleaned the points and she fired off. It needs the fuel system cleaned terribly but we have two runners!!!! I have been wanting to add a Jacobsen Chief to the collection, as well as a couple other brands. Thanks to a friend, Derek aka dw753, for locating these online for me I now have 2! Plans for the future are to re-furbish the older one. Might have some fun plowing snow with the other this winter. Here they are just freshly loaded on to the trailer...........

Thanks Matt, Yeah that blue is enough to GAG a MAGGOT! but thats True ONAN Colors Glad I rescued that tank and gave it a Suitable life! ~Duke

She runs great! However she is getting a new muffler, I am not dealing with a loud obnoxious pepper pot! She is just dusty. I will clean her up and tune her up when I get back from school. Here you go sir:

Break one off on the other side.... Clean it really well and inspect it closely and you keep it and use it.... I have a few flywheels I would sell if you want one that's not broken..... But please please please make sure thier is no cracks or fractures before you reinstall the one you have.....

Steve, I'm thinking you probably get more work out of that snow plow during the summer... than you do during the winter.

Uh Oh...The Tide went out. Maybe Michigan will get another shot at them in a bowl game. :happy-jumpeveryone:

There's one on ebay. PM'd you the link.

:text-yeahthat: :text-+1:

Happy Veterans Day to all the Veterans both on the forum and off. I have had the opportunity to speak with many veterans over the past week and am grateful for their service. One day of recognition is clearly not enough, and you all should be recognized every day (and every post) for your service to our country. Thank you! And to our Allies, while I don't know if you have a national day of recognition, your service as an Allies to our armed forces are appreciated and we thank you as well. :USA:

Thanks for the heads up I corrected the sheet, well at least that shows I aint tryin to screw no one outta nothin! Now excuse me back to the O.R. Dance. :banana-linedance: :banana-linedance: :banana-linedance: :banana-linedance: Cheers ~Duke "GO BLUE"

Cutlas, give us a before and after pic of the WD40 bath method. I love WD40, and buy it buy the gallon.

I love a day that requires the use of more than one Wheel Horse! :wh: :wh:

Thanks, but I didn't really do anything the whole 8 years I was in. But what pisses me off, tomorrow schools have it off, but I have to work.

I did that with a basket ball on a door of my Explorer. Just put it in the door a pumped it up,pushed 90% of the dent out.

YEAH, GRADER BLADE!!! :wwp:

Nice tractor but that is a knarly trailer!

I did not need another horse but I could not pass on this one. Saw this on Craigslist, a 1995 416-8 with 42" rear discharge recycler deck. There were no pictures but when I saw the price I got on the phone and I was the first to get to the seller and I told him I will take it. The seller thought it had a Kohler engine and his reason for selling was he wanted something with a cup holder. Here it is: I could not post more pictures but the model number is 73420, serial number 5900554. There are only 319 hours on the clock and other than a few nicks on the front wheels there is not a spot of rust on the tractor or the deck. The seat has a few rips and the treads on the foot rests are gone. The twin ONAN is clean and starts and runs perfect. It was only an hour away and I picked it up last night so it would not get into someone else's hands. The price? $400.00

If you remember, Jaws was his character name in the Bond movies... seemed a fitting tribute for the Maidens new blower upgrades. They look like twins.

Happy birthday to all those Marines, past, present and those that did not make it home. So toast one to the Corps. Semper Fi Marines.

Deer suck (on my vehicles & wallet) . . . please, everyone that still hunts, I beg of you to kill till your heart's content :thumbs2:

both tractors ready for the snow to fall!

WOW!!! Your a horse thief!! Great deal!

I knew it! I thought that was you Joe.

I have been looking for a chance to use this...Shorts bought this for me at Scott's M&G.

well looks like my TV gets a break from me throwing stuff at it this weekend......My prediction is that the Browns won't lose a game this weekend!!!!!!!

You rub the tractor down with fine (00) steel wool then wipe down with WD-40 or at least that is the way I did a couple of mine. Gives them that used but took care of look. By the way I like your tractor combo!

Packers don't whine...

The overall frame assembly looks like this. --- The original bagger bracket is still on the lawn tractor. 2 vertical bars are bolted to the inside of it and remain on the tractor. The horse shoe shapped lower frame, is hinged to the botton end of the 2 vertical bars. (pull the door hinge pins and the lower frame is off). The top cross pipe is made to drop into the original bagger frame, just like the original bagger hood did. I used side links from a set of snow chains, with a snow chain link clip on each end ( dog chain clips will also work), to connect from the pipe cross bar, to each end of the lower frame. Thye dog cage is also hinged to the ends of the frame, for dumping. The inside of the cage is lined with SEPERATE pieces of 1/4" mesh rat wire, so the cage will fold up flat. I fastened the rat wire with hog rings. One entire side of the cage became the door. Original shoot tube was cut off and 8" flex hose was used to reach heating duct pieces at the top of the cage. Also, I used .060" clear plastic, to cover the top and front side of the cage. It is held on with hooks, made form chain links. It keeps the dust and chaf, from coating me from behind. I already had these pics, but will take some of the details, if you want me to post them. ----- John

Here are some other pict of my Suburban 551. Thanks

74 C-120. Put this one at the bottom of the pile, as I had my '72' Raider 12 feature in the 2011 Calender. This one is nearly finished

All that's missing is a couple of kids playing in the yard, dad smoking his pipe and the mom serving iced tea! :)

Scot

I honestly don't think there's money in restoring uless you get them for free and someone pays you to restore it. Even if you buy low and sell high, you're time is worth something. If you find a really nice condition original, probably wouldn't restore it. If you have a basket case, then redoing them, imo, is the way to go. Honestly not many people actually restore them to oem condition, they bring them back and make them their own. (As I have done). I happen to like lights on my 854, but it's not restored. I like wide tires on it also, but that's not oem. At that point, it's only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. I certaily could get my money back, but not my time. Most people do it for the act of doing it, and not for profit. Some people do such an awesome job in repainting, they look better then oem, but WH didn't come this way either. A huge amount of talent among the many RS members, but true restoration is far and few.

Steve, I'll take the RJ with the electric start Clinton, I'll give ya twice what ya paid for it. I'll be up after work! I'll take an original RJ or Suburban that is in decent original condition over a restored one any day. Once it has been restored they often look like any other restored tractor out there, they all start to look the same. Patina is something that can't be duplicated so I'd pay more for that. Don't get me wrong, some original tractors are beyond the nice old patina stage and a full restore is really needed and I've fully restored a few RJ's in my day. I have seen some of the newer 3, 4 and 5 series tractors go for pretty good money in restored condition. I think some guys might be willing to pay more for something they are actually willing to do some work with. The trick is to find a decent tractor mechanically (for the right price) that only needs cosmetic work.

Craig, I don't like this subject! When I think about all the blood,sweat,tears, and the amount of dieting my wallet did during my horse's resto, and then I look at what its actually worth, it makes me want to cry. But that's OK, I love my ! Matt :flags-texas:

i would think that it would be more about how thorough a restoration is done and what sort of condition it is to begin with, rather than what model/year it is. the basket case is going to take a whole bunch more cash and time than something that has led a sheltered life. sure some of the models have items that are harder to come by, but if you start with something that is in reasonable condition and complete, that is really going to help more on the dollar front. most basket cases will require replacement of a bunch of stuff, or major time and money to fix what you have. i dont think the money invested vs finished resale value is something the enthusiast (most of us) really care about, or want to think about, when considering a model/year of tractor. i think its mostly a like or a want that decides what we end up with, or what tractors we get into. if it was about the investment, we would be doing something different...... i dont even want to sit down and add up what i have in both of my rebuilds $ wise, the time invested doesnt matter because its a hobby, something to enjoy...... thats how i feel anyway........ in relation to the 551, if thats what you really wanted, you would put the money into it. thats not to say that a bunch of parts wouldnt be replaced along the way though......

WOW !!! A thread just for 420 LSE tractors !!! I braved the cold/snow/freezing rain out to the barn and just checked my "numbers". The engraved plate on the hood has only the name of the first owner. The serial number #00051 is barely visible...with the aid of a bright light at just the right angle...on the ID tag, just between your legs, while sitting on the seat....just at the forward edge of the seat pan, as described above. Marv (NW Oh)