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Here's where my head is at...... People need to quit over-thinking these tractors and have fun with them.

Or you can go totally of the wall the other way and do something like this

My opinion is "what ever makes you happy". There are no Wheel Horse police out there to ticket you for doing something "wrong" Sent from my MB520 using Tapatalk 2

I didn't get involved with Wheel Horses until 1986, when I purchased a 310-8. It was my first new lawn tractor. It didn't take long to realize that my purchase was a good one. I wondered why I hadn't paid more attention to Wheel Horses before that. As time went on, I realize all the different model Wheel Horses that had been built, that I missed out on. In 1995, I restored a 702, which I still have. A lot of time and money goes into any restroration. I still have the 702 and several other Wheel Horses. Although it is rewarding to restore an old horse, there is nothing quite like buying a new one, putting the first hours on the clock, breaking it in for the first time, putting the first signs of work and wear on it. Since Wheel Horses are no longer manufactured, I would, if I had the opportunity: buy an NOS Wheel Horse, fill the crankcase with good quality oil, grease all the zerks, add air to each tire if needed, charge the battery (if it was an electric start model), fill the tank with fresh gasoline, start that "HORSE" up, and enjoy the machine that it is. My theory is that museums do not need NOS anything, a well restored model will do just fine, to represent Wheel Horse or any other brand. You only go around once in life, and it's just a short go around when you think about it. I would not want to pass up an opportunity to enjoy something that fuels my passion: Wheel Horses, better yet a NEW WHEEL HORSE....from yesterday!!!!

Well it's a while sense I built any of these hitches and I have had a steady flow of PM's from you guys wanting some more hitches. I have been very busy this last year as my parents have been going through a lot, Spending half of my free time over there helping them out and know I have to move my brother and his family over to my parents so he can help take care of them. So Tom and I will be doing another build of our hitches. The price has gone up as our cost has gone up for the steel. There will be two different hitches for the main product this time. first will be the good old sturdy classic and the second will be a shorter version that will be able to fit a tiller with leaving the hitch on. I have had a lot of you asking for this and I think I can do it for just a little extra in the cost of the hitch. I will drill a new hole for the pin close to the flared end of the receiver, and cut the other end off so it can be mounted up tighter to the rear axle. I will test this hitch as I do have a tiller know and I can check the fit after the first one is built. I did missplace the dimensions for the for the XI hitch I built for Burrly1 and Shallowwatersailer. I have access to a 520xi at my local dealer that I have been keeping a eye on and will get the dimensions that I need this weekend. The paint will unfortunately be changed to Regal Red as my favorite Valspar Restoration series paint is no longer available. I hope it drys good before shipping as I don't want packing materiel sticking to it while they are on the way to you.The old paint took 2-3 days and the new says 24hours but we will see. I am also doing a custom hitch for are friend in Australia. He wants one for his 520 with a loader. the difference between the standard and the XI and a custom hitch that was built I only have Saturdays to work on these as I have my daughter Gabby every day know as I don't want My parents Driving to pick here up any more. So It may take tell the end of the month for these to get built. I will do my best to get them done as fast as possible. Remember that these are built to order, I require 50% down to build you a hitch, and the other 50% when its ready to ship. I use USPS to ship these and only ship on Sat. I will give you a shipping quote when you give me a address, and delivery conformation and a tracking # will be given to you when its shipped. I have 40+ hitches built and sold and have lots of compliments so far and I thank you guys for liking my hitches. The new prices are : 1 regular hitch $120 + shipping 2 short hitch for tiller $130 + Shipping 3 XI hitch $130 + shipping 4 custom hitch to your dimensions $120 - $140 + shipping depending on what you need and cost of materials. extra plates and bolts $10 To mount hitch to tractor if you don't have a rear plow-tiller mount. Any questions you can PM me or post here. If you want one I do like to talk to you in person on the phone as I like to make sure you are happy with what your getting. Thank you for looking an

THIS IS THE ANOTHER PICTURE OF ME, MY BROTHER AND MOTHER ON THE TRACTOR. MY BROTHER IS SETTING ON THE SEAT AND I'M STANDING ON THE DECK. PICTURE IS DATED DECEMBER 1959. THE PICTURE WAS IN THE SUMMER OF 1959 I THINK. I WOULD BE 4 YEARS OLD,MY BROTHER WOULD BE 6 YEARS OLD AND MOTHER WAS 35 YEARS OLD. HOW TIME FLIES BY. BOWTIE IN OHIO

DANGIT! I was really looking forward to seeing elvis.

In my humble opinion the Onans are the best gas motors ever put in garden tractors. I agree with all of what artful dodger said. Consider--two of the most revered garden tractors in history have had Onan motors in them. The JD 318 and the 520H. Not to mention the Sears lineup that some consider the best and the Case 446-448/ingersoll 4016, 4018 etc., Having owned 3--Case 448, 318 and 520h I believe they all have their own set of pluses and minuses. The constant item on all three is the motor though. It can't be a coincidence that if you go onto any of the collector websites for these brands nearly every person has or aspires to have one of these for a worker. That's a testament to Onan. I've found with all of them if you keep them clean and do the maintenance as recommended they run great. Just my 2 cents.

I am fairly new to the WH collector hobby having acquired five round hoods in the past two years. From what I understand, tractors from the factory didn't necessarily have perfect paint jobs to begin with. Parts were mixed and match thus factory built tractors may not have looked like the sales photos. I am restoring my dad's original 552 and I am by no means doing a "professional" restoration job. I do what I can, with what I have, when I can. If my tractor looks good to me, that's all that really matters anyway.

Do we really need a benchmark to just have fun?

I tried a drawing myself... My grandmother was worried and wondering why I was staring at the nose of my 1968 Electro 12... I think I missed some of the engine, and I drew the grille backwards! Also, the scanner didn't do it much good...

Well thanks to Jake Kuhn, I entered the GTTalk website Xmas contest and won it with my WH Christmas Tractor Light Show Setup! Jake suggested I enter my tractors in their contest for the January/Feb. Issue of LAGT Magazine, so I did. They voted all month long with over 100 votes coming in. I held on to a 10 point lead most of the time but I was nervous that the 2nd place tractor was gonna catch up, but he never made it! Wahooo! So now my tractors will be featured in the LAGT Magazine! What an honor, maybe Brandon can come over and take a look for himself! Great job Jake and thanks alot for the advice! KJ

I picked up a few sets of these new front tires a couple of weeks ago. They are 4.80 x 4 x 8. At first I wasn't crazy about the aggressive tread but the price was right..$5 a piece, so I decided what the heck. They are "Polar-Pro" tires. I cleaned the wheels up and painted them last night before mounting the tires today. I like the way they look now. I probably would not want them on my everyday mowing machine, but for a toy tractor I think they look cool. Also in the pic is a parts Kohler I picked up as well recently. I got it for $20, it came complete but disassembled, just as you see. It came with a good carb as well. It has the correct recoil starter that works good is the main reason I got it. A guy had it on a log splitter and when he could no longer get it to start, he took it all apart. Then he didn't know how to put it back together I guess. I just need to swap the recoil over to the tractor now. Slowly its coming back to life..

Had a guy email me that the previous owner left behind a wheel horse and wanted it off his property! $20...I was so excited! Here she is:

How time fly's.... It's been five years to the day since I signed up for RedSquare.. In that time more Wheels Horses have come and gone than I can remember.. I have moved house twice and built a new workshop twice.. During those five years I've watch RedSquare grow from the small band of great Wheel Horse folk (I'm member number 110) to the huge meeting place of 6745 like minded Guy's 'n' Girls from all round the world.. So a big to all the Mod's for keeping RedSquare alive and well and all the hard work you do in the background.. A big to you all of you, for making this place the wonderful friendly place it is. I think I've made more friends in the past 5 years than I have done my whole life A big for all the advice, cool comments, suggestions, encouragement, help, friendship and for putting up with my ramblings over the years.. A big to Jim (Mith) for pointing in the direction of this ere place in the first place.. And last but not least (as they say) a big to Karl for letting me know it's my 5 year RedSquare anniversary today Long live :rs:

I think I know what's on your mind on this issue. Some people take more time and research as they rebuild their tractor than others do to make them as original as possible. But there are few "chalkmark guys" in the wheelhorse world. Some paint, others powdercoat, some stainless fasteners, some zinc. But it seems nobody gets anal about a tractor unless it's really rare, then they typically leave it alone or fix what is nessassary. The attitude is different, this is supposed to be a fun hobby and not become a job with ISO standards applied. If WH tractors were judged by some absolute set of "factory" standards dictated by "experts" , then me and my tractors would not apply.

once you trade you wont want to sell it it is a 1962-63 what model wheel horse is involved in the trade ?. someone went crazy with the paint. covered up all the chrome parts. grill & body looks good witch is a plus. looks to have the original 7 1/4 hp briggs model 19 engine. the 3 belt snowblowers are not the greatest. tractor price's are down .I would say $300 - $400

I don't buy a restored tractor unless the seller is giving it away or wants it placed in a good home. I buy the best originals I can find as well as afford. One of my prizes is a 1983 C-175 Twin Automatic with only 285 hours on it. I have replaced the high back logo seat with a flawless high back logo seat, the plastic fender with a better plastic fender and one belt guard with a better belt guard but all parts are originals and no repaints. I did replace the drive belt and idler pulley assembly since those are common issues with that model. As far as restoration goes it is whatever the restorer chooses including custom or original. They all look good. I don't have the time, tools or skills and that is why I buy replacement original new or used parts when I can find them. I try to get all the mechanical functions in order first which is what I enjoy most and then worry about appearance. Some of the older models look great with their well earned war wounds and weathered finishes from years of hard work, especially when they still run better than the ones at Home Depot that are made from recycled beer can and plastic soda bottles.

when snowblowing during a storm....priceless

Howdo all, only a small update but a big step towards getting the beast moving under it's own power again.. Once all eight sprockets were bored out each side..Again as I managed to under cut the size of the bores each time! They were put on the wood burner to get them nice and hot.. The bearings went in the freezer.. An hour or so later... Once I'd made a couple of spacers on (sorry forgot to take any photos) the lathe it was time to see if it would all fit in the outrigger and do the "chain tension thing" as I hope they will do... Despite the naff photo's I'm happy.. Much better than the old skateboard wheel set-up.. It won't take long to quickly make 6 more spacers for the other chains, install a battery tray... Then I can drive the ol girl again :music-rockon:

Yep, looks like calender material to me.

Now this is clever!!! No not just clever, VERY very clever! http://www.youtube.com/embed/iKqpvriKZuA

Suburban Tractor from Norway?

Jimmy Hoffa?

Honestly, as long as you disassemble the tractor right, do proper metal prep (sandblast/strip etc) and do basic repairs such as welding cracks and fixing dents, use a decent quality paint (doesn't have to be base coat clear), use a HVLP gun, not a brush, use close colors, correct decals and placement and don't bling it up in chrome and dumb decals, you can't go wrong! This isn't like building a hot rod car. If you want to modify it, go ahead, otherwise inspect the originality as you disassemble it noting painted parts, bolts etc and you're fine. It will look sharp. Manuals weren't always accurate for reference pictures. They were usually prototypes on the cover so there were differences. Take for example the RJ58 manual and the 1961 manual. Those tractors are different from production in several aspects. Mainly, HAVE FUN DOING IT! Shoot for reliability before you consider looks. See plenty of beautiful paint jobs these days on tractors with leaky, whining and grinding transmissions and smokey engines with half a turn of steering play. Just my input here. We all have opinions.

Ever since Cummins got ahold of what was left of the Onan company, they really havent been interested in doing much with it. Parts prices are outragious for many parts. Thier ring prices are on par with Kohler OEM, $40 a side roughly for new ring sets. But many hard parts like oversize pistons, crankshafts ect can be impossible to locate. Could you have had the crank turned 10 or 20thou undersize? Last I knew one could still get undersize rods. There is a local gentleman, does mostly JD spec Onans but can overhaul others. Offers turn key rebuilt Onans for around $1300, mostly again JD spec for 318/420's. The WH Onan install isnt the tightest I have seen, take a look under the hood of a 446 Case/Ingersol. Underhood muffler, full covers over both heads with a 90' deflector at the end to keep heat off the operator's legs. I see way more Case tractors with Onan issues than WH, JD or Sears. Keeping up with valve adjustments, cylinder head decarboning and keeping the engine clean are the keys to long lifespans in Onans, or any air cooled for that matter. Onans are just a bit more maintance sensitive than a Kohler or a Briggs. But when in proper tune, they are a site to behold and hear. They have a throaty roar to them that no other flat twin has. I like thier block design over the Kohler KT and Mag series, only thing I would have like to see is replacable cylinder jugs like the Kohlers. I hate the two piece crankcase on the KT and Mags. Mike

Gonna fire this thread back up, IMHO as a professional mechanic, the remote oil filter's main help is getting the chance of oil leaks, mess from changing filter ect away from the cylinder head, not so much the extra heat. The cylinder jug is hotter than the engine oil, espicaly up near the head. The problem lies in the belt guard blocking cooling air flow, and the difficulty in cleaning the rear cylinder head and jug of oily gunk that tends to build up around the oil filter housing area. I have also seen Onans with crankshaft oil seal issues under the flywheel that go unnoticed till they plug up the cooling fins. Any air cooled engine doesnt like to be run hot, espicaly flat twins. What happens, as explained by an Onan factory rep is normaly one cylinder runs hotter than the other, that happens to be the rear on the WH but is usualy the side with the filter mount as it usualy has the most build up from oil leaks, seepage or careless oil changes making a mess and not cleaning up. When that cylinder gets hot enough, the piston rings loose thier temper causing a loss of compression on that cylinder. If the loss is high enough when compared to the opposite side, the engine goes out of balance and the resulting harmonics will kill the connecting rod on the weak cylinder normaly. I have seen B and P series Onan twins with over 5000 hours on them in RV gen sets. But look at the enviroment they run in, normaly cleaner, service is usualy done when the RV is getting serviced, so its done by the book. They dont get run in an envrioment full of blowing grass and dust. I would see more valve seats coming loose than blown rods. And those were not that common either. Onans are pricey to overhaul, but Kohler is getting up there in recent years with a pretty good price hike in OEM parts. That being said....Jay are you still doing belt guard mods?? I may be getting a 518 and would like to get one of the modified belt guards if I end up with it. Thanks Mike

The gentlemen called today, was out of town on business. Other than a paint job it doesnt have any problems he knows of. He is more into green stuff and would rather have my 214 than the horse. He is supposed to bring it over tomorrow for me to look at and we will go from there. Mike

No WH is a toy, LOL! The tires look cool...

I got the call last week about some old WH hubcaps a fella wanted rid of. He said to come and look at them and he knew I would want them. I asked if they were rusty or not and he said they were a little rusted but not too bad. I said if you don't mind, don't clean them up, If I buy them I would rather clean them up myself. He said no problem, he would leave them as is. I went and looked at them today and he was right, I wanted them right now! Best part was the price, $50.00 for them all!! They cleaned up pretty good! Now I have to figure what tractor to put them on! Click on the pics for a bigger pic. KJ

delco reproduction decal http://www.redoyourhorse.com/servlet/the-277/REPRODUTION-OLD-VINTAGE-DELCO/Detail

Given the replies, the question needs a bit of qualification. For example, was the NOS tractor purchased, and if so, at a "normal" price or a premium price? Or was it a gift or inherited? It looks like most folks here would not pay a premium for an NOS just to have it sit around. I would not buy an NOS unless I got a great deal and could re-sell it to someone willing to pay the NOS price. If I came across an NOS for free (ahh, what a dream that is), then I would re-sell or trade for something more useful. My wife has enough knick-knacks around the house collecting dust. That is the last thing I want in my shed. Jeff

Paint it red, add a sticker, call it rare, and list on ebay...what else?

Here is another idea. This is the muffler setup I put on a Charger 12 I restored a few yrs. ago. I never smelled when I got off this tractor. The muffler was off a Cub Cadet 122. I agree with Kelly, a stack setup can look good if done right, most times they aren't though.

It looks like a nice tractor, I'd ditch what you have and try too find a nice factory muffler for it. I do like custom exhaust pipes but I think the factory setup would look best on yours.

Doesn't matter if its a Senior, RJ, 420 lse etc. I am putting fuel in it and driving it ...no trailer queens here. The older ones (Senior,RJ) would probably just be show/parade tractors and the newer ones would be put to work as they were intended. I get more enjoyment out of using them than I do just sitting back and looking at them.

I personally would get tired of pushing an NOS tractor on and off my trailer bringing it to shows just so I can say its never been started. I wouldn't work it but I ain't gonna push it around either. I get more enjoyment out of riding them than I do looking at them so fire in the hole.

I've had good results with Interstates the last few years or so. In fact, I'm gradually switching over all my vehicles to Interstate when the time comes, partly because I get a good price and excellent service when necessary from my local mechanic. But no matter the brand, I always get longer life if I'm careful about bringing the battery inside for the winter and keeping the fluid level topped up and the battery charged. I don't have a Battery Tender to maintain the charge, but I do have a charger that I use once a month or so, works well for me. And make sure you do your charging in a well-ventilated area, well away from sparks. Bob (rmaynard) will remind you if you forget! I know there's at least one other thread that covers this topic in a good bit of detail, I'll look around and see if I can find it and post a link here. EDIT: Here's a couple of threads I was thinking about: And another on battery size: By the way, the short version of my answer to your main question is KEEP IT CHARGED. This past winter was really mild here, so I used my 310-8 a good bit to haul firewood and just play in the yard. I didn't take the battery out for storage like I usually do, and it bit me in the arse in the spring. I started having problems starting the tractor, charged it a couple of times and it seemed fine, but just wouldn't hold on to a charge for very long. I finally had my mechanic do a load test, it failed miserably. I bought a new Interstate, no problems so far, I WILL be taking it out before it gets too much colder here. 2nd EDIT: One more thread you might find useful: