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Wheel horse collectors include some of the finest people in the world. My wife and I are so fortunate to have met and visited with neighboring state members specialwheelhorse Jim and his wife this week. We got to talk horse, history, parts,ect and had the most wonderful time. Jim made my day when we traded some parts and I gotn something I've been wanting since 1981, a grader blade. I've not been so thrilled with a trade/purchase/find that I can remember. I pale in my collection of 1 compared to Jim and all you other folks. Jim was happy with what he got but I feel he had a lot more valuable part than my stuff. Anyway all the folks I've had the pleasure to email, pm' or call have been the same graet caliber of folks, US, Canada, Norway; it's so good knowin' that such finepeople exist. And any time you're out, down, up this way lets visit.

Cut him some slack, he said it was short. :popcorn:

I took some ideas and ran with them, I tried a set of C fenders, I like it, but I would have to do a lot of cutting to make them bigger, wider by at least 2" each side, longer by about 6" I figure 3 sets of fenders to cut up. I went out back and pulled the front part of the fenders off a GT14 (I'm glad it's not normal Jan. temps out, it was near 50 today) I raised the fender some to fit the front part in, I didn't like it at first, but I think I'm going to keep them this high. Then I put a piece of sheet metal on the footrest to see if I could tie it in with the front of the fender. I'm 99% sure I'm going this way with the fenders, so with that said if you want to follow and make welcome comments go here

Spend your money fixing the k181 (right) Not just good enough for now. If you cant do it pay somebody to do it. Theres no reason it shouldnt start almost immediately when you hit the key. Even the pull start 181s start on a half pull most of the time. Its a tough little engine to beat and simple to maintain. If its wore to the point boring and reringing isnt a option used blocks are not that hard to find.

It does not appear to know which way it wants to turn :ROTF:

Martin: You are going to be adding on to the garage at this point !! Just don't make it so that you are living in the garage.

If he uses "slick Willie" everybody will prolly think a former President has joined us! :ychain:

im off work at the moment and was just working around the house doing some housework and a bit of demo work on the kitchen today. well, didnt get much time on the forum today until 5-6pm tonight. did the usual and thought id check out cl for any horses in the area. normally everything is beat to crap or way to expensive so i just skim through it and then im done, but the first one i come across was only 15 minutes away and cheap so i looked a little closer..... called the owner and ended up there around 7.00 tonight. well after dealing with flat batteries and bs i gave up and just said ill take it. not the first one ive got not running. its always a gamble, but what the hay, its 9.00 and im getting tired and im either walking (not a chance) or getting it in the truck and handing over the cash.... we had to drag this thing out of a barn and up 100 feet of slippery slope to get it where we could push it up into the truck. ice and mud (40s here today) and his jd400 was struggling to get it up the hill, ended up giving up and used my truck. went really slow as i was very concerned about towing it as its a hydro. needless to say got it in the truck in about 45 minutes and home i went. shortest trip ever, less than 15 minutes couldnt be happier with that and was, for me worth giving more than i usually do for them..... anyway here is 2 pics, first is from the ad, the second on my truck when i got home, not real good ones but better than nothing. more will come when i get it off the truck, but i though you guys would let me off tonight with just these....... tractors in reasonably good cosmetic condition, not real clean, it spent its time in a covered barn when not being used, but its got a bunch of crap all over it and doesnt look like it was cleaned very regularly after mowing. not sure of the year though......

Hey everyone, I maintain an Ariens snowblower webpage: http://1stclass.myla...tychaos/Ariens/ and as part of that documentation, I have been keeping track of snowblower engines the last few years, here is a very quick synopsis: 1960 to 2008 - 95% of "walk behind" snowblowers have Tecumseh engines, 4% have Briggs engines, 1% "other". and almost all snowblowers, and the engines on them, are made in the USA, making the machines 100% US-built. 2000 - (more or less) Briggs begins making some small engines in China, and some are still made in the USA. 2008 - Tecumseh leaves the small gas engine market. 2008 - 2012 - the floodgates open for Chinese made engines. 2008 - 2012 - Briggs is only making 3 gas engines, used on snowblowers, in the USA. 2012 - the LAST ever US-made snowblower engines are built..Briggs shuts down the plant, and all production moved to China. 2014 - All snowblowers will have Chinese engines on them. For a lot more detail, see this thread: http://www.snowblowe...made-china.html This means that this winter will be the last winter, probably ever, that a 100% "Made in the USA" snowblower will be available new. both the machine itself and the engine on it. it took 60 years, but the 100% made in the USA snowblower is now dead.. Most (but not all) snowblower bodies will still be made in the USA, but not the engines. So, what the state of the Garden/Lawn Tractor industry? im sure all push-mowers have Chinese engines on them by now..but how about Tractors? Are there still Made in the USA Tractor engines out there? Kohler? perhaps some remaining larger Briggs engines still made in the USA? are there still "100% made in the USA" Tractors? both the tractor and the engine both? and if so, for how long? thanks, Scot

http://youtu.be/F8jciEhxeXc oops, here tis. now how did I DO that?

This is the Lawn Ranger I purchased for $175.00 .The hood is in bad shape but no rust . Myron in ct.

....and you still have a place for custom auxiliary headlights!

im very impressed with all you guys with your american made quality, i have a 2012 dodge ram 2500 with the 6.7 cummins in it and love the truck, what i hate about it is the fact that it says FINAL ASSEMBLY POINT MEXICO. i have 2 VW tdi diesels also and cant believe how nice they are, i wish american cars were built as good as they are, not trying to put the big 3 down but the quality in there cars is crap there wore out in a few years. we need the quality control here, and like somebody above said it all goes back to more,more,more. what happened to toro, wheel horse is a terrible thing, toro wants to sell machines, the ponds wanted to sell you a tractor, there is a reason these horses are still pulling there weight.

Uhhh... What video? :eusa-think:

I drove from central NY to the bottom of IN for a 754 over 1400 miles round trip Brian

I drove from Muskegon, MI. to Kokomo, IN. (about 250 miles??) for a Commando 800, then a month later went back for a John Deere 110. I limit myself to 200 miles one way nowadays, unless it's a killer deal or I really got the hots for it.

Do you think if I picked up about 30 of those Buddy heaters I could get my garage up to 200 degrees?

Martin Your correct that you have an 1982. My recollection from when I did mine was that everything is the same as a red tractors except the engine and colors. I used a urethane to paint mine. I belive it's a Ford or Lincoln/Mercury color for the grey and white wheels. The only problems aside from needing a rebuild kit for the hydro control valve was I had to replace the coil. I would be out mowing and when the tractor started to heat up it would cut out and not start again until it cooled off. New coil and no problem. I allways worried about the B&S but it was a great engine. This was without a doubt one of the best tractors I ever owned. The 48 inch deck and snowplow worked great with the hydro trans and hydro lift. Wish I would have kept it. Here's a picture of my son driving it at the 2001 PA Show. Notice how few tractors were at the show back then? Here's another with his little brother on the 857.

thanks guys on all the replies, info etc. well the demo work is gonna take some time, and the wife has just left for work, so while im going to juggle it a bit here and there, the tractors gonna get the most attention today, at least to get it off the truck. couldnt get the thing right on the truck without the back wheels resting on the tailgate, so im not happy running around with it in there. im going to throw the battery on the charger and see whats up with that first, terminals and cables look like crap so a bit of maintenance and a healthy battery might take care of the starting situation. seller said something about having problems with the fuel pump when cold, so if i don't get it started it will get moved out the way and covered up for another day. ive got too much stuff going on right now to mess with it too much. if it starts and runs good, that would be great. other than the kitchen, ive got a snowblower apart and rebuilding and i need to take care of some other red stuff first before i do too much on this one. i wasnt planning on getting another right now, in fact its a litttle cramped in the garage with my wifes car in there....... it was my idea though to put the car in there though, don't blame her, she wants to drive it, but with all the salt and crap around at the moment, its sitting until the weathers better. she only got it 3 months ago, and i want to keep it looking nice for a little longer......

I think one the biggest things is who does it effect that your gone. If the wife stays home how understanding is she that you head out across state lines for a tractor! I sold an old Power king snow blade to a guy in Ohio on E bay. My wife thought the guy was nuts. He gets here with his wife and we talk a few min. Both wives are shaking their heads My son is in school in Buffalo so she has gone on my last 2 trips that way after tractors. We had some fun one time trying to find a gas station with a bathroom up north of Lockport. We were amazed at all of the porto-potties that were used and the boarded up bathrooms. Not many of them were on level ground either. most of them if you used it, you'd be peeing at an angle! :ROTF:

I had same interested in the same one about couple months ago offer him $250.00 he seems pretty cool I talked to him. Plus he's been sitting on it for awhile now...

maybe something like these off a simplicity 4041. i like the single big light.

Don't forget to re-torque head bolts when engine cools down, after initial warm up. Very important step which is sometimes overlooked...

Mission Accomplished! Here's what took place. I used alligator clips to connect the + Battery to the Radio Shack "Choke", then another clip from Choke to the + tip of the cigarette lighter plug. Side of plug grounded to the - Battery with clips. Off the flash rate was fine at 2 per sec. Started Kohler and erratic flash rate. So I soldered the .01uf Capacitor to the power leads (photo below) and it tested fine at 2 flashes per second both off and running, problem solved. Since the Choke was just clipped to the + I decided to remove it to see it the .01uf was the solution on its own. Removed the Choke and it still flashed at normal rate without the choke Kohler off or running. Decided the 01uf was the real solution on its own so unhitched the clips and plugged the cord into the lighter socket under the seat. Flash rate ok off or running. Problem solved. The choke from radio shack had a copper wire coiled around the outside and it actually became farily warm while testing. I removed it since it ran fine with only the 01uf Cap soldered in. Never got as far as needing the 470uf "bathtub" so might just have to test that reverse connection, but not on my C-125! Maybe on a spare battery! Thanks SOI. Your first inclination worked well, just adding the capacitor to funnel off high frequency noise to ground. I had plenty of room under the circuit board so I left the Cap hanging straight from the board, no need for a strip of electrical tape since it hags away from any part of the board. Point of information, the lighter socket was a Walmart special for a couple bucks since the strobe came with the male lighter plug. I clipped the socket wires to the rear light wires under the seat using a small hole in the seat pan so the socket sits under the seat and has a cap for keeping dirt out in non-winter running.. Did I ever say this site is a great resource for sharing ideas and solutions! Thanks again. Wyatt

i know matt that owns the wheel dan and the last i knew it was for sale for a price eric

I work for a large international company (your probably drinking coffee from one of our products right now, and we bought out that red cup company last year) About 10 years ago we looked into setting up a production plant in Chi-na had the building purchased and were building equipment for it (we manufacture all our own production equipment in house) Then the Communists said if your going to import your own equipment we want all the prints, oh and documentation of your process, trade secrets, formula's, and any other information you have so that we can copy it all and set up our own plant to compete with you.... Needless to say we ain't got a plant over there, and for our trouble they promptly passed a ban on all EPS foam beverage containers??? So all them companies that farmed out their work over there sold their collective souls for profit, then the Chinese beat em at their own game, copied everything, and put them out of business. In the end we still have about 15 US plants 2 in Mexico, 1 each in Argentina, UK, Australia, Brazil, Bahama's, Panama, and a couple others that I am probably forgetting about. All the foreign plants only make product for use in their respective countries, with the exception of Mexico but you can thank the California environmentalists for that.

I think alot of that stuff will be coming back here eventually. I know this is a little off topic (sort of). A company called Gerringhof is opening a plant here in Mn. They manufacture Corn and Grain heads for combines. I think that when a strong European company like this decides "Made in the USA" is the thing to do? Then maybe others will follow. They (Gerringhof) will still have their world operations in Germany but its a good step forward. I have a friend of mine that works for Toro in prototype development and he says that several of these PRC engines , that they end up using in R/D come here with egg shaped cylinders. They must need more Q/C over there. :flags-usa: :flags-usa:

I second that Vin! It's all about the profit. They'll ship it over-seas even if it only makes them $0.10 more per unit. My sons class was having those rubber wrist bands made for a class mate that is sick. The company offered two options, ones made over-seas and the same ones made here in the USA. The over-seas one cost $0.25 less per band than ones that were made here in the USA. The kids decided to buy the ones made in the USA, even though they new it would cut into the money they were raising for the kid. I was very proud of them! Maybe there is hope!!!

ps hug your tractor and kids best you will ever have

I belong to a heavy equipment forum because of the machinery at work. A rep from China on the forum wanted our opinion on Chinese Excavators but said he didn't WANT to hear any BAD things. Reminded me of the line from " A few good men" ......" You can't handle the truth." :canada:

I was at his 50th birthday party. He was pretty sloshed and started ragging on the Packers. So I started busting on him calling him a Fair-Weather Queenie fan. He drops his drawers showing his tat (along with Big Jim and the Twins) to everybody that was there! :jaw:

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:

Congrats on your anniversary Ian. It has been a pleasure to view and comment on your projects and posts. I always enjoy your work. Thank You for sharing it all with us. :)

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

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

Yep, an oldie...but definitely a goodie.

Haven't tried appliance paint but, plenty of RustOleum Regal Red and Gloss Black. Works fine for me. Duplicolor Wheel Paint (auto parts store), Silver, works on my two 400 wheels. Fine.

Had loads of 'Fiddley Bits' to make over the last week or so and have been sheltering in the 'Ole Worke Shoppe'. I said I had some goodies arrive, they are in the form of Lift Cables and other bits- 7 x 7 strand Stainless Steel Cables and Swaged Clevis Forks/Pins. SWL of 158kgs ( 348lbs). Plenty for what I need. Stainless Cable Eyes and Clamps for the Lever end should hopefully have the same load limits. I used Thick Walled copper tube for the Conduit in the end. Made up 2 matched Clevis plates and pins, both in High grade Steel and reamed the Lever's Cable hole out to 5/16"- A job that I left sometime back was the Light Lense. Well It cleaned up ok and the Weld Spatter damage has been filled and blended out. I have to say though, that all of my efforts to lose the Crack lines have failed. I just cannot get anything to fill them invisibly (even vacuum drawing the fluids in). So the Old War Scar will stay. The lense has been fixed on with the correct size 6-32 but used Stainless Button Head Screws- While I was playing with the H.G Steel Gauge Plate, I machined up the parts for the PTO Clevis and Silver Soldered them together (you can't see the join). The Pin is slightly Softer Steel, so it will wear first. The Roll Pin is not the Spirol type, so I made up a hard Pin to go inside it with a slight interference fit so the Clevis will still pivot on the Roll Pin- I found that both Lever Knobs had cracks where they push on to the Levers, and not wanting to start searching the Web for more, I decided to repair them. They were glued and clamped to seal the cracks and I made collars out of 0.014" Nickel Silver Strip. As it was annealed to 1/4 hardness, it was easy to shape them to a close fit and Silver Soldered to form a band. Slower Cooling made the Nickel 1/2 hard, but still soft enough to shape itself round the neck of the Knobs. A quick clean up and I pressed the Collars on in the Smooth Jawed Vice......job done... I still have to make a modified Trunnion for the PTO and a few other bits, but It's more or less there. So ! , with the Absence of a Yet-to-Come Vid. , here's an Autumnal shot of it under the Apple Tree for now (sorry about the image quality).

Will, try this. I know you know electronics. The ignition module is nothing more than an FET triggered by a latched Hall effect switch. There are two magnets embedded in the trigger ring, one North polarity, one South. When the first magnet passes the latched Hall switch, the FET sinks the (-) terminal of the ignition coil to ground. When the second magnet passes the Hall, the FET is shut off and the (-) coil returns to 12 volts. THE COIL (+) TERMINAL SHOULD ALWAYS REMAIN AT +12 VOLTS - if not, you have a safety switch issue. Never connect the black lead from the ignition module to a 12 volt source - doing so will destroy the ignition module. click on image to enlarge This whole process can be tested by engine off, key in RUN position. Test light should be bright on (+) and (-) coil terminals. Move the test light to the coil (-). The ignition modules I have tested so far have powered up with the FET turned on. Soooo... you should see a few millivolts at the (-) coil terminal (manual says less than 1.5 volts - I have seen around 60 -70 millivots). While monitoring the (-) coil terminal with the light (or voltmeter) rotate the flywheel and within 110 to 120 degrees of crankshaft rotation, the second magnet on the trigger ring should turn off the Hall latch and turn off the FET. The (-) coil terminal should return to +12 volts (bright test light). Of course if the engine cranks, you can perform the above test while cranking to see the +12 volt to ground to +12 volt transistions (test light should flash). If no flash, either the coil primary is open or the ignition module /wiring is defective. Let me know. I'll be home late in the afternoon on Saturday if you need more help.

LANERANGER i used your rig idea and pulled the other hub. SURPRISE SURPRISE LOOK what i found