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today I got a few horses out of the barn

Hi guys, Last night I spotted this 657 at one of our neighbors who buys and sells stuff. This afternoon we went to go see if he was home and see how much it was and the story on it. I purchased it from him for 125 and have put about another 30 bucks in it. I need to get some front tires for it but I think I might have some. Other than that I just need to fix the governor spring and its a fantastic running techie. I had it going in less than an hr. The ranger has donated the carb for now But I should be able to just rebuild the carb off the 657 for the ranger. It also came with a little cultivator I think is homemade and a pretty nice mowing deck. I might try the deck on it tomorrow and see how it cuts. I think I did pretty good on the price and I think this is a good keeper for my collection. I am starting to like the short frames. I feel like craig with this little motor, techie power! LOL

A clock that was made for me for my retirement Edited to add another picture. They were good to me. They also got me a sweet little Henry 17HMR

Bob, maybe you and your neighbor can come over to my lawn and do a side by side mowing,,,,say like every weekend and at the end of the season, I can proclaim the winner with my trophy from 1977 soccer camp!

I have a GT-14 that was in need of a replacement Hydro Gear and had a good unit from a Ranger that was a direct bolt up except for the output gear being the wrong size. Since I could find nothing in the Manual and no previous tutorial on this subject I dicided to dive into and take a few photos along the way. Step one was to remove the 4 1/4-20 bolts that hold the retainer on the inside of the unit on both Hydros. (see first photo) Step two was to remove the 8 3/8 and 2 5/16 bolts that hold the outer cover and split the outer casting from the rest of the unit. I used a gasket scraper to get it started and then a couple of wood wedges. DO NOT SRATCH THE SURFACES, THEY ARE MACHINED AND THERE IS NO GASKIT! Now you will use snapring pliers to remove the spring clip. (see second and third photos) Step three was to remove the shaft that has the output gear on it. If you have a press that would be a good thing, but not having one i used a large punch and eight oz. hammer and carefully drove the shaft and the captive roller bearings. As you remove the shaft the inner gear of the hydralic motor will come off the shaft, be sure the key for the motor gear comes out with it. Once you have the shafts out of both units you can put the shaft from your old unit into the replacement unit. Press or drive the shaft and captive roller bearings into the new hydro Gear Motor. take a moment to rotate the gear for time to time to be sure nothing is binding. (see fourth photo) The final step is to put on the spring clip and bolt everything togather. I found that a clamp on the shaft helped hold it in place while puting on the spring clip. While you are bloting the cover and retainer togather be sure to rotate the shaft from time to time to be sure nothing is binding. All things considered this is not too complicated, and realy no special tools needed. Hope this will be of help to Red Square members.

I have been restoring my dad's 1962 552 Wheel Horse for almost the past two years now. Been a slow process but enjoying every stage of the rebuild. So far from this... to most recently this... Anyway, had a bit of trouble getting the lift lever/hood stand assembly disassembled. Soaked with PB Blaster for a long time. Still no results getting it apart. Figured that I needed to take it to a "professional" who had more powerful persuasion tools than what I had. Took it a local Cub Cadet dealer just a couple miles from my home. Once I mentioned it was off of an old Wheel Horse tractor, he said he wouldn't touch it... wouldn't even look at it. Well, that ended our conversation rather quickly. Took it then to a farm implement dealer, specifically Wertz Farm and Power Equipment located near Lineboro, Maryland which is about 30 miles from my house. Now this area is where I grew up as a child when my dad originally purchased the 552. The technician there took it immediately and got it apart within 30 minutes. Got to talking to the old guy and he said that he lived in the area all his life and has worked at Wertz's since about 1965. I told him I grew up near there also and started talking about how I acquired my dad's tractor just a couple years ago when I had not seen it for nearly 40 years. My uncle found it two years ago and gave it to me. Well, seems this guy knew my uncle and said my uncle lives in that house over there... and he pointed across the street. I honestly did not know that. Anyway, seems this guy also worked on my grandparents farm near there when he was a lot younger like way back in the '50's. Not knowing exactly where my dad bought this Wheel Horse tractor, I asked Fred if there were any Wheel Horse dealers in this area in the early '60's. He said that this company he worked for, Wertz Farm and Power Equipment, was once a Wheel Horse dealer when the company had their location in the town of Lineboro, Md. He smiled when I showed him pics of my RJ58 and 552 and said he really liked working on the old Kohler engines but didn't care much for the Techy's as they were generally hard to start. Although, Fred said he was pretty sure that they no longer had any purchase records from the old Wheel Horse tractor sales, I am now convinced that my dad bought my 552 tractor from Wertz in Lineboro which was just a few miles from my childhood home. That's my story from my little corner of the world and I'm sticking to it. So, back to my resto project, just got done painting the original rear wheels off of my 552 and a couple of front wheels for my RJ58.They actually came out looking like new... I was able to save the original rear tires from the 552... BF Goodrich Silvertown 6-12 turfs... There is some cracking on these tires, but they are generally in pretty good condition considering how bad the whole tractor looked when I got her a few years ago. Got new inner tubes for it and a bottle of that black tire paint from m.e. Miller Tire Co, so we'll give it a try and see how they come out.

Off to our 1st show of the year. 1st to Kidron Ohio. They will be honoring our friends dad since he passed last Oct. Then to Sugarcreek Ohio to the VGTS been looking forward to this for a log time. plus not sure when my next show will be. due to heath issues. Will be going in the hospital on May 20th and will be layed up for a few months. Hope to go to Plain City Ohio but long shot. Going to try to go to Portland In. next week. and that will be it till I'm better. I was suppose to go in the hospital On the 15th and when the Dr told us they moved it a week the wife said I had a big grin on my face. Then I told her now I can go to Portland she said she should have known. I will try to take pictures at both shows and post tomorrow. Well off to the ATM to make sure I have enough money to come home with more then I left with.

I'm still making changes to this tractor. I had a k141 layin around and the temptation of putting it on this tractor was too much to resist. I had to make some mods to the hood stand to get it in there. I also made an air filter setup with an extension to clear the steering shaft. I'm not sure the fuel tank will stay where it is, I could mount it up under the hood but I couldn't bring myself to drill any more holes than are already drilled in the hood. Lots of other mods had to be done but you get the idea. I'm also not sure this is the final exhaust setup. I will say the performance is about the same as the Honda clone that was on the tractor but this is more the look I want.

I wanted to try and only upload the pictures of my progress, not in the order of the way that I redone each part, but rather in the way I thought that it would be logical to reassemble, however; just to ignite someones interest I am offering a sneak-peek into the future of what one of the assemblies {the instrument panel} looks like after I "sprayed it with some DW-40" It's amazing what that DW-40 does to 40 year old parts!!! Thanks JackC for the heads-up.

Nice new addition Jake, sounds like you're already enjoying the Techie side of life.

I have decided I am parting ways with parting-out!!! I am now in the process of reassembling my 18, and after viewing Marvin's "One thing leads to another and another and" Topic I felt inspired to begin sharing the progress of my redo. First I removed every part that could be removed from the frame. You may notice some nicks in the paint, (this is because I had the front axle on and took pics but I inadvertently left the cameras image size on the "large setting" and the pictures' size was too large to upload so I had to disassemble and retake the pics with the "small setting.") I do not foresee this to be an overnight venture or even dare to guess when if ever this may be completely finished. These are a lot more involved than any other tractor I have worked on, and I don't even know what I am doing. P.S. more to come in my next post as I just wanted to see if the images taken using the smaller setting would upload without me having to downsize them in an external program.

Just a sampling to see if you're paying attention

Well were home already. The show in Kidron was nice. We didn't make it to Sugarcreek (sorry guys. next year we will be back) We heard that it was nice also. The weather wasn't the best and was among friends and just didn't get packed up in time to make the hour drive. I did get pictures.

I used "Cove edge" (the 4"high x 40" long) kitchen appliance base rubber molding ($3, Home Depot), use the better stiffer quality style. The original factory part was 3/16" metal, about 32" long and bolted into the five bolt holes already there (part no longer available), it stuck out about 1.25". You need to allow enough clearance for the rear wheels and the slight 'wiggle' of the deck, I left it a little longer between the rear wheels (my tires are 12" wide). When I have to replace this, I'll use a 32" strip of cove edge cut to 3.0"wide plus a 16" piece of cove edge on top of that, centered, x full 4", with the curve down; five short carriage bolts with fender washers will hold it all on, as shown in photo. This reduced the grass blow-up to very very little, 2% at most, big improvement. This thin-cheap cove edge lasts about 2-years, would prefer a thicker rubber (like the belting at TSC). Good luck,

Headed out at 6:00am this morning to go pick up the 1054 from Duane. It's a 3 hour ride each way and had to get back in time for dinner with all my family. Also brought home some parts that Docwheelhorse bought from him. The 1054 is great condition. Looks all original except for the seat. Even has a single rear red light on a plate which looks original bought not sure. Gave it a very quick bath as a had to go to dinner with the entire family:

My neighbor and I both mowed our grass....both lawns were probably 8 inches high because of the wet weather we have had recently.....my neighbor has a Deere..... Mowed with a 1 year old John Deere..... Mowed with a 40 year old Wheel Horse...... You be the judge.....

Bottom line, yours looks better! I took my 520 to my Dads house and cut his grass yesterday. It has rained a bit the past few days and the grass was pretty thick and high. I could really use a new set of blades for the 520, I'm not gonna sharpen them again. I went over the entire lawn twice, hey, I'm in no hurry. I went over it once and hauled ass over it the second time. I got to enjoy a second cigar and the neighbor who uses a scag ain't got nothing over my 520, although I did it twice!

I bet the neighbor's Deere is GREEN WITH ENVEY !

First, thank you all for the kind thoughts and wishes. I am alive but have a long road to recover. Today I saw the plastic surgeon who will very soon be operating on my facial fractures. This will allow me to fully utilize my mouth which I am sure some don't want me to regain. I am beginning to hear out of my left ear, but still not great. My face is still paralyzed and I will hopefully see some specialists in the next couple of days. That's all for now, as I have an eye doctor appointment.

Without knowing the model numbers it is a little hard to nail the exact yr down, BUT, Mercury dropped the name Kiekhaefer on their engines in the very early 70's. Instead of saying Kiekhaefer Mercury on their motors it was changed to Mercury Marine. Its hard for me to tell if you have any red anodizing on the chrome work of your motor but if you do and it says Kiekhaefer Mercury then you have a late 60's very early 70's motor. In my opinion a real good motor. The motor you have actually looks pretty nice for having spent some time in the woods. Things to check are good even compression on all 6 cylinders. if my memory is correct 135 pounds compression is a decent number. Check the wiring, Mercs are known to have problems with brittle wiring in these yrs. Pull the plug on the lower unit and get a look at what the gear lube looks like. If its dirty that is ok, if its empty or has metal filings or water in it, not so good. If it has spark then that is a great thing. If you can determine that these things are at least decent then this motor has a chance of running again with a little bit of work and that will make it more valuable as a complete motor. Parting it out won't bring in too much money. I love Mercs. It is usually the guy that doesn't know what he is doing that will call them a piece of crap. Yes, they are often more challenging to work on and you often do need special tools to work on them, they are not for the everyday Joe. Back in the day that was a bad ass little speed boat you have there.! If I lived closer I'd probably take it of your hands and make it proud again. I have video somewhere of me running my friends Merc 135 somewhere on a very similar style boat.

And there you have it, the rest of the story

That is the highest serial for a 1-4831 of the 27 recorded so far. One of those was made in Belgium so suspect it was later than yours and possibly a 1969 model. Manual Garry

Think I'd rather have it over a gold watch anyhow. Thanks for your service, and enjoy the retirement.

Ian, I reckon you should let us know when you stop adding chunks of Steel and start painting, ....................so we can all have guess at what it would weigh in at (if it can be). My guess would be around 1001lbs(454kgs). Also I think I would always want to be behind you on that in a Parade,.................... rather than in front

Gentlemen: ALL, very helpful!!! WH5208Speed, do you have any of the attachments listed? DOC, yes, if you would send me the sketches please. Does anyone know if an older WH model, that has a FEL, would work with the 5xi? I saw one on CL a while back, I think it was a 161<?> model. The asking price was $3k, and it was only the tractor and FEL. At the time I was not interested in WH, I was looking to stay Green. But it did catch my attention.

I just can't wait untill you get to weigh this...

His problems are mostly technique and timing related. The deck could use an hour's worth of work in left to right leveling - either that or he a severely bent blade . He is also compounding his problem by mowing over his previous clippings and "shoveling" all the multiple layers of clippings down to the edge of the lawn. This is giving him a progressively worse cut and clumping at the edge of the lawn. Yours does look better - you took more time and have your machine adjusted properly. If you look closely, there are sections he has completely missed and the grass is about 2 - 3 inches taller than the cut. You are right and this is a Wheel Horse site. These results however are not strictly a BRAND NAME issue. Let's not confuse all the new folks joining into believing something that just isn't true.

I agree that Wheel Horses do a great job of mowing. Mine still mows good and the baffels are long gone. I sharpened a set of WH blades and mowed my front yard it was throwing a stream of grass six feet. Part of the difference was that he mowed with the JD while it was still wet. That was what caused the clumping. If you look at the JD forums some of there mower bases throw grass out from under the deck on the left front side. I guess the deck is not deep enough or just a bad design on that corner.

The cut quality of Deere and Cub Cadet mowers sucks- it always has. They are great for fields, but not for nice lawns. The 36" on my WH is a better cut than even the 36" on my Jacobsen, and Jacobsen got their company claim for fame mowing golf courses. -Mark-

I had a John Deere L100 last year and this year I have mowed the same grass with my 312-8 and 414-8. There is NO comparison in cut quality and engine power. Wheel Horse outperforms ANY box store tractor hands down!

Neighbors can't keep up with my Stallions. Too much BIG box store junqué! Grandsons choose the Horse of the day and, they all perform! I'm not much on automatics but, the '73 12hp Kohler "No Name" Automatic is amazing! A free Bolens was delivered today. I'm goin' to play with it some. 14hp twin cylinder Briggs. Anyone experienced or opinions on the Briggs engine? My 520-8 is a 2-cyl Onan and that Horse delivers! :smile:

Mowed twice this year. B-100 died about 2 hours ago... fuel issues. No problem though, C-100 to the rescue. I literally just finished going through the mower deck. It worked great! Luke had to take a spin around the yard before I put the deck on. Under close supervison and in 3 low.

Very cool story! I enjoy hearing stories like that.....oldtimers sharing their history is very cool!

On the topic of rear weight brackets, I bought one that was made to fit an JD214 from Absolute Metal Works in MI. I had to drill two additional holes in the mounting brackets to mount the assembly which holds the suitcase weights and add 4 holes to the assembly. Other than that, it was a piece of cake. Cost for the JD assembly from AMW was $130 on ebay. If you go this route, I have the sketches on how to modify the "std JD model" fro fit 5xi. As far as other attachments, go, you have to scour craigs list etc. FEL are hard to come by. I think Challenger had the last new one and Kwik Way is not making any more. New Haven Power in VT did have a few attachments a couple of years ago, but I think they are all gone

You have what I consider the best Wheel Horse model but short on availability of attachments . In addition to looking for Toro attachments, expand your search to the 1998-2006 New Holland GT-Series as they are the same tractors. I have a New Holland blade that I found used for my 518xi. As far as attachments go, in place of the weight box, a number of us have bought a 2" receiver hitch from "smoreau." My tractor and hitch were the prototype 5xi for Scott. It has been fantastic with many uses since installing it. I plan on getting a weight bracket fabricated to fit suitcase-weights for next winter. Just recently I found a bracket for the 2" receiver on the web from "HiddenHitch" that looks like it would be perfect. The dozer blade seems to be an +/- attachment based on comments from the forum. Kevin "Forest Road" is the only 5xi member that I know that has the FEL. I came close a two months ago to purchasing a mid-90s "Orange" B7100 HSD with FEL for around 4K. A neighbor of the seller got to him before I did. That particular tractor model is about the same size as a 5xi plus has 4WD. You might do like I have done and have a small herd! Cheers! John

4 times for me already but I would not call it grass more like weeds with some grass thrown in here and there. If were not for weeds we would not have any green.

Congrats on the retirement and thanks for your service! I added the Air Force to your profile (hope that's alright ) Mike.............

Agree 100% about leaving some of the battle scars - it adds authenticity to my mind. Oh, and it looks as though I've started something - love the 'LEDGLO' look in the link above - hmmmm. Andy

Here ya' go Ian... http://www.ledunderbody.com/Golf-Cart-LED-Lights.aspx