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I had a great time today at Elnora, Indiana (Daviess County Four H Fairgrounds) at the White River Valley Antique Association's 29th Annual Show. Sat all day with Ken Smith ( KC9KAS) of Holland , Indiana and Karl Stohry ( rockinhorse) of Flat Rock, Indiana. Joined by Brian Lawson of Brazil, Indiana later in the morning. Here are some photos of the show in no particular order! Red Square Members : Ken Smith, Brian Lawson, Karl Stohry and Lane Ralph September 7, 2013 -Elnora, Indiana Two Wheel Horse tractors Henry Bullington brought from Tenn. to Elnora: Brian Lawson's 855 Wheel Horse Karl's Dark Horse 12 Custom Wheel Horse The next generation of Wheel Horse owners listening to the old timers Ken and Karl hard at it

Got the WH out to sweep the garage

http://www.jibjab.com/view/sqvXQ8-3SNWQh_f_3NvC_w Rock -N- Rye brother And to all the members celebrating their Birthdays today,

Saw this story on Yahoo today http://screen.yahoo.com/story-2-larrys-tractor-002119832.html

We are back in San Francisco now. Here I am eating dinner in the famous Cliff House Restaurant, overlooking the Pacific Ocean as the sun was setting. More pictures will be added when I get home. Sorry guys. I didn't see a single red tractor...no, wait. Yes I did.

Post 'em if you got 'em...if you ain't got 'em...why not?

I'm coming up on my 1 year anniversary as a Wheel Horse owner, and also nearing completion of a refurbishing project on the 854 I bought a year ago. While I'm waiting for the paint to cure before I put it all back together, and since it's too hot this week to work in the garage anyway, I thought I would put up a thread documenting the progress the past year. I always find motivation and some good ideas from other people's project posts, so I hope I can return the favor. Some of this is repeat from a few of my other posts, but I thought it would be nice to have it all in one thread. I will add to the post as I track down the pictures and get it written. To recap, late last July I bought the 854 as a non-runner. It was all original, complete, and other than surface rust, in pretty decent shape. It had a mower deck, rear slot hitch, and snowplow bracket on the rear axle. I had admired the round hoods for a while, and hadn't seen that many come up for sale on Craigslist in the area. I paid $200 for it, which I felt was a little risky not really knowing what it was going to need to get it running, but I convinced myself I had to have it. After getting it home and getting it cleaned up, I did a little more detailed inspection. It didn't have any major signs of abuse, but the hood was cracked at the seam on one side, and the seat was cracked too. I got a different seat for it from the seller, so the seat wasn't really a problem. Getting it running also turned out to not be too difficult, it just needed some fresh gas and the spark plug wire connection cleaned at the coil. Once running, however, it did smoke. It would somewhat clear up if sitting idle or cruising around the yard, but under load the smoke was persistent. Also with fresh fluids and gas, I could could see that the gas tank seal leaked (surprise, surprise) as did the axle and brake seals in the transmission. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlFowHy9zjY I like all my tractors in my collection to have a purpose, and this one was to be my "garden tractor". Part of the attraction of this one was the slot hitch and Wheel Horse attachments that could be used in tending a garden. My initial plan was to stop the leaks, and eventually rebuild the engine to clear up the smoke, but otherwise leave it original. I liked the patina and original decals it had, and I knew I wouldn't feel guilty about using it if I left it in it's "work clothes". The axle seals were easy to get from my local Toro dealer (Part No. 100863). Getting them installed was not so easy. One hub came right off, but the other was stuck. This explained the chunk it had out of it, likely from an earlier, unsuccessful attempt to change that leaky seal. It took alot of heat to get it off, but it did eventually come off. While I had the torch out and the rear of the tractor partially disassembled, I replaced the pin for the slot hitch. It also took alot of heating and beating, but it did come out. New seals on the axles and brake were successful in keeping the oil in, and I put on a new shifter boot to keep the water and dirt out. Following the advice I found on here, a 6" hitch pin did the trick as a replacement for the slot hitch. As luck would have it, around this time I found a Commando 8 come up for sale nearby for $100. I bought it mainly for the decentbar tires it had on it and the hopes that I could just swap in the K181 Kohler from it to resolve my engine smoking problem. As it turned out, the engine on it was a K161 from a 753. It ran OK, but smoked worse than the engine I already had. Still, the tires were good, and it provided me with a drawbar and a good hub to replace the one with the chunk missing. My repair of the leaky fuel tank resulted in only limited success. Fortunately, all the screws came out without breaking any. A couple were missing, and there looked like some kind of caulk or form-a-gasket on there, so obviously this wasn't the first attempt to fix the tank (nor would it be the last). I could have bought the tank gasket (Part No. 4452) from Toro, but since I already had the supplies on hand I decided to make my own gasket and seal the tank with Red-Kote. I traced the tank and cut out a gasket on 1/32 gasket paper. After installing the new gasket, I coated it with the Red-Kote. Despite my best efforts, it still leaked. Gas was no longer cascading down the side of the pedestal, but it was still slowly seeping out. Still, that was enough of an improvement for the time being to feel comfortable using it. Working this tractor is what I got it for, so I was extremely happy to find a plow and cultivator for it to go with the disc I already had. A fall plow day nearby provided me a good opportunity to give the old 'horse a little workout. It didn't impress anybody there with it's rusty complexion, smoking engine and yellow wheel weights, but I was pretty happy that the little 8HP tractor could plow with the "big boys". Shortly after the plow day, I plowed up the garden at my house. It was still fun, but neither my wife nor the neighbors seemed to appreciate the engine smoke much. The hood also was rattling some, and I was concerned about the crack getting worse. I decided my next projects on the tractor would be to address those issues. I took the hood to a local weld shop to repair. They did a decent job, but it had obviously been repaired. So much for that all original appearance. I also inspected the engine. Tolerances were within spec, so I planned to just do a hone, new rings and new valves/guides. Before I got around to that though, Christmas came and the 854 slid to the back burner for most of the winter. That's probably more than enough for now. I'll continue my story to cover the work on it since then in the next few days. Dave

Went to a estate auction to today in the northeast PORT WASHINGTON,OHIO. It was a 1998 312-8 with 42" deck 467 hours. The tractor was very nice 9.5 out of 10 it had the OHV Kohler 12.5hp motor. I bid $800 then $850 and I stopped it sold for $1650. Somebody really wanted it. The tractor had beautiful original red paint, black paint on the front of the was still nice and not rubbed off. The tractor was garage kept and waxed often. The deck was mint with scars and spindle housing looked great. Here are the 3 pictures the auction site had listed, they gave it a bath it looked like new today. Maybe somebody from Redsquare got it, if so they got a good one. BOWTIE IN CENTRAL OHIO

Well I finally got to go to my first show today with the help of Brrly1 and I got to say it was super great! I talked to and met other people and with the help of a good friend Carl, I got to get my C125 running for the first time since January this year!!!! The spool valve blew the seals and I thought there was no hope until I met Carl and Brrly1 who helped me get the parts, get it fixed, and invited me then took me to my first show. I just want to say thanks to these great guys and all of the other Wheel Horse people. I have felt very welcome in this hobby. Probably the best hobby in the world!!! Now, I look foreword to many more shown and friends!!

Been waiting all day for my call back on this second owner tractor. Chris said he got this little 603 from the original owner years ago. Said all of his kids have grown up on it, his oldest daughter used to sleep in his arms while he was mowing with it. Said all his years living in this area he's never seen anyone with the Wheelhorse banner emblazened across the back window of their truck. You know I had to tell him about the forum and the Biglersville show too. Pretty sure he was having sellers remorse there at the end...whew! I think I got outta there just in time. LOL.

Well for the 2nd year in a row, I got rained out of the garden tractor pull. Still lots of tractors and interesting contraptions around. Only nuts I saw there were Buckrancher and Jo. Flea market was big but this is starting to bug me. People bring all kinds of stuff AND I MEAN STUFF!!! and then they overprice everything and have to take all most everything home. Hardly seems worth it. Our site at the Steam Pageant we price most things to sell because we want them gone! Well didn't get any puller pics. When they started coming out the rain started. Very cool video at the end. Long entrance road into the show before and after Big mohambie marine engine Hart-Parr & Mini Moline Nice Oliver crawler old Ford Case steamer Porter Cable Craftsman Red Green was there! Get me a ladder! Cutting wood the slow way It will be a while before the bird's done! Bantam Finally a Horsie Tecky Power! This is for Steve! HE WANTS SNOW! Tiny Massey Hey another Horse! Bolens Pile of Cubs Long view from the entrance when I went to get the rain gear! Only pulling pic I got before the big rain Finally. Here's something you don't see often at a tractor show. A hand built Carousel powered by a hit in miss gas engine! Here's a video of it running!

Onans power reefers with thousands of $ of produce on board. They power gen sets that run for days without shutting off. Also running welders on industrial equip. Why because of reliability, especially of the reefer units. Not Kohlers, Or even diesels. I love kohlers a lot too but there is some reason these Onans are on most industrial applications. Fix it right and use it.

Awesome picts Lane...some great ideas in there.

Have A Happy Day!!!

Have a good one Steve!- GO ILLINI!

Happy Birthday Steve

Transmission fluid and acetone did the trick for a seized outboard motor for me. Soaking it for days and increasing the amount of acetone to tranny fluid per day. Moving things real slow 'til it freed up.

Dino burgers at Steve's house. Hope you have a happy birthday...and many more too.

Well, baby still hasn't had it's first bath yet...eventually it'll go to work with me and get steam cleaned at some point. Had to change the oil three times the other night just to get it to turn over... the sludge in there was thick like tar in there from not being changed, and sitting so long. Almost started thinking I was going to get it running again until I discovered the carb was leaking like a sieve. The kit for it came in the mail today, so I skipped the tractor parade to clean and rebuild the carb, replaced the fuel line, cleaned the gawd awful, funky crud outta the fuel tank, to finally get some fire in the hole. Actually, it turns out to be a pretty good runner...but found I'm gonna have to go through the sloppy steering now. So, some progress made...and more work to go. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdReuUtTvqI Also, thought I check out how it would look with a set of duals on...wife says to me "I don't think you have to have dual wheels on every tractor you own"...I thought...the nerve of that woman to think such nonsense...but you know...I didn't have the nerve to say it out loud. LOL!

Maybe these pics will help Mine is an '85 but maybe the same?

Happy Birthday Big guy! I like my steak medium rare!

I celebrated Steve's birthday by sittin the rain wishing it would stop so the garden tractors would be able to pull. Now I won't forget when the next on comes along! https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1024&bih=633&q=beatles+65&oq=beatles+65&gs_l=img.3..0l4j0i24l6.1883.5929.0.7989.10.10.0.0.0.0.786.3484.2j1j0j2j4j0j1.10.0....0...1ac.1.26.img..5.5.1521.fx4glKUWNyU#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=-Hm25mIGQolvEM%3A%3BUdVW-JC240x11M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Feil.com%252Fimages%252Fmain%252FThe%252BBeatles%252B-%252BBeatles%252B%2765%252B-%252BGreen%252BOdeon%252B-%252BLP%252BRECORD-501097.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Feil.com%252Fshop%252Fmoreinfo.asp%253Fcatalogid%253D501097%3B500%3B495

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVE brian

Those crazy Tecky's!

Been to the horse races lately? The horses that race can be a filly so I guess the newest member of your herd can be Her.

Happy Birthday, Steve !!! I hope its a great one and you do something special!

Waiting to see how clean it really get's after the first bath?????? MORE PLEASE....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! if i was closer i'd buy you a rockin rye

Happy birthday Steve !! -BK

hey, just told jeanine it was your birthday, she said have a great day, but she also wanted to know if you heard from nancy? did she send her best wishes?

just bumping this thread...... its that time of year again. sitting on the front porch with a coffee this morning watching this less than 200 ft away...

Happy Birthday Mr saurus , Have a great day with the family & i will toast your Birthday with a glass of wine over dinner this evening >

Mandolins http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ1aEkFql2E

I pulled the wheel off when I got home from work and the hub was just loose...I hope. I loosened the set screw and removed the hub completly. The axle was very well oiled so the seal may be bad. I put the hub back on and tighted the set screw as much as I could and now there is zero movement. I'll keep an eye on it and see what happened. It looks to me that the woodruff key is what keeps the wheel from falling off so I'm not sure how the wheel didn't fall off since the key was visible.

Iowa, South Florida, Illinois, Penn St., Indiana St., Wisconsin, Ohio St., Nebraska, Northwestern, Navy, Michigan , New Mexico St. BTW, if you hear something stirring down in the basement, it's just little 'ole me. Pass me down some chips will ya ?? -BK

Black is nice! Covers up the Barb-B-Que sauce stains. One problem though. If it gets hot in Arendtsville like it did 2yrs. ago, we may lose a Dino!

Amen and everybody asks me why don't you get a new one, did that once with a wife. Besides being history, USA made, durable, good sounding, strong, ect what else could you need, Wheel Horse, not the other. Many others built and enriched this place, I'm still new but glad you enjoy this group, knowledge and machines out tha gazoo!

Boy, I thought it would get easier but I picked on Tuesday and changed those picks 3 times..... I think I have it under control now...lol Iowa, Michigan State, Illinois, Penn State, Indiana State, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Nebraska, Northwestern, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota. Good luck guys....Hope you do well...and I do better

Nice, those look awesome!

That looks awesome. Hurry up and get mine out Scott! :)

moving my utility trailer to the driveway with scotts hitch in tow. works off the hook http://i1208.photobucket.com/albums/cc366/tbarker5/021-1.jpg http://i1208.photobucket.com/albums/cc366/tbarker5/019-1.jpg

Scott, I'm interested in one. I will get in touch with you in regards to a modification I would be interested in. Thanks for offering your talents once again. -BK

I'm new here and just picked up a '71 Charger 12 (to replace my blown-up 10-year old Craftsman/Briggs twin). Anyway...back in the early 80's I restored/customized a 1964 854 and made a set of dual adapters for it. With calcium in the inner tires and Farmall wheel weights on the outers, it was pretty much un-stoppable! Here's a pic w/o the duals:

my dual wheels with wheel horse wheel wheigts

Here's my 753 dually! What a heavy beast! KJ

Well Craig, I don't have duals, but when Danny's Bantam grows up it wants to look just like this. That's a sweet 653 you have there Craig! Matt

All- I just wanted to let those of you who knew my dad (steamfitter screename here) and members here called him "Big Jim" passed last night. He was diagosed with a rare abdominal cancer a few years back and when he found out he was considered stage 4. After 30 days in the hospital he pulled through a serious infection due to the first round of chemo. Over the past 2 years he has been doing well and living life with taking chemo one week then off one week etc. etc. Sometime in March of this year things got bad and he was very ill since then. Could not eat or drink etc etc. I have to say he was one tough person however it was a relief to see him finally let go last night. He was a good man and I will miss him dearly. I wanted to let those of you who have been asking about him know he is in a better place. Edit (nylyon): For those who are interested.

Ride-Away Junior / 3.5 horsepower. Built 1955 through 1957 with no true definitive break between years - and identification tags weren't invented yet. These were the converted two-wheel Walk-Away tractor models that started this whole mess. :ROTF: