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There's much to report on the little Electro! The progress has been slow but steady as I had some time. Here it is in the "service bay" getting ready to have the lift valve installed and plumbed. At that point it was almost complete. The hood had been prepped already complete with a decal for the headlights. The headlights that came in the kit were never going to look right so I tried this and it looks pleasing to me! Steering wheel ready to go. After adding the levers and neutral pedal she was done! Of course, it had to have a Harrison Elementary Garden Tractor Club logo on the rear fender. Go Huskies! I brought it to the Baton Rouge Scale Modelers meeting last night and the guys were floored! Nobody had ever seen anything like this built before. They enjoyed the stories about interacting with the people on Red Square, too. It's a world they didn't know about. So this has been an adventure that I wouldn't mind repeating. There are already plans in the works for another possible Wheel Horse project and I can't thank all the forum members enough. This couldn't have come out like it did without all the help and support. I will definitely keep checking back in to this really cool forum! See you soon!

Come on! Suck it up and pull the transmission and remove that tank and do it right!

The pickup truck in the photos looks like a diecast and most of those are 1/18 scale which is too big but there are plenty of potential 1/25 pickups out there. I've already built a 1934 Ford pickup but I checked and the bed is too small. Obviously, the coolest way to go would be a Studebaker truck but there aren't any kits available. The idea about tires from farm toys is interesting. I'll have to look around and see what the possibilities are. One problem is that farm tractor tires and garden tractor tires seldom have the same proportions. I made a little display base for my Horse today. It's just a display case from Hobby Lobby that's intended for softballs and hockey pucks with some model railroad landscape items added. It has a clear top so the model can be protected from dust while it's on display.

Hello! I joined this forum pretty recently and I'm probably not the typical forum visitor. I build scale models - usually 1/25 cars - and I've been working on an Electro 12 model. BTW, many of the model cars that I build are my favorite car and another South Bend native - Studebakers. I found this site while searching online for reference photos and manuals. It's a great place with a lot of excellent resources. Reminds me a lot of the Studebaker Drivers Club forum where the members have always been very supportive of my model building. Makes me want to have a real Wheel Horse (and a Studebaker). Anyway, this is where it all started: Probably not many people are more interested in the Wheel Horse than they are in the Indy Car but I'm building the tractor and may never build the car. The tractor in the kit appears to be Charger but after looking over this forum for a while I decided to convert it to the Charger's cousin - a 1969 Electro 12. I had already built the engine as it came in the box but I realized it wasn't correct for this tractor. This is what the first build-up looked like: So I stripped the paint off and did a conversion: The next order of business was building a mower deck since the kit didn't have one and what good is a Wheel Horse without it! I downloaded the manual for a 5-1422 (Thank you, Forum!) and started scratchbuilding. This has been a lot of fun! Here are a few shots from the build-up and the finished mower: The paint is Duplicolor Bright Red which is a GM color. I bought some IH Red at Tractor Supply but didn't really like the drying properties of the paint. The GM Red matches it very well and in fact I brushed on a little of the IH color as touch-up paint in a few spots and can't see the difference. Duplicolor is my preferred paint. It dries fast and hard. There's certainly more to come. I hope you enjoy. Most of the other major components are under construction right now and will be ready to post soon.

Amc rules I see you are a military member, I'm a Vietnam vet myself, 69 and 70.

Raiders are stick shifts, so probably a Charger, they are hydros, it's up to you but I buy alot of tractors here in MI and nonrunners unless like I said nice or have extras I only pay $100 it is up to you, not sure how abundant they are in your area, I would say tops $200 that is with out seeing it, tell them you will pay more but need to hear it run, at least ask why it don't run, make sure the engine does not have a broken rod, check the oil see if it is low or looks like mud, the hydro no real way to know unless you can drive it and get it warm to know if the pump is good.

I'm sure many are impressed with the capabilities of machines like Wood Shredders, Chippers and Stump Grinders, here we have one that chews up and spits out Cars and Engines with relative ease. ........................And it's Red- http://devour.com/video/car-grinder/

Very interesting progression is happening on My Old Machine (myoldmachine.com) with building a Wheel Horse from Scratch. This may be a topic worth following!

Just so ya all know...Michigan plays Illinois in about 20 minutes. Duke just called me...he is concerned about his wolverines. No problem I said...they will still be OK with the loss tonight... Go Illinois... Michigan finishes the season with Indiana. Illinois finishes the season with some low life team...wait for it....four letters...starting with I...Iowa. How is that for jinxing the Illini???

I don't think Wheel Horse engineers would have designed something that would be an inherent leakage point without a sealant of some type indicated in the manual..

yes still a member but don't get here to often. yes still have the 400 bob and hav'nt done anything to it except show it now and again and it still runs good

Don't recall ever seeing bottom holes drilled through.

Thank you also sir. Myself I'm retired from John Deere DesMoines works.

Previous owner had wire from ammeter to solenoid connected to starter side of solenoid instead of battery side.

I'm still in service everyday, only as a civilian employee now. My thanks to you, for your sacrifice to this great country. You can add a post in this thread requesting to get the military branch insignia of your choice added to your user ID.

Uncle buck thanks for the reply. I guess it doesn't matter if it has a deck as I have a nice mowing tractor,and several farm tractors. I was looking for a project to restore.

You mean this one right? Personally I would choose this one over the automatic myself. But it is a bare machine, no deck or anything though so it depends what you are looking to do with it I guess. I would rather take my chances with one that runs and smokes that at least I know it runs in spite of it having no deck than one not running that looks totally shot with a hydro that could be a crap shoot. I would offer $175-200 though since it has no deck myself. I have a wheel horse tractor for sale. Runs good but does smoke some. Needs battery. $250.00 firm. It has a12hp kohler. Has no deck on it.

Here's what they look like. ">http:// ">http:// Here's how they work. Good choice.

My buddy frome work had the same problems with his shoulder he added an extension to his lift handle and he said it made a world of difference. Just a thought.

Hi Guy's, many thanks for all the offers of using your videos, it's much appreciated As you will of noticed I'm rather behind with this project, life has been a mad mixture of chaos and exhaustion of late, which has made me so behind on so many things... I will get this project rolling again as soon as I have the chance.. Sorry for the delay, meanwhile here's some light music

Decals happily received from mark (www.restorationdecals.co.uk) very fast dispatch and product has a high quality and looks like original. If anyone was thinking of buying some form mark do it it will really finish of your restoration project. James

It wasn't oil, it was suet and gas mix

Wheel Horse Power!!! A GREAT WAY TO REMOVE SNOW

If you don't have a lot of choices in your area and if it looks just used and not abused it could be a fair deal if you could at least hear it run.. Big question is what do you plan to do with it. Kelly is right about what he said. Without it running you have no idea as to the condition of the engine and hydro. Guys collect almost anything Wheel Horse, a 12 hp Hydro tractor is not a hot collectible tractor as far as collectible value being added on top...

Mike, I just wanted to comment how nice its coming along. I really enjoy watching the transformation. Glenn

my 416-H that is my worker wouldn't start to tonight when i went to plow. sitting out side under a tarp and i guess the cold got to much for the battery. so i went to my back up 520-H and got the job done. all ways pays to have a backup eric j

If you have one thread exposed try this - take your Dremel with one of those little cut-off wheels and slice a slot across the screw stub end and use a flat blade screw driver to back it out... good luck

Keep the 's a safe distance from that thing. It may be red, but it ain't red friendly.

For sale down the road from my house. I had never seen one before. Pretty cool.

Here's a few pics of the suburban supposed to get 4 to 6 inches tonight I'll get the commando 8 tomorrow and push sum snow

Does it have a fan gear or Ross steering gear box ?? my 953 had the ivory knobs on the choke and throttle and it does have the wide front and rear tires like a 1054

Maybe we could plan a meet-n-greet around this auction...who's in?

Hey, isn't that Stevebo's truck?

Do you just close your eyes when welding too Mark?

Sounds like the place. Been by there many times on Motorcycle rides. Stopped there once about 2 yrs. ago but no one was around. I may have to go if I can. When going, stop in at the Wellsboro Diner for dinner and dessert!!

INCREDIBLE!!! Thank you for sharing this project with us. Now to build a few attachments for it. And a Dealer pickup from the 60s to pull it on a trailer? And a scale building model like the Harrison tractor clubs. And ......... Well I feel like I'm at a great concert and were begging for just one more song.

More progress... Tom

I agree you need a good fuel supply and good fire at the plug. These basics are fairly easy to check and cheap to fix. But,The fact that this machine runs good for 15-20 minutes and then backfires, indicates to me the problem is temperature related. Could be a coil breakdown with increased temp. But I have had a C-101 and a C-160 that showed this same problem and was resolved by removing the head and cleaning the combustion chamber of all carbon and adjusting the valves. I could see some carbon on the low pressure side of the intake valve and I believe this was a result of the carbon glowing after running for a short time and causing early ignition on the intake stroke before the intake valve was fully closed.

I took your advice after finding out that new skids would cost $37.50/each before tax. Went to Walmat- found a nice 1/2" thick cutting board...... Took it home, made several molds for each skid. It takes about 15 minutes to remove the worn out ones and have the new ones on..... Nice info Fun! Sure came in hand for me. I have went through 1 set of original skids and 2 sets of the HDPE skids........ Course I clear anywhere from 8 to 12 driveways each time it snows, so, it is getting a lot of use.

ya the switch mounted on the lift lever

The tractor is starting to come together now. I had to build a few items that weren't in the kit like a taillight, lift valve, lift cylinder and neutral pedal. Oh, and a fuel filter, too. This is it on the tip of a toothpick. Detailing the battery always adds some extra visual interest. That's the kind of thing that helps make a model look real. I took a little liberty with the transaxle and painted it aluminum. I thought that would also give some visual interest - sort of an eye catcher - but I'm not really happy with it. Before everything is done it will end up being red! Now, this next part was fun to do. Wheel covers are an essential part of an Electro and I had an idea to make them out of a soft drink lid using a hollow punch. It worked like a charm! The horse decals didn't want to snug down on the shiny Alclad painted finish and a couple of them had to be redone but in the end they came out okay. After a little bit of paint, she was up on all fours and ready for some test fitting and even some assembly. I had already painted the fender unit but during test fit I realized that it needed a cutout for the hydraulic hoses. Now it's waiting to get repainted. The weather the last few days has been very rainy and I don't want to paint the "shiny bits" until the humidity goes down. That really affects the finish. In the meantime, it's starting to sprout wires and hoses and this is how it sits for the time being. Hope to make more progress soon but right now I need to check a weather forecast!

Actually, it's a little better than that. The decks that will work are the "Attach-A-Matic" versions of: 36- inch rear discharge 36- inch side discharge (modified rear discharge models- looks the same with a chute welded on the side) 37- inch side discharge (as long as you have 6-inch front wheels on the tractor- arguably the best cut of all these models with your machine) 42- inch side discharge 42- inch rear discharge 48- inch side discharge (it will fit, but is a bit too big for the 10hp engine in thick grass) I've used all of these decks with my 310-8, with the exception of the 36 SD. The 42-inch versions are probably as big as you'll want to go, but the 310-8 will handle them very well. I've used my 48SD in a pinch, but the engine's governor gets a good workout with that one. Probably not the best for long-term use... The 310-8 is a great all-around machine for most any implement you want to put on it. Great on gas, but plenty strong. One of my favorite tractors without question.