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I bought this in New Carlisle, OH from a John Deere guy. He didn't know what the big fuss was when my Wheel Horse guys gathered around and started to google over it! haha!! It's a little sweetie! Will be an easy restoration for me this winter.

Well dad and I need another project like we need a hole in our head but what the heck, you only live once! This past Sunday we finally made the trip over in to Ohio to pick up our new Wheel Horse Hauler. We grabbed ourselves a 1953 Ford F500. This is the last year for the flathead V8 and it sports a 4 speed tranny with a top speed of about 48 mph. The truck has the 12 foot script flat bed on the back and the wood is still pretty solid. Everything works as it should minus the cab lights. Those need to be rewired which will happen down the road. All 6 tires are in great shape and it has minimal rust issues.....it has some but nothing too crazy. The previous owner believes the odometer to be correct at 42K original miles. We are currently experiencing an overheating issue which I believe a few radiator flushes will cure. The thermostat seems to be working fine as it won't overheat at an idle. The future of this truck will be..............well that is to be determined. Right now we are going to enjoy it and gather up some things to make it a bit better. This will be a local swap meet and show hauler. Not wanting to travel too far with it as it isn't going to win any races. Here it is.......

Like this? Yeah... they're out there. As for the tiller.... I've been happy with my Wheel Horse one. Digs like a champ.

Hi Everyone, I was at a local fall festival and decided to bring some tractors for fun lol. Here are some pictures. Hope you like them!

Ken- It is the only help I can get around this place.. He really is. I told him I was tired while taking a break for dinner and said I think I am done for today. He said "I will do the hard work, you can stay on the tractor"... What a great kid. We worked last night until we ran out of fuel in the tamper. First thing this morning he said "Dad, we need to go get more gas".

Well I must admit that I have dropped the ball on updates. For our loyal followers, we are still plugging away and making progress. The end is in sight!!!!! We managed to meet the entire summer and only took a couple weeks off. We didn't miss a beat once school began again in the middle of August. Things have been very hectic on my end and I apologize for not sharing the updates that many of you look forward to on a weekly basis. I will try and pick up the slack! We have been lucky enough to show off our projects in two parades, received many compliments, and a group of kids that don't understand the word "quit" Thank you to everyone that has supported us......who would have ever thought things would have turned out the way they have. We are truly blessed! Here is one picture I snapped tonight. The past two days the tractors have been on display in the front entry way of the school so the entire student body can admire the craftsmanship of the kids. We will be rolling them back in to the club barn tomorrow to work on getting these closer to completion. I will try and get some other pictures posted soon! Here you go...........

Found a tractor listed on CL with snow cab and two stage blower, less than 100 hours on unit. Older gent moving from WI to AZ, he had purchased new for $5500 in '96 per dealer receipt, owner's manual, and service records. It had never spent a day outside of his garage. Thought I had uncovered The Great Find, and started dreaming about owning a near mint show tractor driving over to his house, caller #1 baby! As we were opening his garage, he first mentioned that it had gotten "a little rusty" from the salt on his driveway. Soon discovered that would be like saying Dolly Parton is a "little busty." There wasn't a piece of tin on it that wasn't covered with rust and bulged up paint scabs over top of rust; it had even undermined the decals. It started okay, but moved really slow even at full throttle. That is the second 520H I've passed over that went really slow even pushing the hydro lever forward, and I thought they were supposed to go even faster than my 8 speeds? He said; "I didn't bother to wash it because I didn't know anybody collected Wheel Horse." So, for lack of a hosing off each Spring, that ultra low hour garage queen was ruined by rust... I was distressed, and I figured that after the rust pits the metal that bad, and the chrome air cleaner is solid rust and even the hood louvers are all rusty, it wasn't worth even $1K to me. I suppose some would have parted it out and made money, but I was too disappointed and figured maybe someone better equipped could restore it... Sorry if this is posted in the wrong section. "wyzmark"

Was thinking of different ideas for a front weight on my 633 and this is what I came up with. Simple yet effective. It weighs 40lbs and it's made from flat steel stock and concrete filled lolli columns. Just had them around the house. The best part is if I need more I can jus weld on what I need.

Thought I'd use my very original first name nobody else here has.....

I think I like original colors better.... less to distract from the Wheel Horses that will be on the back of it! The bright red would be a great contrast against the truck and really stand out!

Love the older trucks. I've wanted a '48-'51 since I was about 11 or 12 years old. My Uncle next door had one and let me drive it around the yard. Then one day coming back from town he let me drive on our road the rest of the way home. I was in high cotton that day.. Red would look awesome on that ride!

Thanks everyone for the very nice comments. We are gearing up for another night of club. We will be moving the machines back out to the club barn and continue on with our journey. It looks as though we will be adding a couple of members starting next week. I am wanting to fill the vacant spots that were left by the students who are now 7th graders. They will get the crash course and will start disassembly on the tractor the kids won during the essay contest. The kids that have been previously in the club will continue on with the tractors that you have been following. Exciting times and a lot going on!

PAINT IT RED.......

Here we are last week at the Homecoming parade showing off our projects!

Wade, it would have been good for someone who already had a 520. The motor was noisy (very heavy rust on the muffler) but ran well, the cab was white/black and mostly orange colored and did not cover the engine enough to be "heated", but the glass window and wiper blade were nice. The seat was untorn, and the wheel weights were perfect. The back of the blower had been rattle canned with runs and paint over the decals, and the big decal on the impeller body had the Toro half flapping loose. The auger and main body were very rusty, but I like the mid mount design and it would have worked to throw snow I think. The steering had a big "dead spot" on center, is that common with the gear reduction set up or was it wear? He never had a deck on it, so the hours were low, but given the choice, I've learned to go for the mowing tractor with more hours but no salt damage. Probably Martin the indefatiguable could restore it, but the original factory magic was forever gone. So rest easy, you didn't miss out. Thanks for your replies, all.

My friends used to say I was nuts. For that matter, they still do. I thought the name suited me.

Best front lineup I've ever seen.

great idea! original thinking score 9.5

I found a couple more photos from the recent Mentone Swap meet and Show that I thought were worth posting!

Mine is because I'm a Motorhead and my first tractor was a allis chalmers b110

Great looking little 401 Kate !

From the 2001 Wheel Horse "Drive & Mower Belt Usage Charts": Belt #1594 is 107.21" in length, 1/2" wide and 5/16" thick. The Wheel Horse belts have the exact side bevel/angle and should last a lot longer. Glen

Beautiful little tractor!!! Very nice shape.

It's just gonna get worse with this cool weather coming on, especially the bugs.

That is a very nice find Kate...you have a good eye for the horses.

hey there Geno!! Thanks for welcoming me to the nut house...lol. but believe me, I already live in one...lol..but let me tell you, we always have a ball here.on the farm..!!!!!

Awesome!! One of the last of the "mid engine mohicans!" I love em! Congrats and keep us posted.....with LOTS of pictures! :-P

Prondzy short for Prondzinski nickname from highschool

Got some stuff today that comes in two parts. It is for fixing stuff like this and can be used over paint. Going to give this paint some time to get hard before try to fix it. I was thinking that I might get away with removing the foreign material and then using a tooth pick spray some paint on it and fill the resulting holes and then sanding it down. Bought some more sand paper today 1,500 and 2,000 grit. I am going play with it a bit and if all fails I will repaint the whole hood. All it takes is time and paint and I have plenty of both. Each time you do something it becomes a learning experience.

Great little score you made Kate! Have fun with it!

Purdue, Pitt, Nwestern, wisconsin, MSU, SYR, Navy, Michigan, Minny, Illinois, PSU, Mizzou, Nebraska

That truck is awesome Scott! No doubt that is the original mileage on the odometer. I'd leave it just the way it is myself but do everything you said in your last post. Way back in the 80's I worked for an electrical company in town. All of their trucks were very old and they had a few just like yours. They were all in good shape, restored in house with nice new red paint on most of them with hand brushed lettering and old school pinstripes. The old guy that did the lettering was an artist! I used to drive the oldies there all the time, I will say you don't wanna get to close to that top speed for long durations or bottom end go kaboomie... Stick to the back roads and enjoy the ride. The owners son blew the engine in the 53 F-500 bucket truck in a hurry to get back to the shop and sadly that was the end of that truck.

Looks entirely too original to ruin with a restoration.

Jason, I was thinking the same thing. I think both would "pop" with contrasting colors. Plus the seat is still in really great shape on the truck......save me some pennies there once we get around to redoing it. We still have a lot of time before we even tackle something of that magnitude if that is the route we decide on. I honestly would like to fix the spots that need repair and keep the original patina. Clean up the rims a bit and put some elbow grease in to the bed and call it good.

I had the same thing happen on my B-100 Automatic. The pulley bolt came loose and let the inside splines of the pully wear out. The shaft should not have been damaged as it is hard steel. A replacement pulley with the bolt tightened fixed the problem.

Now that will haul some Horses! I can't believe the mileage!

I guess I solidified mine through geocaching..... It is my geocaching handle, as well as my CB handle

Congrats...what took you so long?

Hi Don, Actually I added another label. The black one is from Toro and the yellow one is mine. I bought a nice No Spill diesel can as well. After I bought it, I spent an afternoon trying to cross reference a yellow molded cap seeing as Toro makes diesel Ground Maintenance equipment but no luck. I have also noticed that there are Green caps for diesel fuel now as well. Is that due to Bio-Diesel fuel? John

Sometime around 1980, I started using graphite paint (EZ Glide or Slip Plate brands) to coat the underside of decks. My first one I still have and it has never cut one blade of grass without that coating. I bought this 42" rear-discharge deck new and coated it with graphite paint before ever using it. Today it has no pitting and is absolutely as good as new! All decks that I service for myself and neighbors,get the following treatment: 1. scrape all the clumps out with a stiff putty knife or similar tool 2, go over everything under the deck with an air powered needle scaler to remove any additional hardened grass clippings and rust scale 3. go over everything with a wire wheel on an angle grinder to expose clean, bright metal 4. apply two coats of graphite paint (make sure you have good ventilation, this stuff will get you!) A deck treated this way still requires periodic cleaning, but not as often nor as difficult as cleaning one wiithout it. I have attached a photo of a recently treated cub deck.

Some may not like the Briggs but I bought my GT 1800 BRAND NEW in 1984 and mowed commercially with it for almost ten years. Also tilled countless gardens, plowed tons of snow. That ole' gal still runs like a top and is currently resting comfortably with a 50" mid mount grader blade that gets some occasional use. They may not be red but those tractors are Wheel Horse through and though!!

Today I was able to get moving on back filling the foundation after the crew removed the forms. I am just about out of the dirt that I dug out of the hole. I will be calling for more fill to be delivered this week.

When Toro moved out of South Bend they put these tractors on loan to the Studebaker National Museum. The museum displayed a handful of them on and off for years, but obviously their focus was on a different kind of old iron. So the majority of them sat in storage in the attic. In 2000 (I think) at one of the first WH shows in PA I heard from Ed that these were at the studebaker museum after I asked him whatever happened to the tractors displayed at the Ireland rd plant. In the winter of 2000 my wife was interested in a job in South Bend, so I called the museum and was put in touch with one of the caretakers who showed me around. It was awesome. Not all of them were property of Toro as I recall, like the 420lse which was owned by the city of SB. As a side note, my wife had planned to cancel her interview but I told her I was going to the museum whether she went up there or not since I was really looking forward to it and had made plans already. She decided "what the heck" and went for the interview. We moved up there in the summer of 2001. Anyway, the museum rotated the tractors thru the displays when they featured things like "Made in South Bend". Lathes, sporting goods, Oliver plows, etc. In about 2005 Toro had the trucks that delivered equipment to the Indy 500 pick up the collection and take it to their hq in Bloomington, MN. Great pictures! Steve

Sounds like a whopper of a fish story coming!

I spent all day fishing on the river today...what a nice day...and we caught some fish.

I think you'll find that many serious garden tractor enthusiasts often branch out and see what other brands had to offer. Wheel Horse is only one design to accomplish the tasks. I've owned several other brands in the past, they usually don't stay more than a couple years (if that long). If you want to truly appreciate the simplicity of the Wheel Horse design, you really need to own some other brands. Besides... other brands are usually good trading stock.

Been my nickname for a long time. Went to get personalized license plate for the bike, Burly had already been taken by some woman in Cleveland who already had the plate, so we improvised, came up with Brrly1 and thats me and has been since I landed the first computer that my kid sister gave me, with her thinking I needed to be knowledgeable about computers. So here I am Brrly1 P.S. Some woman in Cleveland with a nickname of burly scares the daylights out of me just thinking about it.YIKES!!

Hey Guys, thanks for the warm welcome already! Back by my home computer for a few moments and so... This is a slide of my mom cutting the lawn with it in about 1978. Love that plaid mom! You gotta love slides (a quick observation will note that I accidently ran this one backwards on the convertor and so everything is a mirror image of what it should be!!!). It has the timed rear discharge deck and dad worked as a service technician for an IH farm implement dealer in those days and so it has a Farmall Cub muffler on it. Had a straight pipe when he first got it and I think he was starting to go deaf! :eusa-doh:More pics to follow..

Looks pretty cool Ed , but too much of that and I'll have to come for your Wheel Horse man card...

Thank you for posting, very interesting information. The look of the tractor, Frankly I dont care for it at all. looks like one of the big box store el cheapos they sell. Imho. Glenn