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Found my 857 "HHHOOOWWWAAARRRDDD!!!" file. Complete with the hose for the bug fogger!

Brad, are you using the sway bar that goes to the Front Attach-A-Matic pictured in my 1st photo? The .5xi has a longer wheelbase than other Wheel Horse tractors so the Toro engineers initially offered a retro-fit kit before making it standard after experiencing the blade swaying. I had two, one a Toro and the other NH but both had the swaybar. Without that the dozer blade will have a mind of its own. I tried a rubber edge on the NH dozer (called it my 48" squeegee!) and a poly edge on the Toro dozer. These photos are from when we lived in Maryland. Some winters we would have no snow and others we we would have blizzards with 36" of snow! On my 518xi I ran four 43# suitcase weights mounted on a rear receiver hitch and about 160# on the rear wheels with turf tires. No additional weight on the front end but did not experience the handling that you described. I eventually did install Kenda K502 Terra Trac tires that really improved traction. With them I was able to clear a neighbor's driveway pictured in the fourth photo. The last photo is the final rendition before being sold.

This idea keeps catching my eye. Not sure I'm up to it but I sure like thinking I might! I'd think this would be the easiest way to have a mini dozer after adding independent braking somehow. My 147 Cub has disc brakes that I guess could become independent but I'm not sure what other tractors might work somehow.

I have some sort of rib front tire and Ags on all my tractors except one and they don’t do any damage to my yard. Plus all of my Ags are loaded. Most have at least one set of wheel weights installed. My C-161 Ags are loaded and have inside and outside weights because I push a 54 inch snow blade with it. I run them that way year around because I like the stability that it provides. I used to have chains for plowing but on my steep concrete drive, unless it was covered with ice, it didn’t provide any benefit. On my dad’s asphalt driveway, having chains was actually dangerous because it was so steep. It was like ice skates on ice. I say put them on one of your tractors and enjoy them.

Yup, I built the WHrat WHrecker, but alas it needed the wide open spaces of mid-Michigan to stretch its dually’s... I am confident @pullstart will bring her back to the wide rear end club... A few pics...

Well I was out fiddling around with the 857 today. As you guys can see I took some of your ideas and used them on the 857 I got. Like I said I wasnt to impressed with it when I picked it up but it didnt take long to change my mind on it. I swapped out the seat, changed the decals with a custom set from @Vinylguy. Picked up a hood ornament and hood latch knob from @76c12091520h . @GlenPettit hooked me up with the dust/hub caps for the front wheel and axle. Plus he hooked me up with a nice key chain. I hooked up a cigarette lighter so I could use the flashing yellow light. Put on tire chains and weights on the rear. Plus the usual going over, new fuel lines, fresh oil, new air filter, greased everything that needs grease. Painted the plow and plow frame. Still want a center cap for the steering wheel. I know the wheel is not original, not sure if it is a WH or not. You guys have any more photos of your 857's love to borrow some more ideas!

I don't know if my honey loves me or my tractor more. She went out today for her dollar store fix and came home with a few goodies for me and my machine. This is one of them! She was so happy to find it in red! She hopes it keeps my hands warm when I'm out plowing. I asked her if they had any black and red dingle balls, or fuzzy dice. She said; "But you don't have a rear view mirror!" Uh-oh, I hope they don't have rear view mirrors at the dollar store!

Many times. Just drop your wrench when installing a battery!

Custom set from @Vinylguy I told him I liked the wood grain background. He came up with this set for my 857. When I did the 416-8 he did a custom set for that tractor as well. The 416-8 is supposed to have the reddish background. I wanted black. He does great work and has excellent products. If you are wanting a new decal set drop him a line. 6-856 Custom ! Changed the seat on the 416-8 as well. Bought that one at a garage sale.

Couple of years back at a vintage rally, I picked up an undamaged cast iron seat. Most likely of a horse drawn implement. We had an old bird bath lying around with a broken top. Result below. Youngest daughter loves it. Says her backside fits in perfectly.

Awwww crap already made this one backwards.🤣🤣🤣🤣 First pic first tank Second pic second tank

Experiment #46,821: Fixed a tire hernia issue on the 701. 3M panel bonding adhesive fits the wallet better than a new pair of those Firestones. Now stop laughing!

It keeps on giving, Wheel Horses they do not die They just get better.

Yeah @tom2p, I have it Still need to install the rear duals again...

Some of you may know im resoring this 656 into an 856...got the motor at the machine shop now and im looking for opinions for a seat. Preferably low back and decently priced or an original would be awesome but may be hard to find...any input is much appreciated!

As some of you may already know my blue Chevy 3/4 ton has been down since September with a blown head gasket. Has been on the back of my mind to fix it since then, but since we bought the 99 Suburban from my parents it had kind of gotten pushed to the back of the priority list. That is until the day after Christmas when we were headed to town after oil/filter for the M, when the Suburban decided to start knocking out of the blue. We limped it back to the house but something is definitely seriously wrong inside. So it’s out on dead row now until we can afford to put a new engine in it. That pushed old blue back to the top of the list as I was left without a vehicle to drive to work every day. Ordered these gaskets Sunday night, with my luck in shipping times lately was expecting at least a weeks wait if not longer. So was really surprised when I came home to find this box on my porch this evening. Hoping to tear into her this weekend.

This is what Santa brought me. It measures 28" x 44"..... Cool.

That thought crosses my mind on a daily basis, and trust me if I had a shop out here at the farm (or the funds to build one) I would have done it months ago. Seems like more and more I’m stuck being a one man operation at work, if a guy is gonna work by himself he might as well work FOR himself. I’m sure there will be plenty of photos and a write up once I tear into it.

Whew! I thought I was losing my mind. Its only my humor detector that's out of whack . I can live with that for a bit.

So, looking back, this motor was on the 656 when I bought it. It didn't run. My objective was to rebuild it. Did I? Some of the new, and used parts that were replaced include, but aren't limited to, the block, sump cover,carb, crank, piston, valves, lifters, springs, coil, and tune up parts. What I have left of the original motor is, the head, air cleaner, tin work, starter,(that doesn't seem to work), gas tank, muffler, and the little pipe that drains the oil. Did I rebuild a motor, or build a different motor. I'm calling it a re-build. I'm taking it as a win. I hate to fail.

Doesn't matter as long as gifts keep showing up.

The parts were cured enough to lay them in place to see how they will look. Already got a foot print on it! darn! I guess I better get used to that. Grip tape should arrive Saturday. While I had them off I also painted the control panels but not with bed liner. Again, nothing is bolted back together yet. I could have spent a little more time sanding and cleaning, the flash really shows the defects but you can't really see them in 'normal' lighting. As SWMBO says; "It's only a tractor!"

D-MAC, that came out so well , you could call it SWEET 16 ! , how many hours on that engine? pete

I did what you said. Then what Norman said. Yup I made it backwards

@rmaynard this the one? That dont look bad and its a good price

20210105_094913 - Copy.mp4 So waddya think. I don't know if the video will play or not. I have trouble with videos on this site, and I don't know how to change the format into something else, that might work better. It ran for 1/2 hour. Pretty rough at first, but some fiddling with the carb, and it smoothed out . It has an aftermarket Tecumseh carb on it. The longer it ran, the smoother it seemed to get. To be honest, I was afraid to shut it off. As you can see in the video, my socket is still on the flywheel nut. I was optimistic. So much so. that I installed the kill wire, and a temporary throttle cable. So, what was the problem? The slop in the key way on the crank? Was the crank bent? I noticed when I put in the new points in, they seemed to have more spring pressure on the lobe of the cam. Did I have a bad set of points? Was it a combination of everything. Don't know, don't care, it's running. I put the recoil starter on it to see if I could turn it over, promptly pulled the rope right out of the pull handle. How many $ do I have wrapped up in this thing? Again, don't know, don't care. It has a 2nd. life. I figure if my wife can buy all those torque wrenches, I can fix this motor. The shut off valve on the tank drips a bit, hence the paper towel, and it's a brand new valve. If it continues to perform well, it will go back on the 656. The only problem I have now is, I have nothing to do.

I've always used 2-link steel on my 76 blower tractor with 23-8.50's and my 05 blade tractor with 23-9.50's with good results but I didn't want to use them on the 250' asphalt drive we have now. I got a set of rubber for the 05 just before last winter set in and I love them. I have 75# on each wheel as well as one of Lowells receiver hitches and a weight box which weighs a fair amount itself but I found that I didn't need to add any more. A couple weeks ago I was clearing some new paths through the woods and I got to try it out in the dirt. I was very impressed. I didn't put the steel chains on the blower tractor because I wanted to see how I liked the rubber and again because of the asphalt. It has 55# on each wheel and that's it. I only used it once last winter and that was because I just felt like it. We didn't get all that much snow. I haven't decided if I really need chains on it but if I do it's definitely rubber. The 8.50 and 9.50 2-link steel chains are wall decorations in the barn now and likely will stay that way. Another thing that has baffled me is the ride quality. I've heard some say that rubber chains will jar your teeth out. Nah. I've had 4-link steel in the past and they are pretty rough. 2-link steel are somewhat better and rubber are even better. Often I jump on the 05 to fetch the mail and even on dry asphalt the best way I can descried it is something like a tire out of balance.

I prefer stens.

Found that thing on a popular auction site and I was actually looking for something else that I can't recall now. Price was so low that I thought it was a sample or some sort of a miniature. I clicked in and out of that listing at least three or four times and read it and read it and read it. I haven't the foggiest why somebody else didn't buy it but I'm glad it was me!

Once I get it home and pulled out of the crates and mounted I will detail it all here on RS (in its own thread of course).

Did a little snow clean up with the GT14 the ole girl did herself proud IMG_1934.MOV

When I got home from my errands today, the new crank and points were here, so I started reassembly on the H70. I checked the new crank, seems to be perfect. The key (an actual Tecumseh key, ordered from supplier) fit much tighter into the key way. Had to tap it in with a punch and hammer. As before, during assembly everything was well greased, and or oiled. Everything, even the sump cover was torqued to spec. It's a good thing my wife has all those torque wrenches. I didn't want to have to wonder later on, so I took pictures along the way. New head gasket, and seals. New coil, points, condenser and plug. I even installed the head and used my new handy dandy timing tool, with the head on to time it. Motor at TDC. Motor at .081 BTDC. Light is on Motor at .080 BTDC. Light is off. I can't get it any closer than that. I installed the flywheel. I wanted to see if the starter would turn this thing over without a plug in it. Yes it will. Would not do that before. I install a plug, Will the stater turn it over now? No it won't but very very close. I have the battery charger on the battery now. I still have to put on the carb. Trying to decide between a New Tecumseh carb, or a new Kohler style 13 carb, which according to Norman of isavetractors, will work just fine. I don't know. Tomorrow will be the day, I hope! I know I am really happy with the way the key fits the crank. MUCH MUCH better. Either it will, or it won't. As long as this has been going on, there are probably odds in Vegas.

Good progress today. Late start and still 85% welded. Hoping to have it ready for the screw fins tomorrow.

Your 416H has the ground for the hour meter run thru the oil pressure sensor, it turns on when there is oil pressure.

Looked good to me so just copied it for my plow mule. This pump is off a 953/1054. Was going for the rat fink look on this lever!

Got a look at how Mike @prondzy had his mounted.... Might run out of room on short tho???

That little low-rise seat with the three holes that @D_Mac has. I have one of those on my Patriot horse and the cushion is pretty thin but the seat itself is shaped quite comfortable.

Cleaned up the wiring and thought there was a mistake in it. The hour meter is powered by the accessory terminal on the ignition switch. Also on that circuit is a white wire going to the engine oil pump which did not make sense. My thinking wanted to move the white wire to ground the hour meter so if the engine was not running the hour meter would not advance. Problem with that is the vertical engines are splash lubricated so no engine oil pump yet an oil filter and oil cooler are shown in the parts lists. Horizontal shaft engines were available with splash and/or pressurized oil. A pre-delivery service bulletin explains how it works. They added a pulse fuel pump to move oil to the filter and cooler. So the wiring diagram is correct after all. Garry

I'd love to find one of those seats... Everyone should have a tractor seat with their last name on it!

Love them! If you look real quick at the photo here, could be one of our WH machines sitting in there! Anybody up for Photoshop?

Ain't that hard, 1inch axle 8speeds, and mount on the axles a 1"disc brake kit https://www.gopowersports.com/go-kart-mechanical-brake-disc-kit-9511-9598-th1000/

This might be a good use for some dirt tires. I have a mid-mount for an XI too! But I'd take a mid-mount for either a Sears/Roper, Bolens or a C-series WH. Mid-mount a good use for my tri-ribs and ags? By the way, for those new to Bolens tube frames, look at that front axle AND all that brown under the white grille is solid cast iron! It needs to be sturdy since the front attachments connect directly to the front axle! Beefy little GTs.

I believe that's what they call a short stack....

Perhaps you're thinking of @SylvanLakeWH Jim? If it's his black hood tractor it's been adopted by the Pullstart Stables Organization.

internal combustion engine is an amazing thing - as are the people that can wrench them ! nice job !

Maxwell...that's called...living the dream.

Being healthy and happy, even the poorest people are rich. ...... ...If they have a WH of course!

Took a few minutes to work on the Big boy tractor this afternoon. A few weeks ago I stumbled on a cast iron antique/vintage tractor seat. Stoddard M85. It's not perfect but I fairly close to stole it. It has a broken piece you can see that doesn't seem to bother me. It adds a BUNCH of "Old Tractor" character to the build. It also offers a very slightly higher and better supported seat for me keeping me even further away from the tires. We also put in the horizontal shaft of the steering mechanism. Shows bright red and in great contrast to the brown frame.

The H's are nice little tractors, about the hp rating of a Farmall Cub, but a bit heavier and bigger. A M, a 40, or a 320, 420 or 430 would be a nice size also - the engine on these are more forward and don't have frame rails like the other JDs do. Here is a M shown in a JD market video from 1952:

Here is mine...