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So we were out driving around the country this past Sunday morning enjoying our coffee, when Tasha looks up and exclaims we need that and points out the window. I looked at her confused and said need what, to which she replied that old camper thing out there in the field, it would be perfect for hauling a tractor to shows and save on motel rooms. I guess one good thing about living in this small rural community for close to 20 years is the fact that I know 99% of the people, so I said ok I happen to know the guy who owns it I’ll give him a call. He said he would be interested in selling or trading and to go ahead and drive in to have a look at it. I should have gotten some better pictures but forgot my phone in the pickup. But I did take this from the road, going out to look it over again tomorrow and try to work a deal out on it. What I do know about it is it is built on a 1974 GMC C20 chassis, but has at some point in time had an Olds V8 swapped into it (not sure what it is exactly but I do know enough that it’s an Olds rather than a Chevy/GMC engine) and has a 4 speed behind it, though I’m not sure if that’s original as it does have an auto steering column. I will try to get better pics tomorrow when I go back out there with the keys and a hot battery to try and make her run

So, a question I asked when I started my obsession, and also a question I hear and see from other newbies at times is: Well it's just a lawn tractor, and can it really do a bit of real work, or is it just a toy............ Well let me show you what I did with mine over the last couple days. We have a pond out back, well over here its a small lake, but in the US, it's just a goldfish pond of sorts. We dug it out a few years ago, and made some rookie mistakes. 1. the shape seemed as a creative idea at the time, but in reality it sucked. 2. We made it with a small island in the middle. Cute we thought, until the Water Voles took over. Also it being a little pond, the island took most of the view of the water, when looking at it from the house. That had to go. 3. we had very small kids at that time, so we dug it "kidsafe" in all areas facing the house and lawn. Result was the weeds and cattails took over half the pond. Useless, as it was the shallow side facing the house, so no look to water. So, wiser with age (we think so far) , we made a rerun at it last weekend. Now a total of roughly 7000 m3 or about 250.000 cubic feet, or close to 12.000 tons of soil and sand has left that hole in the ground. Averaging 8.5 feet deep, and with 45 degree banks, it's a big hole in the ground. But what does that have to do with a Wheel Horse? Well, nothing so far, as that kind of earth moving takes heavy machinery. But the surrounding area, that's another matter. If you walk around it, there's about a 1000 feet. And the area is between 10 and 30 feet wide. There's roughly 15-18.000 sq/ft. All that area needed to be prepped, as the top soil needed to come off, sand removed, and topsoil reapplied with a laser guided digger, to get a uniform height of the edge meet the to surface when level comes back up to full. First it was sprayed down. WH did that! Then it was plowed and then tilled to fine powder. WH did that too. Took a full day, but it did it just fine! Then, after the big digger had done its thing, I welded a makeshift grader to my tine rake, and forced earth to lay in correct level to the existing lawn, and to level out bigger bumps. So then to make it flat and ready to sow, i made a drag behind "grader" / leveler, out of left over wood. That thing drags up to a full wheel barrow dirt, takes off high points, and fills inn low points. As you go around, the tires set the soil one layer at a time, until you have a perfectly smooth surface. Then the rake on again without the grader mod, and remove debris. Also the rake loosens the top inch soil again. Then some grass seeds (and some flower seeds for the back area), in the WH broad seeder, and off we go. Then the rake again to let the soil snag up the seeds, and hey presto! 2 days work, and that whole area was done. So YES, a Wheel Horse CAN do real work, and do it well. It takes longer that with a bigger machine, but it will get it done. I hate to think what this job would have been like, with a shovel, hand rake, and so on. Think about it. lets just say it was "only" 15.000 sg/ft, all done nicely in 2 days. Not so bad at all I would say! I love my horse, and it saves me from tons of back breaking work. Hope that puts a nail in that coffin.

I've been authorized by The Table Repair Department/ Artist to release a couple of In Progress pics. She wanted to have a horse's head that was the obvious same shape and tilt but with a little something... Extra So she went online and found a few drawings. Using those as a basis for her own creation she HAND DREW the design in pencil. Once she got the physical vision to match her mind's eye she got out the iron and started wood burning using several different tips. Still a fair amount of work to be done so I'll post more pics in a few days...

Thanks to @pullstart i can today rework my Deck- Quickmount. maybe tomorrow it will be installed.

This one should be delivered sometime this weekend. It needs its share of work but worth it.

I work. Sometimes I go to work, sometimes work is home. As @WHX?? says, Mrs. P is the bread winner. I am surrounded by girls. This winner bread, every time I go to make a sammich, somehow magically shrinks but the butt never leaves the bread bag. Our German kid Jil suggested that the butt is meant to stay there until the end to keep the loaf fresh. I argue that’s the reason for the bag. It’ll never be solved… see the statement of being surrounded by girls. I’m sure I’m the wrong one… but I’ll never admit it to them!

Having a bit of quiet time in the garage this afternoon..... Cleaning up the old girl. Ita amazing how just a little paint changes the looks of things. 3 more to go.

Picked up a '73 a couple days ago. PO gave up on it. It ended up having a stuck valve and a gummed up carb. Got it up and running today. Also managed to put all the removed sheet metal back on ( 1 running board and bracket, fenders, seat). Still have to finish assembling the pto, a couple tubes in the front tires, neaten up the wiring a bit and patch the deck.

Great story.Great looking pond.I really thought you were going to tell us that you dug it with a plow blade on something like a Lawn Ranger.Haha......

Colossus… Colossus… There’s that name again… Vague… Historic… Layer upon layer of dust…

Yup. I had two or three in my 40 years. What was it like? Surprise. Disbelief. Kept wondering when the other shoe was going to drop.

Now there's a blast from the past.

That appears to be a 1973 12 HP "No-Name". In '73 the line didn't give names like "Bronco" or C-120 to any of their tractors. Being an automatic it is a shot in the dark as far as the transmission goes, I'd tell the seller $ 100 as is or $ 300 if you can test drive it.

I’m salary, so I decided I had given the company all they were going to get outa me and bailed outa work at noon today. Grabbed my “new to me boat” and hit the lake with my wife. We slowly cruised the shoreline and eventually just anchored in some shallow water and watched the boat traffic go by while soaking up some sun. Totally relaxing!!

Here’s another one I’ve never seen or at least I don’t think I have. So many brands at one time. Now all we have is MTD😩

I bought my lift cart right after my spinal fusion surgery six years ago, it is the best tool in my shop! In addition to lifting heavy items it doubles as a work table which can be adjusted to the correct height for any job. Get it, you'll wonder why you didn't do it years ago.

I'm sorry Kev I love you but you got waaayyy too much time on yer hands! Pondering whatcame first the chicken or the egg, the heel or the loaf s a waste of time....... just eat it all ! Wow I can't believe I just wasted two minutes of my life I'll never get back posting this... Ain't we supposed to be fixin tractors?!?!

Well I do enjoy a heel occasionally. The end of the loaf is good too, at times. I have found that I am often wrong on an issue. When asked what do I think I reply, "What are your thoughts on this sweetie pie?" Either I get her real answer of a proverbial dope slap.

With all possible respect to you sir... IMHO.... I do firmly believe that I have no such thing as an "acquired taste". I either like something, or I don't. I've had multiple people tell me over the years that wine is an acquired taste. A WHUT??? My thought is, WHYYY in the world would you force yourself to consume something that you don't like so that you can force yourself to begin to like said item? Now back to the OP issue... The heel of factory produced bread is meant to be sacrificed to the birds outside. It has NO known usage involving human consumption. Our friend Jennifer would fervently debate that I am incorrect. She too, is crazy. That, she will admit. Where do you commence to construction of a sammich, semmich, or sangwich, the first thing that you should do with the heel that you find obstructing the bag is remove said heel and magically turn it to a frisbee in whatever direction is the most convenient to you. I will concede to Bill's point above that homemade heels are substantially better than factory made heels. Now as to you @pullstart being right or wrong, well quite frankly you're outnumbered by several to one and it just doesn't matter.

Your German girl was right! So stop arguing and get lunch made.

Hold on now, you mean your other future project tractor! Better finish Colossus first!😀

You have projects that go like clockwork?? What's that like??

I put one of those on my Hesston. Hard to find as they changed the design. I had to mod the bottom plate to fit my carburetor also.

That is so wild!!!! Being styled like a front engine dragster, sure would look cool with a big ol honkin flathead Kohler up there eh?

Got it running…definitely needs a tuneup and some fresh gas ran through it…got a little bit of fuel seepage around the seals in the carburetor, though that will be an easy remedy. Going back tomorrow to finalize the deal and hopefully bring her home

My mom asked me a year or two ago "Is there anything she CAN'T do?" I said "I dunno. She ain't tried everything yet!"

When you depress the clutch the lower rail of the belt guard must catch the slack of the belt. Also There are guides at the engine pulley and idler that need to be in place.

Sounds like you do NOT have your belt guard on. Guard must be in place with the proper belt routing to get the belt to stop moving when the clutch is disengaged.

Okay, next question. What do you do with stale bread? That is if someone eats the heel or leaves the bag open. Make French Toast! Is there German toast?

BBT is certainly a lady of many talents.

I have used mine for gravel - 21aa - worked very well…

Only question you should be asking: Does that bread butt make my look fat?

This should be on Martha Stewart's web site. BTW...have you guys seen the new Regal Red Fingernail Polish from Cover Girl???

I thought utility poles were the state tree in Oklahoma. Maybe that’s a forest. Woodhenge: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cahokia_Woodhenge

The heel is the best part of the loaf of homemade bread.

Learn to like the ends (sometimes called the "heel"). I did.

Best thing about a lift cart!

Now we can get to work again! By “we” I mean “you” but at least we are here to watch you!

Friday afternoons are for tractor rides with Unc! Baby Maxene’s first ride! The WHRat ran flawlessly and helped blaze the trail for the trailer too.

Now that the real answers have shown up, I can reply with my smart alek, unhelpful reaction: Question - "This style of spindles, does anybody know about them?" Answer - ummm, they connect the front wheels to the ends of the front axle, allowing the wheels to roll and pivot.

Is it this one? I have an older one and it's like a 500 lb. model. Best investment I ever made. Use it all the time! I've had mine over 10 years!

Oh no, don't think that! If... I make it there... I will indeed be an old goat... Don

I had a Raider 9 several years ago. The engine was rated @ 9.5hp. Therefore a "9". Subsequent models produced 10hp. Ran fine and strong until the electronic ignition failed. Cost more to replace than I was willing to put into it so down the road it went.

I warned everyone in my family that I was looking forward to having an excuse to be a grumpy old man. They weren't having it!

Yap Vitamine D was the most i needed urgently, but i completely undersestimate the Sun there in September. It was not too hot, but IR radiation was high enough to burn the skin if you stay too long into Direct Sunlight. However, back at home i do yesterday together with Mrs. Tractorhead a first cleanup here. Autum starts it‘s first Visits here, that indicates the Leaves what is falling since. Lets have a little Fun and crusing arround with the Wheelhorse and the sweeper for a Cleanup today.

Those are the “E” clip style. Not my favorite, prefer the cotter pin type or the 3/8ths threaded type.

Great worker for you there Mike.

Hopefully he'll make it, but if he does, he won't be a goat, rather an old doggy!

And according to some, create similar amounts of gaseous exhaust.

876 seat. $190 with embroidery. I thought it was high, but it does look nice.