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I bought this little beauty! It was for sale in Wisconsin. I don't have it yet, but hope to pick it up in a month or two. The engine isn't original, but it runs. I have all three of the optional engines, but I don't know which one to use, and I can decide that later. It's my first little RJ and I can't wait to get it back home to Indiana.

In one rainy day? I would need a two week monsooon to get my shop that clean.

This picture says it all.

Did a little Horse trading yesterday with a good friend. Was left in a covered fabric Harbor Freight awing type tent I guess you call it. Few items were robbed for the Cub Cadet the previous owner had. She is rough but hopefully get it going. Saved many in worse condition. The rear axle bracket is real creative.

Having a rain day today (yesterday too) really cramps the working outside job choice. So here I am sitting in the small equipment shop hiding from the boss, playing on red square. You all have some amazing tractors and the knowledge in this group has been amazing. I don’t think there isn’t a question posed that has ever gone unanswered. Most everyone here is quick to help to. So from the boys and I, I would like to thank you all. They are finally home tonight and baseball was cancelled so I have a feeling we will be headed to the garage! Alex called me to ask if we could head out when he got home. well back to sharpening mower blades or making it look like I’m doing something constructive which ever it is.

Got the 1045 out of the stable and stretched his legs. Some fine tuning but all in all he’s a runner! Also swapped out the wrong seat for a right one. It’s coming along. Gitty up! Cheers!! Update: not a big deal, was going to get to it later but was fiddling with the 1045 putting it through it paces and gave the old original cigarette lighter a whirl. Bingo works awesome. Even felt a small drawl on the motor when I pushed it in. I’m pretty sure it’s original but I could be wrong.

Was home as well yesterday and with it raining I figured it was a great time to clean up the garage workbench…a job I hate doing when it’s nice out! And of course took plenty of breaks to surf Redsquare

Glad to hear you are ok. Years back, I was in the process of loading a 300 pound Ariens 24" Sno-Thro up into my truck using old wooden ramps. The left ramp snapped in half as the unit was almost all the way up. I let go, but the handlebar knocked me over as it rolled to the side. There I am, on the ground looking up to see the Ariens caught on the edge of the bed !! Scurried like a crab sideways to get out from under it, then realized it hurt terribly to get up - twisted my lower back during the adventure, My wife opens the bathroom window and asks if i"m OK while I am admiring the blue sky. I replied "I'm fine hun, could you bring me a cold beer ??" Then she knew I was "OK"....

Beats hand winching...8,000lbs and have a snatchblock to make 16,000

Maybe for all 6 of them

I didn’t take pictures but over the weekend I pulled everything out of my garage and painted the floor. I did take a video but don’t know how to post videos. As I was putting things back my son-in-law decided we should take a few pictures! Sorry for the dirty tires on the LSE, I took it out for a ride the other day and didn’t wash them off !!

Easy peasy… Get a bigger chainsaw…

Cable for pulling and chain for lifting.

Chain or cable? Typically a chain type (chain fall) is more for vertical pulls, lifting, etc. the cable ones I’ve seen are for pulling, if you get two come alongs that are similar, you can twin stick a heavy pull. Fresh out of high school, I earned $1,100 in one week outside of my job by buying scrap cars, loading them onto my boss’ deck over gooseneck and scrapping them during the day before going into work at night. Two come alongs made easy work of pulling cars and trucks with super flat tires up that high trailer…

Eric - I have had my cable style come-along since the mid 1980's. Wore out the pressed 2 piece swivel hook pulley, made a solid one with a bronze bearing - no more issues. Look for one that has a decent sized release lever - all too often, you will be using this with gloves on... Also take a look at the wire itself - construction, number of strands, coated or not .....

Hello everyone. I just picked up my first personal wheel horse purchase. I got a 1988 520-H. It has good compression numbers but its a bit smokey after using it today. When I was a kid, my parents had an (I believe) 1986 414-8. I have many fond memories cutting our 5 acre yard and using the snow blower in the winter. I loved our 414-8, but I remember going to our local dealership for parts and seeing the big boss 520 models. So, now that I have a house with a yard that doesn’t justify a lawn tractor, I scored a used one. I am pretty mechanically inclined, so a rebuild of this Onan would not scare me. Except maybe the price. Attached is a picture from today. Thank you!

And the best part is that the knowledge and experience is freely shared to help someone else. No Divas or Prima Donnas here ! Just a lot of folks like me, older that dirt, that keep our old WH tractors alive for the next generation....

There is a hole in one of the tires, but we have replacements at the farm, so I'm going to stick with that diamond tread and replace that tire. Squirreling away those extra parts does pay off!

I have a fording kit. M-37s don't need no stinking bridges... Can do 42" depth without putting the kit on...

We did one of these in Michigan back in the 50’s… it’s held up pretty good… get Trina on it… Should hold Colossus…

Love the idea but it's just a hair too big for our trail system.

@ebinmaine used a regular wooden block / tackle , hooked up to the horse , doing the pulling to move heavy rock . was getting nowhere trying to move a heavy stone / traction issue . had my dozer blade on , just got an angular move / break on the stone , then went to heavy nylon strap , to block and tackle , horse power rope pull , moved it with ease ! once I started the move , it went from blade to tackle , back and forth , went from frustration to , rock slide , just kept changing my pull / push point . wish I had D9 ! PETE

Nice save. I am surprised that blade has enough lift. That is a new one. Glad it didn't break the case.

Here’s mine in action… garage sale Craftsman. Works well. I’d echo @ri702bill comment above about blanket or weight on cable… I always drape a heavy blanket over cable / tow strap, close to attachment point of object being moved. If it lets loose it will drop the sling shot rapidly to ground instead of my head…

The only complaint with these is that you have to lift / pull a half a click of the ratchet to be able to release it - you never want to get into a situation where you cannot. And - once under tension, this device can be dangerous with all that stored up energy. When moving rocks, I always put a moving quilt over the cables - if it slips, it reduces the chance of the pulley flying back at you...

As penance, please drop it off at my house. I will clean the tires and then keep them clean at my house for a couple years… Nice job on the floor!!’

@ebinmaine long story short, for light and medium duty, lets say up to half a metric tonne you'll be fine using a cable type come along. Short story long : This is for vertical transport only. It's construction makes it unpleasant to use horizontally even though it COULD do it. Pro: - has an emergency brake. Prevents load from dropping suddenly. - Has stopper on end of chain. - Easily move (very) heavy loads. - Easy to switch from 'lift' to 'lower' Con: - moves slow. - chain can get in the way - heavy This is for vertical and horizontal transport. Shorter chain and ratcheting handle makes it suitable for all kinds of lifting and pulling. Pro: - Universal use, (good ones) also has a emergency brake. Prevents load from dropping suddenly. - Has stopper on end of chain. - Easy to switch from 'lift' to 'lower' - Easy to use and setup - Relatively small and lightweight Con: - moves slow. - chain can get in the way This is for horizontal pulling only! It's construction makes it easy to use in a horizontal manner and eventhough you COULD use it to lift, you really SHOULD NOT. See instruction manual. Pro: - easy to use - moves medium loads pretty fast - looooong cables are available for long distance use (can be daisy chained). - relatively light compared to working range (length) Con: - doesn't have stopper on end of cable. - Does not have an emergency brake. - Difficult to control when switching from pull to release. I've worked at a rental company for 12,5 years and among other things I took care of getting chainfalls, come alongs and cable pullers anually inspected. Also gave instructions to collegues and clients what (not) to do with equipment like this. Studied many manuals to answer much of the questions those people had. Hope this info helps. If you have a potential purchase on your radar and would like some more advice, let me know.

Hey hey hey…I represent that… Echo above comments about this site…

'Cause thems take permits !!!

Spent the day up at the farm. Been making the grain silo rat proof. It's made out of a cardboard ply material. Must be more 40 - 50yr old now. First off we fixed some sheet steel over a couple of holes the rats had made. The plate was pre-drilled, placed in position and I then drilled through those and through the silo side. My farmer friend then pushed the bolts through from the outside while I fitted and tightened the nuts. At one point I caught a movement from the corner of my eye. Something grey and furry. RAT! Spun round holding the battery drill by the chuck end and prepared to give ratty a head ache. As I started to bring the drill down I managed to stay my hand. The rat turned out to be one of the young farm cats. The little blighter gave me a right start.

Not too bad of a place this, Red square. EXCELLENT advice and great humor involving not just tractors ... Nearly anything else. About the only thing the old bat and I won't tackle at home is electricity and plumbing. No real reason to do either one because we have friends in each industry. Other than that, we've tried all kinds of home repairs and remodels and modifications. Bunches of different kinds of purchases of machinery or tools. All possible manner of advice that we've asked for over the last few years has been answered, and very well.

WELP... as someone who has massive experience with both cable and chain type pullers... I must disagree. Here is the deal... chain type will make it MUCH easier to pull heavy loads due to particular gearing in those devices. Cable type pullers will be much harder on you physically than the chain style. Having said that... I own both, use them regularly for moving debris, stumps, trees, etc. I have used both the chain and cable style for stretching fence, posts, etc... I personally gravitate towards the chain type BEFORE I go to the cable type. There is no reason not to use the chain style for pulling. (and when I say chain style, I mean one such as this): EDIT: One thing to note, the cable style will pull the load FASTER (but harder on your body)... the chain style will pull the load SLOWER (but with minimal effort) Don

Welcome to the group! A lot of great people here with tons and tons of knowledge. I’m not sure how they keep it all in their heads. They must wear ear plugs. All kidding aside the people here are fantastic. As for finding your childhood tractor there’s no better feeling finding it. Well technically mine never left my dads garage til I got a house but the tractors my grandfathers let me mow on have all finally made their way to my collection. The last being my 1848 that I was told was sold for scrap. No better feeling going to look at it and confirming it was the one. Your kids will love these tractors too. All 3 of mine do. I feel like with my 2 boys I may have created monsters since they have been the ones doing all the wheeling and dealing this year and I haven’t pulled the trigger on anything. But it’s what keeps this hobby alive.

Cable for pulling, stretched lots of barbed wire with one in my younger day.

from one dad to another!

I have a chain fall that I got used in the 1970's. It is the type that only has one chain - and a looong one at that. The same chain you lift with is recirculated to the side you tug on. Most newer ones have 2 dedicated chains. This one works fine, but the excess chain always seems to get caught on things - best used by 2 people...

My set up…

Nothing special! But it is a working hitch.

The positive terminal of the ammeter goes toward the ignition switch solenoid (correcting my earlier post--my apologies, I misread my own diagram). You want current flow from the stator/regulator through the switch and ammeter to the battery to show a positive current when the battery is being charged.

Years ago, this "staged" photo was taken with Brandon Pfeiffer and I for a little fun and was put on the rear cover of Lawn and Garden Collector magazine and also a framed copy hangs on Brandon's office wall. Now Brandon has always been a big John Deere man and I don't think anybody on Red Square questions my heritage so any time Brandon and I get together ..... something is going to happen. Now take a close look at the photo and you will see the rag tied to the chain to mark the more powerful tractor is on the Wheel Horse side of the painted white line .... oh yes, the Wheel Horse just pulled that John Deere backwards!!!! Welllll ...... I kinda' did say this was a staged photo but did I really make sure the rag was over on the Wheel Horse side of the line when the picture was taken without Brandon knowing? I will never tell! And as you can see in the second photo and y'all know how much of a gentleman I am that I helped push the John Deere back where it came from. Wild Bill in Richmond VA

If anybody wants to read about my solution to cheap hose reels see my thread I’m about to put in non tractor related topics…

I rig things almost everyday at work as a pipe fitter. Ratcheting chain is way easier to use then a cable. Just get a good size one. If you think the load is a 1000 lbs, use a 1 ton for 50 percent insurance.

Permits? I don’t do no stinkin’ permits and did all of the wiring and plumbing in my own house, machine shop, shed and barn. I think that there are folks that wanted me to buy permits but I gave myself permission.

Ehhhh. Kinda. .... I live in the sticks.....

I'd be insulted if this didn't apply so perfectly to me!

If you wire it backwards the only thing that will happen is that the meter will read discharge when it's charging and vice versa. If that happens, just reverse the wires on the meter! I've done it... and I'm too lazy to change it so I just know that if it's reading discharge, it's really charging.

My daughter already wanted a picture on it. I am clearly a glutton for mechanical punishment by owning a VW turbo diesel AND a Ducati motorcycle and doing my own work on both lol.

Don. I will tell ya' .... Years ago, we were at a big tractor show in Indiana and the featured garden tractor model was Gravely, so the Gravely folks got this huge tent set up and their head Gravely guy was giving a speech and just talkin' it up about all the attachments Gravely has, so much more than any other manufacturer. So, at this point my temperature is starting to rise, my blood is beginning to boil and I'm gonna' blow a gasket! Ain't nobody gonna" tell me about all the attachments there brand has, well at this point we are telling each other "well Gravely has a welder attachment" and me saying "yes Wheel Horse has one too" so we go all the way down the list and finally the Gravely guy says "Gravely has a attachment that you can use on the roof of a building to take shingles off" .... Huh??? I could not Imageon lugging a heavy Gravely up on roof to take shingle off but then I told him "Well Wheel Horse has a cup holder and an AM radio!" I then smiled and I got out of there fast before I got my butt kicked! Wild Bill in Richmond VA

And ski rope tows…

I think it’s a huge mistake…here’s my reasons. You don’t seem like your ready for a complex machine such as a 520. It has much more wiring and electronic parts than say a C-120 8 speed. I say that because you already have a 520 and some electronic part quit and you’ve just given up and are simply searching out another 520 rather than deal with the one you have. There’s two things you should do. 1/ Figure out what ya need to do to get YOUR 520 running first. 2/ Pick a simpler machine to be your next one (if you absolutely have to have a second machine) such as what I mentioned above. Get a nice simple C series like from the 73-77 years. A dozen guys here have said “fix what ya got first” and have offered advise, but it seems like none of it has sunk in. Tell me your a kid without out telling me your a kid . Of course, just my opinion and I fully expect you to dismiss all that I said.