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just finished complete resto of a 308-8. im sure some purists will frown on my not factory correct rebuild however this is 3 parts tractors cobbled together that would of been rusting away still in someone's yard. It took a couple of years to complete. only because of kids,house projects and my other hobbies taking my time. It was made possible by using this forum as a reference as well as a few vendors i used from this site. Ive always been a "taker" on this site and will love to share the highs and lows of this build. If anyone is going to take on a full restoration like i did and has any questions on where to start, i have a few suggestion's. One upgrade took hours to do and im waiting for some eagle eyed expert here to take notice of a subtle change i made. i havent seen it done, probably cause the time involved wasnt worth it, IMO. It was alot of fun to both resto my 1st tractor as well as start to learn about WH's. I handled all aspects of build and enjoyed the process so much i picked up a B80 as well as a decent parts B80 to do another restomod. It will most likely have to wait until springtime unfortunately. i made a photo album but was only able to upload these 3 pics.

After the boys and I went fishing this evening we ordered a pizza and hung out in the garage. Aiden bolted this seat frame on that has an ugly blue home made seat on it but he figured it was better than no seat at all. We plan on purchasing a seat for it just like the one I got for Alex’s Commando 8 this spring. We have plenty of other stuff to do to Aiden’s 1277 before it will Be running again. I need to find the dash I set aside for it, find where to buy throttle and choke cables (I had ordered some for Alex but can’t find the paper I wrote my info down on), I will probably re wire it and a few other parts have been scavenged for other tractors so I need to steal them Back. This thing ran pretty good but it smoked from the breather. pictured is Aiden, you have all met his younger brother Alex before.

birds been hitting the house lately , much more than average , loads of fermented berries in trees , from what I have heard the lack of water , has made alcohol in the berries more concentrated . seam to leave trees in an erratic flight path . might have to get a licence to fly , pete

Well here's a neat find. Back about 40+ years ago Trina's family bought an old farmhouse here in the rural Maine town of Otisfield. Her mom found this Ledger book back then and has held onto it since. Something in passing conversation stirred the memory of it's existence the other day so she brought it over to share with us. I took a few pictures of the front and back covers and nearby pages. There are probably 30 more pages between...

I just receiver an email from the curator, Kyle Sater. This is what he had to say. I'm glad you and your grandson enjoyed your visit yesterday. You bring up a very good point--we don't have a ton on display around the Wheel Horses. It's likely we have some archival materials and documentation about each of the Wheel Horses, as they are part of our collection, but I'll be in honest and tell you I have not had a chance to dig into those files (I've been at the museum about 2 years now). I will tell you that we are planning to reconceptualize that whole area downstairs so we can better display and tell the industrial history of South Bend. At that point, I may take you up on your offer--I'd love to have as much information as possible and any help would be appreciated. Please keep in touch, thanks again. I sure hope he takes me up on my offer.

So my guess of Mars Rover is prob way off

I puttered around here and there in the yard today. Messed with the wheels and brakes on Cinnamon Horse C160. Took apart the top of a K341. @gwest_ca can you please tell me what year and usage this might be? Trina took her momma shopping and then commenced to her own puttering around here.

Saw this in town yesterday. I was at some traffic lights and was able to snap some pictures… Any thoughts to it’s purpose, other than loosing ratchet straps?

Maybe one of these with the cab removed ??

There is a frost advisory tonight. If cover my jalapeno & poblano plants each with a sheet to protect them from frost, will I end up with ghost peppers??

Not good folks. Send your prayers to them. We have been following this closely because our youngest daughter and family are still living there. We just watched the 5:00 update. The track is now directly over them. There's still time for it to change but it likely won't be by much. They are smart kids and we know they will do the right things but we still worry. I don't see any life threatening where they are at but Charley went directly over us in 2004. It took some shingles off, damaged some of the overhang and a gazillion trees but nothing like other folks. The worse part was no power for 6 days. Miserable. The biggest difference is Charly came ashore quite a bit south of where Ian will so it had more land to cross and weaken plus it moved very fast. Not Ian.

I just got home after spending the day with Jay's brother Guy. We met at Jays early this AM and I took pictures and inventoried his collection of Wheel Horse tractors, implements, and parts. After I recover, I will list the collection in our classified for all members to see. Hopefully I can get it done this week. I have around 50 pics to load and add descriptions. Stay tuned. BTW, Guy said Jay did not want any formal service. Let's just keep him in our good memory file.

What they have is a Gibson model "A". identified by the small rear wheels, The later model "D" would have had 24" rims on the rear. They were made in Longmont Colorado or Seattle Washington. (There should be cast in letters on the rear axle stating both locations) It is missing the gas tank decal. They used 6hp AEH & 9hp AHH Wisconsin engines on the "A" & "D". The most common color for the Gibson model "A" was grey body with red wheels but this is not set in stone. Gibson often used what was available when needed. Here is a picture of my family's Gibson model "A" With an AEH Wisconsin engine. Some reading for you. https://www.gasenginemagazine.com/community/farm-shows/a-history-of-the-gibson/ @WHX?? has a Gibson too. I believe that his is a model "A".

FYI, Jay,s C-160 FEL back hoe has just been listed in the classifieds.

Here's a pic from yesterday that Trina snapped and I didn't know it.... @WHX?? If you zoom in at the bottom of the walls you'll see the PT boards (2 x 10??) Used to hold the concrete. Rather than apply and remove forms that can only be reused so many times this builder makes the forms part of the structure. The concrete will sit about 2" below the top of the forms. Those boards are left in place and will be what amounts to sill plates. The next board above those is a horizontal piece of 1 x 10 pine, then the vertical pine siding. The concrete wraps the bases of the posts which helps hold them in place.

Not sure about the gentleman stuff Jim. But when Jay learned of his cancer, he told Guy, "when I pass, call Ed to dispose of my collection". So, I'm just fulfilling the request of an old friend.

Staying at my sons house for a week caring for his two dogs. One is slow and lazy (Bandit, one eye and dark brown) and the other is high energy (Levi, light brown with crazy eyes !)

I took one of the grandsons to the Studebaker Museum for his birthday. I had yet to go to the museum since it moved to its new location in 2005. From everything I've heard I didn't expect to see any Wheel Horses on display anymore. We walked in as they opened and four guys from the Netherlands walked in right behind us. I got to chatting with them and mentioned the possibility of seeing them. They had never heard of them so I explained a bit and showed them a couple on my phone. The museum is three levels and we walked the mail level, went up stirs to the 2nd level then down stairs to the basement. Almost to the far end I spied them. A Suburban 551, a Pond lever steer, a 420 LSE and a 69 Work Horse 700. I no more then got to them when I heard the door open. It was the guys from the Netherlands. They showed an interest and apparently I went into full tour guide mode explaining what I knew about them. My grandson noticed and made comment about it as we had some lunch. It wasn't much of a display but at least it was something.

Time to build a motor cycle custom rail rider! Gotta have an engine though

Now that the track of the storm has dropped south a bit I have a granddaughter, son, daughter-in-law and brother-in-law and family all in harms way. They are central and east coast so the impact wont be as great. I pray for the wellbeing of the people in Fort Meyers and surrounding areas.

@peter lena Trail cam pics - 1) some dude on your front lawn. 2) house across the street just bought a green tractor. Not sure they’re connected…

Yes mines a model A. AHH dates to '47.

Nope - that has the MIL seat on the FAR side - out of the reach of her swing!!!

My first thoughts were one of these… but I don’t know if it would straddle a rail well…

I am one happy dude! 😃

Yup. They started in the 1850's. Another Studebaker immigrant about 100 years prior to that. I'm thinking that I should go back and take to them about the entire Wheel Horse display but especially the lever steer. I'm sure they don't have a clue. I'd even be willing to make them some information cards to put up. The Gilson could certainly stay but it should be identified as such. I'd lean on you guys for info on that one.

Uncle Jim was probably close to retirement when those tanks were new!

Nice to have help hauling cornstalks

I remember a ride on once at a museum. When we got to the end of line the guy shut off the engine, flipped the spark advance, and started it backwards, then back to the depot we went

Today's work was getting the tops of the interior walls built then all the walls at plumb every direction. More bracing both temporary and permanent was installed. The floor was partially compacted too. There's 4 of these PT diagonal braces to prevent racking.

Further adventure of Waldo and his mobile. Ground the other foot rest today . Tried a flapper disk on the angle grinder and it worked better than the wire wheel. Had to use the wire wheel is some places. The end of the foot rest was bent all to H**l. Can 't figure what someone could have hit to mangle it that bad. Had to use HF cut off tool on it oh well less weight. Inspected the seat pan ( just primer on it ) .It looked good from a 100 yards. Kind of reminded me off orange peal , but particles of paint were standing straight up. I wiped the seat pan down with acetone before painting yesterday and let it dry. Flapper wheel put back to work , acetone wipe down. Ate lunch and rested for an hour. I then hit with primer again. I not trying to make a trailer queen , just a worker.

My favorite is an unpretentious hard worker that proudly wears the minor scars of 49 years of service.

Studebaker started as a blacksmith shop where the two brothers were good at what they did. Their success came in making wagons and they got a contract with the Union Army to provide supply wagons. The wagons were assembled in South Bend and sent by train to Indianapolis where they would be joined with railcar loads of horses and mules. They would proceed to Jeffersonville, Indiana ( just north of Louisville, Kentucky) where they would be outfitted with harness, loaded with supplies at the Quaternadter Quadrangle supply center for the Union Army. Indiana and Ohio were critical supply depots for the Union Army. From Louisville the railroad lines could carry them in many direction. In later years the Studebaker automobile plant UAW local also represented the Wheel Horse employees at the Ireland Road factory. Studebaker was very innovative and the Lark was first auto company to have unibody construction. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studebaker

Those are official rail speeders I believe the one Kevin saw is either one of the official ones with either the cab removed or a well built custom one with some real rail speeder parts or just good fabrication skills

Pretty much every sears garden tractor has a peerless, John Deere's from the round fender 110's and 112's used a peerless, as mentioned ford used them as well as jacobsen, I have a speedex that has a peerless 2300 in it. I think a lot of older MTD's had them. There's a lot of options for you out there to find a peerless 2300 tranny. The issue will be the cases had different locations for bolting up and some of the cutch and brake hardware is different. The shift levers are different too, but that's an easy swap from your old one to a new one. Hope you find what you need!

Yepp.

It’s a homemade cart used to patrol tracks I’m guessing they go on abandoned tracks as active rails are dangerous to go on being main cargo lines

I used Gorilla glue on mine, a couple of years ago and it's still ok as far as I know.

You did a very nice job, I like the white band around the hood rather than the maroon, makes it stand out from the rest of the herd.

First run Browning M2 50 cal @ 1/2 scale

Well said and done on your part Ed.

Bob, next time you go, see if you can snitch the fuel tank on the Gibson for me. Looks to be exactly what I need for my restored generator! It actually looks like a replacement, seems it's a pinky red... or maybe that's just the lighting.

Transmission back together with TWO half shafts in place…sans the stuck wheel. Much better. 🤞 it still works as it did before. I had to remove every spec of grease from the bevel gears before the differential assembly would drop back into place….then re-grease. That order was very important.

We took everything off the machine,a lately purchased c160 auto and found that maybe it needs a fender washer in the belt tightening linkage. Now that she is opened up, time for a cleaning underneath the side shields and a filter and transmission oil change. It's nice to have it on the lift for an old man to get to it properly .Then the cleaning to keep the transmission cool and you can see where the vice grips clip on . That's where a small washer under the split pin might take out the vibration. I need to check if a NAPA Gold 1068 is the correct transmission filter and that should complete the comeback of this machine.

Gonna bring you guys along on this one. So far I have messed about with the carburetor and finally I removed it and used Flitz on the needle/seat. She runs nice now after sitting since 2018 Gotta take the seat and find off the rear because excessive noise underneath the side shield 🛡️ We're going in...

I've used the vice grip method myself with success. You have to use a large one to get enough mash on the rivet. The advantage is that you don't have to take anything apart. Bolt & nut is probably best long term.