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@Pullstart

And that folks, is the makin's of a Bird Coop on wheels - "THE GOOSE CABOOSE"

How long would it take for @Pullstart to bury the axles in the field ?

I’ll be in the bus garage!

This is certainly harder than I thought. So many tractors and so many pictures. First picture is my restored 603. Second is from when we had washed up all the tractors here that were going to a show. The majority are mine but there are a couple that are not. The show was local and between 4 collectors we had 40 tractors. I know you said 2 pictures but this picture of @WheelHorse_Kid the day he finally took his 604 out of the garage after rebuilding it mostly by himself from a pile of parts that we bought is one of my all time favorites. So many more I could choose from.

Yes i'm still alive. After being unemployed for a few months I've found a new job which (obviously) takes up a lot of my time, been working fulltime again for about two months now. Besides that there were a few others things that needed my attention so I don't have a big update to show but progress nonetheless.. worked on the 3-point hitch again, to be more specific the upper hinge. Turned some bronze bushings and shrunk them in the housing then welded the housing to the tractor. Once fully welded everything will get linebored to make sure it turns without binding. Turned and welded upper hinge. Bronze bushings Heated up the hinge and shrunk in the bushings Cut out a spot for the upper hinge Welded it in, still more reinforcing to do. Greetings from the Netherlands, Mark

Here lies Colleen. She was a good bus. R.I.P.

True to form, perhaps he'd use a 7HP yank-start Kohler as a pony motor to fire up that Bad Boy......

Today I am grinding stainless steel and that has Oh Crap moments similar to aluminum, but not quite as bad. These four 2-1/2” square parts are less than 1/4” thick with a tolerance of +/- .0002”, getting them flat is fun. Greasy Pete would like this project since it is a machine to test grease color.

Definitely easier to simply change Teccy carbs than it is to just clean them. The knockoffs from epay kept flooding. I changed things, checked things and messed around with them until finally just throwing them on the back shelf. Couldn't bring myself to smashing them with a hammer although it came close! They were much better back in the day but it seems the quality has taken a dive over the last couple of years. Yes, isavetractor carbs are offshore knockoffs too but think they are Taiwan and made to specs. Machined better too. They are definitely a better quality and so far all have worked very well from the K582 down to K181s.

Before you spend another dime get the proper wiring diagrams so you can determine where the fault is. What is the model and serial number of the tractor? What is the model and serial number of the engine? Need these to link you to the correct diagrams.

I was kinda thinking before you even got done hitting the SEND button...

Wow! just had a flashback to the 70's when we were young and did the same thing with "other seeds" off the album cover......LOL

yes I used one of these plows for my Lawn Ranger I had and I have to say it was not a very good attachment. The weak point is the way the lift bar is made with flat steel. My dad was a blacksmith and I had him mske me a heavier lift bar for my Lawn Ranger plow and I still thought it was not adequate support. I think you can make it fit on your Commando 8 but if you want to use for work a short frame snow/dozer blade would be a better bet. picture is of my old 1967 Lawn Ranger just before I sold it. Wheel Horse sold a lot of the Lawn Rangers and I read where Cecil Pond said it was one of his favorites.

I didn't realize it was your video till I saw the sandals. About grinding aluminum, it can be tricky to do as the grinding wheel can quickly load up and cause damage to the head. One would need to select the correct wheel and coolant, then take light cuts. In my opinion, it should only be attempted by a well experienced machinist.

Autumn said she's going to stay in today, 25"+. Lots of snow drifts, bench in there somewhere.

We planted White Pines as a wind break in upstate NY when I was in 4H. Nearly seventy years later they are doing fine. Our county agricultural agent got 1,000 and I think we took about 100. The ones that weren't used in the wind break we potted and a few years later when they were about 4 or 5 feet tall we put red foil around the pots and sold them as live Christmas Trees at the farmers' market. People from the city thought they had struck gold buying a live tree for half the price of a cut tree.

If you had a burnt valve the engine wouldn't run well even without a load. You didn't mention an ignition tune-up. Is the engine strictly a magneto ignition or does it also have points and a condenser? If an engine idles well, but runs erratically when revved up, like it hits and misses, pops and backfires, then chances are, it needs a new condenser/capacitor. And always install a condenser/capacitor with the wire facing downward so rain water and/or when washing off engine, water will not enter inside condenser/capacitor, ruining it. With water inside the condenser, this will also allow it to idle well, but cause it to run erratically when revved up.

Yesterday's massive storm coming across the United States left us with around 9 or 10 inches of heavy wet snow. I took these pictures at 3:45 AM when I went out to move the snow so I could go to work.

I can fully understand! I fell immediately in love with mine the first time I saw it on Facebook Marketplace. Even more so when I first saw it in person! I don't see myself ever parting with it. My wife named her Betty.

We’ve done that before, at the lake. I cut it all down once and poured over 5 gallons of old gas from derby cars on it. Then lit it. Then landed on my back. Then watched the 40’+ tall mushroom cloud grow. I didn’t realize “old gas” was that flammable back then!

I’ve been drinking K-cup coffee for a while, collecting little starters. They have a drain hole and are perfect size for starting seeds!

I have a propagating thread. Time for a starting from seed thread? I soaked these Norway Spruce seeds in a cup of water for about 48 hours, then placed the, in a wet paper towel for a month or so in the fridge. They are starting to sprout! There are 50, but I don’t expect them all to germinate.

I've had good luck with the cheap chinese $20 knockoffs for the Tecumseh engines but not so much for the Kohlers. Hit or miss and one out of four actually worked good. They were for K181 engines $70 bucks for one from Isavetractors is worth it. IMO Yes they are still knockoffs but the quality is better and haven't had any issues with any of them at all. Here's one without all the extra stuff and just the carb for $70. It comes with the extra choke rod to change it from the M10 to the K241 if needed. https://isavetractors.com/carburetor-26-for-kohler-k241-k301-m10-m12-engines/

Sounds to me it might be as much a fuel issue rather than electrical. I would have a good look at the fuel level, fuel filter, and even the gas cap believe it or not. That fuel cap is vented (center hand nut on the cap) and if air can't enter the tank it will become a vacuum and prevent fuel from getting to the carburetor.

Been unemployed. Didn’t like it at all. Glad this one is behind you now. And simply beautiful execution. Lovely work.

home and back to the work force!

Maybe some more details on what happened and what you are experiencing now. It was running perfectly fine and then spit and sputtered? Or never really running right and finally died? Now, it will not turn over at all to try and start? Or, it's turning over but will not start? The tractor has safety switches. If the PTO lever is engaged it will not start. Or it will cut off the ignition if you leave the seat with it engaged. The pedal should be pushed down or it may not start

Wayne, to be EXTREMELY CLEAR. I am in NO WAY encouraging you to bypass ANY safety switches. I think a bypass on a switch is a terrible idea. Our memories are fallible and the possibility that it’ll be in the wrong position when you need it is too risky. Better to find a way to let the seat switch function with less than your full weight.

Rear tires came in today! Waiting on fronts still and tubes.

That is the built-in anti theft device !!

This is how she looks as of today. Hopefully all this snow soon melts so I can move on to the rest.

Is it bad that I actually processed the thought that the front wheels would have difficulty turning? Like I'd consider this a flippin reality ....

I just noticed....there is no blade trip spring system. Could be dangerous to operator and tractor.

No real experience here, but it looks like it would work. Although the lift systems seem poorly designed. The lift push point on the plow frame should be lowered to increase the lift leverage.

Lol you'll get along good then with Pullstart, EB & Peacemaker...they name all their horses and now got me doing it!

I start with 220 grit wet-or-dry on top of the cast iron table saw. Used wet only if there are surface imperfections on the mating surface, otherwise done dry. Finish with 400 grit - but I use a figure eight motion, stopping to check progress every 10 seconds or so for all of it. So Eric - were you the "hand model" in the video???

A good place to start without pulling the head... I have a mid 1970's Ariens SnoThro what I have to richen the main mixture screw about a half a turn the first time I use it - been like this for 25+ years. Only way to get power out of it. About 5 minutes later, it starts to run very rich - readjust the screw back in a half a turn - good to go !! Go figure.... Yours does sound like it is running lean - not good. That and / or a chunk of loose carbon caught on the seat will lead to a burnt exhaust valve... DO check to see if any part of the muffler is glowing red while in use - indicates a severely lean mixture, engine running way too hot...

I use emery cloth on a 1/2" thick piece of glass with water. I do one series rotating the head as shown in Erics video. Then hold the glass vertically over a bucket and rinse the emery cloth with water. Rotate the glass 45 degrees and repeat the series. Rotating the glass will expose new cutting edges of the abrasive. I can usually see the low areas, but for a final check, I use a black ink marker to coat the surface.

As I sit here reading this with my coffee from the Keurig I'm liking your idea. Dating back to when I was a kid my Dad purchased about 1000 white pines from the state to fill up several of his acres. They are past their maturity now but the ones still standing are 40-50' tall. For many years I would order trees from the state. It always seemed that I would order more than I would want to plant and I would end up giving some away. The past few years I've gotten into planting seeds from whatever I find. I would just wander around poking holes in the ground and dropping a seed in. Most recently catalpa and tulip popular. I gather in the fall, let them sit in the garage over the winter and plant in the spring. There's a small area directly behind the house that I decided over the winter that I want trees. Trees from the state are usually ordered in the fall for shipping or pick up in the spring. On a whim I got on the state site and checked their inventory. They had a few left in the fields with 200 of them Norway Spruce. They are somewhat deer resistant which I really need and I'll also give them a shot of deer repellant about once a month. I probably only need about 20 for the spot but I ordered the minimum of 100 so I'll be wandering the property again once I pick them up. I'm sure I'll find some more seeds of whatever and next spring I may be wandering again and popping little seedlings from K-cups.

Yep... About 30+ years ago, I bought at an auction 4 black-marble slabs 1" x 14" x 24". Surely a piece of glass 1/2" thick or so could be used.

I did a count. 20 in the basement on an LED light and a timer, 34 upstairs near a NORTHERN window for indirect light exposure. Most likely, there are 15+ still in the fridge. Not bad for 50 seeds in a pack!

701 is one of my favorites! Mine is unrestored but still greatly loved! Not only by me but two previous owners -Devin Stutler snd Jon Bell of Indians who traded this tractor back and forth with each other several times. All 701’s are special but I like that mine has a Hein-Werner hydro pump for lifting implements, a chromed dash (originally from a 702 that had additional holes drilled), and the CBR- 327 front , chain drive cutter bar. My hood even has a stainless door hinge on the bottom of the hood that allows for easy access and strengthen the original hood bottom to the front of the 701 frame. If you look close you can see it. We were fortunate a couple years ago do to efforts by Ryan Transue to get four 701’s with CBR-327 front cutter bars at the Wheel Horse Collectors Club Show.

Thanks for all of the info everyone! I greatly appreciate it! I absolutely love this little tractor! I've bee a Cub Cadet guy my entire life, but when I saw this come up for sale not far from me I knew I had to have it. Y'all may have already seen it as pics of it have been posted on here before by the previous owner, Jim Demery of Bushnell, Illinois. Hell of a nice guy and very talented in my opinion.

Here’s 30-35 started. Many more are in the basement and will get a cheap LED grow light on a timer.

A Wheel Horse "constant" if one ever existed! I should have clarified that on my original post. ...and a personal caveat that I have exploited on every single machine I have! NONE of the rules for these tractors was ever absolute. So for my purposes, the only "purist" rule I obey is to enjoy my tractors and let them WORK as intended. It's the only way for them to be happy! On rare occasion- an "off" brand part might even show up (albeit painted red) on my tractors. At least they can continue to be enjoyed!