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We are currently in OKC and so Blackbeard is on “hold” until we return at the end of the month. However, I wanted to update everyone with a few details of the project that took place before we left… There was a one inch “tear” in the metal in the usual fender spot and so I called upon my buddy Nate (a welder by trade) to fix it up for us. He sent me these pictures yesterday. It looks to me like all we need now is a little filler and we are ready to prime and paint that fender😎. We are getting closer to having all the red laid down🙌🏻 Speaking of reassembly, Zach was so excited to assemble one of the small pieces on Blackbeard before we left. The original headlight assembly still had the aluminum foil from the factory behind the headlights. We took that out, sanded the housing and Zach painted it with reflective aluminum paint. It turned out really nice! I need to find a set of LED headlights for extra brightness but for now he reinstalled the working incandescent bulbs. I didn’t think about how the “goatee” around the grille would tie in with the black strip around the headlight lens but we agree that it looks awesome😎 Some of you may cry “Foul” here as this is a non original addition but thank to our “in house vinyl maestro” Terry @Vinylguy we are opting to go with a metal dash and tunnel insert and place decals rather than try to stick with the original plastic. As you can see in the picture our original was complete yet rough. Terry did an excellent job of creating a factory look for us! @19richie66 had an extra dash panel that he offered to Zach along with a tunnel cover—thank you so much Richie! This tractor is a full on worker and it will be relatively easy for us to keep extra stickers on hand should the one in place look worn. However, I really don’t think that will be a problem. My 1980 Case GT has the factory dash decal installed 43 years ago and it still looks good👍🏻 Now that Terry has this worked out and you guys are aware of it, it might be a good seller for him!🤔🧐 For anyone who personally knows Zach, this next statement will meet with complete agreement. Zach doesn’t know a stranger. We were at the church last night and he kept asking to borrow my phone, he wanted to show guys pictures of his tractor and tell them the story. A gentleman came up to me afterward and said “Zach is a sharp kid! He asked me if I was mechanically inclined and when I told him that I was, he proceeded to tell me all about his new toolbox for Christmas and the restoration of his tractor! He sure knows a lot of stuff for a 9 year old!” Well said! He has about 15 guys now across the south that want me to send them pictures of Blackbeard when it is finished🙌🏻

Just bought this 312-8. I'd like to know a little more about it. Can't find a data plate or decal anywhere on it. It looks like they touched it up with rattle can red. It came with a plow but is missing parts to privet the blade. Can't find them anywhere. Lower index rod? It starts and runs real good. It plows ok, I wonder if it'll plow better if I can pivot the blade. Haven't tried the mower deck yet. It's the smaller one with the rear discharge. Any help you can give a fella would be greatly appreciated

The biggest problem with mini vans: Women can fill them with junk and never empty it! Ignore the misconception about mini vans being for wimps Biggest positive with mini vans: Remove the seats and haul a tractor!

Didn't do this today but is still less than 24 hours old. Had a reasonably nice day in SW Missouri so fired up the smoker and broke out the dutch oven. I was nosing around the freezer a few days ago and found a bag of blackberries we picked last summer and a corned beef brisket I bought last year after they went on sale following St. Patrick's Day. It was pretty cheap as Walmart had a bunch of them left over. I soaked it in the refrigerator for two or three days, changing the water three or four times. I have found if I don't soak the corned beef brisket, they are way too salty. Didn't put any rub or coating on the brisket, had it on the smoker about 12 hours. That's way longer than normal and the only thing I can think of is it absorbed water that had to be sweated out during the stall. Had it plus a baked potato I cooked in the smoker as well for supper this evening. The blackberry pie was baked in a dutch oven. I don't use fancy lattice top or such on my pies, just tear the pie crust in pieces and sling it on there. We use the dutch oven a lot when camping. I did tear into it last night along with some ice cream. OK, the ice cream was store bought--but it's still early in the year! Someone asked me one time about cooking. Well, I worked in construction. Figure if I could build a house, I could build a pie!

My favorite tractor is the 854 And my first tractor a 1968 Commando 8 I like the short frames.

We are on our second van. The first was a 2006 Mercury Monterey (Ford Freestar clone), the current is a 2016 Honda Odyssey. After having a van and enjoying the conveniences it offers, I can't imagine ever NOT having one. There isn't much "mini" about a modern minivan. They are sizeable vehicles. Impossibly, they seem bigger on the inside than they do on the outside. They drive very car like and can get good fuel economy considering their size. My Ody averages around 23 mpg on my wife's normal routine and has never gotten less than a true (calculated by dividing miles driven by gallons used) 27 mpg on a long trip. And that's hauling 4-6 people. They have a cavernous amount of cargo space in them. Vacations or trips to the big box stores require virtually no planning or tetris to make things fit. We've yet to encounter something we cared to haul in it that doesn't fit. I haven't had a tractor in the Ody but the Merc' did carry a Suburban behind the second row with my kids safely buckled in their child seats. Only Chrysler has the fold-in-floor second row seats, but all vans today have a third row that disappears into the floor. Even with the seat deployed, there is still a tremendous amount of cargo space in the well behind it and you can stack it high. People space is great too. Front wheel drive means they have no transmission hump so the floor is big and wide and long and flat. You can move around the thing when on the roll of you absolutely needed to. Second and third row seats on some models have a low-ish seat cushion that won't work for everybody, but we've taken a lot of trips in our vans with extended family and there was never a complaint about comfort or space. None. But nobody in my family is 6'4"/235 lb either... I travel and rent cars quite a bit and for a while Enterprise kept "upgrading" me to Escalades and Yukons. While gigantic and imposing, they do not have the usable space in them that a van does and they lack the little cubbies and pockets all over the place that prove to be so useful. i would assume the extended Suburban and Expeditions are bigger inside than a van, but it's probably closer than you'd think and you take up one heck of a footprint getting there. And they use a ton of fuel in comparison. Believe it or not, payload (weight carrying) capacity of a lot of vans is remarkably high. Higher than a lot of full size half ton trucks. I've never towed with my Odyssey but I have no reason to suspect it wouldn't be completely acceptable right up to its rated limit and probably even beyond (although I'm not sure I'd recommend towing the triple axle Airstream like shown in the photo). My Ridgeline pickup is fundamentally the same vehicle as the current Odyssey and it does just fine towing anything reasonable. It seems that several on this thread have taken their vans places that it wasn't suited to, but if you stay on improved roads I can't imagine ever running out of traction. I don't find our Ody compromised at all for power. It will roast the front tires if you want it to and in a drag race will outrun a lot of cars that seemed powerful in our youths. I will admit that the transmission feels weird in my Honda and I attribute that to Honda automatics (until recently) being a sliding gear gearbox just like a manual that results in odd shift feel at times. I don't understand the insecurity some have with vans. If you have the need for space, comfort, practicality, and reasonable economy they are a smart choice. I assume when we are done with this van that we'll get another one. I would guess it will be another Honda and I hoping by then it will be a PHEV. I am not a Chrysler guy, but I do like the Pacifica PHEV. Get a van! Steve

And great machine! Check out this Baseline checklist thread if you are looking for any maintenance advice. It would be a great idea to check the transmission fluid condition to tell if it’s been left outside for any extended periods. If it’s milky or gross, a thorough flush is in order!

Not much time tonight for tractah fiddlin' but we did get a couple things done. The carb is dunked in the soak em drink. Trina AKA The Paint Department did a bit of spraying on the frame to purty it up a hair. My big news. Just WOW. Is it ever.. incredibly nice... to have the right tools when you tackle a chore. A few months ago I bought a new set of ½ drive impact sockets. A few weeks ago I bought a new ½ battery powered impact gun. Medium strength. And today.... The WOW piece. A hub puller made for real work!! I kid you not. It took me longer to thread in 6 bolts and spray oil them than it did to remove the hub. Did I mention WOW?? Almost makes me want to attack one of those arrogantly nasty stuck hubs just for kicks. Almost.

Started the day with a quick welding job for a neighbor. They had an aluminum wheel chock crack and needed some putting back together. I didn’t have high hopes on it, being a dirty old wheel stander stiller. It welded great and I made ‘em happy. Did some other clean up and got Putt Putt stuck and filthy in the field. Ended the day with another quick weld job for another neighbor, building his own garage door opener system but can’t see enough to weld by himself any more. Feels good to help neighbors and take a tractor ride! Now, I’m attempting fried rice and baked tilapia.

very true. There is no such thing as an unread owner’s manual in my house! I read them all cover to cover. Sometimes multiple times. Honda is very detailed about towing and payload even going so far as to tell you how to compensate for altitude. It’s hyper specific. Either their tech writing department is really on the ball or their legal team won’t leave anything to chance. Or maybe both! steve

But driving one is like drinking out of a straw. It's almost impossible to look cool doing it.

When you grease the front end, try to jack the tractor up BY THE FRAME to relieve weight from the front axle, spindles and wheel bushings or bearings.

Uhhhhhhh @Beap52…. Yum! Uhhhhhhh @WHX??…. Yuck!

At least you can be fairly sure there isn’t anything alive in there!

A job I loathe...cleaning the parts cleaner. Been at least 15 years since I did it last and was spurred on it by dropping a governor shaft into the four inches of muck. It would have been like finding that 10mm socket that rolled into no mans land. Many a filthy Kohler been through it along with a few restos and lots of other parts. Sides it was low on solvent Going to try and reuse some solvent so started by draining it into buckets with a paint strainer to catch the big stuff. After th old stuff sets in buckets for a week crap will settle out an I'll pour back in off the top of the bucket.

One thing to remember when towing with a minivan is that the load inside (passengers, etc.) must be counted when evaluating towing capacity. Four adults plus luggage and vacation gear can get you most of the way to 1,000 lbs.! This is usually well explained in the (unread) owners manual.

KEVIN !!!!

i have had that 312-8 tractor model bought new since 1989 --- over 2,000 hours -- awesome machine - here's photo of my then 8 yr old son plowing with it first winter in 1989, plow photo of recently reconditioned plow blade, and recent photo 33 years later of tractor and plow, and our 37 inch side discharge mower we restored after 3 decades of use. I have also used with our tiller for garden and lawn plus pulled a roller to install our lawn -- machine does everything you will ask!

You'll find that to be an excellent worker for you. Good catch. The plow index rod can be made from 2 heim joints and a piece of rod. We just did one for my 1975 C160 Automatic Restoration. Highly recommend it. The heim joint takes all the slop and looseness out of the possibilities and makes the plow easier to pivot.

I remember being at the dealer auction in Waverly PA. I was at one end of the building and I heard a crash. At the opposite end of the shop was a guy picking a sliding door off the ground as the van was driving away!

That is a reason ole goats drive pickup trucks. 2007 Silverado replaced my 1984 El Camino SS Choo Choo. Dang thing sits up too high for a 2-wheel drive or my legs are too short.

Got it! It’s only $200 for that good of shape.

Honda Odyssey - 2 of them. Outstanding vehicles. Roomy, towing, great quality. Any Chrysler product - I would violate this site's policies to comment.

My wife has a 2007 Sienna with 167,000 with the 3.5 24 valve stump puller. Great acceleration and smooth. We had to put a rad in it about 4 yrs. ago when it split open. Rear plugs were a PITA as the wiper trans, windshield cowl and intake manifold had to come off. An o2 sensor and a LF strut and that's it. And for some reason rocks like the windshield. Not quite enough leg room for me as I need to fully extend my left knee from time to time. Van is been slowly rusting for the past 3 years.

When our kids were little we went thru the mini-van stage. Ford Windstar is what we had. Hands down the most comfy long haul vehicle ever! The captain seats up from with armrests were fantastic. I never hauled a tractor but having all that interior space was super handy. They do have the soccer mom stigmatism, but once you haul your first tractor or take your first long distance drive in it you’ll forget all about that. Are you planning to tow a trailer? Do your homework on tow capacities. Ours was a v6 but nowadays everything is a little 4 banger.

Couple years ago we were at our local Teatown EagleFest and watching several eagles soaring overhead. Magnificent. One of the clearly experienced watchers with binoculars called out “here comes some luck!” as a bird passed almost directly overhead. Turns out that’s code for “the eagle just pooped”. A couple near us had the “luck” land on them.

Way lighter, Doesn’t stick out as far, throws snow like there’s no tomorrow and way easier to attach. Will go back to it next year.

Pat just purchased a 2014 Ram one owner with the 3.6 litre engine coupled to a ZF 8HP transmission, not really a work truck but with the full frame and larger tires it makes pot holes smooth out. After the purchase we went to the Dodge dealership and had them pull the options ticket and to check if any recalls were outstanding. The dealer claims the ZF transmission is a life time fill, forgot to ask what they're interpretation of life time is. With 130K on the truck I'll change the trans oil with a new filter, filter and oil pan are integral. If any of you use a bidirectional OBDII, I would appreciate your recommendations on which unit would be a good purchase, I don't want Pat to be dealer dependant..

I was doing some property clean up. You’d think I’d know all the soft spots after 5 years being here, but I keep finding more! No flip flops were harmed, but I stepped out of my muck boot once. I was fortunate to catch the slip before the next step!

@Pullstart Figured mud would be part of your day. You pulling a boat out of the snow or creek? Were any flip flops harmed in the last picture?

@ebinmaine Were you thinking less of a family minivan and more of a cargo van like the Ford Connect? I think Gary has the small Ford in a cargo van configuration. @Retired Wrencher maybe he can shed some light on how they are.

Thank you my friend! More toys in the mail today for that tractor and others. I got a 1 in pipe thread tap so I can try to clean the threads out of the exhaust a little. Box of four throttle cables bought at the recommendation of @WHX?? And @Achto from PSEP. Also a very special extremely heavy duty hub pulling tool from one of our awesome members!! Hopefully there will be a little more progress this evening...

Those look REALLY familiar…where have I seen those before…🤔… Same size, brand, but @ebinmaine’s are in better shape. I don’t even remember the tractor that mine originally came on but they are a permanent fixture on GhostRider. A great little tire🙌🏻 Eric—you guys are making great progress so far👍🏻

Some had the tractor data decal under the front of the seat and later moved to under the left side of the seat both on the rear fender pan. Post the numbers off the engine data plate including the serial number - sometimes we can ID the tractor model from them. Maroon decals like you have 1985-1989

Look for ID sticker under the seat, if it's painted over lightly rub some brake fluid or nail polish remover over it & see if you can read it.

Ahhhhhhhhh—the minivan! Almost like a forbidden cuss word for the average 20-30 year old American male🤔😅😂 However, as much as I hate to admit it, we have owned several of them and they are all around the most utilitarian vehicles that I’ve ever owned—and I’ve had my fair share! Our Windstar was the first. Put on about 150,000 miles before the rust became a problem as mentioned above. Good vehicle overall for our family. Next up a Toyota Sienna. Bulletproof. Did everything the windstar did but better. Drove it up to nearly 300,000 trouble free miles before we started to have issues with the sliding door tracks being shot. Kelli was afraid one of the doors would fall off or get stuck open/closed. Price to fix was nearly $3K and we decided it was time for something newer. Most recently Honda Odyssey. Ditto the Sienna, except this vehicle is a touring model. More plush. Stow and go rear seating is an awesome bonus of the last two vans and I echo the sentiments of all above who talk of the great cargo hauling ability. We are raising a family of four with the minivans and I can’t see doing it with a different vehicle although I know it is possible. All of our vans have had v-6’s. Current one has 250ish HP—never feels doggy yet gets about 22 mpg. We just turned 227K with it and are having a few electrical glitches but that is due to the over abundance of “doo-dads”. A more basic model would have less of those issues. Yes—as much as I hate to admit it—minivans work great for their designed purpose. I doubt my wife will ever want anything different😅

One of my weekender neighbors has a Toyota Sienna van. He has gotten stuck a few times trying to drive around his mushy yard. Van has very little ground clearance. When he sinks in and gets stuck it is very hard (messy) to get underneath to hook to something solid to drag him out. Last fall he was down so deep we wound up having to hook to the passenger side top engine mount. There are no tow points or hook on the darn thing front or rear. In most of Europe cars must have front and rear tow points. Even the Porsche 944 we had had a big Eye bolt in the glove box that threaded into concealed holes fore and aft.

I grew up with a 89 Chevy Astro van as a kid. I've had a 2015 Honda Odyssey for the main family vehicle for the last 5 years, has 88k on it currently. I'll list a section for what I like and don't like about them. Pros: Lots of room for hauling people/stuff. More fuel efficient than a V8 SUV. Lower to the ground and easier to get in and out of for some folks, compared to large SUV. Huge trunk space and easy fold down 3rd row seats. Comfortable features for the most part. Cons: This mainly pertains to my opinion of our 2015 Honda Odyssey. I hate how it drives. The computerized shifting/tuning is geared for fuel efficiency and no power. It's always wanting to be in "Eco" mode and make it drive awful when you want pedal response. It is very delayed and always wanting to be in higher gears. It's a 5 speed and I swear it's always in either 2nd or OD. If you want to accelerate quick or get the power you have to smash the pedal in the floor, wait 2-3 seconds and then the thing reluctantly lurches into lower gears for you. I feel like it has the smallest drivers seat area of any minivan I've been in. I'm 6'4 235lbs and I feel squished in it. Seat should go back farther and the console is too wide by your legs making for narrow leg room for longer legged people. I get leg and hip cramps after being in it for an hour and can't go more than two hours or so without having to get out. I also have hit my head a lot on it getting in as the angle of the front is steep and makes it low. The cruise control is awful if you live in hills. It seems to have a +/- of 4mph before it corrects. Which is very annoying to me when you're traveling on the interstate and you have the cruise on 70 and start up a hill and you will slow down to 66/67 without it speeding back up. Never had another vehicle be that much. Drives me nuts. I've had some electrical issues with the radio and the air flow mode actuators going bad. Mechanically it seems fine so far. I will say most all the vehicles I have driven were either a manual or 4speed automatic with a throttle cable/wire to the pedal and intake, not computer sensors. So I'm use to instant and smooth response from the pedal. So depending on how you drive and what kind of response you like from your vehicle these may or may not bother you. Just wanted to share though.

2 pages of info https://www.wheelhorseforum.com/search/?q=701&quick=1&type=downloads_file

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The transmission will use 80-90wt. When you drain it, raise the front of the tractor as high as you safely can. This will get the oil over a hump that is inside the tranny. Fill until level with the fill hole on the lower left side. Just over a qt. Other than that hit all of the grease certs from time to time.

Thanks all ~ Much appreciated info ~

Those are young and do not have the classic white head yet. I got some pictures of those but they were so far away that they simply looked black with white head and tails. Here is some that I got 10yrs ago of the classic bald eagle:

I cleaned up, replaced a couple parts, packed the bearing with a minimal amount of Lucas Green, and installed the PTO Cone from @ebinmaine . I should be ready to cut grass!

Download this file. Each circuit has it's own diagram so easy to follow This link will take you to 2 pages of files we have on this model https://www.wheelhorseforum.com/search/?&q=21-12ke03&type=downloads_file&page=1&search_and_or=or&sortby=relevancy

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.

I would try the 20 buck knockoffs as have had good luck with them but don't scrap the orginal. There are guys here that can replace the bushing and make it new again. With the knock offs you just have to watch the choke lever that it operates by being pulled down. I'm thinkin your dealer wants to sell you a new mower. Not sayin he is a liar he just don't wanna look. We save old iron here.