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Happy Father's Day to all the Dads here! My 17 year old son drew this card for me, thought you'd enjoy seeing it - I love it! The 312-A was the "model" for it:

It was time yesterday to take a look at the 401 that I bought last fall. On my initial shake down I found that it would not stay in 3rd gear. I mean you could not even hold it in 3rd to drive it, it would force itself out of gear. The subject at hand. Fluid in the tranny looked awesome! Golly gee wiz Walley. I wonder why it wouldn't stay in 3rd?? I have not seen a set of these so bad in a while. I replaced these with a new 3rd gear and a good used input shaft/gear. Axles look rough where the outer bushings ride so I did an axle flip as long as I had it apart. Assembling the transmission was a bit of a challenge for me. These 3 piece tranny's sure don't go together like the 2 piece ones do. Finally won though then called it a day. Back at it this morning, started by bolting the tranny back in place. Back together, test drive showed all systems go. Ready for duty.

I congratulate you for being a great neighbor. When I had my cancer treatment and surgeries, my neighbors kept up my lawn maintenance. As simple as it seems, I greatly appreciated someone helping out. I'm sure he does too!

Happy Father's day! My coffee tastes much better today! Thanks @19richie66!!!

But I did! I'm going to bring 7 Wheel Horses to the 25th Annual Wheel Horse Show along with some raffle prizes. Spent the good part of the day digging tractors out of the shed and garage. Also posted in this thread of a major work project that has been taken a lot of my time up in the past year, it is a high energy electrical bucket truck that has a price tag when new years ago of 1.3 million and a replacement cost of over 2 million. It has Marmon Harrington drive axles and when it came to me with a blown second drive axle differential i told them the drive line angles were incorrect and began working with 4 different engineers who told me i was correct. I have had to remove the front 4 planetary drives and second differential to get looked over, resealed and reinstalled. I'm gonna take a long vacation when it's done. Wild Bill in Richmond, VA.

New shoes 26-12x12

Got a front mount ball hitch. Super handy moving a trailer around the yard.

Charged the battery on the 89 312-8, went for a trail ride to get the oil nice and hot then changed the oil. That tractor is lucky to see 5 hours per year.

Some time ago I asked how to set the deck height on my 520H. I was having a hard time setting the deck height for 3 1/2 inches because that is how tall my neighbor mows his grass. I've been mowing his yard (about 1 1/2 acres) all summer because he has cancer and the "poision" the doctors gave him to fight the cancer perforated his intestines. He now walks with a walker and I doubt he gets much better. We have a zero turn but I like using the 520H. I've wrote all of this to get to this: Someone suggested that I may need 7" deck wheels to get to the height. I had some 3/4 treated plywood and gorilla glue in the shop so I made some sample wheels to see if I wanted to invest thirty or so dollars in 7" wheels. Well, the plywood wheels worked just fine. I guess I'll be making a trip to the farm and home store before long and buying 7" wheels. I appreciate this forum and the advice, humor and concern that the guys here have for each other. Unfortunately, other forums I visit are not so welcoming. By the way. Happy Father's Day. To the younger men: enjoy your children because they grow up so fast. The the grandfather's: You all have influence on your grand babies more that you know. Your wisdom and wit will carry on long after you're gone. My grandfather died 40 years ago, and I still remember times with him.

I had a bit of a surprise and scare yesterday. Launched the boat as usual and began fishing immediately at the ramp, working my way out toward the main lake. So I was standing in the front of the boat running the trolling motor and casting the bank, oblivious to what was going on under the deck. After about an hour and a half if this I pulled up the trolling motor and went to the back of the boat to fire up the engine. When I put it in gear and started to accelerate all of a sudden my shoes got soaked with water. It seems that the boat was completely flooded from front to back and when i took off the water all sloshed to the back. It had been hiding under the floor boards so I was blissfully unaware I had been sinking. I turned the bilge pump on and I started scrambling, making sure I’d put the plug in. I had. I felt around in the bilge for the source of the leak but didn’t find it. So I headed back to the ramp quickly and beached the boat instead of using the dock while i retrieved the truck…I figured it was better to have it sink in 2’ of water than at the end of the dock in 15. Thankfully there was no lineup and I hit the trailer perfectly the first time and got pulled out. The boat was heavy on the trailer and tires were rubbing the fenders as I pulled up the hill. After draining what seemed like ten thousand gallons of water out of the boat I found the source of the leak: the barb fitting feeding the live wells from the live well pump had broken off thus leaving a 5/8” diameter hole just freely flowing water into the boat. I’m not sure the bilge pump would keep up with a leak that size. The boat is a 2003 and the pump was original. I guess the combined effects of plastic embrittlement and years of the hose weighing on the plastic barb took its toll. Picture shows the broken barb on the pump. I’ve heard of this happening before. And it also apparently happens on other plastic through-hull fittings as well. So it looks like I have a few hours of replacing fittings and hoses on my hands in the near future. The pump showed no signs of breaking before this happened. I think I’ll add an automatic bilge pump while I’m at it too… Usually I motor away from the ramp and fish my way back through the course of the day. I’m glad I was off-pattern today since it would have been problematic to have been several miles down the lake when this was discovered. I’ve never had this much water in a boat before. The top the transom almost went under when it all sloshed rearward as I accelerated. There is a lot of foam in the boat so I don’t think it would have sunk completely but it was still a puckering moment. Got lucky. Check those through hulls! Steve

Well it wasn't exactly getting ready for the BS. Not the fathers day nap I wanted under the shade tree either... Power washed the the whole house... stain tomorrow weather permitting.

Jones might not but I spy all kinds of goodies in there. Let me know if you're willing to part with that RJ hood as I would love to have something of Wild Bill's in my collection. I can trade ya one of mine or buy ya a better one at the show or just pay ya for it. But I completely understand if ya just prefer to keep it too. It's a "can't win if you don't play" kind of request thing

Whaatt, no white shirt and pants??

We got things like that over here, not for off road so much as it needs solid stable ground to stand on I guess. This one is 103 m platform height, which would be plenty enough for me! As an apprentice I had to test the big platform trucks our local authority used. Maybe only a third of that bad boy but it still made me giddy to go up and slew it through 360.

I had to “test” ride it🤷 filtered-9FDCC0F6-5BC4-41F9-B34F-BFC451783DF7.mov

We did the same thing with a 15’ plastic Coleman canoe when my cousins and I were little. Try as we might we could never flip that sucker over, we’d just fall out when it heeled over and it would right itself. Even when fully swamped the flotation in the ends saved it every time. That was a tough little boat, I’d imagine whoever stole It still uses it. My boat should have floated even when full of water due to the foam under the floor and injected here and there. But pour foam like that has a reputation of soaking up water over time and losing its buoyancy. And despite the Coast Guard level flotation requirements for small boats, they can still go down: Adrift in Lake Michigan My wife made a deal with me about a dozen years ago that she didn’t care how often or how long I went fishing, as long as I promised to always wear my life jacket (it’s an inflatable). In the hectic moments yesterday of hurrying to get the boat back on the trailer I later discovered I was still wearing it when I got back in the driver’s seat to head for home. Made me smile. Steve

Bob, years ago I noticed the folks from the Midwest were still up and not ready for bed yet (or maybe it was too much excitement) Sooooooo we have the lights, the roadway and the sound system why not have a "Cruise Night" ??? I gave a guy a list of oldies music and he put the songs on a bunch of CDs, I have one and the rest were given away as raffle prizes that year. This was at the 7th Annual Wheel Horse Show back in 2005. It is a cruise night not a race night, we try to keep it slow and we have more fun that way. Wild Bill in Richmond VA

Beap52, ALWAYS better to give than receive. good man!

In 2019 I spent from February to June in the hospital surgeries and complications for my cancers. Then July and August having 33 rounds of radiation to my face and throat. I too had to rely on friends and family for everything. Glad you're in a better place in life KP.

Yes, Friday night. After dinner they'll serve free ice cream for the "Ice Cream Social" and everyone gets all sugared up! Then they'll announce the cruising to the oldies ( trust me, you'll hear the music ) and it's race time! No tractor lights required as the "track" will be adequately lit. Hop on your horse and ride. It goes on for a while too so you can hop in and out or ride the entire time. It should be a little slower this year with a bunch of little RJ-58s as that's the featured tractor this year. Everything they do there kind of flows fairly fluid and you'll get the hang of it pretty quick. Lots of friendly welcoming people there and super easy to make new friends so don't sweat the details and have a great time. The first show can be quite a bit to take in and the time passes to quick See you there!

Follow up from page 4 , Hemlock down and turned it into this. Basically a foot bridge to use when high water from brook covers the very large flat rocks from many years ago by others. Not 100% complete but useable. Crossing can be tough in the Winter covered with ice, this will make it much safer to reach the cabin. Also with the amount of rain this year it is nice to have.

I have selected the three RJs that are coming to the Big Wheel Horse Collector’s Club Show this week! They will be loaded up on Tuesday! bringing a cart for hauling and my friend Rodney Burger will be traveling with me all the way from Lorida, Florida!

We had a walnut tree that was on the property line between neighbors that was directly under a power line. It took us a couple years to get Duke Energy to realize the danger. No private tree trimmers could do this. Duke in Indiana finally announced they were coming to remove the tree but they were waiting on a piece of equipment they bought in Europe for over $500,000. When they showed up they had a tracked bucket and used pads across the front yard to move the machine in place. It was a sight to see when they were operating in that bucket!

I was 9 mile out in my 24' WAC taking a snooze for an hour waiting for a tide change. The tide started to come in, so I fired up the 150 Merc to head up tide to set up a flounder drift. When I put it in gear , the transom almost went under when the flood washed to the stern. I pulled the plug and raced for shore like a golloping porpise with my bow in the air. At WOT, the boat emptied in about 10 minutes. What I found was the three way valve inside the bulk head had exploded and I was pumping water into the hull instead of into the live well. Just one more pucker event.

Pull the plug out once you get going and it'll empty right out the hole. Put it back while still moving once it's drained. That way you don't have to crush the trailer pulling the entire load out of the water. Also helpful if the leak can't be stopped and gives you more time to get to a safer area. Think everyone at one time launched without the plug in. Yes, embarrassing but typically noticed pretty quick. But that through hull leak could certainly catch anyone by surprise!

@Horse Newbie that sh_ _ made me laugh! I @ranger will need a deck a little bigger than 36” for that? Maybe a 42”or 48” 🤣

You’ll need to post up pics and better info for any of us to help ya with value. Spacers make me think that the wheels are not original to a Wheel Horse. Chrome is not common on our wheels.

You have to be alert during the cruise. You got little kids and "old " kids putting along. Then you got the ones who want to see how quick they can get around. Lots of "rubber banding goin on. A tail light is probably more important than head lights. If you have to slow down quick you want the person behind you to see you! The corner by the food bldg. is quite tight with 4 lanes of traffic funneling into it. My canopy is right there and I've seen dozens of near misses there.

We spent the day doing some much needed safety and maintenance work on Brennan’s rat rod. She is ready to roll Friday night!

Apparently it came from the Scots Juke or to dodge and pawk or to trick. So jukery pawkery. So it's our way of saying pretty dodgy dealings.

Totally agree. Being a meteorologist is the best job to have. You can be wrong 90 percent of the time, and still get paid.

I'm not sure about you guys. But I think weather forecasting is the biggest scam of the century. Pure snake oil salesmen the lot of them. Oh I get all the science behind it, the pressure ups and downs etc. But the forecasts we get over here change from hour to hour, now that's not forecasting! It's basically sticking a hand out the window of the meteorological office and saying it ain't raining yet! We spend billions on the most powerful computers to crunch the data so our weather men can tell us it might rain or could stay dry. My grandad used to do that if his rheumatism played him up! Formula one teams spend fortunes on trying to predict I'd a circuit will get rain during the race, but they still post a network of observers out at intervals to call back when rain approaches the track. So all this expensive jiggery pokery is nothing but a money making scam as far as I'm concerned. Look out the window, watch the trees, stick a pinecone on your back porch. It's as good as what these so called experts can manage. Steps down from the soap box and awaits the backlash from meteorologist tractor lovers. Lol.

I believe the ice cream social is about 8 pm, then immediately after is the cruise night. Fun to be had, cruising to the oldies!

I would have tested it with a lesser quality tractor.... like maybe a green machine. Just in case.

@Wild Bill in VA Now I know who to call at VEPCO when the power is out.

Testing out the new bridge.

I waste most of my time walking around in circles in my shop looking for what I just had in hand five minutes prior.

Something like this: Ran when parked. Custom exhaust system. Enhanced high flow air cooled engine compartment. Ready for plowing with variable edge wear bar in place and ready to roll snow. Ergonomic seat with air-pockets for increased comfort. Won't last long... at this price...

No worries Bob. I can lose a lot of small pieces in 5 seconds.

If we want loud I will bring the puller!

Thanks. It helps when you have all the parts in stock.

I was in the process of buying a tractor during that. It made negotiations difficult.

It might even be the correct voltage regulator, some people don’t know how to put it in. Don gave you some good information above. If the engine is smoking badly, first make sure that there is fresh 30 weight and it is at the correct level on the dipstick, engines that have been running with problems might dilute the oil with gas.

Bring it if want to get'r up and running. Look for the checker tent in front of the first barn or the WH motorcycle. RJ's are fairly simple tractors and there should be everything available from the vendors to get it up and going if you're willing to buy the parts. We'll have some tools, hardware etc and we're always out there wrenching on something so why not an RJ. I might even bring the lift this year instead of laying on the ground. It's getting more difficult to get up! LoL

Having seen Jim's work first hand and even having him do some at our own house I have complete confidence that this bridge will hold... many Wheelhorses... But.... A green one... That's funny right there.

Yes! A Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there. God Bless Us All....

She’s a runner now, but runs crummy… Matching front wheels, 6” with the longer spindles

I did see that your voltage regulator isn't mounted down in the hole where it would get cooling air, maybe it isn't the correct one.

Proof of concept for the two new tub cars for the SL&WHN RR... Works pretty good. Seats and some paint, hitch pins etc. and good to go...

Took a cruise with my wife tonight… beautiful late afternoon sun (yep, I had sunscreen on ) I absolutely love it when we are ripping along and that American flag is flapping