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Were you delivering a load of red paint?

Since I live on a dirt road, I had these two out today to fix the road and sweep the driveway after all this rain and dirt getting tracked in. The loader tractor has the wrong decals, but that’s the way it got it. Then when I got the loader,(separately)it had the same decal as the ones on the hood so I left it. Sometimes I think about selling the sweeper, because I rarely use it. Then when I do, I’m like damn this thing works great. I’m going to keep it!!!

Hope you were able to dump the junk and not have to drive it off.

Work off some of that college money...

One year later the first crop is harvested. The barn and greenhouse are hanging full of drying tobacco. Amazing. Sorry for the rainy day pics. I like the dual use of the greenhouse....grow plants during the winter and spring and dry the crop in the fall.

Soon as a I read the caption, I said aloud, “John Deere Dealer”

When you are in business, ya gotta sell what the customer will buy. JD has done an outstanding job of creating a valued brand that people will pay for.

I have lot's of things I rarely use, like my brain, but like Eb said, when you need it,it is there.

Most frightening scenes emerge from a foggy morning but a Green menace like that is soooo frightening! Glad you survived

Great to see these Magnificent Beasts put to work as they should be! On that sweeper... or any other tool or equipment. I learned a neat rule many moons ago from a GM tech friend of mine. As a young'un with his head screwed on straight he had several mentors that taught him a lot. "If you borrow it once, you borrowed it. If you borrow it twice you should buy it." That sweeper may be rarely used... but ... when you need it, it's there. It's yours. It's available. I've used that rule here over the last 8+ years creating the tool arsenal Trina and I now use. Glad I did.

I have been trimming shrubby for the last two weeks and using the Raider and trailer to haul off the brush. Got the front finished last week. The one bush in back was trying to cover my H&AC unit. Trimmed off two loads and decided that it had to go. This is a pictures of the bush and load number 4 of the bush. It's going but it's put up a fight,

Scored another RJ! Thanks to buckeyes here on forum. Will go good with my other RJ diesel. Have some original paperwork with it too. Originally sold here in Cleveland

As my working smarter not harder project unwinds I have a second part that is rattling around in my head. My trailer does not have a tilt function and unloading the 4x8x2 box in the past was simple. Line it with a tarp and load the leaves in. Upon arrival at the dumping location I would drop the tailgate and pull the leaf loaded tarp right out the back. Worked like a charm. I'm expecting it to be a bit more difficult this year with my hip's arthritis acting up so badly. So....the trailer bed is big enough for a 4x8 sheet of plywood with plenty of wiggle room. My idea is to drop in the ply and hinge it on the bed of the trailer just inside the tailgate. When ready to dump use the winch to raise the front end of the floor creating a slide for the leaf loaded tarp to slide out the back with less pulling effort. Heck the plywood slide could be waxed to reduce friction. Thoughts.

Getting ready to go to our winter quarters. Picked up a U Haul car transport trailer to get the Cherokee there at the same time. We've done this often enough that the rental fees are adding up to a substantial part of the purchase price for a car hauling trailer. I'm thinking we might want to start shopping for one.

While I love my "horses" and what they are capable of doing, the simple reality is both John Deere and Kubota have literally knocked it out of the park for sub compact and compact tractors. Bigger jobs require bigger tractors and both manufacturers have an amazing assortment of attachments to "git 'er done". The right tool for the job is my motto, no matter what color....

I can see it now... How was your day, dear? I don't want to talk about it...........They MADE me do it.... I feel so violated.....

Use my sweepster 1 or 2 times a year... Like the idea of the cab with it. Since mine doesn't rotate waiting for the right wind conditions is important. One thing to have some snow blown in your face.... gravel bits dust etc are a different story

Take a GT-14, add a front end loader with weight box, a York rake, WW93 wheel weights and liquid filled tires and you are up to about 1,800 pounds without the operator. Have @ebinmaine gat in the seat and you are over a ton of Wheel Horse fun.

That.... is a work of art.

I was so excited to get my speed horse moving after many a months of it sitting I kinda just kabobbled the thing together for testing. The second day I built it I got a little to trigger happy so to say turning the corner at high speed. I ended up getting a tank slap in my steering, tried correcting it and almost rolled the horse. Thank god I had the thought to hit my nice brakes before I rolled her. It wasn’t even till several hours later that I noticed I had severe belt burns from the lack of a belt cover/guide on the drive belt from my leg slamming on the belt. I was so thankful for not literally dying I guess I just didn’t notice. I guess it runs in the family though considering my grandpa did the same thing with his mini bike chain at my age. Even almost a complete year later I still have scars, apparently they stay with you. Lesson learned lol. I also noticed my hubs we hanging on by a thread when I got home too 🤦

Ed, you might find it interesting that the outer shell of the Haban flail mower I had at the Big Show was also used, with the addition of a chute, for Jacobsen’s tractor snowblower.

I thought this was non tractor related discussion ? Which would you rather have in a Nor/ Easter snow storm in Maine ?

Before I discovered Wheel Horse, I moved a lot of snow with a Jacobsen Walk behind. Like a Wheel Horse, It was still running strong after 20 years.

Steve, we’re ALL just some guys on the internet, right? But "some are more equal than others”, if I recall Orwell correctly. I appreciate the time you took to compose that post and share some of the knowledge you’ve built up. Thank you!

Oh yeah, very nice tractors!!

My response to the question may ruffle feathers, but it's not my intention to offend. I'm also not a purist, but this is how my tiny brain works. The heaviest were (unless the senior owners can give bigger numbers) the DXI series, at just over 1100lbs. The GT-14 follows at nearly 900lbs.The D-250 was a rebadged German manufactured Gutbrod. And... the D series machines were completely different from the traditional line of tractors that began with the RJ and ended with the last run of Classics in 2007. That entire line of tractors are similar from the ground up, and more of an evolution of a core design. So- while D series tractors wore the name, at best they were offshoots that were intended to penetrate a different market while leveraging the WH reputation. The D-160, 180, and 200 were released after Wheel Horse sold to AMC. How much design work of them originating from Wheel Horse is not clearly defined. The transmission was about the only thing they had in common with other tractors of the period. The XI series machines are excellent tractors, while also almost 100 percent Toro creations. New Holland also sold rebadged XI models. Almost no implement made for D series would work with the classic line. The same was true for the GT-14 and many XI series. So MY "way too long" answer would be the heaviest Wheel Horse was the GT-14 at over 900lbs, then the C-195 at 740lbs, followed by the 520-H (also heavily influenced by Toro) at around 650lbs. Toro designed the later model 60 inch deck as well, so I can't include that if going by my own exclusions. If so, it would be an additional 300lbs. Maybe if the two stage snowblower was attached?

Have you ever used a Kubota compact with a hydro with the treadle pedal ? Main reason I went with JD. Your right leg gets way too much heel to toe movement. Twin touch Hydro pedal is far superior for many hours in the seat. Kubota is a good tractor for certain tasks.

I've seen pictures out there but they don't look the same without the indented hood...

Given 30 or 40 Large and a choice I'd likely buy either a Kubota or a Ventrac. Still not a JD.

Agreed, and others are looking good. I was impressed with a recent demo of this versatile machine.

Not too difficult to add a tilting mech.

I would still use the smaller Wheel Horse instead of the JD ! It’s a matter of principle ! See post 15 ! If a man doesn’t fall for something, he’ll stand for anything !

maybe you could rig up something like this?

Cable lifts floor up to the pulley and then the frame lifts it the rest of the way. Black dots are pivot pins or full width bars.

I agree that corporate JD has done a good job over the years. I would also add that it's extremely important for any particular dealership to tow the line. Agreed. We purposely bought a new Ariens Commercial Grade a few years ago.

Which, for what it's worth is the mainstay of walk behind snowblowers - made before the 1990's my two OLD working girls are seesters - made in 1972 and 1973. And both still do what is needed during the winter..... not unlike a WH, parts carry over thru 30 or more years of models.........

In all seriousness. I've never been much of a JD fan but it isn't because their equipment is terrible. The parts availability is very good. Pricing however, is just ridiculous up here in the northeast. This particular business has a very good local reputation and if I wanted a green buggy I wouldn't hesitate to heartbeat to deal with them. They do also sell Ariens equipment which I feel is a slightly redeeming quality for them.

Then there are the electric battery powered tractors. Originally design and built by GE, Elec Trak E20 the largest having 3.5 electric motor ( equivalent to 14, later model clamed 16 gas HP ) 36 volts 85 amps with 6 -6 volt batters 850 lbs.

Thank you for serving as a bad example the rest of us can learn from.

Rust-oleum contains fish oil as the rust deterent, and that is why the paint our of the rattle can stays soft for sooooooooooo long..... Playing cards - get a pack of the larger plastic coated ones at your local Dollar Store. Mount and inflate you tires prior to painting. Deflate the tire, array the cards, cover the remaining part of the tire. Paint as usual, let the paint "dry" for a couple of hours before unmasking. Bonus - keep the paint in a pan of hot tap water before starting and between coats. Raises the internal pressure, gives a better finish.

Along the lines of thinking about a heavy Wheelhorse my first question is, For what? What project? What purpose? ANY Wheelhorse can be made Heavy. Add steel. Add fluid. It's very easy to make a 70s C Series tip the scales at over 1000 lbs before any implements are installed.

Thanks for the compliment. It is truly appreciated. While I’m pretty confident in what I’ve stated, I’ve not spent my career becoming an an expert on this specific topic. But I have had enough technical exposure to this sort of thing to have perspicacity on these issues. That said, be sure to look around at other sources of information too. And, of course, remember that I’m just some guy on the Internet! Steve

The D-250 I’d say.

I don’t know how long ethanol enhanced gasoline has been widely used in my part of the Midwest, but it’s been at least my entire driving career of over 30 years. As far back as high school (for me 1989-1993) I can remember that Caseys gas stations sold ethanol laced 89 octane for a lower price than their regular 87 octane straight gas. The other stations didn’t mimic Casey’s pricing strategy (and Caseys gave up on it too), but the bulk of their fuel was also fortified with ethanol. Few problems resulted. One of the benefits of alcohol in gasoline is that it can capture some amount of water and pull it along harmlessly. Used regularly and continuously, this means it grabs hold of any water in the tank and keeps it from accumulating. In small amounts, the water passes through completely unnoticed. Over the counter additives like Heet do the same thing to help dry out a gas tank that has a little bit of water in it. But the alcohol/gas mixture can only hold a finite amount of water. In the case where an older car had never been fueled with alcohol containing fuels – or in storage tanks where only gasoline had ever been held – there could be a significant amount of water sitting in the bottom of the tank. In this water are the water-soluble contaminants and dirt that don’t dissolve in the organic portion of the mix. When alcohol is introduced to these tanks it can make all of this contamination available for ingestion by the engine. This phenomenon was in fact fairly common during the initial changeovers to alcohol blended fuels. There’s a lot of time and expense involved in dumping out a tank completely so it wasn’t done in many cases unless a problem developed. Once all the residual gunk and water was out of the tanks, this became less commonplace. I didn’t search for corroborating evidence of this, so hopefully it exists. It used to be in common discussion decades ago in my circles. Additionally – and this was mentioned in the boating article Ed linked – straight gasoline and alcohol have different solvent properties. This means that the stuff that ends up in the fuel distribution tanks, your portable gas can, your car’s fuel tank, your boat’s underfloor fuel tank, or the little tank and carburetor in your Wheel Horse can eventually accumulate some materials that aren’t dissolved by gasoline. When alcohol is introduced, some of this stuff can reenter solution as the alcohol and/or water chews on it. So jets can plug with debris that didn’t cause problems before and crud and schmutz can get into functional areas where they weren’t previously. If you evaporate out the fuel due to sitting, this stuff can crust up in there and may defy dissolution by normal cleaners used in fuel systems. Phase separation happens in both straight gas and in alcohol enhanced fuels. Water and gasoline do not mix in appreciable quantities. If you dump a cup of water in a gigantic fuel storage tank that is filled with straight gasoline, the water will fall to the bottom of the tank and sit there as discrete droplets or as a puddle. It will probably extract some amount of water soluable compounds as it falls through the solution too. Phase separation is therefore instantaneous and easily detectible in straight gas situations. Perhaps phase separation isn’t the right term in the above scenario. I guess since they never mix and create a single phase that it’s technically different that what is considered when the water/alcohol mix drops out of the gasohol. Mix 10% alcohol into the gasoline and now you have available a molecule that can hold onto water or dissolve into water in any proportion. Water and alcohol are both polar molecules meaning that they have one end with a negative charge and one end with a positive charge. So they have some similar properties, one of which is miscibility. This was the “like dissolves like” lesson touched on in high school physical science classes. The interesting part is that the alcohol molecule also has a substantial chunk of it that exhibits properties that are similar to things like gasoline. These uncharged things are known as non-polar molecules. This means that most alcohols also exhibit solubility in non-polar gasoline too. They sort of walk the line between two worlds. But there are solubility limits of most any solvent/solute combination. Put too much sugar in your iced tea and eventually you’ll see a sludge of undissolved sugar sitting in the bottom of your glass. Put too much water in the alcohol enhanced fuel and eventually it too drops out. As it goes it can also unlock the alcohol/gasoline affinity for each other and drop out a proportionally higher amount of water than you’d expect. Up to that point it was a stable mixture. In this case the fundamental problem isn’t that there is alcohol in the fuel it’s that too much water got in the tank. Waterlogging would happen way sooner in a tank that is filled with straight gas, but the effect is highlighted in the alcohol system because the split can happen suddenly and impressively. This has been particularly exciting in the boating world where water contamination of fuel can come from rain ingress, humidity absorption, condensation in the tank, and water leakage into the tank from entry through the boat’s many vulnerable spots. Hit the tipping point for the mixture in the tank and the water drops to the bottom where the fuel pickups deliver it to the engine. I see online a lot of talk about how ethanol fuel pulls water out of the ambient air, but I don’t know how significant an issue this really is. I suspect it’s pretty trivial compared to water ingress from other pathways. High potency ethanol alcoholic drinks don’t really exhibit a tendency to suck water into them from the air. Tanks that aren’t stored full or capped do breathe as temperatures fluctuate and can therefore condense humidity on their walls. This is a real source of water contamination but is easily managed in frequently used vehicles. Or the tank should be stored nearly full to minimize the volume of breath it can take during each cycle. The variations in solvent properties of straight fuels and alcohol spiked fuels can affect containment materials. Older hoses and gaskets are certainly susceptible to dissolution by the alcohol. I suspect that there are coatings on carburetor floats that don’t agree with the alcohol too. Modern engines have updated materials, but older ones didn’t have to deal with this when designed so can be problematic. This is a definite problem on older boat gas tanks that are made with older rubber and plastics. I do not have much understanding of alcohols’ contributions to corrosion, but I see it mentioned all the time. I assume it’s the concomitant availability of water that influences corrosion in alcohol fuel systems but I don’t really know. Corrosion in general is a complex subject and not very well understood by those outside the specialty. I literally had classes and have read books devoted to it and I am far from understanding the magic and mysteries of why some things do what they do. In the interest of full disclosure, I do periodically buy the canned fuel from the big box stores for my 2-stroke equipment. It’s not so much a concern about ethanol as it is laziness and not wanting to have a can of mixed gas sitting around that I don’t use very frequently. The cans are strong little suckers and have a nice cap that seals tight and I don’t have to worry about them. And the laziness thing… I have bought the 4-stroke canned gas too, but that was just to tinker with it to see if I could detect any running quality differences in my lawnmower. I couldn’t. And it was also convenient. I don’t want to sound like I deny that people are experiencing issues when running their equipment on ethanol extended fuel. I do suspect that many of the issues are existing problems that are just unmasked by the quirks of the fuel. And some of them are probably built up moisture or debris inside the fuel system that is liberated by the alcohol. I’ve just not experienced it personally. Granted, I have let carburetors sit with gas in them that eventually goes stale, decomposes, and evaporates. Ethanol fuel or not, this is bad practice and a recipe for problems. Steve

As everyone has mentioned above, that definitely has been stretched to accommodate the twin engine. Yes, I own the BIG GT14 now. I have done a lot of upgrades to it since owning it. Here is a link to my YouTube Channel. There are a few other videos besides the one in my post. I have owned three total 4x4 built by Bob Rock. Now only have two. YouTube Channel Wheel_Horse_GT16_4x4_Garden_Tractor.mp4