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Hi all, any funny signs or picktchas that made you smile or laugh out loud? Post them here to share the smiles. Wife spotted this one on the web and thought it matched my approach to engineering....

Maybe you come out better finding a tractor, “Wheel Horse of Course”, that needs some work. Then you can make it what you want. I bought my 1994 520-H, a leaf vac, 36” rototiller, and 48” side discharge deck for I think around $140. Then I set about bringing her back up to usable and presentable shape. I acquired my 1984 Work Horse GT-1600 for free. It needed a fuel pump to run according to the PO, but in actuality it needed a bit more, especially to suit what I wanted it to be. It came with a 42” side discharge deck and a homemade mid mount scraper blade. I bought my 1977 C-160 for $400. It came with a 42” side discharge deck. I am currently working on it… And yes I did spend a fair amount on the tractors getting them to where they are now… tires for one are expensive, paint, parts, etc., but I believe they will last until I’m gone with a little maintenance and needed small repairs.

The Happy Farmer Tractor. Undeterred by the failure of his “Bull Tractor Company”, D. Maurice Hartsough took advantage of lessons learned in his previous venture. Hartsough designed another three-wheeled tractor with two equally sized drive wheels at the rear giving the tractor greater stability than the Bull tractors had. In late 1915 he started the Happy Farmer Tractor Co. The first 500 Happy Farmers were built by Wilcox Motor Co. and the next 1,500 by Sta-Rite Engine Co. in Lacrosse, Wisconsin. In 1916 Sta-Rite and Happy Farmer merged forming the LaCross Tractor Co., keeping the Happy Farmer name for their tractors. With the manufacturing under his control Hartsough could grow his business. In 1916 and 1918, Happy Farmer offered the 8-16 Model A and the 12-24 Model B, both used a Lacrosse horizontal two-cylinder engine and were known for their maneuverability. 1n 1919 the model G with a wide front axle was introduced. Following World War One a short economic depression swept the country. By 1922 the Happy Farmer and many other small manufacturers closed their doors. Tomorrow I will share some information about the agricultural depression following World War One.

New decals should arrive soon, but its back in business. I should flip the pins to the inside and put it on the 702🤣🤣

Leaf Blowers.

I am New here. Just aquired a Nice 257H with mowing deck, Snowblower attachment, all the brackets, pulleys, belts, hardware, manual & a spare transmission for $300.00. Always wanted 1 of these & would have prefered a Larger model but for the price & realistic needs... I will settle for this decent score. I have been doing all my own repairs most of my life. I also recently got back into mini bikes. I prefer the Carl Heald kit stuff well.... because a lot of that is Red too... some were blue & even black but I really like the Red Super Tryke & the Super Broncs. I remember wadding myself up many a time on my little minibike & being bruised up but still loved it. Anyway I am here to seek guidance along the way of getting my Wheel Horse 257H up & running as well as possible. Looking forward to Learning new things & maybe even being able to help others along the way. I will be posting More pictures as time will allow. I did post 1 in the members galleries section. it is just a quick shot of it in the back of the truck the day I got it home. I promise there will be many more to come. I have a good knowledge base in small engines & I have collected as much as I can as far as my small library of dealer/mechanic manuals goes. I jump all over that stuff at garage & estate sales when I can. I score a lot of equipment on Craigslist free stuff & fbmarketplace free stuff. My friends say I am a Vulture on those sites & I Love good BBQ so that's how I got my name...

We'd need more information for an accurate price but offhand I'd say that's around twice what it's worth, or more. Good hitch. Good seat. Armrests. Note the PTO is not fresh paint. Why? Engine looks older as well. We've done 5 full frame off restorations here. Every nut n bolt. The most expensive didn't include rebuilding the engine or restoring implementation. I could see SPENDING $4K getting there but I doubt most folks would PAY that much after completion.

Maybe... Need an explaination on "fully restored". Complete teardown and rebuild on the 12 HP engine,8 speed Unidrive and the cutting deck? Does the seller have all the documentation to back that up?? Or just a scuff & shoot with fresh decals??? Is the steering tight or worn out?? Is the plow straight with a new cutting edge? What other implements does it come with??? Looks nice, but so don't most ex-wives!!!

The Linamar is the exact same engine, production was moved to Canada because of the emissions nonsense in the US. I believe that you have a replacement engine. I spend many hours to do the job right. Check the compression before starting the work to see if additional work might be needed. I have never encountered an Onan that really needed a decarbon, but I guess it happens. Soak every fastener with penetrating oil repeatedly for days before disassembly. A shop vac is useful for cleaning as you proceed. Check the intake manifold for leaks where the two halves meet. You might want to clean out the carburetor and replace the accelerator pump. Glass bead the exhaust and paint it. Paint the valve covers, as you can see they collect water. If you are replacing the intake valve seals, be sure to plug the drain holes to prevent parts from falling inside the engine. Be sure that you have a torque wrench suitable for the light torque specifications required.

Side X Sides and Pick ups and front hitches.

We've ordered a concrete floor for under the left side Barn shed roof. 10 ft by 40 ft. Four inch thick. To be installed sometime in april.That will be our new workshop. All four walls will be closed in. Small door in the back. Full 10' wide door in the front. Lightly insulated. Heat and ac. Wood stove in the far back.

Small detail, but I noticed the mud scraper on the front wheel!

My understanding is that he is an extremely shrewd and well-informed buyer!

I built one of those too.

Plow frame stabilizers.

so simple and easy to , start a movement functional ease , , very often see rusty connections that are , SAPOSED TO MOVE . weather its a clutch pedal mount end , with oil hole in mount point ! or typically a connection cable thats long frozen in place . found this very effective , to anything rusty , even tried it on a cloudy paint area , spread some on , lightly rub it in , let it sit wet for a day , rub it down till dry , might even break thru the , long neglected paint , just a suggestion , both ends of a choke / throttle cable , related linkage , pete https://www.homedepot.com/p/3-IN-ONE-4-oz-Fast-Acting-Penetrant-Drip-Oil-120015/300719551?source=shoppingads&locale=en-US&pla&mtc=SHOPPING-BF-CDP-GGL-D25S-025_031_GARAGE_AUTO-NA-Multi-NA-

I just finished building a leaf blower for the front of my horse. It moves an insane amount of air! I built a custom frame out of scrap metal to hold it on. You can feel a breeze at 55 feet away.

I believe it’s original. I have the same tractor with that exact same seat, but this one’s much nicer. I wonder would it be worth making a mold of it? I once used to do cold metal casting, two part silicone molding compound with a bondo shell to hold the shape and alignment of the mold pieces. Not complicated. Does anyone know how Wheel Horse originally fabricated these? I assume sheet vinyl hot pressed in a rigid form and then, what, maybe adhered to the foam backing and pan? Is Bob the seat guy still around? I haven’t been keeping up so much lately.

Michigan Weather Machine. Very accurate. Never needs batteries.

4000.00 for this fully restored? Too high ?

We planned on closing in that end since before the building was completed. We've been doing our best to make slow carefully considered decisions on where everything goes as we Lay out all our tools versus storage of vehicles and other things. We aren't changing the amount of space we intended to ever have but we are certainly moving towards a better and more efficient utilization of that available space. We were originally going to have the workshop in the back half of the garage. Covered storage under that outside shed roof. Moving the Workshop to the outside space makes it so we can stay well within fire code for using a wood burning stove and also greatly reduces the cubic footage that we would need to heat in both width and height.

Great space addition to an already sweet building

@953 nut always marveled at the mechanical simplicity , on the early anything , basically there was a need , that had to be taken care of . glad for the ZAGREY FARM SHOW , very often seeing , sensing , feeling the hands on of such a mechanical piece . talk about BOMBPROOF ! if there, was, were failure points , frequently going decades , with little maintenance . really **** the FORDSON tractors , PERFECT transition from / farm to car like set up . time traveler . oily pete

Some like to get their labor for restorations on these tractors. A lot of times I consider it charity work since it is a hobby. I like the C160 but not paying that price. Maybe Jay Leno will buy it.

@ebbyI would say it looks nice but I would like a total break down of what was done to it. Paint is a minor cost compared to the more important part of the tractor. Take your time don’t fall in love with it. Been there done that.

Agreed - restoring one of these is a labor of love and can be a money pit, not like flipping houses...... Always tough to recoup 100% of the expense on tractors...

Not everything in this list will apply to your new Horse, but it’s worth going over!

Sounds like a candidate for a primer bulb.

No problem I'll put it on your tab... I haven't dug the old seals out yet but they look like they are in backwards. Hard to believe as it looks like nothing was ever touched on this girl.

Very interesting! Nice windsock air cleaner

It would look nice on there, but your arm and back may not like you very much...

Eric - Just a great thread. Spent an enjoyable hour browsing and reading.

I have c160 with a tecumseh here, granted it's in the "someday" pile of projects and no where in the condition of the one mentioned above. I like the tecumseh powered tractors, yeah they have their problems but what doesn't. It's unfortunate that no one has come up with a replacement ignition system for them yet. That seems to be their ultimate weak point as these machines get older

For the record... this was Trina's idea to move the Workshop.

Also makes insulating a much less daunting project. Good thinking.

to the

Here is a link to all sorts of downloads for the 257-H that may be helpful. They are all free downloads on this site. https://www.wheelhorseforum.com/search/?q=257-H&quick=1&type=downloads_file

Lee has a point there. IF it were a "rare" model, like a fully documented low hours 1-of-200 420LSE, $4K may be a "reasonable" price....

I only see a round $1000 for the tractor if rebuilt. $300 for a rebuilt deck and $ 200 for the snow blade,

Just saw you're in Norway. Amazing you have a complete set of the original cast weights! Those are rare even on this side of the pond!

Number one issue with a fuel tank under the seat. Makes mine fire on the second revolution. Saves your battery and starter too.

So I went to change stalls and it poured gas out the air cleaner like Captains out of Dan' jug. Crap I gotta get it running a pia to push around. 70's here today so first a bath. Cleaned up real nice. Got the dust off and caked on grime on the front of the motor. Dropped the bowl and cleaned and check the inlet valve... looked good to button it back up. Well...wait a minute should check the float...well that will do it. Replaced it @Mike'sHorseBarn with a used one off a junk carb. Did not use a carb kit. Never even took the carb off. That's yer job! Runs great again. Just because I can I got the old one empty and fixed. Not that I don't trust my fixes ... I don't ... so this one will stay here. Gotta love the way brass solders tho.

Guy with the stick: " What's up with that Dude with the shorts and knarly cowboy boots?"

And of course, what the horses are really capable of.

My front tiller.

One gang is back assembled again, should have the 2nd done shortly, as well as the 2 uprights and the 2 rear connector arms. The rear crossmember I still have to strip, clean, prime and paint..but it should be done today. That will wrap up the rear portion.