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As of February I'm officially an "empty nester". After a long search my son & his fiance' finally found a house that fit their needs. He had mentioned to to his Mother that "I think I'm going to need a Wheel Horse to mow the lawn", her reply was "I think your Dad can spare one". LOL. So I'm starting him out on the same model & deck I started out on in 1979, one of my C-81's with a 36" RD deck. I've had her ready to go for him for a while now & since the trailer was stiil hooked up from @Pullstart's plowday on Saturday, I decided Sunday was the day. All I can say is this was one of the greatest weekends of my life that I'll always rememember. Loaded up Delivered And yes, I'll give him a mule drive with a knob on it.

A few years ago at @WHX?? plow day I lost my wallet in the field while plowing. Fact jokes are still made about that. To top that off, shortly there after I plowed my phone under while plowing at my brothers place. After these events, my wife requested that I either empty my pockets while plowing or plow in nothing but my under ware. My brother was planting his field today, he looked down & thought crap I dropped my phone. Well... he didn't drop his phone, he actually found the phone that I lost. Pretty sure if I put it in a bowel of rice and clean it up it should still work. Now if we could only find my wallet.

No visuals of Dan plowing in his skivvies Sylvia? No but the wallet sprouted...

Are we gonna have a new member with lots of repair questions and how to fix PO mods?

Champion Machine Company When International Harvester was being formed by Cyrus McCormick Jr. and William Deering, they sought out partnerships or purchases of competing harvester companies to corner the harvester market. Champion Machine was a very attractive buy because they had an established dealer network in twelve states & Europe, an up-to-date manufacturing plant and over a hundred patents. William N Whiteley founded the Champion Reaper and Mower Works in Springfield, Ohio in 1855. In the late 1800s and early 1900s it was commonplace to have equipment dealers stage field trials to show-off the quality of their wares. At age 22 Whitley entered a local trial of reaping machines and demonstrated his new machine in the field. Champion was in direct competition with Warder, Bushnell, Glessner, & Co. who also made mowers. The two companies eventually merged soon becoming the largest manufactories of its type in the nation. Springfield became known as the “Champion City” and a few of Champion’s subcontractors also took on the Champion name, The Champion Bar & Knife Co. and The Champion Malleable Iron Foundry also located in Springfield. I don’t know if this is fact or fable but this was too good to pass-up. William. N. Whiteley was quite a character according to some of the stories told about him. He was supposed to be a large ox of a man, a great salesman, and a bit of a hot head. It’s said at one time he was demonstrating a reaper with a competitor in the field with him. Not wanting to be shown up he unhitched one of the horses in his team and went on across the field with a single horse. The competitor not wanting to lose any sales did the same which really set Whitely off. Whitely unhitched the last horse and proclaimed I can pull the reaper myself. He unhitched the second horse and proceeded to pull the reaper across the field himself. Champion Machine Company was bursting at the seams and built a new state-of-the-art factory complex of over a million square feet in 1884. Now all of Champion’s processes were under one roof, raw materials came in the back door and finished reapers, mowers and rakes went out the front door to be shipped to eager customers. By 1887 Champion was one of the most profitable companies in the United States with sales of over four million dollars. (Over 130 million in 2024 dollars) Champion was one of the companies bought out with the formation of International Harvester in 1902 however, the Champion Line continued to be sold. All production moved to the Chicago IH factory and in 1908, the company marked a major milestone: sale of its 2,000,000th Champion machine. Albert Krell, of the Krell-French Piano Company, purchased and remodeled the Champion factory in preparation to begin production of pianos when the factory went up in flames on Feb. 10, 1902.

Well I've always wanted to plant sweet corn and this year I'm giving it a try. So this will be a small garden size, 12x30'. I'm doing 4 rows 30" apart, seed spacing about 8-10". Started off with the moldboard plow, then the disc harrow which didn't work as good as I hoped but soil was probably a bit moist for it, the cultivator worked great and I did most of the work with that to level and break up the soil, then used it to make the rows. Next time I'll probably borrow my friends WH tiller to prep the soil. So planted 11 days ago and already have sprouts coming up. I'm using Milorganite for my nitrogen feed. A couple observations from a first timer using the WH in the garden, first the turf tires on the front of the rig are not good at all for working a garden. It was all over the place and I had a hard time holding a line. Thinking I'll try a 4.00-8 pneumatic tire of some kind in the future or something similar. Any suggestions for a front tire and wheel combo would be appreciated, tractor is a 312-8. Will add a little weight to the front as well with the front 2" receiver next time. I would like advice for critter control and specifically with raccoons if anyone has some to offer. The creek behind my yard is full of them and they will be an issue at some point. I've seen the scent stuff you can put around the perimeter and the solar powered stuff on Amazon, also considering a small electric fence on a timer. Any advice would be appreciated! Now for pics!

Time to set the parking brake?

Wait until you lift the lid on the kitchen trash can unzip then look around and mumble to yourself "this isn't the bathroom."

210 bags of mulch. Only 70 more to go.

*** If your name is in RED you can play*** Well some guys were complaining about already having too many cups so I figured I would do something else. I bought a small hobby laser last year and have been trying to come up with Wheel Horse related items I could make. Not a ton of stuff out there, especially personalized. So with that said, I had come across a simple design for a phone charging stand and decided to try it out. Works great with my phone, even in a case. It’s right at 6” tall and 3.5” wide. When the phone isn’t there, whatever design is on it shows. So I am going to randomly pick two people and they can choose what they want on it. Just post your name here and this coming Saturday I will draw two numbers. One post please so I can keep up with it. Thanks for supporting my favorite website on the net and thanks to Karl & the admin team for all they do.

Wait until you are older, say in your 60's.......you wont even remember why you walked into the shop!

I have 3 girls and my son. Two of my girls are still at home. When I gave my son his little Ranger, I was shocked to find that my girls were upset by it. Both asked me which tractors was I going to give them. They calmed down when I said "pick one", and there's been no more fuss about it. Sibling rivalry is alive and well!

Please don't encourage me or feed the , we have enough "issues" already.

Says at the top if your name is in RED you can enter, @Sparky’s name is in BLUE so I guess Mike is out 😜😂😂 and I’m in !😂😂

No baby phones growing up in the field???

My neighbor is into old cars and just pulled in with this gem He found down in Md. Then he said he also had this in the bed of his truck. Said he brought it along in case I wanted it. Yep! Accepting all interest and info on it's ID.

Been there, like Ed's situation the only one I have with the right side brake is the 310-8 that I mow with and I seldom use the brakes. Like Bob just said, park it and turn it off...... I learned that on the 418-C, left it running with direction control in neutral and with the parking brake latched, turned around and it was making love to a tree, humping up and down, parking brake has since been adjusted and I think it will hold. Guess I should have pulled up on the belt tension lever too, or just shut it off.

You know, just to be of assistance... I'll be a proxy kid if you need one... I can have the trailer hooked up in a few minutes...

My poor kid is going to end up with a whole herd, I think I have 12 now? I lost count.

Ya know..... If'n you wuz to hookonntah another trailer at that front hitch ... You'd be done twice as fast. Maybe.

@Blasterdad Super cool! I went the other way generationally and left a Wheelhorse with my parents for a while.

Yes indeed, everything comes with a price tag though, I do miss him & having him around & the convience of saying "hey, come help the old man lift this mower deck". Now I have to text him & make an appointment. ( he's only a few miles from home ). It's also a great excuse for me to finally get a loader for one of the 's.

Fixed it for ya...

I never use the brake on any of my tractors... parking or regular... All black hoods - all stop if you put the clutch pedal down further... I find braking to be incongruent with my propensity to progress... Now the A-60 that's a different matter... she likes to go fast, so I took the rear view mirror off...

Some of the cell companies offer trade in deals, "Any Model in Any Condition" could be worth something!

I bet you could trade that thing in on a Tesla!

Are you referring to Plow Day weekend or the weekend your son and his fiance' moved out?

On most of my gear jammers the clutch and brake both work with the peddle on the left. So not usually a problem. I have a C-141 with the clutch on the left & brake on the right. For some odd reason on this one, if you push harder on the clutch it still won't stop. After a slight panic mode - then I will remember to use the peddle on the right to stop the tractor. Just to add a little confusion - There is the C-101'ish that I built as a pulling tractor. I converted it so that the clutch & brake both work off the left peddle. The brake peddle on the right hand side has been converted to the gas peddle. Could get interesting.

Working with help from a friend on the mount for the mid-blade so it’ll have lift, rotation, and roll (tilt). He has a Hyster with long forks. It makes me nervous having it so high up there but dang is it convenient to get under to work on! Upper and lower grader frame parts coming along. Tomorrow the main parts should be together and then onto final design and implementation of the controls.

Yep, gotta pass it on. 312-H with deck and dozer blade for home and a 518-H++ with deck, flail mower, and rear grader blade for the camp he owns with his sister. He says he’ll pay me for the 312. Hmmmm

NO PICS PLEASE! LOL

This threads going down hill quick!

520 FEL happens all the time. Set the brake to go chain something up. Get back on and forget it's on. After some French that somethings wrong and it won't move ... I see the idiot light...

Little early for visuals...

I have enough difference in my herd, I think I was talking with @SylvanLakeWH when I stuck him on the 520Xi for plowing, that I have to go into my memory bank for a different muscle memory every time I start a different machine! Some start with a key, some are always hot and take a kill button, some on/off kill switches are upside down, some are right side up, some take a key and a push button to start, some need full choke, some need no choke. It’s like whack a mole every time I jump on one, figuring out what, where, why, etc. After all that, I still never remember the ones with a brake on the right!

Both my sons can say Mark got the 800 and Mike got the 417A. Four grandson will be next. All are in college now, but Reed is trying to buy a house as he works on his PHD

I did the same with my son back in 2019… 310-8 with a deck (and eventually a plow).

The C-81 had mulch duty yesterday & today after work, she still has @Pullstart's cornfield mud on her feet.

I make this trip once a year (if I can stay out of the hospital) and it is the only show I attend that is over two hours from the house so the cost isn't prohibitive. Just a family reunion to me.

Gonna need a bigger light!

My first show is the Steam-O-Rama on May 3. I'll try to get some parts pics on here next week so RS members have first dibs before the show.

Gas has been higher before. Goes up and goes down.Yes rooms are more. Restaurants are more. I've kept track on the show cost since 2010. I share a room now so my cost has gone down but gas is still around $150-$175 a year. Having this thread start on March 1st has a tendency to wane a little. Guys holding on to stuff. Folks out in the midwest can't come every year so that cuts down the selling thread. Folks are getting older too. some have health issues. Show will be packed with stuff to buy and sell. I started out with a couple of things to sell and as the weeks go on I keep finding something here or there

Back in March of 2012, I asked the question "Will the cost of gas keep you from the show this year?" There were many who said yes, others said they'd bite the bullet and come anyway. That year we still had a good crowd. However, this year, not only do we have gas prices 50% higher than last year, but the cost of everything else is up as well. I'm still coming but I am only 55 minutes away. Just for the record, my optimism and enthusiasm has not waned.

WOW, Never thought this thread would have prompted so many confessions. For years I have only used hydros with my redneck right pedal motion control where you push down to go forward and allow a spring to lift pedal to go backwards. With this foot control,, it is a must to lock the left nuetral/brake pedal down when leaving the seat otherwise the tractors go to auto reverse if running or when started up. So, I have been conditioned to lock the brake every time I leave the seat and to press the left pedal during start up. After using this gear drive, I'll probably have a few reverse collisions on the hydros.

You can fold it over the top

Thanks Richie, lookin gooooood! Will my phone fit that?

So the "OLD FART SAFETYS" don't work for you young rookies either.

Well the newer ones have and "Old Fart" park brake switch that turns off the engine if the trans is not in neutral with park brake on. And if you are in low range, it hardly bogs at all and seem normal until you burn the brakes off. (don't ask)

Trail cam update.

Figures, unlucky me gets the only one that works.