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Hi All, I’m a member of the RedSquare Facebook group, some of you may have seen My tractor there. I have a 1992 312-8 with a 37 inch deck. It came with a house my brother bought, and was given to me. It needed work but just minor things. I mow my lawn with it, and I just bought a plow to push snow/dirt so it’s a working restoration. It was relatively well taken care of by the previous owners so it really just needed a refresh. Anyway see you around the site!

Today’s letter is “L” a bit of luck and meeting local needs led to a lucrative career. Lindeman Tractors Jesse G. Lindeman didn’t build the first crawler tractor, in fact he didn’t build any tractors. He recognized a need for a better tractor and developed improvements to a readily available popular tractor. He also designed and built a variety of innovative implements to meet the unique needs of grove owners. Lindeman was born on a small farm in Iowa where he attended schools through the eighth grade. He joined the Air Service of the U.S. Army at age of 18 during WWI. He was a self-taught mechanic, agricultural-equipment engineer. Following World War One he ended up in Yakima, WA, and found work at Rovig Lumber Company. They were more than just a lumber company, building and selling farm equipment also. In 1921 Jesse’s brother Harry joined him working for Rovig. While working at Rovig Lumber, Jesse saw opportunities to develop and build sell specialized implements that orchard and vineyard owners could use to great advantage. First came a ditching device utilizing discs and a packing wheel to repack the bottom of the ditch, and a mechanical lift to raise the discs was also incorporated. Next, he came up with a tractor drawn Extension Disc to meet the needs of grove owners. The fruit trees were so large with low branches that a tractor could not get close enough to do a good job of discing. His disc enabled the tractor to drive down the center of the row and disc both sides. It was adjustable to allow for different row widths and could be closed to disc the center of the row as well. Farmer were impressed with the ditcher and disc, sales were brisk. Other implements including rotary tillers, special equipment for fruit handling, land slopers, sprayers, two-way plows, hydraulic hitches & tool carriers, and Hop pickers were later added to Linderman’s list of equipment designs. In 1922, just a year after Harry had joined Jessey, Rovig Lumber went out of business. This would have been devastating to most young people but the Lenderman brothers saw it as an opportunity. Jesse and Harry combined their savings purchasing the parts and equipment inventory at the Rovig auction for $158.00. They then came up with $150.00 to rent a building and buy some tools, starting their own small manufacturing and retail farm machinery business. Seeing a need for crawler tractors to work the orchards and vineyards they became a Holt (predecessor to Caterpillar) dealership. In 1925, Best and Holt merged to form Caterpillar. Rather than having competing dealerships the same community Caterpillar severed ties with Lindeman. They then obtained a Cletrac franchise from Cleveland Tractor Co. but by 1930 there were quality problems with Cletrac which motivated the Lindermans to become a John Deere dealer though John Deere had no crawler tractors. The taller rubber tires tractors were not well suited for grove/orchard work and the Linderman brothers developed a retrofit for the John Deere BO (Model B, Orchard) tractor that would give it a much lower profile. He lowered the frame to nine inches from the ground and lowered the seat making it practical to run under the orchard branches. This sturdy tractor did many jobs: climb steep orchard hills, maneuver under orchard branches, work in row crop farming, wheat farming, logging, earth moving and moving cargo in the holds of ships. The tractors were very popular, and a good basic design based on a well-known tractor, John Deere. Jesse designed a two-way (or roll-over) field plow in 1939. When it was raised, the plow automatically tripped itself and rolled over, ready for the next furrow. Harry Ferguson was so impressed with Jesse’s plow that he ordered 10,000 of them. With the onset of World War II Lindeman diverted production for the war effort. Lindeman made track parts for the Navy’s LVT (Landing Vehicle, Tracked) “Water Buffalo,” an armored amphibious warfare landing craft. In 1947 John Deere purchased the Linderman Power Equipment Company for over a million dollars and Jesse Linderman became Deere’s Vice President of engineering for tracked vehicles. Not too shabby for a farm kid from Iowa with an eighth-grade education. Jesse Lindeman was a true pioneer of the manufacturing industry and held numerous patents for new and improved agricultural equipment that spanned five decades. Jesse retained his patents and his brother Harold continued manufacturing Linderman implements in Yakima. Field on, Approved on June 21, 1921, – December 25, 1923 US1478830 – ORCHARD DISK OR HARROW April 10, 1926, – June 14, 1927 US1632303 – DITCHING MACHINE January 31, 1929 – March 18, 1930 US1751010-WHEEL-MOUNTING-FOR-LAND-VEHICLES October 21, 1929 – January 12, 1932 US1840402-ROAD-VEHICLE-SUPPORT October 21,1929 – April 26, 1932 US1855605-OFFSET-DISK-HARROW August 9, 1929 – April 26, 1932 US1855604-SUBSOILER November 15, 1937 – April 16, 1940 US2197273-WHEEL-MOUNTING-FOR-LAND-VEHICLES July 16, 1945 – March 6, 1951 US2543786-TWO-WAY-PLOW-ATTACHMENT-FOR-TRACTORS October 26, 1945 – March 11, 1952 US2589104-HYDRAULIC-TOOL-SUPPORTING-STRUCTURE October 26, 1945 – October 20, 1953 USRE23726-HYDRAULIC-TOOL-SUPPORTING-STRUCTURE October 30, 1945 – January 25, 1949 US2460137-HYDRAULIC-COUPLING December 2, 1946 – April 21, 1953 US2635518-TOOL-ATTACHMENT-FOR-TRACTORS June 24, 1947 – March 31, 1953 US2633068-HITCH-DEVICE September 5, 1947 – August 11, 1953 US26482US2648268 – UNIT CARRIER68-UNIT-CARRIER June 10, 1948 – December 15, 1953 US2662314-LAND-LEVELER August 9, 1948 – August 14, 1951 US2564164-HYDRAULIC-TRANSMITTER-MOTOR-UNIT September 17, 1948 – November 4, 1952 US2616349-INTEGRAL-TOOL-CARRIER November 8, 1948 – December 6, 1955 US2725809-CARRIER-MEANS-FOR-IMPLEMENTS-OR-THE-LIKE-AND-POWER-MEANS-THEREFOR September 22, 1949 – July 19, 1955 US2713298-INTEGRAL-TOOL-CARRIER December 29, 1949 – October 27, 1953 US2656893-OVERLOAD-BRAKE-MEANS-FOR-VEHICLAES October 7, 1950 – May 5, 1953 US2637256-REVERSIBLE-COLTER-FOR-TWO-WAY-PLOWS November 8, 1950 – June 19, 1956 US2750860-UB-SOIL-AERATING-CULTIVATOR March 16, 1951 – May 10, 1955 US2707907-TOOL-CARRIER-AND-TRACTOR-HITCH-DEVICE April 16, 1951 – July 31, 1956 US2756659-RELEASABLE-PLOW-STANDARD April 22, 1952 – August 28, 1956 US2760423-COIL-SPRING-CULTIVATOR-SHANK-AND-CLAMP October 17, 1952 – October 4, 1955 US2719474-TOOL-CLAMP March 18, 1954 – July 22, 1958 US2843948-LAND-LEVELER May 18, 1955 – May 31, 1960 US2938285-BULLDOZER December 16, 1955 – October 14, 1958 US2856016-CONDUIT-AND-REEL-STRUCTURE-FOR-REMOTE-CONTROL-POWER-SYSTEM June 11, 1956 – December 8, 1959 US2916300-ADJUSTABLE-DRAWBAR January 9, 1967 – July 29, 1969 US3457751-SHEAVE-FORMING-MACHINE

Just 29 day‘s left to my trip to USA to be at the BS...

It had the exclusive 5 & 20 warranty. When my trailer hit Rts. 5 & 20 the warranty ended!

If it fits it ships!!!

I cannot confirm or deny these rumors. Got you fooled !!!!

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@MainelyWheelhorse , to !!!! Great to have you on the forum… A word of caution with that @ebinmaine guy… If you ever acquire a C-160, keep a close watch on it ! He seems to have a knack for rounding those steeds up… May be rustling them… Just kidding, Eric is a great guy !

You’ll be in good hands Waldo. We can fit in in the Volvo!

Welcome! I have a camp near-ish China, ME. In Wayne. Love the seafood at The Red Barn 😃 Trying to get a house built so we can move up there Nice looking tractor

Dragging brush yesterday. Had to trim and move some storm dammage I have beem mowing around and ducking under.

Today was plumbing day. I installed the new sump pump in the house. Went scary easily. Swapped the fittings and pipe bits and bob's from the old pump to the new one, plugged it inand was done. Couldn't find a 1/3 hp pump, so the horsepower rule was applied and I settled on a 1/2 hp unit. Next up, the pressure tank in the lake house. 1st hardware store had sold their last 20 gallon tank yesterday. 2nd hardware store had one in stock. Old tank removed in about 10 minutes. Oops, old tank had a plastic elbow inlet fitting that extended to the outside of the tank base - new tank just had a standard elbow. No 1" galvanized pipe on my stash of plumbing odds & ends. Measured old tank & new tank to come up with a length. Back to the hardware store for a piece of pipe. Assembled onto the new tank. Place tank into position - oops #2. The pipe was about 3" too long. Turns out the new tank is larger diameter than the old one - moved the tank centerline. Back to the hardware store for the 3rd time. Pick up the new calculated length pipe and a spare that is an inch shorter. Swap the new length pipe into place, place the tank. Measured correctly this time - lines up with the union to the rest of the plumbing system. Started the pump up - no leaks. Got lucky on the sump pump - one trip to the store. Pressure tank turned out to be the average three trip to the store project. Also added a too long pipe and a too short pipe to my stash of plumbing parts that don't fit anything in the house for possible future use.

If you're bringin the Sammys @elcamino/wheelhorse, Nuke me an ATOMIC.

@wallfish I was just kidding Sir Skunky would have to drive 250 miles south from the BS , then 500 miles to get home. Randy would kill him having to ride that far.

I would replace the whole cylinder. By the time your done with parts and labor it makes better sense. Northern tool and Surplus Center have fine choices for replacements.

You feel free to reach out. Any issues you have on a Wheelhorse nowadays, one of us has almost definitely dealt with it at some point. As far as parts go, kind of the same basic thing. Many of us have certain places we buy certain things. I keep a stock of some stuff down here and if I don't have what you're looking for, one of the vendors or other folks on this site likely will.

Welcome to redsquare! Nice to see more people from maine here! Awesome restore job! My 1st WH was a 314-8 And I love it! Use it almost daily

Thanks! Yeah, it seems to be.

Good to know, the guy I bought the plow from had a bunch of decks for sale too. I’ll let the wallet cool, after the last purchase. I have access to a welder, so I can keep it going for now.

Definitely, After changing it over a few times, the attach o mastic helps but it’s still a chore.

TO If you ever have any questions don’t be afraid to ask. You should probably get another wheel horse so you can have one with a plow and one with a mower.

@MainelyWheelhorse welcome to the site , you are on the way to solid function ! just a suggestion , would be looking for a 36 " RD , DECK OR A 42 " DECK , side or rear . that 37 is a well known problem , deck rot and cracking is very common . nothing sarcastic about this reference . these decks quickly / easily swap out , and are pretty easy to rebuild . let us know how you are doing , someone will chime in with view / ideas , pete

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Welcome. New England seems to be well represented.

Welcome to RedSquare. Missing all you Maineiacs up there.

Had no idea what to do with a beat up Commando 800 I picked up at the Zag show from Paul @PWL216. It did not look like this before starting on it. Original plan was to just use it for custom building parts. BUT, after getting the engine fired up and going through some stuff I just kept going, it drives really nice and runs sweet, I don't have the heart to chop it up if someone can use a good little snow plow tractor. With bigger tires on it now it's basically a B80.

And here, ladies and gentlemen, we should know by now to STOP all further projects for the next 24 to 48 hours.

Whatever color you want... I think almond looks great. I always use satin.

@wallfish hope the Commando 800 is in better shape, then the Waldomobile that Sir Skunky sold me. I think he is a retired used car salesman. The warranty sucked.

Ok quick calculated.. 100 Sandwiches each by 5$ would be a 500$ Bill - you just have to find 500 hungry Guy‘s..😎 😂😂😂

If you deliver the Commando to Waldo John, he will repay you with sandwiches from a SHEETZ gas station!

In the Mainer’s dictionary, what is the exact definition of “local”?

Thanks! It’s a working work in progress.

nice to have you on the fourm, and thats a good first tractor, mine was a rusted out stuck bolens, but i got into thr horses

One easy way is as per photo below. Just to illustrate the types of fasteners not having the correct sized ones at hand. One half illustrated the left end of rod having a turnbuckle preferably a long one. U bolt should be long enough to allow unobstructed tightening of turnbuckle. Mount u bolt with legs across shelf grain and not along it using nuts and washers on both sides. In this system shelf should be loosely resting on end supports so it does not restrict flexing. I usually only screw it loose on predrilled oversized holes just so shelf cannot be brought forward accidentally.

I am thinking that it would be easier to have the Rescue Squad parked in his yard. Everyone knows that the flip flop kid is going to cut something off within a couple of days after unloading it.

Got tired of one of my deck wheels coming off of my old square deck. The shoulder bolt threads into the body of the deck. After 60 years the threads of the deck are a little worn. There weren't enough threads for a lock nut to go on the portion of the bolt threads that pass through the deck so I had my friend Billy whip up a couple of custom length shoulder bolts. The shoulder is an 1/8" longer so I can use needle bearings at the wheel itself and the threads are 1/2" longer for a locknut to grab . Pictured with a new std. Bolt for comparison.

The BBT got more siding on.

Put on a new 103-990 ignition switch and she fired right up. No hesitation, no fiddling with the key! Thanks all!

If WH had only applied a smear of anti-seize grease on assembly, we wouldn't be having this trouble! Good luck with your restoration and I hope you have a great show, sadly it is a bit far for me to come to!