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This week I finally got a 418-8. Been waiting about 12 years or since my first Wheel Horse. Immaculate machine - I'm assuming stored indoors for 37 years. Fabulous rumble from the engine. Got it home, gave it a bath, discovered the chrome hub cups in reasonably good shape. Hope there's a thread on restoring them. Discovered rear axle attachment bracket with original clevis pins. Then I noticed the chain coming out the back Yup. Rockshaft and lift cable installed. Ready for a tiller. The best part - paid about $225 US.

Love mine!

Alright, I finally bought one without asking you guys 27 million questions. It’s a b80 8 speed for 350 dollars. Runs drives but needs a new carburetor that it comes with. I will show pictures this week. This is my second WH

1550 hours on the meter so a rebuild may be in the future. P.O. just used it to only cut grass (good sized property) and when the mower deck rotted away he decided to let it go. Had to wait a week to go get it and the sellers were inundated with calls - naturally. Good people. They made a deal with me and honoured it even with offers of more than they were asking. Sadly that kind of character seems to be lacking more and more these days.

So I’ve read mention of “Chain Piling” numerous times. But no real specifics given. I’ve never seen or heard of it at a show around. I get the basic idea, but give me some specifics, judging, shortest stack, or is time also a factor, etc. We’ve got a couple of shows around here over the next month. I’m thinking about setting up a little display/course and have some fun with it.

Does the PO have any others to give away?

The 76 and 77 B-series was really quite a bargain. As mentioned they are identical to the C-series as far as the frame, transmission, and sheetmetal. The differences: Horsepower B's had 22-7.50 rear tires vs 23-8.5 on the C's. If you opted for the cleat rears they were all 23-8.50 Low back seat vs high back Headlights optional on the B's 13" steering wheel vs 15" Prior to 76 the B's had a shorter frame and were 4-speeds with the 1" axle Starting in 78 the B's became lawn tractors

It was bring a horse to work Friday!

Okay. So I've got 3.4ohms on this coil. That's 3.5 amps. I used an entire 1lbs spool of 20ga magnet wire. Supposed to be good to 155celsius / 311farrenheit. I think I'm going to go with this. I don't know a ton about coils. I think this means I end up with a little stronger field. The 20ga is smaller than 18ga so a higher resistance is probably a good thing to prevent overheating. The potting epoxy I've got is probably superior to the sand potting used on the old coil when it comes to heat transfer. This coil has a smaller OD than my previous attempt. I'm going to knock out the old bearing. Also going to see if I can find a cheap piece of polycarb to make a vacuum chamber out of my smaller old pressure cooker.

Looks fun... This is how i piled my chain: @Pullstart has the pile now...

Wow! $225! What a deal! Yours is in great shape, is the hour meter working? How many hours does it show? The 418’s are some of my favorite tractors. I too looked for a long time to find a 418-8 because I wanted the 18HP, 8-speed with the ELECTRIC LIFT for rototilling. I finally found one in Massachusetts, it was a little rough, but after some love it turned out nice. Prior to that I also found a 418-C in Massachusetts that was in great condition, and again just needed some attention. Not that I need it but I wouldn’t mind having a nice 418-A so I’d have all of the 418’s !!

HORSE THIEF!!!!! Well done sir! Beautiful tractor! 18 horses and an 8-speed? She will till the street without a single grunt!

I've very few bad things about the small block aftermarket carbs but the 10 - 16 HP carbs I've personally seen at least 4 that were no good. I won't use another one. If you need any hints tips tricks etc on your own carb do feel free to ask.

My first was a beautiful red head. 308-8

and last but not least the bonanza, seat cleaned up great. and it spins over decent now, only electric start, the recoil if it had one and cover is missing. its not a terriable mechine, I was told the bonanza and huffy ran and drove once, I believe it, I bet by next week I'll have they huffy running its pretty hopefull after I get spark

@Easton Rich I just got a few more, and I'm in 4h its fun, just got to get them done I time. wheel horses are fun and figuring out how they work is even more fun. every tractor is different, wheel horses seem to be one of the most simple that I have

I went and looked at a 1995 Ford GT85 with 48" deck for our church that was supposedly ready to go except for a dead battery. I tried jumping it and no spark to the plugs in the Kohler M18. The owner of the tractor told me to take it since he wanted it gone, so I loaded it up and brought it home. I picked up a new factory ignition module for it and will add the drive belts when reinstalling the engine. A local shop has it doing the work and checking it over. The tractor has 777 hours and except for the slight front hood and headlight damage is in good shape. Our church may still end up with it but at this time I am trying to get it going. This is made by Shibaura for New Holland and supposedly a great tractor. Any tips are appreciated!

Don't forget a hitch pin of sorts to connect to various hitches. A tape measure & pen & paper to record results if playing for the money pile ...

Congrat's on your new tractor!! Needs a new carb or needs the original one rebuilt?? I would try to rebuild the original carb. Make sure to use a factory rebuild kit. Feel free to ask any questions on rebuilding the carb.

For those looking: https://www.rochesterclutch.com/

Excellent idea Oliie. This thread would not be complete without having Dan @Achto chime in. He's the one I learned it from. Post 17 in the thread Richard mentioned. @wallfish was going to try chain piles at the BS but don't know if he ever did. You know how hectic things get there! There are other tractor games you may want to consider... barrel roll, trailer backing, slow race... BTW hydros rule at chain piling. Also tractors without floor boards. You can see the pile better.

This all has me thinking in binary... There are ten types of people in the world. Those that understand binary and those that don't... The other day I told ten jokes about binary, but nobody got either of them... I speak ten languages. English and Binary... Learning binary is as easy as 01, 10, 11... And finally, a binary mathematician walks into a bar and orders ten drinks. The bartender says ok and hands him two beers...

With the charging system back up and functioning it was time to mow. 42”RD under a 414-8

Thanks for asking. It seems that the storm sort-of split and went around us. We got some wind and rain but nothing like Asheville to the east or Maggie Valley to the west. Power went out at some time overnight but we didn't have any tree damage and the creek that runs through our property stayed in its banks so all is good.

Well it's Friday !

That’s the one that has “expired”. So for now the other one seems to be working well (just mowed the whole yard)

Very nice tractor, and you stole it for that price.

Richard do you still have power up there, We are out of the storm area now other then small dead limbs and a short power outage some time last night. Just had to set a couple of clocks.

Although I have had good luck with the cheapy offshore knockoffs the general consensus here is to try and save a original. and run what ya brung. Might just need a good cleaning.

We start with a 30ft chain. You can only go forward & backwards to fold the chain into as small of a pile as you can in 2min time. You stop the tractor where ever you are when the time runs out. Measure the pile at it widest point, this includes any length of chain extending outside the pile. Smallest pile wins.

Congrats on picking up a fine tractor! I had a '73 no name that was the start of the B series and a fine fine little tractor. I called it Aunt B and I'm not one to name my tractors ... just the special ones. I set it up with proper tires for field plowing and what a nice job it did. Pulled a 10 & 8 incher with no problem. These 8's can do just about anything a big tractor can. Definitely one of those "wished I never sold it" tractors ...you guys know!

I plan to restore it soon as a 4h project. I’m the only one in small engines in my county so its easy to when

. Looks like that might be the run where the clutch exploded, cut the car in half, and one of his feet in half. The rear engine configuration started as a safety measure.

Drag racer Big Daddy Don Garlits boasted that his "Swamp Rat" launched so well it was likely to alter the rotation of the earth.

Like I said the other day we put some stuff away over the weekend. My 2 rj-58’s, 753, and 603. Plus my oldest son’s all original 856. The last piece of the puzzle is Wheelhorse_kid’s 604 up top. Plus he has 2 small engines (Briggs and Stratton WMB and a Continental) up there along with my spare Kohler K90. This is the beefed up version of what I have had for years. It helps get some out of the way. It’s nice to have my garage back. I have plenty of projects I’d like to work on in there lol.

So, epoxy resins tend to be thicker than water. Even if you're careful, bubbles get in when you mix it. Those bubbles act as insulation and reduce its heat transfer ability. Also, more importantly, the wires in the coils trap air in between the windings. The surface tension of the epoxy makes it where those bubbles don't come out. So, magnet wire has really thin insulation. Basically it's just painted on. If you have air gaps inside your windings, vibration can cause those windings to rub. The insulation gets scraped off and your coil shorts out internally. You take your mixed epoxy and throw it in a vacuum chamber and it pulls the bubbles out. It looks like it's boiling. Use a container that has extra head room. Then you pour it after degas. For something like a coil that has trapped air, you vacuum it again after pouring. Often, you'll have to take it out and pour again because the windings fill with epoxy once you let atmosphere back in. The bubbles grew and popped, and the air pressure actually shoves epoxy into the winding gaps. The step after that, if you really want to make sure you don't have gaps, is to let the epoxy set under pressure. You put the assembly in a pressure vessel, and that pressure compresses any bubbles down to a microscopic size. The epoxy sets and those tiny bubbles are trapped. I don't think I'm going to fool with the pressure set. I think vacuum will be good enough. Potting compound and bubbles also have effects on capacitance and high frequency stuff that I don't know much about. It doesn't really apply to this use case.

Well, having a shaker plate C165, I have a black pipe drain tube on the bottom of the block and then an elbow, nipple, and end cap going out the flywheel side. If I had to do this over again, I'd go with the Fumoto route, but I have a of bits from running propane gas lines so the price won out.

Well said, but true, Very few deals are done with a firm handshake these days...... and honored thru to completion....

@ebinmaine thanks, just some good old preashure washing, you should have seen the cement once I got them moved it had crap everywhere

In 76 & 77 the B's had a 13" steering wheel. C's had a 15". 🙂

The lining for a cone clutch will be a curved piece - sort of a smile shape - when it is flat so it will curl into a conical shape. A brake band lining curls into a cylindrical shape, not a cone. Simple shape to develop with the proper CAD program. Possible to do on a drafting board with paper & pencil, too. Been a long time since I've done that. I'd have to look that method up.

Thank you so much!

Jim @WHX?? has a great explanation and @Shynon has a video in these threads.

The B-80 is a great tractor same basic tractor as the C-series. The C's just have a larger engine, high back seat, and lights, Don't think the B had lights unless it was a special order. The B-80 8 speeds were only made in 1976 and 1977. The model numbers start wit either a 61 or 71.

Here they firstly protected the Wolf by Law, but now after their populations grows, they droped the Protection down an also a Wolf can be shot if his dna is found by a killed sheep herd or a Cow herd. How this will be controlled is out of my knowledges because i never see a Wolf with a DNA Tag on his neck. Some our laws also here are very weird.

You are providing a valuable resource for anyone who wants to do the job right. This thread and the detail you have included is wonderful.

nice... would luv to find a set of those lights for my 701.....

was going through a box of old pictures and found these from 1975. Time trials ai Indianapolis Speedway, May 1975.

Here's a couple of wheel horse row. Auctioneer Andrew Kitson being towed by his son I would like to point out the Guy in black standing in front of the speaker. Bret Esse and I believe his group of 7 put on this great show. This is a must do show. Here's a video of Dan @Achto doing the chain pile