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The 520HC is my favorite plow tractor mainly due to the faster ground speed and quick steering. The old first gen 520 with straight axle and fast steering is my favorite mowing tractor. I think the Work Horse is the best looking tractor.

I'm up to these nine now. Collecting and rebuilding is the easy part. Figuring where to store them all is harder.

Originally a creation by Christy Hargrove, Squirrel Appreciation Day on January 21 is a day to learn about and celebrate the world’s cutest rodents. Here’s the thing about squirrels: some people hate them and say that they’re “invasive species.” But can those people leap across a space ten times the length of their body? Didn’t think so. Christy created this day to encourage kind attitudes towards our bushy-tailed neighbors by setting out food and water for squirrels, and even allowing them to play with that bird-feeder you normally don’t want them touching. We might generally look at squirrels as being an unnecessary nuisance, but their existence is actually beneficial to the environment, and in urban areas, assists in park beautification. Albeit by accident, squirrels plant seeds (initially meaning to store away nuts to come back to when they’re hungry) which eventually grow into trees, thus assisting with forest renewal. They’re natures gardeners. Rocket J. 'Rocky' Squirrel, the plucky flying squirrel, is introduced to The Bullwinkle Show and lasts five years as the best friend and ally of the Western moose, Bullwinkle.

I still refer to them as "tree rats"

I really enjoy my squirrels -------------- In the pot.

Nothing like a good stack of tires to hold your horse hood.

Trina's Military Tribute Tractor "Millie" got called up for active duty today. Her 867 Pigpen has been "acting out" for a while. We know the engine's tired and the carb/governor linkage is maladjusted. Like me. So she popped the new to us chains from the recent road trip on (thanks @Handy Don) and swapped the snow plow and bracket to Millie. Bam!! Back to plowing! Here's some 🐻 in ❄️ pics too.

Skinny tires help too. Less contact patch and more weight equals more contact PSI. That’s what it’s really all about.

Because I had the 701 702 854 I just wanted to have all four generations so I need it get 753 to complete the set and my arm could not pull that rope anymore so that's why I did it

If you can’t bedazzle ‘em with brilliance, baffle ‘em with bull$hit…

My brother David bought this 633 about 15 years ago for $60. It had a bad motor so we decided to put a Kohler 8 hp recoil start in it . I used this for mowing with a front reel mower and plowing snow in the winter. i love the way this machine handles. Yes we still have this and glad to see you working on one of these Dan! They are one of the really good round hood models!

The seats are all the same and I get them either at TSC or Princess Auto. The seats are ready to have arm rests bolted on and I buy them separately. Here is one supplier. https://www.simplyfilter.com/product-p/i93120-bk.htm They tend to cost as much as the seat but I like them. All of the Hydro machines have been converted to foot control. That is also quite costly but it makes driving the tractors so much better.

No more deers for the season were harvested at Pullstart Stables, but it’s rabbit season until March 31! I might say I enjoy rabbits and hunting them more than deer! Last summer, my favorite small game gun, my Savage left hand bolt action .17 HMR might have blown up in my face. The local gun dealer thinks it was the load. I favor on I could have maintained it better. Either way, yesterday I nabbed a new Ruger 10/22 off the shelf. Once home, I went out looking for fresh tracks in the snow. It took me a few shots to find center but found me a hare in the path!

Lots of no school days lately. This means I've been spending about 8 hours a day mentoring the local robotics team. Last week, the team decided to set back and look at an alternate design for the robot, so they spent Thursday, Friday, and Saturday adding away at the new idea. I was guiding the students I work with to prototype the new ideas - the most critical being the climbing mechanism. Turns out that the new ideas did not work as well as they thought they would. My group's prototyping had a large part in showing how things would really work. Sunday's session started off with a design review that resulted in pulling the original design off of the shelf and continuing it's development. Tonight, my group finished up climber mark 3.3 with a successful test climb. As a side note, we had posted climber mark 1 pictures out on the internet a week otr 10 days ago. With our team being a 2024 world champion, it seems that other teams are paying a bit more attention to what we are doing. Today, a short video showed up of another team's climber prototype inspired by our mark 1 climber. Somewhat of a new experience for us. We will probably have more pit visitors at the competitions that we will be attending this year as well.

Chains are the best answer, but I hear ya, you don’t want chains. Like Pullstart said skinny tires give better traction, so my recommendation is pony up for a pair of these in 23 x 8.0 x 12. Carlisle All-Trails. Might be called Carlstar or something like that now (name change). These are mounted on standard width rims and are on my 315-8.

The tree rats take every hickory nut, walnut, and acorn from my property and still think they need to gobble up all the bird feed. It is becoming way too expensive to feed the birds during the winter. The road out front helps to keep the population in check but that still ain't enough. Perhaps I should keep a pile of bird seed in the middle of the road.

I like the 1:2 mix As far as reducer - Acetone will shorten your dry time (good for cold weather) & mineral spirits will increase your dry time (better for hot weather) The Magic hardener should work well.

We’ve had over 11” of snow here within the past week or so. I pushed out around 16 neighbors driveways for extra seat time. Normally use the 520-H which is easy and fun to drive. I had to switch out my ag tires this year to a set of turf tires with chains and weights. I keep this set ready every year and glad I had them for this year. The ag tires were just spinning. here are a couple of videos on my YouTube channel for recent plowing Wheel Horse GT16 4x4 Wheel Horse 520-H

I personally spoke to Cecil Pond on this issue. He said that they tried to get close to IH red but since the science of mixing paint isn’t what it is today the color did vary from year to year. We never discussed wheel color but I agree that it should be close to a linen white. I could be wrong but I believe that the only tractor to come with pure white wheels was the Work Horse line?

Uncle Red, is that you?

I agree with the guys above. I think ///cottage white and the 1:2 mix should be close to linin biege. This is Rust-o-ieum Almond it looks like 1:1 or maybe 1:2.

Keep it simple. Here is a picture of the dash on Horse Apples. Toggle switch to turn the ignition on and a push button for the starter. As per our club rules, the starter button is also hooked to a switch on the clutch/brake peddle. The starter will not work unless the peddle is depressed all the way. (switch towards the front) The switch towards the back is a break away switch. This gets tethered to the eliminator. If my tractor comes unhooked from the eliminator, the plunger on this switch will get pulled out. This in turn will shut off my ignition and electric fuel pump. This breakaway switch is another requirement by our club.

Bob - use a light gray primer that is the same brand as your finish coat paint. I agree on the 1A:2W mix. Have also used Rustoleum Shell White in the rattle can.... Hardener - be sure to disassemble the spraygun once done to properly clean it.

I run 23-10.50 X 12 turf tires with chains, weights and liquid filled on my 418 which is the same frame and fender pan as a 312, no clearance problem at all.

@cleat nice lineup! Have a favorite?

Po-boys gotta work ya know, I only get to be a "weekend warrior wrench". Sides with temps reaching a high of 1f today & dipping to -18f tonight it don't really pay to heat the shop up for a couple hours. Sit back, relax, munch on some meat & cheese, there will be up dates this weekend.

More than 5 is a problem, I have 5 so obviously I have no problem. The tractors just like having company.

@702854boy Did any of the 647 answers above narrow down your question? Here on our acreage Trina and I started out with a B80 for me back in late 2016. Soon after she got a 657. From then it was a fast rolling downhill snowball effect. At this point she has 5 tractors, I have at least 9 (I honestly don't know) and we share one. The Wally Digger Backhoe. Addiction? Nehhh.....

Uhm... I'm told... When you use your neighbor's garage to "store" 's...

A while back @WHX?? & I made a road trip to trade with @Chrishar. I traded him my 753 for his 633. He did an excellent job with the 753, now it's time for me to tackle the 633. The engine runs good, but I will still pull the head to take a look inside. Tranny shifts good and does not seem to leak. The 3/4" bar for the foot rests will need to be replaced, but so far it looks like it will mainly be a paint over haul. Picture of ground zero. A couple of hours later I had it broken down to a pile of parts and a bucket of bolts. Will do my best to keep you all up to date on this journey.

I agree 100% on the personal preference thing. I don't think the wheel color was consistent during any given year, let alone through the years. I've seen first hand how these things were painted at the factory and it's amazing that they even got a decent finish. Dino is nonthing near a 'factory correct' refurb. I'm just having fun. The biggest reason for this thread is my concerns about the correct hardener. In my research on it they used too many big words for me to be comfortable with my choice. So I turn to the tried and true resource. Oh yea, I was leaning towards the 1:2 ratio too.

Money well spent for all the knowledge here. I know I'm going down the Wheel Horse rabbit whole. I will need to add on a second garage in a couple months. I didn't start with 1 but 2 of them.

My son’s family delight in the family of hawks that have settled on their property. They are efficient at keeping the squirrels and rabbits in check. The occasional “cleanup” doesn’t bother them.

Hi Everyone, I just bought my first Wheel horse B-80 1977. I will be going through it this weekend and taking the mower off and putting on the blade. Then a tune up and see what else is needed. I know it runs and everything works. I need to post some pictures of the second one he gave me because it was painted and has no serial number. Not sure what year it is but the front grill is more narrow at the bottom from what I can tell. It may have a motor with more HP's. I just picked everything up last weekend and stuck in garage. I will be learning a lot from all of you. Steve

@cleat Foot controlled hydros are the only way to go. With help from a couple of members here I built a bolt on hydro pedal with automatic return to neutral. There's a write up on it on here. Seems to work best on the later Onan powered machines with the hand controls just under the steering wheel. Not as nice looking as Matt's kit though.

Squirrel sightings in my acreage have been known to generate the words: Target acquired captain! They're adorable. No doubt about it. But the fact is, there's way too many in the area.

Chains are the answer. If that is absolutely not an option then you want to get the heaviest possible tractor you can by fluid filling, adding steel, adding weight to the hitch, getting a heavier plow, adding weight to the front. Whatever you can do. A super aggressive snowblower tire might also help you. Not sure what your options there would be.

If you really want to love it, put a Volquartson trigger in it! Mine breaks around 2lbs now.

Yup. Brake shaft seal.

I need a couple more then.

A Horse a herd animal. You're set just right.

When someone posts this in one your threads.

Or your shed looks like this. This is an old picture, it's worse now

When your yard looks like this

I was more staring at those drywall screws. Need to step it up a notch with stainless EB.

The last thing I expected to see this morning was a picture of one of Trina's knockers!

Pullstart will be happy it's a pull start. Get that pot metal pully off that tranny too I'm sure I have one. The score ... nuthin like parking lot wrenching ...