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I have wanted to make this post for the past ten months; today I drove a Wheel Horse for the first time since my stroke! My wife was a bit apprehensive about the whole thing and I wasn't even sure I could get on the 310-8; but I did and it felt SOOOOOO GOOOOOOD

Back in the summer of 1967 I must have doing a lot of fast talking. My Dad was a delivery driver for Armours Meats delivering to restaurants and resorts all over Minnesota and Western Wisconsin. He worked long hours and took all the overtime he could get. Consequently, all yard work and snow shoveling was my responsibility. Our driveway was about 150 feet long and we got a lot of blowing and drifting snow. Plus sidewalks. My uncle built National Mowers, so we had one of them. We(I) needed a snowblower. Usually in August I attended the Minnesota State Fair with my Mom and Aunt. This year I went with my Dad. We were on a mission to shop for a garden tractor with a snowblower. I don't know how serious he was, but I was already sold on a Cub Cadet with John Deere coming in second. Once Dad saw the price on these the whole idea was over. No way! As long as we were there, we looked at all the other brands on the grounds. Everything of the era was represented and we looked at all of them. Eventually we ran across a display of little red tractors. As luck would have it the area dealers rotated through the display and the dealer in St. Paul Park was on duty. He informed us that they had a State Fair special where you got a free mower with each tractor. Now my Dad was at least back to considering the possibility. We went home with a promise to visit Zilmers Fix-it Shop soon where could test drive and get a closer look. Soon after the Fair we went down to his dealership. My Dad told him we needed a snow blower and not a mower. Eventually a deal was struck and we returned home with a brand new 1077 and a single stage blower. Now I couldn't wait for it to snow. I recently found these pictures of me and the brand new 1077. Since I was bringing home a Christmas tree, I though this was a good time to share them. I was 15 when the picture was taken. I still have both the tractor and trailer. I made the trailer from a Model T frame and pallet wood. I have since upgaded it to a bigger deck and tires. The 1077 would still run with a new battery, but is in need of complete restoration. Both are stored inside. It's been fun to remember this time and the origin of this special tractor. Merry Christmas to all! Kent

Last December I had a vision on a color scheme of a satin black base with gloss accents in mind . So I went into my parts inventory grabbed a frame, and just started building . 1955 /56 hood on a 1958 tractor .

I have been working on this since last year with a failed attempt because of cheap over the big pond rebuild kit. Want to give BIG thanks to @Docwheelhorse. For picking up this engine for me in January. It was a partial 856. Yes it has been that long. I had to switch over parts from the bad engine to this one witch is a vacuum engine being my first. Been a long good day out side in the sun. I hope you enjoy the picks and one Video. IMG_1467.mov

Yesterday I came home to find that my son in law had power washed a few of my tractors and put them on display! He brought his C-141 automatic over for a service and decided it needed to be cleaned up, so while he had the power washer out he cleaned up a few more. I have to say not knowing this was going to happen and coming home to see it did put a smile on my face! Since I know you guys like pictures as much as me, here you go.

A more complete orginal unmolested tractor than this one. A 1267... After much screwing around with the seller ... yes this is the one I mentioned in the FB thread. Out of the blue the seller says yah I can have it for the original agreed upon price. I immediately hooked up the enclosed damn the slick roads... been ther done that right Dan @Achto...before he had another dumb @ss attack. A few PO mods but nothing that can't be undone and NO rattle can or paint brush antics. I would love to do a mechanical only resto on it but do I dare? It's kinda been betrothed to someone else. More on that later. Feast your eyes on this and you know drooling on keyboards can short them out. Check this seat out. One cannot doubt it's orginal. Gonna clean up like a baby's bottom. Two very small cracks on it. Seller says some bozo offered him 250 for just the seat. Luckily he declined. The getting rare two spoke large diameter wheel. Straight as the day it came from a dealer.

I bought these From @Darb1964 when I picked up the 1067. He had one and half sets. So I thought It is a nice day let’s put them on. This my Garage Queen never sees rain snow or anything else. This is what started me on Start/Gen tractors. All was my favorite model to have a close second was the TEN because at one time I had a few. I hope you enjoy the picks.

Trina's daughter had a baby boy today!! His name is Jaxon. Trina's been at the birthing place since yesterday evening. I'm told both new mom and new kid are doing well.

My neighbors dog and I became best friends for 14 years. The neighbors were both still working, but I was retired, so I was happy to take the dog walking 1-2 times a day. This was my last walk with Groovy earlier this week. This morning she passed on.

Once again the holiday's are behind us & my favorite time of year has come. Tractor building time !!!! Normally I'm posting my tractor build in the "Restoration, Modification & Custom" section but this years build is more fitting in this section. Last year during a local pull @WHX?? says "We need to build a puller". I kicked the idea around a bit and had pretty much decide NO due to the price of the rear wheels needed to be competitive. Then.... A friend of mine offered to let me borrow a set of rear wheels for one season if I was serious about building a puller. Well heck !! I guess I'll have a go at building a puller. Blahhh, Blahhh, Blahhh. I know you guys what to see some pictures. Took a wander out back to see what I had laying around ... and ... Welcome to ground zero. Not much to start with, but it's a start. A trip to Jim's storage shed help set me up with a 6 speed tranny & a bunch of other parts needed to cobble something together. Then a trip through my parts shed set me up with a few more things. First step - I wanted the front axle of the tractor to be narrower and hopefully a bit lower. First I tried a 633 front axle but was not exactly happy with it. Next I tried a Lawn Ranger front axle, this I liked but the spindle were too short for the 6" rims that I'm using. Grab some spindles out of another axle and life is good. I think this set up will look great. About 3 to 4" narrower and a bit lower. I do not want to run the rear fuel tank that the C-101 comes with because I wish for the rear tires to be as close together as possible plus I don't have the C-101 rear sheet metal parts any way. Removed the dash tower and replaced it with one from a 1257. Best news came when I closed the hood and it fell right in place with the ability to latch it. The running boards from the C-101 would not work at but I had a set from a Raider 12 that I figured would work. As you can see in the pics above the left board fit perfectly but the right side had some issues fitting with the brake peddle. BTW the brake peddle will be staying but will be used as a gas peddle instead. The tractor will require a dead man's throttle so the brake peddle will be modified for this purpose. A closer look at the running board fitment issue. After a bit of trimming the board lays where it should. Test fit the rear wheels to see if I would have any clearance issues. First issue, the center hole in the rim is not large enough to fit on the stock hubs. Compensation - 5/16" thick spacers to move the rim out a bit. On this note, I don't like the fact that the rim does not fit over the raised portion on the outside of the hub. One more thing that I don't like is that the bolt holes in the rims are 1/2", not 7/16". Worse yet the rim holes are not set up with tapered holes to use regular lug bolts or nuts. Thinking of turning the step down on the face of the hub to fit the hole in the aluminum rims and also tapping the holes out in the hub to 1/2"-20. With the wheels on, I see that I have some tight clearances that I will have to address. I have plenty of clearance on the inside for the tires, in fact they could even be a bit closer together if I wish. The last thing that I looked at today was a belt guard. I think that I can make the C-101 guard work with a little trimming. Will need to get the engine installed before I know for sure. I have some minor fitment issues to work through yet as well as more adventures I'm sure. Feel free to stop by & check out my progress and to see what I can build with "Poor Decisions and No Money".

All I want for Christmas is another garden tractor!

We were able to spend the beautiful Sunday showing off a few of the round hoods. It’s always a great time making memories. We were even lucky enough to bring home best and show garden tractor with the 702. They boys and I put a lot of work into it last winter and it payed off.

Well, she is finally tall enough to reach the pedals. Been after me for a few years to let her drive. Today was the day and she was happy! Used half a tank of gas driving around.

Our garden is now heading into its 3rd season. Creating a usable garden space here in the New England mountains is an extreme challenge involving a lot of extra work in comparison to most areas of the country. The entire region was once covered by ice over a mile thick. When the glaciers departed, the mountains were destroyed and tremendous rock waste fields left behind. We all joke about having rocks and stones in the soil. Here, it's a little (seriously little) soil.. in with the rocks. Over the last several years we cleared an area of forest. 3+ years ago we had an excavator come in to clear the ground surface and make it somewhat level. After that we added 14+ yards of loam, all by hand, tractors and small trailers, load by load, moved a couple hundred feet from the driveway to the garden. Since then we've been picking out rocks sticks etc using an 856 tractor with the ripper or by hand. @Handy Don and I have texted more than once about the possibilities involving the use of a single tooth ripper in our garden area to pop out the rocks sticks roots etc as they rise every year from the frost. In the future I would like to be able to use a rototiller but for now there's too many rocks and sticks. It seems the ripper is a feasible solution for the time being. This weekend we used my heavier 1974 C160-8 Cinnamon Horse for the ripper work. Wanting to be conservative at the beginning, I started poking into the soil about 2" and immediately realized that could be a little deeper. I tried a 4" cut. That was the ticket. I worked back n forth at many angles. Started at the fence all the way around. Pulled every which way but loose. We learned that the pulled materials really have a tendency to stack up towards the middle of the area, logically. We also learned that we could likely use 2 ripper teeth. Maybe 3 (??) 3 might be too much. (With only one tooth there were multiple occasions where the tractor was "high centered" on rocks.) Some of those rocks were pulled out. At least 2 or 3 are too big.

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.

My new shed landed today! 10x20 in Sage Green, two double doors and two lofts. Will easily hold 6 tractors with room to walk around them, maybe more if I jam em in.

Figured it was time I start a post on here documenting my addiction! Here are two of my favorites

My First wheel horse was the one I grew up on. I have tons of awesome memories on this tractor mowing with my grandfather (him on his 416H which I own now) and me on my dad’s 12 Automatic. We mowed 5 acres twice a week. When I moved into my house (my grandparents house) my dad gave me his 12 auto. I remember my dad tearing it apart and repainting it and adding the 18HP Briggs and Stratton Vanguard V-twin to it in our basement. He had red paint everywhere lol. I used it a ton around here but unfortunately it sat for the last 5 plus years. Well I finally got it into the garage a few weeks ago. I dug into the carb. Had to get a new gasket. Cleaned the fuel pump and changed out the fuel lines and filter. Unfortunately Alex and I couldn’t get the starter to work so pull start it was. So happy to have it running again. Now to steal front tires back from @WheelHorse_Kid and get it out and stretching its legs. It should start first or second pull now that the fuel system is primed. I also ran it for a while after it died at the end of the video and it throttles up and down perfectly fine. this is the tractor that started my crazy addiction. So glad it’s back to running.

Just did a refresh on this. It will be put to work immediately.

Following my stroke my wife had to assume the duties I had always done in addition to her regular tasks. At first I was very frustrated by the fact that some things weren't being done the right way (read that as being done MY WAY). Within a few weeks I began to mellow and have adopted the belief that most of the things we do differently aren't so important after all. Showing mutual respect and loving each other is all that matters. I am now able to do most of the tasks my wife took over but I do some of them her way because I never understood how MY WAY bugged her so much. I never balanced the check book to the penny, I always rounded up or down when entering payments (drove her crazy) and I would always sort the recycles as they were taken to the garage, now we just hold of until the day we make a run to the drop-off center, no big deal. I have become a bit more mellow and appreciative of what I have left rather than becoming frustrated with the loss of what I had. I didn't realize how I had become "that old man", glad to say he is gone.

Have power will travel Made a little trailer out of scrap for my $60 generator. 310-8 will have mobility resonsibility.

Received a text from @SALTYWRIGHT daughter today that Russ’ passed away. One of our oldest members at 94 years old. I had the pleasure of hanging out at tractor shows with Russ many times. He hasn’t been able to go to shows in the last 3 or 4 years, but anytime we talked he always talked about how he wanted to try to get to another one. He would meet up with @wallfish @Docwheelhorse and I at all the local shows. Driving his Camry or Lexus with a trailer and his Wheel Horse in tow. Gonna miss him….

Finally completed my C-175 restoration tonight, when it’s light out I’ll take it outside for some better pictures. I’m super happy with the way it turned out and really have to thank my brother for all his help! I will be bringing it to the show as it is this year’s featured tractor.

Today's menu - Get this baby ready to light the fire. In order to do this I needed to have "dead man" throttle control. My plan is to turn the brake peddle into the gas peddle. Gathered the basic parts to make this happen. Starting with a piece of pipe that I bought for some reason. Guess this must of been the reason. I did not think that I would be able to weld to the cast metal that the peddle is made of very well, so the piece of pipe gave me some thing to weld to. I cut the threaded ends off from the pipe and the cut it length wise so that it would fit the curve of the brake peddle. Then cut the rest of the parts to make this into a gas peddle. Next up, burn these parts together. Drilled and tapped the peddle so that the assembly could be bolted in place. 2 more pieces required to make this work, a bracket to hold the throttle cable, and a bracket for a positive stop. All three completed. Gave all these parts a quick squirt with some flat black to keep from rusting. Adjustable wide open positive stop installed. Throttle cable holder and foot peddle bracket installed, with a return spring for the peddle. Also installed a return spring on the engine side of the throttle. I think the weed eater piston shift knob turned out well. With these parts installed it was time to light the fire. Good news!! It fired right up. Runs great and runs through all the gears well, butt... the strait pipe is loud and and um, loud!!! A few shots of it out in the sun light. Only thing left now is the fire suppression system "fire extinguisher" and scale it out to get the weight dialed in.

Big Thanks To, @Vinylguy for helping me out with this custom decal. Thank You, Sir! My part doesn’t do this justice…lol. I need to do this more often.

but I never pass on a free one. Member by the handle of @Mat84 had one listed in the classifieds abit ago. Saw it and figured someone should here should get it. So a 4 hour trip to the twin cities was in order. He was only a hour north of @Shynon so @Achto and I set out yesterday to grace him with our presence too. 'Sides I had a 867 to get to him. She ain't exactly peaches n cream. Motor is tight but we think it has potential. I gave him a buck for it... traditional with Dan and I. Back story is the PO pulled it out of weeds up to the motor hoping to project it. Lady friend came up pregnant so his priorities somewhat changed. Understandable. Told him doctors finally figured out what causes that. Said it had a deck that was roached and he scrapped it. So I thought I would push it out in the back pasture and deal with it later. Dan says I got projects to finish. I got a serious problem so it went into the shop. Good golly Miss Molly whose idea was this anyway? After abit of cleaning motor freed right up... bonus... bore doesn’t look too shabby.

Well I finished this 1067 last week. She is a good worker now. went thru it front to back. I hope you enjoy the picks.

I hope, I hope, I really hope, this tractor and I stay out of the bumps and bruises thread. @pfrederi offered it up for sale for $150 and I quick nabbed it! One of the rules to tractor buying is never tell how much. Well, I don’t believe this will ever go far from my possession , so I don’t mind sharing that info. The electric over hydraulic pump on the front and gravity drop have quickly grown on me. I bet I’ve got 3 or 4 hours on this thing since unloading already! It’s a beast! When we were talking about the model number, 753, seven fifty me quickly rolled off my tongue. It’s dangerous and wild. I found a cast “HOOSIER” seat for $25 from @wallfish’s pa Paul, and moved the pump forward enough to toss my spare hood on. The hood screw tabs on the gas tank are both ripped out, so I got creative with the rear hood hold downs, just some crushed 1/2” copper elbows drilled and bent a bit for zip tie action.

The Long Island Antique Power Association held its summer show and tractor pull this weekend. I went today (Sunday) with my son in law and brother. We took my Work Horse GT-1800, C-175 Automatic, and 420-LSE to the show. Here’s some pictures. Hope you enjoy!

I somehow managed to take a few pictures this year.

Pulled the plow off yesterday and stood it up ready to store. Came out this morning and found this!

Just last week I said no more tractors for me since I bought a big tool box for the garage. Well fast forward to today and I dragged 3 more home and a bunch of NOS parts. The guy has more and I plan on reaching back out to spend some more time digging to see what else he has. As for the tractors I wanted just one and my friend was buying the other. When we got there he offered us a 3rd and we had to pool some cash to get it. I plan on letting my buddy have the 3rd tractor. Definitely had fun picking in the upstairs of the guys garage where he had tons of parts for so many pieces of equipment, model A’s and so much more.

So a buddy that works at the auto parts store asks me last week if I'm still into wheel horse tractors. So naturally I say yea, what ya got? He says I have a raider 12 been sitting in the shed for 6 years and needs to go. He says I'll sell it to you for $200. Well I don't need another tractor but he only lives 4 blocks from me so I literally drug it home.......got it running too! 20240318_205914.mp4

Hello chaps, England calling.... I attempted to watch your Super Bowl "Football" game last night on the old televisual apparatus. The time delay is most awfully inconvenient, you chaps should really consider moving the kick off time to allow we English fellows to watch at a decent hour. Well. I must say I really can't understand why you insist on calling it football, there seemed to be very little use of the feet. Apart of course from propelling the players to the sidelines for a sit down every few minutes. Is that normal in your game? Would it not be better to make the chaps stay on the field just a tad longer? But I suppose they do need a little rest after all the Hoo Haa and dancing every time someone touches the ball, could you not just shake hands and give a hearty slap on the back like we folk do? And all that body armour and helmets! Goodness me those chaps are carrying so much clutter around with them. Over here we don't bother with all that malarkey. Just a bit of tape and a cloth scrum cap is enough to cover most eventualities. And this chap they call the quarter back? He seems to be quite important, making all the plays and such. Why does he have to have everything written on his arm? Surely he can remember a few bits and bobs. And he was off the field more than he was on it. Our chaps stay on for the full 80 minutes, unless less they break something or need a few stitches. All in all it was a pretty confusing game as far as I could see. What the blonde girl drinking lager had to do with it goodness knows, but her gentleman friend seemed rather upset at one point, maybe it was his beer, I don't know. I managed to watch the first quarter, or part of a half or some such. Really do you need to split a game of two halves down still further? Isn't it enough with all the first downs and 3rd and ten breaks in play? You chaps should have a squint at the six nations rugby tournament that is going on over here at the moment. You might pick up a few ideas. I have a few suggestions for your other little game, baseball is it? Perhaps some stumps and bowling the ball properly might make is just a tad more interesting. Anyway. Its been such fun chatting, but I have to go to the hospital now to have my tongue surgically removed from my cheek. Hope you fellows aren't too miffed at my critique of your little game. Ta ta for now old bean. Sir Nigel Molesworth Esq.

Got the herd out for the last time before most of them go to bed for the winter. Just a 520 and 48" deck is still in service to mulch leaves and the 520HC and blade is getting ready to plow snow. I did some work to a 416-8 for a fellow redsquare member so I put it in the lineup as well. Next year the Work Horse will be in the lineup as well I hope.

I did a 7 hour round trip today for this beautiful 500 hour 520. She runs awesome!

This one sitting in a field rotting away. So I rescued it. Tractor heavy and already have a 856 that needs love and I can't seem to give away. Saw it at a show several weeks ago and it was sitting there crying save me save me. I jokingly offered the owner a frankie for it and much to my surprise he took it. Motor was locked up so pulled it back to camp for a look see. @Achto @Wild Bill 633 and I commenced to wrenching to find out the motor is free but the SG is tight. Got it loosened up and messed with the points. Exhaust valve stuck open ... pop the head and free that up. Fired right off and drives. Service motor and seller says he has the original I could have but knowing him doubt I'll see it. Four year old Battery was stone cold dead... not a volt in it. Threw it on a charger and it did take a charge and seems to be holding it. Surprise surprise. Tires are abit needy but nothing serious. Best part everything is there, original cigar lighter woo hoo, and fairly unmolested. On the splash pad ready for a bath... sheet metal really straight. Seat & hitch worth the price of admission...

T & E Wheelhorse Stables... AKA Trina and Eric... ... is making another attempt at spreading the appreciation affliction addiction. My father has had a box store riding mower that he bought used, for several years. It wasn't great when he got it. It's been getting less great the whole time. Knowing the understanding that Trina and I have of being able to repair machinery he's sought out our advice and opinions a few times. Knowing his mower was getting to a point of being financially not viable to repair I decided to keep an eye out for a Wheelhorse my parents could use. @PWL216 has treated us right twice now. Paul and his wife are good people. Thank you folks. He'd mentioned he was looking at swapping around/thinning his Herd so I said keep me posted on what HYDROS you have available. My father's old mower had the ability to change "gears" but really was a simplified transmission closer in usage to a hydro. Well a few weeks later after some gabbing and back n forth between me, Trina, my parents, and Paul ... He was nice enough to drop off this C121 project right at my parent's house. Trina and I have picked it up and brought it to Maine where we'll put it through our shop and get it back together for the spring mowing season. Now the introduction. I've created a new Supporter Membership for my father. His username is @Qball Given name is Bruce. He, and my mom, Karen, will be able to follow along with whatever TRINA gets done on this tractor. 😂 We all joke about her doing all the work but we all know you GOT to keep a Trina person busy. She absolutely loves working on these machines. I'll be helping with the grunt work of course and going through the wiring harness as usual. We'll work it in between other projects because it doesn't need to be back down to Massachusetts til maybe April. We have a LOT of things to do here between now n then as well.

Happy Wednesday Afternoon, Wife and I took a roadtrip today, left house right around 6 am. Stopped at a nice fellas house by the name of Josh in Elizabethtown PA. He was acting as the middleman between Jason and owner of this restored C120. Josh also mentioned he runs the Lebanon PA winter show in February--he says its all indoors and 6 or 7 buildings. I may have to look into going... Then onto my GT2500 in Jacobus (York) PA... met an equally nice gentleman by the name of Keith Kauffman. Walk down to his garage and there sits a 1970 Plymouth 'Cuda 4 speed!!! Dang!!!! He recently just put a 408 stroker small block in it and has the original 340 on stand. On way out of town I looked up the dealer that had placed there dealer sticker on the Briggs shroud and found them. I stopped in and asked the gentleman if he'd like to come out and see one of his tractors head north. He came out and started talking... then took me for a short tour and told me about the list of every tractor they ever sold until Toro took over in 1986. What a cool old dealship... they didnt have any shift boots but I bought a 7473 8 speed drive belt to get him a few bucks. I told him about Redsquare and the big show and that he should look into going---the shop is about an hour away. Now its onto dinner with wife and then heading home tomorrow. Tony

Just a few. For some reason a few pics somehow "disappeared " from my phone. I know I had a better pic of @formariz and 1 of @Tractorhead. Phone's gettin old like me! They were running a "Waldo Special" at the Sheetz station in Mansfield! Horse mask Jay looking out wanting a ride on the train. I had a guy cracking up at the hotel with this thing! @elcamino/wheelhorse really missed out on this BBQ adventure Thurs. night. Went to Gettysburg to the Borough BBQ. What a madhouse that town is. No place to park. A church group had rented out the main restaurant. No sign on the door saying so. Girl says we cant come in but we can sit "next door" but we had to wait. @Lane Ranger comes in behind up with a group and he gets things rollin! Finally sit down in this giant room with a zillion tables , skee ball, basket ball pool and shuffle board and air hockey tables ,bar ect. Pictures don't do it justice. Then the church group decides the bar on there side isn't big enough so they invade the other side. food was good but what a zoo. Then when we left I got a parking ticket after putting all the change I had into the meter! I think it ran out before we even got our food. Now I know why I don't stay in Gettysburg and won't be goin back. They let all the "Animals" in at the WH Show! Richard's EV. This thing Slaps! Came in handy! Every time I drove it somebody stopped me. How many batteries? How long does it run! And yes you can haul a transmission in an Electric Vehicle! Much thanks to Cas for the K 90 My goal was to get this engine-less 551 running and driving at the show.Much thanks to @Tractorhead for the eye lining up the pulley. @rjg854 for Kabitzin around and finding a 31" belt and @wallfish for his belt guide expertise! Finally our entry into the @Pullhosen’s Pony Express Heavy Hauler Contest . Here's @rjg854 strapping down @953 nut's A60 electric mower, it's deck. the little cart, a tiller, a 12" plow, and an 8 speed trans all for @JPWH into the back of Richards Dakota. Also thanks to @Handy Don for the extra hands. Interior shot.

I can’t believe we are knocking on months from driver’s training for my youngest! August (July 29 actually) will mark eligibility for taking classes and getting behind the wheel. My kids have grown up driving, getting dirty, failing and excelling. No surprise there, with their father learning to wrench on Christmas toys long before they were played with, and their mother following in the footsteps of their grandfather, Adam Petty’s ASA teammate and 1994 ASA Rookie of the Year recipient. This 1992 Chevy Short Box C1500 toted Mrs. P’s Hobby Stock circle track dirt car to every race she could afford to get to, when she wasn’t penciled in for a swim meet in high school. It was a 4.3L Automatic bare bones 2wd work truck, no A/C, no power windows, just a good ole’ first set of wheels. It was passed back to her dad, and long before I was involved with this side of my family, it’s been sitting victim of high miles, hard work, and a ventilated V6 block. When we were dating, I pulled a donor engine from a junk yard and wheelbarrow toted that hefty thing about 300 yards to the register. @Lil’ Pullstart’s Great, Great Uncle Steve is a well known hot rodder in the area. He took the engine down to his shop, had it bored .030” over, rebuilt it with all new pistons, cam, timing set, bearings, valve, the whole ball of wax. It’s been on a stand waiting for this project for over 15 years, maybe 17 or so if I can count and recall dates correctly. About a year or two ago, we were camping at Grandpa’s house and Rylee started having a conversation with him about buying the truck back. It has been pushed from the yard, to the barn, filled with stuff, pushed out, pushed around, leaned on a time or two, etc. They settled on $300 as is, with the engine. I picked the engine up about a year ago. Her truck has been loaded on Grandpa’s ramp truck with a dead battery and flat on the bottom tires for even longer. Last weekend, we went over, popped some 5 on 5” wheels and tires from a race car on the back, pushed it off the ramp truck and tugged it home. I have a 5 speed manual swap to go into it, thanks to a local CL ad for the transmission and Tony Angelo from Motor Trend’s Hot Rod Garage and now his own show Stay Tuned. Since anything in the engine bay that is plastic or rubber has been cooking in the sun for a few years with no hood, I am thinking a lot of electronics will go away in favor of a nice carburetor, and an HEI ignition. I have a 2000 K3500 (5.7L 4x4) parts truck for the things like grille and headlights, washer and coolant tanks, any interior parts needed, I found a clean front bumper in my stash, and some things will be needed like good tires, brakes, etc, and we will search for those. There are more parts still at Grandpa’s like the hood, motor mounts, radiator, etc, but it’s nice the truck is home.

I could have dropped this in with the post that I have on my pulling tractor but I thought that it may be more useful here. I used a piece of unpolished stainless to make a new dash for my tractor. Well the unpolished was just not to my liking so I wanted to clean it up. I will add that polishing stainless is nothing like polishing aluminum. It takes a lot longer. A pic of the back of my new dash so you can see what I had to start with. I worked on this dash a little each night after work. Day 1 - I started by working it over with a black rouge and a buffing wheel on a drill. This took most of the dull off from the metal. Day 2 - I switched to a gray rouge and a new buffing wheel. This started to bring out a better shine from the metal. Sorry no pic. Day 3 - Start with a new buffing wheel again but switched to a green rouge. Now the dash really pops. After roughly 5hrs of buffing I'm quite happy with the results. Other than the deep scuff that I put in it with a slip of the grinder when I was making it. But I'll live with that. Materials used. https://www.harborfreight.com/4-inch-buffing-wheel-34743.html https://www.harborfreight.com/1-4-quarter-lb-black-polish-compound-96779.html https://www.harborfreight.com/1-4-quarter-lb-dark-grey-polish-compound-96769.html https://www.harborfreight.com/1-4-quarter-lb-green-polish-compound-96778.html Hope this post is of use.

TL/DR - Shipped a 257-H from S. Elgin, IL to N. Attleboro, MA via Fastenal for $244. A few months back a member @Stratman(Dan) put up a 257-H with 95 original hours for sale in the classified section. I have a 520H with a loader, a 314H with a plow and a 314-8 - but the 257 struck my fancy for use as an everyday lawnmower. No hump, easy on, easy off. I really wanted it. I reached out to Dan to let him know that I was going to do some research into my options for shipping the mower from the Chicago area back to Boston. After getting several quotes ranging between $1,200 and $2,300, I sent Dan a note and said it looks like it isn’t going to happen. Then in a chat with @ebinmaine, I mentioned that there was a Fastenal store down the street from me and I was thinking of popping in and asking them what they might charge. So I did. The guy I spoke to in the office (Earl) was great and gave me the name and number for their sister company that does shipping - Blue Lane Freight Shipping. I called, the young lady asked me for the weight and dimensions of the tractor, which I provided. I had a quote emailed to me literally within five minutes. I called Dan back and said it looks like it’s possible for us to get this done. We had a quick conversation, and made the deal. Here are some things to know… - Blue Lane Shipping 855-978-5695 - Dispatcher: Tawnya Johnson (sent the quote) - They will not insure the shipment unless it’s fully crated. Mine was shipped on a skid Dan made. He also covered it with a furniture blanket and an old John Deere cover and strapped it down. - Your seller has to be willing to put it on a skid, drain the gas and oil (leave tranny oil in) and deliver it to a local Fastenal store. - You need to make an appointment at the store for drop off - no walk ins. - The receiving store will call you when it arrives. - They will not commit to shipping times, mine took 1 week. - The payment for shipping is paid at the pickup store by credit/debit card, no checks or cash. - The Fastenal store uses a forklift to load, unload and reload the machine onto your trailer. I hope this helps anyone who may have been thinking of a mower they like, but felt the distance/shipping made it unattainable. Paul

As with most days, today I was wearing one of my Wheel Horse shirts. My brother stopped by and he had one on, then a little while later my son in law stopped by and he too had one on! It wasn’t too long before we were laughing about it, so I had my bride take a picture.

Some pictures from my first day at the 2024 Wheel Horse Collector’s Club Show!

Only a few days to go before this years UK Wheel Horse round up. Not enough drivers to get to the arena, so I've added a spec lift to my GT14... Easy to fit and remove - does a great job - though might need a few lbs on the front end.

I just received the WHCC yearly news letter that included this article on Howard. For those that may not receive the news letter, I felt it should be made available.

We got this tractor back in the fall of 2018 thanks to our friends @buckrancherBrian and his wife Jo. Of course being a mid 60s square hood short frame it was destined for BBT/ Trina. Brian had already rebuilt the carb and fuel pump. Trina and I did a few other things back then too. Wiring. General cleanup. New transmission seals. HD rear hubs. Cleaner gas tank. Etc..... After running it nearly problem free for 5 years we pulled Pigpen aside for some much needed maintenance. Here's a few pics to start....

I was offered this vintage machinists tool box by @Handy Don who was kind enough to even bring it to me. It is from the 50s. It was missing two drawers and at some time in its life it was exposed to water. Some veneer in back had delaminated and broken off. As soon as he offered it I knew right away its future function. My oldest son has given similar machinists boxes , but in metal to each one of the boys. So I am giving this one to my granddaughter. She can keep her little stuff in it and it can also be a future jewelry box. It’s Union Tool Chest model B20 from 1950. It is stamped on the interior with number 394 which I am sure it’s the serial #. Made two new drawers and repaired veneer. Also lined all the drawers with new felt this time lining the entire inside surface of drawers . Removed the old damaged finish , restained it and applied some wipe on poly . Finally cleaned and reinstalled all hardware. Even found a reproduction factory tag for it. I just need to find two correct little pulls for new drawers. Rather than being discarded it now will have a new life and purpose for at least another generation. Thank you @Handy Don Before After Before After