New member here

[Jimway 26]

 Greetings to all. New member here. I have recently rescued a Wheel Horse from the depths of a ravine which was an adventure in itself not to mention a running battle with an outlaw band of yellow jackets intent upon grievous assault and bodily injury inflicted on yours truly. 

I was doing a job in a nearby small town and lamented to the client that although I greatly admired the Wheel Horse tractors, I was, sad to say, not an owner of a single one. Client pointed toward a ravine out behind a big old barn and stated that there was one down there somewhere. It had been washed down the cliff in a rather heavy downpour that had lasted three days or so and had been down there ever since the side of the hill gave way. My heart skipped a beat when she said I could have it if I could figure out a way to get it out of there. Light of heart and with approximately a full inch of air under my feet I climbed about and eventually fell quite a ways down the cliff out back of the barn. When I came to rest I quickly looked about to confirm that there had been no witnesses to the rather ungraceful arrival down the hill and then proceeded to sort out some contusions, broken bones, and such. After searching around the side of the hill where one has to lay down on his side to stand up, you might imagine the joy of finding four wheels peeking out from under a rotted wooden pallet that they were still attached to. Underneath the four wheels is a red tractor complete with a green and brown camouflage covering. Recovery of the machine took two days during which I have noted that there have been some recent changes as far as nature is concerned, namely the earth has become much harder than I remember. The air has become thinner also. I have detected an alarming increase in the force of gravity too. Some of you may be better able to explain these physiological changes. Some past logging experience came in helpful to return the tractor topside. Once we finally had the tractor loaded up and were just leaving, I was a little less excited when the client stated offhandedly that there was a mowing deck and roto tiller attachment down the hill there somewhere too. Back down the hill I go but sure enough, I eventually find a big cutting deck and even further down the hill is the rototiller attachment. I find that I am finally the proud owner of a Toro Wheel Horse tractor. Looks like it says 520 on the lower side of the hood. Currently, the machine is being cleaned of years of mud,moss, and green slime. I am also in the process of eviction of the bee infestation. It is in surprisingly good condition considering the circumstances.  Mower is about 60 inches across. Still has red paint all under the deck. Motor looks to be liquid cooled, and spins free. Absolutely cant wait to get it cleaned up and see if it will actually function. I feel that it is going to be great adventure.

[ebinmaine 67,422]

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Absolutely marvelous story!

 

 

Pics would be helpful to identify the tractor.  

[SylvanLakeWH 25,535]

 and …

[Pullstart 62,834]

  What a bout of stubbornness to get that thing retreived!  I like you already!  The 520! 60” deck! And tiller attachment are all great pieces of equipment.  You done well!

[Sparky-(Admin) 21,315]

 

  Liquid cooled? Maybe not a 520-H but a 520XI 

[Achto 27,565]

 

Looking forward to seeing some pictures. BTW any pictures during the recovery process? 

[953 nut 55,189]

6 hours ago, Jimway said:

the earth has become much harder than I remember. The air has become thinner also. I have detected an alarming increase in the force of gravity too.

Great introduction story, love the visuals.

I am well aware of these physiologic changes, they are related to OMS (old man syndrome) and all I can tell you for sure is that it doesn't get any better with age so you better get going on that 520 before things get any heavier.           

Being a liquid cooled engine you probably have a 520 xi, if so this service manual will probably be helpful.

 

[Pullstart 62,834]

520LXi 

 

Those are tough beasts!

 

Except their front axle pivot pin…

 

 

 

[rjg854 11,360]

 @Jimway, love the retrieval story, and looking forward to some pictures.

[oldlineman 1,481]

Welcome to the Forum, great info. and better people!

[Snoopy11 5,714]

13 hours ago, Jimway said:

Absolutely cant wait to get it cleaned up and see if it will actually function. I feel that it is going to be great adventure.

Hi! Welcome to our band of Red nuts...

We hope you stay around for a while and give us lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of pictures!!!

Don

[The Freightliner Guy 1,327]

to the forum you’ll find lots of nice people that will hopefully provide solutions to problems you may have with your tractor 

[cafoose 3,354]

1 hour ago, Snoopy11 said:

Hi! Welcome to our band of Red nuts...

Only when you drive an RJ or Suburban

[Ed Kennell 38,136]

 to the  Jim.

 

 Thanks for the interesting intro story.       Pics are required.

[sjoemie himself 3,068]

[Oldskool 6,643]

Welcome to the group. Sounds like quite an adventure you had, and congratulations on you find.

Can't wait to see pics of it.

[Jimway 26]

Thank you all so much for the kind words. Pics to follow shortly. The pallet that the machine was strapped to also had sides and a top and all of this undoubtedly contributed to saving the tractor. It has a dent in the back just below the seat. The seat is toast along with a rubber boot under the steering wheel. During the recovery I made use of a couple of trees, one at the lower end and one at the upper end. Attached pulleys to each of the tree trunks about 30 feet up and slung a cable between them, and then ran another pulley  down the cable and picked up the tractor which we put spreader bars under and pulled it right up the hill suspended 15 to 20 feet in the air, kind of like 'high lead logging'. Client was quite surprised to witness an old guy put on tree spurs and skinny up the trunk of a big fir tree. Tractor is fair sized and probably half a ton. I suspect that the odorous covering all over the machine is a mixture of used hay and grass clippings sprinkled amongst the droppings of cows, horses, and most likely pigs not to mention chickens. It appears to me that the owner of the property uses the area out behind the barn as a big compost pile. Client tells me that the tractor was on the back of a flatbed truck that was parked out back of the barn and everything went over the side when the waterlogged compost heap gave way. What a machine though. It may be newer than i first thought. Has a Kawasaki v twin liquid cooled engine in it that has a short driveline that goes to a hydrostatic pump attached to a cast iron rear transaxle, very robust looking. Hav'nt figured out the steering yet but the wheel spins free so there may be some damage down there. Looks like it has a high/low range in the trans axle. I think that the deck is raised and lowered hydraulically also. I'm very happy with the find and impressed with the engineering of the machine. It is just covered in mud and dirt and organic matter. I suspect that I'll be cleaning it for days. Could'nt help but race down to the the parts store and pick up a battery and key. I pulled the plugs and peeked down the bores and the engine is really clean. I removed more water than i would like to see when I drained the engine oil. Oil came out really clean though. I'm hoping that all of that water is just years of condensation. My chest was out to here when I gave it a little shot of fuel through the carb and it fired right off for a few revolutions. Carb is spotless inside. I can hear an electric fuel pump down somewhere when the key is turned on. Once I get the transaxle and hydraulic reservoir drained and refilled I'll flush the fuel line and see what happens. PS, I just looked at the manual above and there it is. Do we call it an XI series or a 520? I'm guessing that if we come up with a serial number we can get a build date. Thanks again to all.

[dcrage 628]

Refer to it as “520 XI”. There were 4 or 5 different XIs made (different engines [Kohler, Kawasaki,..]; different sizes [18 hp, 20 hp, 22 hp,..] and even a diesel model 23 hp Vanguard(?). 520 is usually refers to the older 520-H and 520-8 models. 

Edited September 15, 2022 by dcrage

[jay bee 896]

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What a great story and told by a great storyteller.  Good luck with the tractor and we’re all waiting for the pictures. 

[ineedanother 1,369]

Welcome to the stables  and sharing the adventure  Sounds like you're off to a great start!

[Jimway 26]

It's up and running. Lot's to sort out. Thing fired up in forward, so much to my surprise that a bad word escaped, and did it's best to run into 'The Silver Bullet' (my favorite pickup) so I need to figure out the neutral setting on the pedal control. Not a whole lot of power. Took a little bit of concentration on my part to get the mowing deck attached. I might need to procure an engineering degree to figure out the rototiller mounting when the time comes. I'm worried that I might be going back down the cliff for more parts that may have been scattered about. The machine mows for a short period and abruptly signals it's discontent with a backfire followed by a stall. It will fire right back up. This thing is a Cadillac though. There is nothing wrong with the steering, come to find out, as it is powered by the hydraulics. Even the mowing deck is fingertip control. I like it. Even has a gas gauge. I've got a new air filter element and fuel filter on the way. Hopefully this will help improve the machines temperament. No coolant in the oil so far. I think I darn near ran the well dry power washing it so that it doesn't smell like low tide at the chicken farm. I would like to pull the fenders and such to clean under there and get a look at the control setup.  

[Pullstart 62,834]

That rear fender is some thick stuff, make sure you use that logging cable to lift it off!  Great story follow ups!

[Pullstart 62,834]

It’s a terribly blurry picture, but under the left side of the seat should be your model/serial numbers!

 

 

[The Freightliner Guy 1,327]

On 9/14/2022 at 2:20 PM, cafoose said:

Only when you drive an RJ or Suburban

@cafoose what if your rj is orange 

[cafoose 3,354]

13 hours ago, The Freightliner Guy said:

@cafoose what if your rj is orange 

Orange or red or any other color don't get too close to the heat of the engine