Ugly restoration of a freebee A-80-E

[HankB 16]

Some time ago my son and I went to look at a Wheel Horse tractor advertised as needing some work. 'll say! It actually needs quite a bit. But before we drove off, the seller said "OK, I'll make you a special deal - free." So we took it.

I spent some time with it to get it running and here's what I did and found:

1) Spark plug hole stripped. I put in an insert.

2) Cylinder scored. I'll leave that be. It runs as and I think a proper repair is beyond our budget.

3) Front tires so badly cracked I can't even imagine tubing them. Son will look for sale tires at TSC to replace them. Not worried about maintaining the turf profile for his uses.

4) One rear seems to be holding some air. The other leaks at the rim and slides at the rim. I'll R & I the leaking one and see if I can clean up the seating surface on the wheel. If push comes to shove, I'll tube it.

5) Seat is shredded. I'll discard the padding and my son can tape some padding down if he wishes.

6) Transaxle does not pop out of any gears. But there is some play at the left axle shaft so it is no longer sound.

7) battery does not charge, but stator is continuous and not shorted to ground so I think a pair of new diodes for a few dollars from Radio Shack will fix that.

8) Deck has perforations but spindles and idlers feel OK.

9) brake pedal is broken, brake disk very rusty. We live a pretty flat part of the country so plan to do w/out brakes. Fallback is to put the tractor in gear and turn the key off.

Our plan at present is to do the minimum necessary to get it working well enough to mow. I cleaned up the carb to get it running, but I really need to replace gaskets and such.

Where can you help? If you have some tires that would fit the front for real cheap that would help. I don't care if they're ugly on the outside. I've seen some that deteriorate on the outside but look fine on the inside. I'm thinking that something like that would be sufficient to keep this rolling. My son has a 600' tree line that he can't mow with his Cub Cadet CUT with 3 point mower and wouldn't mind having something smaller to do that once in a while.

If you have a vertical shaft engine or a short block for this one (Tecumseh VM80) or similar that you would let go real cheap, we'd consider replacing that. Surprisingly, the Tecumseh we have doesn't smoke too bad, but I don't know how fast it will deteriorate.

We'd probably consider the sheet metal for the mower deck too, but if those fit other more popular models, it is likely worth more then we wish to pay. My son has a welder and doesn't mind the chance to patch the deck we have, so this is not a high priority.

I'd offer to trade, but I don't have much. I do have a New Vac short frame plow that I'm trying to sell. (Already sold the rear axle bracket for it.)

And if I could find a brake pedal for cheap enough - what the heck - I'd have a go at getting the brakes working. I saw one on ebay for $15 (shipping included) and that's just a bit more than we wish to pay.

I'm in the far west Chicago 'burbs which probably matters as shipping costs could put anything heavy out of our budget.

If you have any other suggestions that would help, don;t hesitate to offer them up. And thanks for reading tis far.

best,

hank

[Kelly 1,035]

If you feel like a drive, I'm in lower mid MI. I have a tractor like that I would give you, it's not complete but I'm sure it has parts, and I think I have other parts to fit the small machines I would sell very cheap.

[HankB 16]

If you feel like a drive, I'm in lower mid MI. I have a tractor like that I would give you, it's not complete but I'm sure it has parts, and I think I have other parts to fit the small machines I would sell very cheap.

Hi Kelly,

That's very cool. Many thanks for the offer. I'll PM you for details.

best,

hank

[HankB 16]

I'm revisiting this tractor. The original plan was to get it running and turn it over to my son. He would get the deck repaired and working and use it for some mowing that he can't do with his Cub. So I got it running, got the rear tires to hold air (don't ask unless you like ugly repairs!) and delivered it to him.

Then he saw an Electro 12 by the side of the road at a decent price and asked if I wanted it. I said yes, so he bought it and sent him a check. He never cashed it. Instead he tried out the Electro 12 and decided it would meet his needs better than an A-80-E. So, the good news is that we're now both WH fans. And he's got a pretty decent tractor. Bad news is that my dreams of restoring an Electro 12 have been dashed. Instead I get the A-80-E back.

I'm going to go through the A-80-E in a little more detail. I might even paint it to make it look sharp. Right now I'm in the process of taking it apart.

Many thanks to Kelly for providing a parts tractor. I finally made it over to see his collection this last weekend. I'm glad I don't have to compete with that! And now I get to learn about the differences between an A-80-E and B-81. And what is required to adapt parts between the two. :wh:

[Save Old Iron 1,573]

You can learn many things from working on the humble A series. You have made a very realistic appraisal of what needs to be done. Most of the work can be accomplished for a reasonable price.

Just remember, when all is said and done, the A series is a LAWN tractor meant for cutting grass and a light load in a cart behind it. I am working on an LT1137 refurb for my wife to use instead of a yanking a hand cart around the yard. I believe it is most likely the same as the A series you have.

Who knows, the LT may end up with a new color - IH red to match the others !