Is this a Wheel Horse zero turn?

[Challenger 27]

This is being advertised locally. Is it really a Wheel Horse product? Any idea on model or history?

[wingrider 21]

WOW that's one fine looking machine there. Where can I find one?????

Wingrider

[CRE1992 135]

They are garbage. They have eaton 7 hydros which burn up easily. And it is probably a 616z

[sscotsman 166]

Looks like its a Wheel Horse "in name only"..

googling model 616z shows its a 1990-ish Toro offering, that has no historic Wheel Horse

DNA whatsoever, and just had some red paint and WH decals slapped on it for marketing purposes..

a sad example of a "good name" being used to sell low-end machines of dubious quality..

perhaps its a blessing that Toro discontinued the Wheel Horse name when they did, because it made this is a rare

occurance with the well respected Wheel Horse label! not nearly as bad as other names..Cub Cadet has had this problem for decades now..

Scot

[Kelly 1,029]

I've been told the decks with a few things swapped will fit a WH, my neighbor up the road has one something like this, his has a 24hp Onan in it, but I see it sets in the field near the house this year and started mowing around it, I need to see what's up with it, maybe a good motor or deck.

[546cowboy 301]

Although I do not agree with the above statement that these were junk, the Hydro's are the weak link. That looks like a 616Z and they mow great when they are taken care of. They were made in 1990 and there is also a 612Z with a 12.5 hp. Onan. They were also a commercial mower and are built well. Heavy frame and the 616Z had a 16 hp. Onan with a 42" deck the 612Z had a 38" deck. I know where there are two of them with good hydro's, one for $350 OBO and one with no engine for $100.

The 700 series ie. 724 where made later by Dixie Chopper for Toro. You see those every now and then on CL.

[gomer gump 8]

looks like a modified marine corp gamma goat or mule , korean cadaliac or an iranian tank any way i think it,s cool oooorah

[Lane Ranger 10,992]

I beleive Dixie Chopper located in Fillmore, Indiana (about 5 miles east of Greencastle) contracted with Toro to make the 616 model and you will see a lot of early Dixie Shopper parts on that zero turn.

[wh500special 2,237]

The tractor pictured is a Toro-Wheel Horse 600 series. Probably a 616Z with a twin cylinder Onan vertical shaft engine. A 12 hp (612Z) was also offered and I think a 620 20-horse version. SD and RD decks ranging from 38" to 52" were offered on these.

These are every bit a Toro-Wheel Horse product. The 42" decks were shared with our tractors although the hangers are different. The 52" was also used - with different hangers - on the 260 and 5xi series. I think the 52" deck has its roots in some older Toro equipment like small Groundsmasters. They appeared in 1990 and lasted a few years. They were a consumer/semi-pro type of thing, but were not el cheapos.

As mentioned, the weak link tends to be the integrated twin hydrostat transmission mounted to an aluminum lawn tractor type transaxle. The whole thing is one unit and contains two transmissions (Eaton 7's as mentioned above) and the final drive. It was really an innovative package and brought zero turn capability into a more reasonably priced range. They were primarilly a mower, but WH did offer snow blades for these as well.

They share nothing with the larger 700 series which were developed with (perhaps by?) Dixie Chopper. The 700 series started around 1985/6/7 with the 5018 (50" deck, 18-hp Briggs vert shaft) and eventually evolved into the 718, 720, and 724 models (horiz shaft engines from Kohler and Onan). All were chain drive crude machines with Eaton 7 units. Completely different chassis than the 600 series.

All of this stuff worked quite well when new, but time has a way of showing the weaknesses of a design. In the case of both zero turn series the weakest link ends up being the hydro transmissions. Can't say any of them were junk since they did what they needed to do. But with use and abuse does come some revealing of character traits.

If it's cheap and operable, I'd buy it. But I like wierd stuff.

Steve

[Nick 13]

If they weren't abused the 600 series held up well. One problem was that unlike todays Zs the 600 series did not kill the engine when the brake was left on so if the hydro controls were folded in and pushed wide open It could spit the gears out the bottom of the case. That could also happen if it was abused or used to pull something a Z wasnt built to pull.

As Steve said the 42" rear and Side discharge decks were from the GTs. They did add a blade that was sharpened closer to the center on the Z mower, I dont know if it helped performance or not. The 38" deck was a nice high vac bagger deck that I personally chose over the larger 42" deck when i purchased a new 616 in 1990. My dealer didn't like to install the big 52" deck thinking it was a bit to much for the unit and would point people to the 700 series for larger yards.

My own mower in 1990 or 91.

[wheelhorse656 20]

I saw a couple for sale here a few months ago but they were zturn and built a lot better Than that rolling turd...

Any ideas on what the ones I saw might have been?

[Nick 13]

The 600 series were very good lawn mowers and very well built for their time. Again this was 1989 when they came out and there wasnt even much else in the market for homeowner zero turns.

[6bg6ga 272]

I'd say its a Wheel Horse. That's what my manual says.

[Indianajohn 53]

Got a 724Z myself. 72" deck, 24 hp Onan engine. Yes, the 700 series were built by Dixie Chopper. You might not consider them to be a "true" Wheel Horse, but certainly not junk. It's true that the Eaton hydro units where the weak links, but they can be rebuilt and good used unit are still around if you look. Heavy duty decks that hold up quite well and a beefy frame made for a pretty decent ZT for their time.