Documenting my 854 refurbishing project

[dtallon 320]

I'm coming up on my 1 year anniversary as a Wheel Horse owner, and also nearing completion of a refurbishing project on the 854 I bought a year ago.  While I'm waiting for the paint to cure before I put it all back together, and since it's too hot this week to work in the garage anyway, I thought I would put up a thread documenting the progress the past year.  I always find motivation and some good ideas from other people's project posts, so I hope I can return the favor.  Some of this is repeat from a few of my other posts, but I thought it would be nice to have it all in one thread.  I will add to the post as I track down the pictures and get it written. 

To recap, late last July I bought the 854 as a non-runner.  It was all original, complete, and other than surface rust, in pretty decent shape. It had a mower deck, rear slot hitch, and snowplow bracket on the rear axle.   I had admired the round hoods for a while, and hadn't seen that many come up for sale on Craigslist in the area.  I paid $200 for it, which I felt was a little risky not really knowing what it was going to need to get it running, but I convinced myself I had to have it.   

 

 

 

 

After getting it home and getting it cleaned up, I did a little more detailed inspection.  It didn't have any major signs of abuse, but the hood was cracked at the seam on one side, and the seat was cracked too. I got a different seat for it from the seller, so the seat wasn't really a problem.  Getting it running also turned out to not be too difficult, it just needed some fresh gas and the spark plug wire connection cleaned at the coil.  Once running, however, it did smoke. It would somewhat clear up if sitting idle or cruising around the yard, but under load the smoke was persistent.  Also with fresh fluids and gas, I could could see that the gas tank seal leaked (surprise, surprise) as did the axle and brake seals in the transmission.   

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlFowHy9zjY

 

I like all my tractors in my collection to have a purpose, and this one was to be my "garden tractor".  Part of the attraction of this one was the slot hitch and Wheel Horse attachments that could be used in tending a garden.  My initial plan was to stop the leaks, and eventually rebuild the engine to clear up the smoke, but otherwise leave it original.  I liked the patina and original decals it had, and I knew I wouldn't feel guilty about using it if I left it in it's "work clothes".   

 

The axle seals were easy to get from my local Toro dealer (Part No. 100863).  Getting them installed was not so easy.  One hub came right off, but the other was stuck.  This explained the chunk it had out of it, likely from an earlier, unsuccessful attempt to change that leaky seal.  It took alot of heat to get it off, but it did eventually come off.  While I had the torch out and the rear of the tractor partially disassembled, I replaced the pin for the slot hitch.  It also took alot of heating and beating, but it did come out.  New seals on the axles and brake were successful in keeping the oil in, and I put on a new shifter boot to keep the water and dirt out.  Following the advice I found on here, a 6" hitch pin did the trick as a replacement for the slot hitch.   

 

 

As luck would have it, around this time I found a Commando 8 come up for sale nearby for $100.  I bought it mainly for the decentbar tires it had on it and the hopes that I could just swap in the K181 Kohler from it to resolve my engine smoking problem.  As it turned out, the engine on it was a K161 from a 753.  It ran OK, but smoked worse than the engine I already had.  Still, the tires were good, and it provided me with a drawbar and a good hub to replace the one with the chunk missing.   

 

 

My repair of the leaky fuel tank resulted in only limited success.  Fortunately, all the screws came out without breaking any.  A couple were missing, and there looked like some kind of caulk or form-a-gasket on there, so obviously this wasn't the first attempt to fix the tank (nor would it be the last).  I could have bought the tank gasket (Part No. 4452) from Toro, but since I already had the supplies on hand I decided to make my own gasket and seal the tank with Red-Kote.  I traced the tank and cut out a gasket on 1/32 gasket paper.  After installing the new gasket, I coated it with the Red-Kote.  Despite my best efforts, it still leaked.  Gas was no longer cascading down the side of the pedestal, but it was still slowly seeping out.  Still, that was enough of an improvement for the time being to feel comfortable using it.   

 

 

 

Working this tractor is what I got it for, so I was extremely happy to find a plow and cultivator for it to go with the disc I already had.  A fall plow day nearby provided me a good opportunity to give the old 'horse a little workout.  It didn't impress anybody there with it's rusty complexion, smoking engine and yellow wheel weights, but I was pretty happy that the little 8HP tractor could plow with the "big boys".   

 

 

 

 

Shortly after the plow day, I plowed up the garden at my house.  It was still fun, but neither my wife nor the neighbors seemed to appreciate the engine smoke much.  The hood also was rattling some, and I was concerned about the crack getting worse.  I decided my next projects on the tractor would be to address those issues.  I took the hood to a local weld shop to repair.  They did a decent job, but it had obviously been repaired.  So much for that all original appearance.  I also inspected the engine.  Tolerances were within spec, so I planned to just do a hone, new rings and new valves/guides.  Before I got around to that though, Christmas came and the 854 slid to the back burner for most of the winter.  

 

 

That's probably more than enough for now.  I'll continue my story to cover the work on it since then in the next few days.

 

Dave  

[KC9KAS 4,741]

Thank you for the detailed information on your work...And pictures too!

[littleredrider 409]

Looks like it will be an easy redo, appears to be in pretty good shape. Mine looks ten times worse!!!! But I did fix the frame on mine and paint it!!

[bean 85]

great pics and tractor.

that first pic reminds me of my 2 grandsons.   they were always helping take care of any project, big or small.   great memories    

they are 14 and 11 now, and take care of most of the yard work.   seems like they were that small yesterday

[Digger 66 3,478]

Cool ! 

Can't wait for the story to continue ...

[Tribefan1979 1]

I, too, am restoring an 854! Im looking forward to the rest of your story so I can follow along with my own rebuild. Thanks!

[dclarke 4,032]

Dave, Nice horse you got there!    I like those rear tires.

[Ken B 3,164]

The Firestone ags really do give it a nice stout look. I take it you are going to leave the original paint on it, good plan there. Maybe you could paint the weights red with a black center (maybe even a Vinylguy wheel weight decal?) and maybe then they won't look so John Deereish. Nice to see she is earnin her keep and is a workin girl!

[dtallon 320]

I appreciate the comments guys, although hopefully I don't disappoint you with a few changes I have made since then.  I am finding I thought I took alot of pictures, but don't have the ones I wish I had to help tell the story.  Thankfully, I did take alot of detailed ones to help me get it put back together right.  Anyway, back to the story... 

 

Through most of the winter, the 854 sat in a corner of the garage untouched while I worked on a few other projects. Starting on the engine rebuild remained in the back of my mind though.  One project that delayed the 854 was the purchase of a John Deere 110 fix-er-upper.  It was one I bought to resell to add a little cash to the garden tractor fund.  The plan was to sell it whole if it didn't need much repair, or in parts if it was too far gone.  It ended up being the later.  However, the engine in it appeared to have been rebuilt and ran pretty well.  My plans for the 854 quickly evolved from an engine rebuild to an engine swap.  Some might cringe at the thought of a "Deere" engine in a "Horse", but truth-be-told, there was blue paint under the green, so this engine wasn't a "Deere" to begin with either.  Regardless of where it was installed when it started it's life, it is a Kohler K181S and I figured it would work just fine in the 854.  

 

 

 

As often happens in this hobby, my "free" motor probably cost me more in the long run than just rebuilding the original one.  I was OK with a rusty red engine in a rusty red tractor, but a (mostly) green engine in a red tractor just didn't seem right to me.  Just repainting the engine crossed my mind, but I thought a shiny red engine in a rusty red tractor would look odd too.  No, if I was going to repaint the engine, I figured I may as well do the rest of the tractor too.  So, I started planning for a more comprehensive overhaul of the tractor. 

In late March things started to thaw and I started working on prepping the 854 for some new paint.  I took the tractor completely apart.  Tear down went well and I thankfully I only had one bolt twist off.  

 

 

 

I don't have a sandblaster, so my main tool was the angle grinder with a wire wheel to strip the paint off.  On most parts, I went down to bare metal, although on some castings I'm sure there was some paint left in the crevices of the rough cast surface.  After spending most of an afternoon with the grinder and still having a pretty sizeable pile of parts left to finish, I started to get discouraged.  I had the main chassis parts done, so I decided to finish those out and come back later to finish stripping the rest.   

 

 

The weather cooperated and I was able to paint this round of parts outside.  It was ideal with moderate temperatures, little wind, low humidity and no bugs.  I used Rustoleum Regal Red rattle cans.  I was very happy with how the paint turned out, and the color was really great. 

 

 

 

I didn't want gas to seep out of the tank and make a mess of a new paint job, so I re-redid the gas tank seal.  It was not fun to strip the Red-Kote back off the tank, but I knew I needed to if I stood any chance of getting it to seal better this time.  I made my own gasket again, but this time I coated the gasket with Red-Kote as I put the tank together.  I then coated the inside not once, but twice with Red-Kote.  After letting it dry for a few days, I tested it and thankfully, this time there was no leaking or seeping. 

 

 

My first milestone was to rebuild it to the rolling chassis stage, so to get there I wanted to redo the tires & wheels along with the rest of the tractor.  The original turfs held air (with tubes), but they left something to be desired for traction when trying to turn the tractor with an implement on the back.  To help that, I ordered some tri-ribs.  I liked the look of the 23x8.50-12 Firestone's from the Commando on the rear, but I came across a great deal on a set of 6-12 bar tires and thought those might be better for general use. I will definitely keep the Firestone's for when I need a little more flotation or just want a beefier look though. The 6-12's had very little wear from use, but were weathered and cracked.  To be safe, I put tubes in them when I installed them. I used Rustoleum Canvas White for the wheels.  The Almond seemed too dark and although the Canvas looks light in some of the pictures, it seemed to match some of the original paint on the wheels.

 

 

 

 

[littleredrider 409]

Looks great so far!!! Not quite were mine is at the moment, but not far behind. One thing that I really like bout the 854, or any horse for that matter, is they can be tore apart in a million pieces in about an hour!!!!! Keep up on the pics, it's getting me motivated to get mine done!!!!

[dtallon 320]

Here's the next "episode" of my restoration project:

 

Seeing the main chassis parts all back together provided the motivation I needed to press on with the rest of the project.  Unfortunately, an extended trip overseas for work sidetracked the project temporarily.  That trip, combined with catching back up on honey-do's around the house after I got back, caused over a month to elapse with no progress.   When I finally did get back to it, I started in on the motor.  The Kohler from the Deere wasn't a direct replacement for the one in the 854.  I had to change some components around like the oil pan, fuel pump and governor.  Since the engine appeared to have been rebuilt, and ran well, I decided the only update would be new gaskets as I swapped the components around.   

 

 

Another month went by as I took the engine apart, prepped and painted components, and put it back together.  It looked great, but the big question was, would it run when I got it back in the tractor?  The moment of truth arrived.  It cranked..., it ran!... it died.  And after several dozen attempts, that was all I could get it to do.  Finally I tracked it down to the fuel pump. It was strange that the pump worked OK before I took the engine apart, but did not now.  Maybe I damaged it as I was cleaning it up.  I swapped it out for the fuel pump that came on the Commando engine I had, and thankfully, that did the trick!  The only visible smoke was from some of the fresh paint burning off the engine.  Success! 

 

 

The excitement of seeing the tractor "alive" again gave me the final boost to push through prepping and painting the remaining parts.  It took a fair amount of time with the grinder to get the parts all cleaned up, but I finally did get them done.  Since the weather wasn't as conducive to painting this time of year, I had to set up my makeshift paint booth.  I have used it for a few projects and it works pretty well.  I still just use the rattle cans, but having a controlled environment makes a world of difference in the results.   

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, the paint booth couldn't make up for the weather and a little over-enthusiasm on my part.  I just did a single coat on most of the parts, but to get a really smooth finish on the hood and belt guard, I did two full coats.  It looked great when I was done, but as it dried it started to wrinkle up in a few spots.  Not sure if it was all because of to too much paint or if the heat and humidity played a part, but either way it was disappointing to see.  

 

 

My neighbor told me it looked fine and I should be satisfied, but I didn't want to put all this work in only to have those little imperfections taunt me every time I looked at the tractor.  So, I stripped the hood and guard back down and redid them.  The second time I was much more careful, and the parts dried wrinkle-free.  

[953 nut 55,155]

   You are doing a fantastic job. I like the spray booth, what kind of filtration and exhaust fan are you using?   

 

 

[dtallon 320]

My "paint booth" is pretty simple.  Just PVC and plastic drop cloths.  For the filter, I use two 20" box fans in series.  I use two pleated 20" x 20" furnace filters, one in front of the first fan as a primary and one between the two as a secondary.  Some of the paint gets through (or around) the primary, but the secondary catches pretty much all of the rest.  I at least partially open the garage door to make sure I get fresh air into the garage, and will put a 3rd box fan on there if the wind is blowing against the fans.  I have to change the primary filter pretty frequently, but it does keep the overspray from getting out into the garage.  

[dtallon 320]

With great excitement I can say the tractor is finally "done".  I don't have pictures of the finished product downloaded yet, but here are a few more leading up to the finale...

 

I wanted to make extra sure the paint was fully cured before I bolted things back together.  While I waited for that, I decided to take care of some of the little details.  The first thing I tackled was the engine serial number tag.  When I got the tractor, the tag was in good shape.  Unfortunately, when I was doing my initial cleaning/degreasing, the Super Clean cleanser I used took the black paint off the tag.  Fortunately, since there was still contrast between the letters and background.   I scanned the tag into the computer and I played with the contrast.  By reversing the colors, and a fair amount of image cleanup, was able to create a decal to repair the tag.  I used decal paper I normally use for models, so time will tell how well it holds up to this application.  

 

 

My next task was the hood and engine cover lettering.  I surveyed this site for tips and tricks on how to do it, but ultimately I decided to just paint it by hand.  I was nervous about messing something up and having to repaint the whole hood, but I was very careful and it turned out great.

 

 

 

The last little detail I wanted to fix before putting the last parts on the tractor was preventing the seat from rubbing on the fenders.  I added a spacer made from 3/4" thick wood to raise the seat up.  It was just the right amount so that it isn't too obvious it is higher, but enough that I don't squash the seat down into the fenders.  I'm not sure if it was the spacer or my mediocre welding of the original mounting plate on a replacement seat pan (the original pan was cracked pretty bad), but the seat felt a little wobbly when I bolted it up.  To resolve that, I squared the front hole in the seat, which conveniently line up with the front hole on the spring, and added a second carriage bolt to better constrain the seat.  

 

 

 

 

And with that, all that was left was putting a few parts back on and applying the decals.  I will get those pictures downloaded from the camera and uploaded here in the next day or so.  

 

Dave

[AMC RULES 37,130]

Obviously, it all looks really good, but man...I gotta say, that decal really turned out nice.    

[dtallon 320]

Thanks for the compliment on the decal.  Like I said, time will tell how well it holds up.  Since it was just a black overlay and I still had the original plate with the serial and spec stamped in it, I thought I would give it a try.  I left all the rest of the decals to Redo Your Horse, and they turned out great.  

[dtallon 320]

And now for the grand finale... I've got the quick hitch to add back still, but here is the tractor fully put back together and decals installed.  I'm very happy with how it turned out.  The paint doesn't have the automotive quality gloss that some restorations do, but for doing it myself in my garage with rattle cans, I am very happy.  The decals from Redo your Horse look great.  I can't wait to try out a few implements and take it to a show.  So far, I have just ridden it around the yard pulling the kids in the wagon.  

 

Dave

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CasualObserver 3,408]

Very nicely done.  Thank you for the great write up!  This thread gets a 5 star vote from me!

[dyt4000 2]

AWESOME!!! Nice work!!!

[horsesaver98 18]

good job  

[Bluffhunter 37]

Picture perfect !!!   Awesome job Dave !!!  

[Jake Kuhn 1,555]

Very VERY Nicely done! 

[Tom. 70]

absolutely brilliant job, looks amazing!! some awesome pictures you have taken too, very well done to you, I hope you have lots of fun with it!

Tom

[meadowfield 2,570]

Fab job! Well done

[rmaynard 15,434]

I have waited to comment until the "finale", but I must say that the restoration along with the commentary is just great. All the frustrations of the past year are soon forgotten when you finally turn the key and bring her to life again. Bravo!

As a side note, the last couple of pictures (with the garden as a backdrop) are terrific.