And now...the Back Stories

[953 nut 55,196]

33 minutes ago, PeacemakerJack said:

way to link a single post from a different thread.

All you need to do is highlight (turn it blue) the text and photos you want and with the cursor inside the blue area "Right Click" then select "Copy". Now go to the new post you want to make it appear in and open the reply box (or edit one of your existing posts) and "Right Click" and select "paste" and the complete copy will appear.

God was looking out for me in spite of my foolishness.

I just copied this text of yours because I enjoyed your acknowledgement of how good God is to us!      

[AMC RULES 37,130]

55 minutes ago, 953 nut said:

All you need to do is highlight (turn it blue) the text and photos you want

 

 How do you do that?  

AKA...cut & paste.  

 

Edited November 11, 2017 by AMC RULES

[953 nut 55,196]

1 hour ago, AMC RULES said:

cut & paste.

That was my feeble attempt at explaining how to do a cut and paste. 

[PeacemakerJack 10,738]

You did a great job explaining it! I have done lots of that from my computer. I do ALOT of my posting on the RS from my smart phone and I don’t usually think of copy and paste on my phone although I know it has that capability. What I was curious is to know can one single post be selected and transferred into another thread by a user/supporter?  If not—copy and paste it is!  Thanks guys!  

 

So—to bring us back on topic:

Dad plowing the heavy clay soil garden back in about 1977 with his fabricated Bolens plow taken from a scrapped out 1950’s walk behind.  Note the chains and “repurposed flywheel” for weight!  

This was me at that point—

A little to young to be plowing the garden but I’m sure I wanted to be!

Edited November 11, 2017 by PeacemakerJack

[PeacemakerJack 10,738]

Anyone else have an interesting story about their  or some cool older photos? I have really enjoyed what has been posted so far

[mmmmmdonuts 274]

This is me circa the early 90s. I am in the front of the trailer, my cousin is the big guy in the back and my little brother is behind me. My grandfather is driving. 

 

I remember "wrenching" with him as he used to call it when I was a child. He would give me the honor to mow his lawn. We would use that trailer in the back for the wood we would split to haul it up to the house for winter time, or to the truck to bring to camp. He taught me so much more than just working on and with the tractor. I learned how to use a chainsaw, table saw, log splitter. Did a bunch of wood projects with him growing up, starting with bird houses and moving on to chairs. 

 

Fast forward to 2013, I just bought my first house and he couldn't be more proud. He has the very early stages of dimentia at this point, but he is still very, very smart and lucid for an 87 year old. He tells me he has the perfect thing for me and the house. He brings me back to behind the garage and takes the tarp off the old '68 Raider 12. He tells me that this will be perfect for the new house and he was waiting for me to buy one one day. There is a flat rear tire and the battery is shot. So we take the rear tire off, bring it to the local mechanic and put a tube in it. We get a new battery, hook it up and had a minor electrical fire. We fix the wires afterwards and I bring it home. Since it was already late fall I put it in the shed until the spring time.

 

Fast forward to present day, my grandfather passed away in February, 11 days after the birth of my first child (daughter) and the Raider 12 that he gave me is still alive and well, mowing my lawn and moving firewood and anything else I ask of it. 

 

It has already spanned three generations. Hopefully it spans many more. 

 

 

4 months old watching Dad do an oil change...

Edited November 14, 2017 by mmmmmdonuts

[PeacemakerJack 10,738]

What a great story!  Thank you for taking the time to share it.  Every time that you use that tractor, you will think of your grandfather and the special times that you had on and around it.  You can pass that nostalgia on to your daughter in the upcoming years by creating new memories with her—like changing the oil!

 

 The pics are great as well

[Lane Ranger 10,968]

I have posted some of these family photos from the past before on Red Square but they still mean a lot to me.  The Wheel Horses in our family started with an RJ 1958  my dad bought used at an auction in 1961.  It had several garden attachments with it , including a garden plow. He paid $300 for it.  Years later when my brother David and I started to redo his 1965  Wheel Horse 1054 we leanred from out mother that she had saved up that $300 to buy a new sofa!

 

The first photo of of me, my brother David, my sister Cindy and my youngest sister Connie.   To this day, my brother still says Lane always got to drive!

 

My brother and I now have 24 or 25 Wheel Horse garden tractors between us of various models.

 

The second photo is my brother and I soon after the RJ 58 came to out house in April of 1961.  The third photo is 50 years later -after we purchased our first RJ from Clay and Tiffany Brooks in Roswell, Georgia.  (We now have 5 of them!

 

 

The fourth photo is the start of my grandkids and their appreciation for the Wheel Horse tractors.  Ava is ten now and gets to ride  and drive when she is hear in Indiana.

 

The fifth photo is Ava again in Illinois on one of my Lawn Rangers I had at the time in 2011.

 

The sixth photo is of my twin granddaughters Sara and Julia who want to ride the tractors or ride in the cart every summer they come to Indiana!

 

Passing on the old to the next generation is a big part of sharing the love of Wheel Horses!

 

 

 

 

 

[PeacemakerJack 10,738]

Lane--What a great batch of pictures!  Thank you for sharing them and the terrific family history.  Those grandkids of your's are sweethearts and i especially love the vintage photos above.  That one with your guys and the cowboy hats is epic (It belongs in a calendar!).  I'm trying to figure out if the bench that your sisters are siting on is attached to the wagon or if it is just resting on there?  You certainly have wheel horses in your blood!  I think it is great that you can share this hobby with your brother even if you do always get to drive!

 

So I've been waiting for the right time to post this picture and I will here.  This is the first riding lawnmower that my grandpa purchased in about 1966.  Before they bought this, my uncles push mowed the lawn.  My uncle Ken is the one on the REO.  He was upset because my dad was next in line and he actually did far more cutting on that than Ken did because he joined the military soon after graduation.  

Disregard the date.  It was that date that I took a picture of this slide with my camera and forgot to turn the auto date feature off.  I need to use my slide converter on this slide, I think I could manage even better resolution.  The car is my Uncle Bob's first car, a 1962 Pontiac Catalina with a 389 engine in it.  My Grandparents have been deceased for about a decade and a half now but my dad's uncle Roger still lives in that house with his family.  We hope to host a plow day there again in the next year or so. 

Edited November 14, 2017 by PeacemakerJack

[Lane Ranger 10,968]

PeacemakerJack:  Thank you!   The bench on that wagon was part of a set of two benches and a table my grandfather John Fabian made for our playhouse that my dad had made for us in our backyard.   We had about a 13 x 8 playhouse that was the rivl of the neighborhood!   I don't have a picture of that playhouse but the RJ Wheel Horse and a covered wagon that we had became another reason for kids in the neighborhood to hang out at "the Ralph House".

 

Another "horse"  that we have is an interesting mix of work from my grandfather Fabian, my dad, and my mother, who is a retired industrial blacksmith.   The rocking horse has been used by over fifty years of family kids and grandkids.   Currently, at my house and awaiting another use by a  forth grandchild.   The tail was made by my mother who is a knitter, and at one time had seven looms to make rugs,  blankets, etc.  The head, seat and body were wooden pieces that came from my grandfather Fabians garage when he moved to Barnes, Wisconsin in 1962.  The rails, stirrups and grab handle were made by my dad.

 

It is funny to me that you also mention "slides"  in your post as I have most of our family slides in my basement that I have not looked at in twenty or more years.   I was fortunate to buy a Kodak Carousel Projector and thirty or forty of the round slide projection cases years ago to store our 1960's and 1970's treasure trove of memories.  I need to do what you have done and take digital  photos of some of the best ones.

 

[WVHillbilly520H 10,373]

@PeacemakerJack, I know it's not a , but this is what got me into this hobby, around the summer of 1986 dad and I stripped his original CC down for a repaint as well as cleaned up the Allis Chalmers C up, then the 3rd weekend of every September there is a festival highlighting things from the past (in the late 1600's an Indian war party invaded and burnt several colonial forts throughout the valley in what is now the eastern panhandle of WV) so anything from that era through to what is considered antiques today are allowed in the parade, any ways my home is 12+/- miles from where it is held and dad not having a trailer I drove the AC there and back with dad in truck loaded with the CC just to display then drive it in the "TREASURE MOUNTAIN FESTIVAL" parade, had mom dig these photos out of us way back when, me on the CC and dad on the AC,  Jeff.

[PeacemakerJack 10,738]

 thanks for sharing that story and those classic pictures! I love it.  

 

I’ve been reading through my newly acquired book “Straight from the horses mouth” and have enjoyed the history and story behind the awesome and amazing Wheel Horse brand.  I have had and always will have a special place in my heart for Cub Cadet especially the IH built ones. I have multiples in my sheds that I enjoy using.

 

However, I find it fascinating that a father/son team could start a company out of their garage and, much like Apple or Microsoft, take it all the way to a segment leading entity. So much so that the huge corporate Giant IH decided that they needed to get in the action.  IH had monster “pockets” at the time and could “throw” at the Cub anything necessary to keep it advancing and they did a good job with R&D. However, Elmer and Cecil Pond were able to keep pace with that “giant” for the entire 60’s decade—awesome! I love our country where a dream of two hometown boys like that can become a reality!

 

Edited December 4, 2017 by PeacemakerJack

[formariz 11,987]

 

 

These two photos are just precious. Everyone should be so lucky not only for having photos like this but more important for what they represent. Longevity of family unity and love for the same things in life. Awesome.

[PeacemakerJack 10,738]

This thread got off to a good start and has been kinda hanging there since.  I really enjoy seeing these vintage pics and stories of the Horses that have been in your lives over the years. I certainly would like to see/hear more. Does anyone have anymore to share?

[hm12460 53]

Very cool thread.

[formariz 11,987]

On 12/29/2017 at 7:11 AM, PeacemakerJack said:

This thread got off to a good start and has been kinda hanging there since.  I really enjoy seeing these vintage pics and stories of the Horses that have been in your lives over the years. I certainly would like to see/hear more. Does anyone have anymore to share?

 

 

 

Well, since the thread has kind of stalled and in the interest of keeping it alive here goes our story. Not quite vintage but getting there. Our first Wheelhorse arrives at our place in 2005. Found being displayed at the local mower repair shop it just fell in love with us and had to follow us home. It was a happy day and life has not been the same since. I remember the wife asking immediately how much I spent on it and me answering that even if it was thousands of dollars and it was gone the next day it was worth it just by how happy it made us that day.

 

[JPWH 6,033]

I was looking for parts and information on my Raider 12 when I came across Red Square. I was poking around the various threads and found the models by year. I came across the 854 and the more I learned about this little tractor the more I wanted one so I started searching. It wasn't too long before I found this neglected little 854. 

The man I bought it from said it belonged to his grandfather and had been stored standing on the back wheels leaned against the barn for many years. The transmission and motor were both locked up. All four tires had been blown out. The gas cap was missing and the tank filled with a bird's nest and the spark plug was also missing along with the air filter assembly. But it was still 854 so I bought it and took it home. I did a build thread on it (hanks 854 rebuild). Thanks to some parts I had and parts from my son and his motor building skills, along with parts from some RS members I was able to have a nice 854.

After the big show last year we were rear ended and this little horse was damaged again.

Thanks to A to Z Tractors, @Bert, and @wallfish I now have all the parts to make this tractor whole again. As well as another 854 I had just purchased at the big show that was also on the trailer.

[ebinmaine 67,444]

6 hours ago, formariz said:

Not quite vintage but getting there. ........

it just fell in love with us and had to follow us home.......

It was a happy day and life has not been the same since

Doesn't have to be vintage... Mine only goes back a couple years with the mighty 

 

I love how you worded that.... Some folk say animals choose their owners and not the other way 'round. Obviously yours did.

5 hours ago, JPWH said:

The transmission and motor were both locked up. All four tires had been blown out. The gas cap was missing ..... and the spark plug was also missing along with the air filter assembly.

...

...and the tank filled with a bird's nest....

I've seen a lot of interesting Bird houses over the years and that's a new one to me.

 

How's the rebuild coming along?

 

[PeacemakerJack 10,738]

Thank you for sharing these stories guys.  These are part of the fabric of your lives.  I certainly like the above pictures from the 60’s and 70’s but I also love hearing how your first horse found you 5 or 10 years ago—especially when accompanied by cool photos like those you both (@formariz and @JPWH ) posted.  I have only been INTO the garden tractor hobby for about 9 years although dad’s 875  has been around my entire life.  Had I not gotten into the hobby (via a diesel 1772 Cub)

dad’s 875 would still be sitting in the corner of his barn neglected, worn, tired, and no longer used.  

 

But because of my interest in this Hobby piqued by researching and refurbishing my 1772, and you all welcoming in a yellow and white guy, Dad’s Iron Horse looks like this today! Life breathed into it for the third time!

 

I enjoy how these little red tractors have woven their way into your hearts like they have into mine...

[JPWH 6,033]

@ebinmaine I have the original 854 running but have not started the body work. I am currently working on the 6 speed 854. 

 

[Sarge 3,463]

I just picked up an 854 just before Thanksgiving - had one years ago and regretted selling it ever since (even had the HY-2 in perfect shape/working) . It just kept bugging me and a buddy asked if I wanted a horse from an Estate he was helping the widow clean up - another 854 in pretty good original condition . Won't be able to play with it until spring but I want it for no other reason than it's my age - if it will run it would be nice to have one model the same age as I am - and pretty amazing if you think about that . This one will probably stay - I have a good set of heavier workers (1277, C-160,16Auto,D180) but the little round hood has it's own charm and it can do the "small" jobs like pulling the sweeper or a small cart . My regular yard trailer is bigger than the D and even that thing can struggle to pull it loaded with rock or dirt , but I use it mostly to haul tree branches and leaves/grass to the dump . I do have another small trailer a buddy was throwing away - it's perfectly sized for the little 854 and will come in handy around here when I don't want to drag out Big Ugly . Besides , the grandkids love the tractors and that one is more their size right now - would be nice to hand it down through the family . Heck , I might even let them ride it , lol....

 

It broke my heart seeing the damage from that accident , those drivers should tarred and feathered for their lack of paying attention - I hope it all goes well on fixing them .

 

There is a local family around here that has 2 large Cubs , not sure what models but one is a diesel and one from the early 60's - they have been kept absolutely perfect and are being handed down by each generation - I love seeing that and would like to continue that theme with my daughter and her family . Son-in-law already has a 1067 and loves it - wants another , heavier Horse so I'm keeping my eyes open for him . I've got 4 grandkids , two of them are twin boys that are 4 and totally into their dad's tractor but they really like "Papa's tractors" . My granddaughter rode on the 1277 pretty regularly when she was under 6mo old and still likes a ride on "the big Horse" but she's scared of the bigger D so far . Newest grandson is only 1 but he's already had a ride or two with his Dad , we're trying to bring them up the right way , lol....those little moments are something they will never forget and hopefully later - cherish .

 

There are few things in this world that can stand the test of time given some decent care - these tractors have proven themselves simple enough to keep them going and rugged enough to outlive us - that's pretty cool .

 

Sarge

[PeacemakerJack 10,738]

  some great thoughts here Sarge!  I would love to see some pics of those family members using your ‘s places in this thread.  

[WVHillbilly520H 10,373]

Here's one with my boy circa winter 2006/07 on the anniversary 520H, and then the video a few years later, Jeff.

VIDEO0012.3gp

Edited January 1, 2018 by WVHillbilly520H
Add Video

[PeacemakerJack 10,738]

Jeff—he must be really close in age to my oldest given his size and the year! Very cool...thanks for sharing!

[Sarge 3,463]

I'll have to dig into the old phone's files  - but they should be in there somewhere .

 

Sarge