What have you done to your Wheel Horse today?

[Ed Kennell 38,131]

    My son made part of his deck into a sun room, so I repurposed the deck boards into a trailer floor for my horse and bucket hauler.

 

Then gave it a coat of a kerosene/used motor oil mixture.

 

[BavariaPJ 11]

On 6/7/2024 at 3:30 PM, lynnmor said:

There are no "injectors" so avoid that "mechanic."   Drain the fuel tank and fuel lines, replace the grommet in the bottom of the fuel tank and clean or replace the shutoff valve, replace the 1/4" rubber hoses with ethanol resistant hose.  Replace the fuel filter.  Use fresh gasoline when ready to start.  Spraying the butterfly will do exactly nothing, spraying carburetor cleaner down the five holes around the the air filter mounting can help.  Keep in mind that anything sprayed in the carburetor might find its way into the oil, you may have already contaminated the oil necessitating an immediate oil change.  Fresh oil goes into the crankcase and fresh gasoline goes in the fuel tank, no snake oil should be used other than a bit of cleaner mentioned above.  After running it for some time and the surging continues calls for more work.  The most likely issue is gum, dirt or corrosion inside the carburetor and the only way to clean it right is to remove it and that entails some work since the exhaust and intake needs to come off.  Before pulling the carburetor, spray WD40 around the split in the intake manifold while the engine is running to see if there is any effect.  Also look for a missing welch plug just above the idle mixture screw.

 

Download the Onan Service Manual for all the information you need.  The welch plug can be seen in figure 2 on page 7-2 just above the idle fuel limiter cap.  While the intake is off would be a good time to adjust the valves, I would bet that it was never done.  As you go along, report back here for more information.  Yes, there is some normal maintenance to be performed and once done should give years of life to the tractor.

Thank you for all the suggestions.  Going download the Onan Manual to get some info, including changing transmission fluid and how they suggest removing blades

[lynnmor 7,305]

3 hours ago, BavariaPJ said:

Thank you for all the suggestions.  Going download the Onan Manual to get some info, including changing transmission fluid and how they suggest removing blades

In addition to the Onan Service Manual, you will need to download the tractor owners manual and the mower installation manual.  You can get these for free at the manuals section of Red Square.  If you add implements be sure to add those manuals as well.

 

To remove mower blades you can use a wooden block to prevent the blade from turning.  Wheel Horse made a special wrench to hold the spindle behind the blade but those wrenches are low quality.  If you want to go with the wench method, buy one of reasonable quality at a yard sale and if it is too thick grind it down till it fits.

[Tractorhead 9,064]

I change mowerblades with welding gloves and a Electric impact wrench.

Set it to max. Open power, so i be able to loose it quickly without bruises.

 

Edited June 11 by Tractorhead

[mrc 812]

the wrench size is 1 1/8 inch.

 

needs to be about .300 +/- thick.    5/16 inches = .3125 thick

 

pick up a cheapo at harbor freight and give to a machinist who can surface grind it

[Racinbob 11,050]

10 hours ago, mrc said:

the wrench size is 1 1/8 inch.

 

needs to be about .300 +/- thick.    5/16 inches = .3125 thick

 

pick up a cheapo at harbor freight and give to a machinist who can surface grind it

 

  Works great.

 

[pfrederi 17,723]

Or grab an old blade and your hacksaw

 

 

[BavariaPJ 11]

I bought a Craftsman 1/2" torque wrench. Have a lot of tools but never owned a torque wrench.  Bought this one on Amazon for $65 and it is really substantial.  I will use it while changing blades.  Thanks for the suggestions on stabilizing the blades while removing.  I also need to download manual.  I need to locate the transmission drain plug located on my '92 520H and change out fluid, will do same with oil and change plugs.  Thanks again for the assistance. Still planning on bringing it in because it still surges at lower RPM's after running Seafoam through it. 

[Pullstart 62,834]

@BavariaPJ   I’m a little late to this party, but we’ll make you a mechanic in no time!

[Handy Don 12,212]

1 minute ago, BavariaPJ said:

 I need to locate the transmission drain plug located on my '92 520H and change out fluid, will do same with oil and change plugs.  Thanks again for the assistance. Still planning on bringing it in because it still surges at lower RPM's after running Seafoam through it. 

¼” Allen wrench to remove the plug on the bottom towards the rear. Socket often gets filled with crud and is hard to see. Search on the documents/files on this site using your tractor’s model number to get the owner manual--it shows all the regular maintenance points.

 

Onan surge causes are: likely fuel, less likely air, and rarely a loose governor linkage. 

Carb is unlikely to clean up with any magic elixir--you have to go in there to do it. Service manual is the guide to follow.

Air is when the seam of the intake manifold is letting in air that hasn’t come through the carb. Test by spraying a little bit of brake cleaner along the seam while the engine is running but NOT hot. If the engine changes speed noticeably, then the seam is likely leaking.

[cleat 5,923]

16 hours ago, mrc said:

the wrench size is 1 1/8 inch.

 

needs to be about .300 +/- thick.    5/16 inches = .3125 thick

 

pick up a cheapo at harbor freight and give to a machinist who can surface grind it

I ground down a cheap wrench and also cut the box end off so it fits in a little better.

 

 

[Wheelhorse#1 1,657]

On 6/10/2024 at 8:42 AM, Goldnboy said:

Did some painting yesterday! 

I used the new high flow setting on cans that have choice of 5 settings.

 

 

The new style nozzle are great and work very well.

I think it’s a great idea by rustoleum .

Nice work !

[8ntruck 6,998]

Got Morgan, the 14-8 out today and mowed the yards.  It is really dry, so I was constantly in a dust cloud - I probably looked like Pigpen from the Peanuts comic strip while I was mowing.

 

Unless we get some rain, I doubt I'll need to mow for 3 or 4 weeks.

Edited June 12 by 8ntruck

[balconio 606]

got a 100' roll of 4" corrugated tubing so i can finish my pond inflow project. here's my 14yo son using the 312-8 and Harbor Freight trailer to run it back into the woods until i can do the work. i really enjoy the ball-hitch on the wheelhorse as opposed to driving my truck thru the yard.

[ebinmaine 67,420]

4 hours ago, balconio said:

got a 100' roll of 4" corrugated tubing so i can finish my pond inflow project. here's my 14yo son using the 312-8 and Harbor Freight trailer to run it back into the woods until i can do the work. i really enjoy the ball-hitch on the wheelhorse as opposed to driving my truck thru the yard.

 

 

 

Way to go giving the young one something to do.

 

 

Definitely agree on having the ball hitch on the Wheel horse. We don't have vehicular access anywhere in the acreage once you're out of the driveway so it's a necessity here.

[Handy Don 12,212]

1 hour ago, ebinmaine said:

We don't have vehicular access anywhere in the acreage

Don’t let them horses hear that they aren’t veehickels. 

[WHGuy413 2,683]

We are way behind but thanks to @WheelHorse_Kid and his 7 dollar Rototiller we have the garden ready to go. Next year we will be on it earlier in the year.

 

our first time using the tiller and it has worked great so far. 

[OoPEZoO 521]

A $7 tiller?!  Oh man, that’s a score. Looks like an excellent start to a garden

[WHGuy413 2,683]

15 hours ago, OoPEZoO said:

A $7 tiller?!  Oh man, that’s a score. Looks like an excellent start to a garden

Yup you read that right. A guy listed it locally as make an offer. I messaged him and told him my son was interested and tried to gauge what he was thinking. He texted me the next morning and said “if it’s really for your son we will work out a price by the evening” later in the day he messaged me a picture from a drive through coffee place with a total of 6 bucks and change. He said “your son can have it for my afternoon coffee, I splurged today” I didn’t think he was serious but he was 100% serious. Super nice guy. Said he used to have a ton of wheel horse stuff laying around but his kid tossed it. Was happy to see a kiddo into small engines and sold it to him for 7 bucks. 

[8ntruck 6,998]

Morgan, the 14-8 got a workout today.  The 48' plow was installed, and we got some dirt work done on the lake house deck project. 

 

Morgan does not have any additional weights or chains, I got the Troy Built Pony out to 'tenderize' the dirt that needed moving.  Was surprised that the tiller started on the first pull today - especially since it hasn't been run in about 3 years.  it has developed a gas leak, though.  Going to have to run that down.  Anyhow, picture of the site after the Pony had pranced through:

 

 

After about 20 minutes of Horse & blade work, things looked like this:

 

Looks like a yard or yard and a half of sand was moved.  3/4 throttle in 2nd gear low range.  Not surprisingly, I ran out of traction before I ran out of horsepower.

 

[ebinmaine 67,420]

7 hours ago, WHGuy413 said:

 Was happy to see a kiddo into small engines and sold it to him for 7 bucks. 

 

That's just fantastic! 

[Goldnboy 910]

Put the last coat of paint on the tins...and finished painting the small parts. 

Looks like assembly starts next weekend!

[TonyToro 1,049]

19 hours ago, WHGuy413 said:

Yup you read that right. A guy listed it locally as make an offer. I messaged him and told him my son was interested and tried to gauge what he was thinking. He texted me the next morning and said “if it’s really for your son we will work out a price by the evening” later in the day he messaged me a picture from a drive through coffee place with a total of 6 bucks and change. He said “your son can have it for my afternoon coffee, I splurged today” I didn’t think he was serious but he was 100% serious. Super nice guy. Said he used to have a ton of wheel horse stuff laying around but his kid tossed it. Was happy to see a kiddo into small engines and sold it to him for 7 bucks. 

So awesome to see kids into tractors and small engines. My son is the reason I’m on this page. While his friends are enjoying the latest video game or battery powered scooter,  he’s happy getting something running or restoring an old WheelHorse. These kids are far few between. There are a few on here and it’s great to see them carrying along a skill that may soon be in the past. Way to go DAD! 

[Goldnboy 910]

I asked my daughter who likes to paint if she would paint the white letters on my dash panel..

 

She surprised me with it on father's day!

[19richie66 17,500]

10 minutes ago, Goldnboy said:

I asked my daughter who likes to paint if she would paint the white letters on my dash panel..

 

She surprised me with it on father's day!

She did a great job!