What have you done to your Wheel Horse today?

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,297]

Concrete wheel weights would be a bear to remove if you had to change a tire.

[8ntruck 7,004]

A little trailer work today swapping some shelves and a dresser between the lake house and the house.  When done with that, I swapped the SD deck out for the RD deck and hooked up the laws sweeper to mow and sweep the yard.  A quick check of the blades on the RD deck suggested they need sharpening.  Mowing confirmed the quick check.

 

Did some more trailer work hauling a load of decomposing leaves out of the woods and putting them into the raised bed planter.  More of the same tomorrow. 

[Horse Newbie 7,069]

1 hour ago, elcamino/wheelhorse said:

had to change a tire.

Hmmm...concrete tires ????

No more flats, plus plenty of weight

Edited May 18, 2021 by Horse Newbie

[8ntruck 7,004]

9 minutes ago, Horse Newbie said:

Hmmm...concrete tires ????

No more flats, plus plenty of weight

Would be really tough to change a worn out, concrete filled tire.

[Horse Newbie 7,069]

1 minute ago, 8ntruck said:

Would be really tough to change a worn out, concrete filled tire.

Yes it would...me being silly...

[ebinmaine 67,498]

Solid foam filled tires are an option both as a guard from punctures and extra weight. They are quite expensive but I've often wondered if they may be worth the investment in the long run...............?

[KAA 1973 71]

Spent some time over the weekend powder coating deck parts, thought I would coat the spindles to see if I can stop the corrosion. 

I have a feeling I'm going to end up making spindles out of steel instead of paying $75 for new ones or half that for more corroded ones.

 

Had to lay out the parts to see what I'm missing, looks to be one lock washer and the "Special washers" that go above the blade.

Ordered a new set of plastic washers/bushings to go under the spring tensioner.

Trying to decide if I should do a full restore on the deck or wait until winter.

[Oldskool 6,644]

7 hours ago, elcamino/wheelhorse said:

Concrete wheel weights would be a bear to remove if you had to change a tire.

I'm not sure which would be worse. The concrete weight removal to change a tire or dealing with a fluid filled tire?

[Gregor 4,846]

15 minutes ago, KAA 1973 said:

Trying to decide if I should do a full restore on the deck or wait until winter.

 

It's never going to be easier to do, than it is right now.

[ebinmaine 67,498]

2 minutes ago, Oldskool said:

I'm not sure which would be worse. The concrete weight removal to change a tire or dealing with a fluid filled tire?

Equal fun. 

 

If I was going to deal with a leak in a fluid filled tire I'd pop it off the tractor and bring it straight to the repair shop. Hopefully with the "leak side"  up. 

[Oldskool 6,644]

@ebinmaine what's the weight of a fluid filled tire?

[ebinmaine 67,498]

30 minutes ago, Oldskool said:

@ebinmaine what's the weight of a fluid filled tire?

I use and recommend Rimguard fluid. Their website says between 10.5 and 11 lb per gallon.

My rear tires are 23x10.5 x 12 and should hold about 7 gallons each.

I gained about 75 lb, give or take, per tire.

 

So figure the weight of whatever a commercial tire is plus the wheel plus the fluid.

110? 120? Best guess. I've never weighed them.

 

[Greentored 3,210]

17 hours ago, Snoopy11 said:

Yeah, I have to agree here... I mean... my L-157 is different than it was originally... but not 'that' different. Mine was not really "worth restoring" ...but I restored it anyway... especially since I had to rebuild the trans... and just about everything else on it...

 

Don

Message sent and received. Think i'll stick to posting the originals and nicely restored ones from here on out.

[Shed 248]

2 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

Solid foam filled tires are an option both as a guard from punctures and extra weight. They are quite expensive but I've often wondered if they may be worth the investment in the long run...............?

We have foam filled tires and they are only as good as the tread life. They do make them heavy. But we only have them on big tractor mowers I don't know if they make a less ridged foam if not it probably ride like you have cement tires. Just go full old school steel tires and rim combo and weld them up add as much weight as you want ha. I thought my next set of front loader tires I'd try foam filled 

[Shed 248]

10 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

I use and recommend Rimguard fluid. Their website says between 10.5 and 11 lb per gallon.

My rear tires are 23x10.5 x 12 and should hold about 7 gallons each.

I gained about 75 lb, give or take, per tire.

 

So figure the weight of whatever a commercial tire is plus the wheel plus the fluid.

110? 120? Best guess. I've never weighed them.

 

I have rimguard in my rear loader tires added 440 pounds still just 8 pounds a gallon. For any buddy worried about filling with fluid just tube it first then fill the tube just added protection. But just have a pump setup of your own because if you do get a flat hook it up and suck it out

[ebinmaine 67,498]

3 minutes ago, Shed said:

just 8 pounds a gallon

If you were sold Rimguard as a product and it only weighs 8 pounds per gallon it's highly likely you got....

Something that maybe possibly isn't Rimguard?

A bad mix?

 

Unless they changed their formula several years ago?

 

I'd be questioning the installer. 

 

It's interesting that you'd point out the comparison of foam filled tires versus steel rims.

Definitely a valid point.

 

I've never owned or driven a piece of machinery with foam filled tires but I've been around a few over the years. They sure don't have much give.

 

Ride quality really isn't a concern for me where my terrain is so rough. 

I can imagine that would make a huge difference on ground where a little give in the tire is your actual suspension. 

 

[cleat 5,977]

1 hour ago, KAA 1973 said:

Spent some time over the weekend powder coating deck parts, thought I would coat the spindles to see if I can stop the corrosion. 

I have a feeling I'm going to end up making spindles out of steel instead of paying $75 for new ones or half that for more corroded ones.

 

Had to lay out the parts to see what I'm missing, looks to be one lock washer and the "Special washers" that go above the blade.

Ordered a new set of plastic washers/bushings to go under the spring tensioner.

Trying to decide if I should do a full restore on the deck or wait until winter.

The "Special" washers are just real thin flat washers.

Make sure the threads on both ends are nice and clean so the nuts thread on easy.

lots of never seize on the threads and inside the pulleys is your friend as well.

 

 

Edited May 18, 2021 by cleat

[ebinmaine 67,498]

38 minutes ago, Greentored said:

. Think i'll stick to posting the originals and nicely restored ones from here on out.

 

With all due respect I disagree wholeheartedly.

Without variety things would be much less interesting.

Neither this website or the world of machinery in general is 100% strictly about returning something to stock 100% of the time.

 

Each of us has our preferences and appreciations.

 

Take a look at the customs from @Bear G, or @wallfish, just two name two extremely fine examples.

 

Keep it safe. Keep it clean. And keep posting things that have been modified.

[Maxwell-8 4,275]

53 minutes ago, Greentored said:

Message sent and received. Think i'll stick to posting the originals and nicely restored ones from here on out.

 

And pulling ain't without it's dangerous too.

pullers are breaking transmissions, probably more often the Off-roaders.

[Horse Newbie 7,069]

17 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

Keep it safe. Keep it clean. And keep posting things that have been modified.

I agree ! When I freshened up my 1994 520H, I debated whether to powder coat the wheels gloss white or back to a more original silver...

I chose white for 2 reasons...

1. White looks better ( my opinion )

2. It's my tractor ( fact )

Hey this is still the USA... 

[Greentored 3,210]

14 minutes ago, Maxwell-8 said:

And pulling ain't without it's dangerous too.

pullers are breaking transmissions, probably more often the Off-roaders.

Sitting in a field rotting away and/or going to the scrap yard has ruined 10,000 times more nice Horses than pullers and offroaders combined could ever do.

Early in this addiction I would sometimes buy a Horse that was half missing, blown up, rotted out, etc... but could not bring myself to part them out, thinking 'thats one more Wheel Horse gone forever'.

Then one day I realized that parting out that one Horse is giving new life to 5 or 6 others.

If these things weren't built so dang tough and sexy as they are, folks wouldn't waste the time fixing them up, restoring them, modifying them, using them as intended......or sometimes not as intended.

To each his own, right?  I love em all.  We all do.

Edited May 18, 2021 by Greentored

[Shed 248]

32 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

If you were sold Rimguard as a product and it only weighs 8 pounds per gallon it's highly likely you got....

Something that maybe possibly isn't Rimguard?

A bad mix?

 

Unless they changed their formula several years ago?

 

I'd be questioning the installer. 

 

It's interesting that you'd point out the comparison of foam filled tires versus steel rims.

Definitely a valid point.

 

I've never owned or driven a piece of machinery with foam filled tires but I've been around a few over the years. They sure don't have much give.

 

Ride quality really isn't a concern for me where my terrain is so rough. 

I can imagine that would make a huge difference on ground where a little give in the tire is your actual suspension. 

 

Your right it wasn't the beet juice lol it was some yellow bio degrading stuff hey it was free with purchase of tractor so. I know from older tractors I ran that didn't have tires filled to having to go fill the tires I was taking a free fill ha. 

 

The foam does give a tad bit them tractor mowers we have have a ton of weight for when the booms are out all the way they don't flip non foam filled would burst. After 15 years of running the front right tire finally gave out was running on just the foam but they were like airplane landing gear tires lol here's a photo I found few years ago sure they are on this forum found it pretty sweet with steel wheels 

 

 

[Horse Newbie 7,069]

3 minutes ago, Greentored said:

If these things weren't built so dang tough and sexy as they are, folks wouldn't waste the time fixing them up, restoring them, modifying them.

Was at a Classic Car Cruise-In a few weeks ago...overheard two guys talking...one telling the other he would never be able to sell his classic piece of USA made history for what he had in it.

The other fellow said " Me neither, but I don't do it because I want to get my money back. I do it for the joy of restoring it, and because I love old cars"

 When I freshened up my 520H, I did it as best as I could (not perfect by no means), the way I liked it, and IT WAS FUN !

[Maxwell-8 4,275]

48 minutes ago, Greentored said:

Sitting in a field rotting away and/or going to the scrap yard has ruined 10,000 times more nice Horses than pullers and offroaders combined could ever do.

Early in this addiction I would sometimes buy a Horse that was half missing, blown up, rotted out, etc... but could not bring myself to part them out, thinking 'thats one more Wheel Horse gone forever'.

Then one day I realized that parting out that one Horse is giving new life to 5 or 6 others.

If these things weren't built so dang tough and sexy as they are, folks wouldn't waste the time fixing them up, restoring them, modifying them, using them as intended......or sometimes not as intended.

To each his own, right?  I love em all.  We all do.

Indeed, off roading mowers got me into Wheel Horses. couple months later I have already saved 3 Wheel horses from rusting away/ junkyard.  4th one coming this week.

All are restored to running/mowing condition. I don't have any WH for off roading at the moment, but have some AG, I can trow on, when I go to the forest.

 

I love Horses so much, I treat them like they are made out of sugar..

Edited May 18, 2021 by Maxwell-8

[D_Mac 8,619]

I think it is safe to say we all like variety. No one here wants to see the same tractor over and over again. We like to see how others not only restore and modify, but how they use their machines. There are many degrees of both, modifications and uses. This site helps us to share all of it. The customs, the bone stock originals, the pullers, off roaders and in my case the just cruise it up and down the street because I have no other use for one. I dont live near woods or on a farm, I am not the best mechanic, but I do love coming on here to learn and to live vicariously through others adventures. Maybe someday I will plow a piece of land, maybe someday I will do some " off roading"  heck, maybe someday I will actually even mow my yard with one. When that day comes I will have a better understanding as to what and how to do it. Thanks to everyone who shares their adventures to all of us here. I think we all just want everyone to be safe when they are doing it... what ever " it" is.

Edited May 18, 2021 by D_Mac