RJ58 & Suburban 1961 400(?) resto

[pickledhorse 0]

:thumbs: 'nother boy son project to run thru my wallet. Looking and finding, and not finding, stuff. Cool.

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[Brian1045 28]

:thumbs: :whistle:

[linen beige 14]

:thumbs: The restoration may leave your wallet a bit lighter but the memories will be priceless.

That front cutter bar on the RJ is kinda rare.

Post a pic of the dash/control panel area of the hood on the Suburban and we'll tell you if it's a 400 from '60 or a 401 from '61. It's a bit hard to tell from the smaller pic, but that looks like the cast iron '61 clutch/brake pedal and I believe I see a '61 throttle control knob sticking up on the right side (as viewed from driver's seat) of the dash.

[Coadster32 793]

:thumbs: Really nice first project. Good luck. I hope to someday work on these with my son. (he's 9months old now). My daughter likes to work with daddy in the garage. (she's 2years). Enjoy the time with your son.

[TJ 183]

nice looking tractors. :whistle:

[WHC-125 4]

:thumbs:

[pickledhorse 0]

Think this is the view you want. It seems the hood has been cut? Anyway, appreciate any help.

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[clintonnut 126]

Yep the hood has been hacked. Pretty sad to see that. It also looks as if the blower housing on the 401 has been cut. I remember watching that tractor sell [mainly to see how much mine was worth ]. I do have some early wheel horse parts laying around such as trannys and tranny rebuild kits and pieces of hoods. Sorry I don't have the rear section of the hood you need. Mine are missing that too.

One thing nice about those tractors is they are easy to restore. We can restore one in about 6 weeks. Sandblasting takes a day paint prep takes a week painting takes a day and the tranny rebuild takes about 2 weeks[mostly waiting on parts]. They are really fun to drive. Good luck on the project and we all like to see people working on restoring them. Keep the pics. Coming!!!

You have a set of really clean tractors!!

Charlie

P.S. we have a junkyard near us that gets a good flow of wheel horses. We have saved a 552, commando 8 which we paid $100 for and it started right up when we got home! It was clean too. All of the fluids were fresh! Amazing what people throw away. We also scroundged up some 1045 parts and suburban parts. We also came home with most of the parts off of a 633 that was trashed. It had good rims and tires but everything elso was gone. Some were too far gone to bring home . We try our best to not let any slip away.

[clintonnut 126]

Does the RJ have the same tranny as the suburban?? That also looks like a clinton on the RJ.

Charlie

[Duff 206]

One thing nice about those tractors is they are easy to restore. We can restore one in about 6 weeks. Sandblasting takes a day paint prep takes a week painting takes a day and the tranny rebuild takes about 2 weeks[mostly waiting on parts]. They are really fun to drive. Good luck on the project and we all like to see people working on restoring them. Keep the pics. Coming!!!

Charlie, if you and Devin (Fritz) ever end up in the same neighborhood, those big red letters from the old Wheel Horse factory are gonna be needed for a new enterprise. Hmmmmm.....do I detect a future business opportunity?

Duff :thumbs:

[pickledhorse 0]

hey this is the son. i was wondering you said you found some rims we need one our 1712 rim rusted through and we need a new one. would you know where to get one?

[pickledhorse 0]

dont know about the tranny (also we got an extra one) but the rj came with the brigs and straton and it wasnt original we bought this new one off ebay cost as much as the suburban my dad just loves it.

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[clintonnut 126]

I could sell you a set of 633 rims but they have the 2 holes in them which is only a cosmetic problem. You could weld up the holes easy if you wanted it to be "correct"

Charlie

[linen beige 14]

Think this is the view you want. It seems the hood has been cut? Anyway, appreciate any help.

Yep, that's the view I needed.

The cast iron clutch/brake pedal started in '61. Those cast iron foot rests were used in '61 only. The push/pull throttle and choke controls also date it to '61. Too bad so many of these have had the back of the hoods hacked off.

Quiet a few of them have been repowered with Briggs engines. Hacking the hood keeps the Briggs spark plug from shorting against the hood. You may be able to find another hood that is damaged in the front and piece the two together?

The transmissions of the RJ and the Suburban look almost exactly the same and are fully interchangable between models, but do have minor differences. The Suburban models have holes in the upper rear corners to mount the AH-60 hitch. This hitch wasn't available on the RJs so no mounting holes were used on them. There were changes to some internal parts as well.

The 1712 wheels superceded the original part #1709 used on the RJs and suburbans. I believe the 1712 is the wheel with the holes in the face of the rim used to mount wheel weights. Be mindful when shopping for front rims that not all of the different models used the same offset of the center hub. There are plenty of the later wheels out there and they are pretty easy to find.

Let us know how we can help with the restorations and keep us up to date.

[pickledhorse 0]

Just saw this post on wheelhorsejr club:

"Daryl, If you are wanting to put a K91 on a Wheel Horse I would sugest

finding one of the early ones that has the 3/4" threaded exhaust port

type block.

The newer ones that use the bolt on flat mufflers will not work on a RJ

or Suburban as is and would certainly brand your leg in all probablity.

Because of the existing bolt holes in the newer blocks you cannot just

screw the proper exhaust in to make it look right in my opinion. It's

better just to start with the older block and avoid that hassle. I've

seen solutions to the problem but none that I've cared for. Just my

opinion. Basil"

Posted a pick of a new k-91 I bought on ebay where the seller said:

"These little engines where used on Wheel horse Rj's and Suburban tractors"

But after reading the post from Basil, is this engine not going to work on either tractor?

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[clintonnut 126]

Pickledhorse,

Too bad you bought the K-91 after you found that out. The engine is the right hp and will work fine but it is just the exhaust port.

To me, you have 2 options.

1. have somebody tap the exhaust port with threads

2.make a flange with threads on it. [there was a guy selling the adapters on ebay for a while]

Charlie

[pickledhorse 0]

Thanks to everyone for the tips, I will track down wheels, and it is worth the engineering to have a new engine.

But for the question of the day: Now that I know I have a 401 (thanks for that info, too) I am looking for front end parts. Toro only has the 400 manual online, and I see part no 3600, drag link, that I think I need. I have attached a pic of mine, and it looks like the socket is chipped out. 'fraid it will break if I use it. (Both ends look like this.) It looks the same as the 401, best I can tell, is there any source for these parts?

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[clintonnut 126]

The tie rod end is supposed to be chipped in like that. That holds the ball in. Those do look kinda crusty though. If you can't find a new or good used tie rod, go to Tractor Supply Co. and buy the lawnmower ball joint ends. Then create a rod and thread the ends and you are good to go. Cheap and Dependable. The TSC ball joints are permenately greased and have ball joint seals on them.

Heres a pic of them

Charlie

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[HorseFixer 2,013]

Nice project for a father an son team! Your building memories that will last a lifetime! :thumbs:

[formariz 11,994]

Pickled horse

I was originally interested in that engine and specifically asked seller if exhaust port was threaded to which he replied no. Interestingly enough he neglected to post that question on the auction like he did the others.

It is very easy to cut threads in the exhaust port. I have been doing that to a few of the k91's I have. All you need is a 1/2"-14 NPT tap. It is the best looking and functioning solution.

Cas

[pickledhorse 0]

does this look like the correct points cover for a k91?

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[formariz 11,994]

Seems to be missing the hole and push button to kill the engine. Can't really tell , the photo is small.

Cas

[clintonnut 126]

That shouldn't affect anything because the tractors had a remote kill switch.

Charlie

[pickledhorse 0]

Well, both are torn down, & was ready to haul 'em to the sandblaster, but then saw the electrolytic trick from Coadster. Got a 55 gal plastic drum and some rebar, think I'll play Frankenstein this weekend. Anyway, thinkin' about these trannys. Cases probably never been cracked, they seem to shift right, but never had these running, so should I rebuild them while I have these down? If so, what is the best way to get the kits? Also, how do you post multiple pics like I see in other posts?

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[TJ 183]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I would change the fluid, and let her role. :thumbs: