Gt-14

[Treepep 560]

My wife tells me I hijacked Bianca thred.  I am new to this so I will pre apologize.  I just acquired my fathers 1969 W.H. gt 14.  We did a mechanical restore in the eighties.  It has the hood.  Looking to restore again.  It has been sitting in a carport for 18 years.  Cleaned lines, flushed gas, new battery and plug and fired right up.  Pretty excited 

[953 nut 55,062]

Love those rear wheels!                Glad to see another generation will be showing the GT-14 some love.       

[ZXT 2,401]

Let me guess, were those rear wheels installed in the 80s too? LOL! I like them. What did you do to get 5 lug? Adapters?

 

Welcome and nice looking tractor!

Edited September 25, 2019 by ZXT

[oliver2-44 9,679]

Great looking tractor.  Give it a bath and put it to work.

[Treepep 560]

My younger brother had either a trans am or fire bird he bought those rims and they didn't fit but they bolted right up to the w.h. with no adapters as far as I was told.  Did wheel horse GT-14 originally not have 5 lug?  The tires are brand new skid steer power king brand.  It was used annually by my nephews for choring around grandpas house.  Runs great, but electrical has been mice/squirrel food so a little sketchy there.  Thanks for those that have directed me to mule drives and other parts.    My father and grandfather always had barns/multiple garages with all kinds of treasures.  Most certainly not totally factory but i really don't know.  Just hoping to keep it around. 

 

Thank you.  

[953 nut 55,062]

3 hours ago, Treepep said:

Did wheel horse GT-14 originally not have 5 lug? 

The GT-14 came with a four bolt hub. Any 1 1/8" hub can be installed but the four bolt one is very heavy duty.

                       Wonder if they were drilled and tapped like this GT-14 hub.

Edited September 27, 2019 by 953 nut
photo

[ZXT 2,401]

9 hours ago, Treepep said:

My younger brother had either a trans am or fire bird he bought those rims and they didn't fit but they bolted right up to the w.h. with no adapters as far as I was told.  Did wheel horse GT-14 originally not have 5 lug?  The tires are brand new skid steer power king brand.  It was used annually by my nephews for choring around grandpas house.  Runs great, but electrical has been mice/squirrel food so a little sketchy there.  Thanks for those that have directed me to mule drives and other parts.    My father and grandfather always had barns/multiple garages with all kinds of treasures.  Most certainly not totally factory but i really don't know.  Just hoping to keep it around. 

 

Thank you.  

They look like they're 5x4.5 bolt pattern which is correct for Ford car, Dodge car and also Studebaker. This is also what any 5 lug WH would have. 

 

Richard is spot on. Either they've been changed, have adapters under them or have been re-drilled. 

[Treepep 560]

Thank you!  Looks like it has adapter.  Off to college when the rims and original rally wheels were installed.  I replaced all of the wiring changed oils and got the wonky steering wheel off.  

[Rfp55 33]

Black paint, decals, on your way to a Grand National Buick tribute mower. Those original four bolt rims like 953/1054 were on the narrow side anyway.

[Treepep 560]

Rfp55, Do you mean paint the black red?  I am just going to power wash carefully and fix any surface rust.  Maybe some rubbing compound and see if any original color comes forward  I dont have the room right now to do a full restore and It is in pretty decent shape.   Does anyone have any decent photographs of how the battery was originally secured?  

 

Thank you all! 

[Rfp55 33]

Paint opional of course. Most people would go for all one color. I have other makes mostly, and in worse condition, one is a Honda and I just rubbed it down with drain oil for preservation. I don't want rust or lichens/black mold that gets going on the surface of things left out in moisture. Yours may be smooth straight and nice enough to look good regardless of your choice. Approve of the aluminum wheels and R4 tires. Effort to get everything functional first good idea. Pretty can follow. Does the front end steer and pivot without wobble? Does PTO/deck work ok? Is tranny fluid clean? I like to use them a season and get some mowing or other work done before appearance. You might not know all it is going to need fixed right away. It's worth it though.

[Treepep 560]

It has a mower.  Wrong year.  I dont know how it (originally) attached.  W.H. is 69.  Deck is 76.  Might be a way to make it work?  Dad did it somehow.  I always get things back to original, safe, functional, and decide from there.  This will hopefully be a seasonal worker.  Do I need to start a new thread for questions?

[ZXT 2,401]

I know the newer C series style decks can be used with the addition of a tach-a-matic mule drive on the front of the tractor. I'm not sure how he managed to use the deck on the tractor without that.

 

I don't see why you'd need to start a new thread. Ask away.

[953 nut 55,062]

3 hours ago, Treepep said:

I dont know how it (originally) attached.  W.H. is 69.  Deck is 76.  Might be a way to make it work?  Dad did it somehow. 

You have the makings of the old style mule drive already.

 

 

[ZXT 2,401]

1 hour ago, 953 nut said:

You have the makings of the old style mule drive already.

 

 

Can that be made to work with a newer deck? I've never seen a complete old style mule drive before so I'm curious. 

[953 nut 55,062]

Newer decks and older decks are the same decks with the exception of the lift hardware. Perhaps @pfrederi could provide a good picture of the way the belts are routed. I don't have any close up photos.

 

[Treepep 560]

Thank you all!  I didn't want to drill any holes so I rigged spare tie downs to hold the battery in place.  Sad news... I cranked it up and drove to side yard to clean.  When I backed it into the garage and idled down there was a loud clunk on the lower end of the motor and it stopped abruptly.  Other than that I have gone through everything mechanical and replaced,rewired etc.  Back to wrenching on my two wheel tractors until I figure out tackling the motor.  Bummed but it will run again.  Probably hasn't had an oil change since I did it religiously in high school.  It may be blasphemous but is there a modern motor that bolts up?  I want to rebuild it and put original back in but selfishly want to use it in the interim.

 

Thoughts?

 

Thanks! 

[ZXT 2,401]

19 minutes ago, Treepep said:

Thank you all!  I didn't want to drill any holes so I rigged spare tie downs to hold the battery in place.  Sad news... I cranked it up and drove to side yard to clean.  When I backed it into the garage and idled down there was a loud clunk on the lower end of the motor and it stopped abruptly.  Other than that I have gone through everything mechanical and replaced,rewired etc.  Back to wrenching on my two wheel tractors until I figure out tackling the motor.  Bummed but it will run again.  Probably hasn't had an oil change since I did it religiously in high school.  It may be blasphemous but is there a modern motor that bolts up?  I want to rebuild it and put original back in but selfishly want to use it in the interim.

 

Thoughts?

 

Thanks! 

Was it knocking prior to this? Seems odd that it would be running fine and then lock up when idling. 

 

Did you try turning it by hand to see if it is in fact locked up? I've heard of the balance gears on these engines (assuming yours has them) breaking and causing the engine to lock up, usually catastrophically. If this is what happened, having it happen when idling might have been your saving grace.

 

People have done engine swaps but anything you put in it is going to require some level of modification. I'd pull the engine off and pull the pan and see exactly how bad the damage it is. Putting a few new parts in your current engine might prove to be easier and cheaper than swapping to a modern engine. If you just want to swap something in for a while and be done with it, look on craigslist or Facebook marketplace for another K series. You might find one pretty reasonable.

[Treepep 560]

No knocking/smoking whatsoever.  It did not even seem to use oil although it sure leaked.  Just a brief sound like putting something into a fan blade then clunk and out.  I cannot turn it either direction.  I figured anything new would require some unsightly fabrication or something.  I just want to use the old gal again.  Any idea if there are still parts available to rebuild the motor?  I feel I should clarify about the deck also... The one I have I got from C.L. and refurbished.  it is a 76.  The old deck was original and was discarded a decade ago.  Nothing worth salvaging.  I think even the correct deck required some tom foolery to get to mow?

 

Thanks.    

[ZXT 2,401]

41 minutes ago, Treepep said:

No knocking/smoking whatsoever.  It did not even seem to use oil although it sure leaked.  Just a brief sound like putting something into a fan blade then clunk and out.  I cannot turn it either direction.  I figured anything new would require some unsightly fabrication or something.  I just want to use the old gal again.  Any idea if there are still parts available to rebuild the motor?  I feel I should clarify about the deck also... The one I have I got from C.L. and refurbished.  it is a 76.  The old deck was original and was discarded a decade ago.  Nothing worth salvaging.  I think even the correct deck required some tom foolery to get to mow?

 

Thanks.    

I vote balance gears then. You can buy rebuild kits online. Everyone I've talked to suggests buying an OEM Kohler rod as opposed to the Chinese ones you find for cheap online (I didn't heed their advice, I wanted to see for myself how the others were). 99% of people omit the balance gears when they rebuild their engine. They don't make much (if any) difference on how smooth the engine is, and you don't have to worry about the gears exiting the block. 

 

Pull it apart before you buy anything though. If the gears came apart and damaged the block, then you might have to find a block. If the gears came apart and didn't hurt anything else, pull them out and put the engine back together. The oil pan is only four bolts and you should be able to see what all you need.

Edited October 6, 2019 by ZXT

[953 nut 55,062]

             At this point you have nothing to loose by removing the engine and taking a look.  If things aren't too bad you could have it measured at a machine shop and buy the needed parts for less than the cost  of a replacement engine.   Kohlers Rule!

[Aldon 4,826]

The older drives are a total PITA for me and parts are getting scarce as hens teeth.

 

i did a thread on adding modern attach-a-Matic to the GT14. 

 

Then an you can use more modern decks. As long as you keep the older parts you can always revert back. 

[Treepep 560]

Ahh pain in the...  Yeah I seem to recall some cussing and bleeding back when...  I will be on vacation for a bit then I will pull the engine out check the pan and send ya'll some crime scene photos.

 

Thanks you!  hens teeth

[Treepep 560]

Silly question,  does anyone have any use for the plastic dash panel from my 69 GT-14?  Is that something better suited for a classified under free?  I did some epoxy repair.  Someone with steadier hands than me could probably paint and restencil the white 

[Treepep 560]

Silly question...

 

I found the valve that I can turn to put the transmission in neutral so I can push this heavy tractor around.  Is there a neutral valve for the lift cylinder?  The pin holding the piston is only about halfway through and just about worn away.  Obviously its not running right now so I cant operate the life with the lever and try and monkey in a new pin that way.  Any thoughts?

 

Thanks