The Horse Corral!

[jstertz]

Guys,
I've seen some Horses wandering around the Off Topic section of the site and it doesn't appear that they have had a home, Until now! Horses find your way into the Corral! I am starting this thread in honor of my dad's first garden tractor, an 875 Wheel-a-matic Wheel Horse. Dad worked at Chief Equipment in Oshkosh, WI back in the early to late 1970's. Chief was an IH farm equipment dealer and dad was a mechanic for them. He said he would have liked to have bought a new Cub at the time but couldn't afford it. Someone traded in this abused 8 hp hydrostatic WH on a new Cub cadet.

It sat in the back for awhile and my dad was getting sick of push mowing the one acre lot at the place they had just bought out in the country. So, he went in and talked to the boss and they worked out a deal. Little did he know that he was buying the first year Hydro Garden tractor! He worked that tractor extremely hard over the next couple of years. I will dig through his slides and post some pics of the early days soon. That was the tractor that I grew up driving. It was THE lawn mower in our family for 25 years until dad broke down and bought himself a "throw away" box store model. Thankfully, he never got rid of the ol' Horse!

Ever since I became a member here I've been bugging him about getting it running so we could restore it again. He refurbished it back in the late 70's but it could use a fresh coat of paint.
I finally decided to get it running myself. It needed fresh fuel, battery, and carb cleaning. Then she fired right up. We changed the oil and I dug out dad's home made spring tooth and dug up my garden.

It did a heck of a job and sure brought back memories listening to that old K301 bark through the nearly burned out IH muffler! Yes, dad blew up the original 8 hp and repowered it with MORE POWER! Like father, like son I guess! It hadn't pulled that digger in a garden in over 20 years! What fun it was to use that machine like it was intended! Feel free to ask me any questions about it. I may not have the answers but dad does, he knows the machine inside and out!

If anyone would like to post pics on this thread of their Horses, I'd love to see them. Also, does anyone here have an 875 or 1075 tractor? I have done some heavy searching on the net and can't find too many.

 

[mhomrighausen]

Joshua S. If you can would you please get some pictures and I.D. Tag information from the hydro unit for me? TIA!!!

Neat looking little machine.

 

[jchamberlin]

Josh, I'm intrigued by the Wheel Horse design. Does the whole hood/grille tip up as a unit?

 

[jstertz]

Jeremiah- There is a latch lever just ahead of the steering column on top of the hood. You disengage it and the whole hood and grille assembly tilts forward. It makes it quite easy to service the motor. The same goes for the rear fender/seat unit. It also has a latch that allows the whole thing to be tilted up and back which gives you access to the hydro, rear end fluid level dipstick and an under seat tool box!

Marlin-I've already taken pics of it for you and I was going to include them last night on my post when I realized that I hadn't transfered them from my phone or resized them. Those pics to follow. I'll also try to locate the pump I.D. if I can. I want to research this little "work horse" as far as i can find out info on it. How many did they make, was this one an early production unit, are there others still around, etc? As far as the tractor goes, it has some wear parts like the steering gear that need replacing but over all it is in great mechanical shape for a unit nearly 50 yrs old!

 

[jchamberlin]

Josh: The Wheel Horse design sounds fascinating, especially at the rear. I'm wondering how a wide-frame Cub Cadet could be modified to work in the same fashion. It would be very useful when it comes time to service the Hydro linkage or release valves. I suppose the fender would need to be separated from the foot rests . . .

 

[jstertz]

Jeremiah--To me that is one of the fascinating things about studying the different makes of GT's during the same model years! It is interesting to note both the many similarities and yet the stark differences. It reminds me of an article I read once that said the perfect diesel truck would be a F350 with a 12 valve Cummins motor backed by an Allison 1000 6 speed! I'm not sure about that but the point is that sometimes it would be nice to put together the best of the engineering designs and eliminate the flaws. Then again, what would we have to talk about?

Here is the pics that I promised of the rear section of Dad's 875. Notice the different design of how the Sundstrand is situated. Sorry Marlin, I don't have the numbers yet because I haven't got over to dads yet but I will soon. I can't wait to get another lesson on which model this is, how many years it was used by WH and if it was ever put in any other Garden Tractors.

Notice the little square latch on the left side top of the tunnel. That moves back and forth to release the fender unit so that it can be tilted up. Remember this hydro is original and untouched except for new fluid and filter. It was used extremely hard for plowing, cultivating, digging, etc. Dad actually managed to blow the rear end gears but not the Sunstrand! When he went to the local WH shop the old timer there said that he had never seen another one of those hydro tractors that had blow the rear end. He had seen it with the gear shift tractors.

See that metal debris screen in front of the fan. I remember my dad telling me frequently when I first started cutting the lawn, "Make sure you wipe the grass and junk off of that every time before you mow!" Especially if it was dry the grass would collect on there and inch thick! This tractor came with a two blade rear discharge deck. I think it was about 38" wide but it had the most interesting mount up and design. I'll have to post some pics of that at a later date. While mowing when it was dry and windy you would literally get covered in grass and debris. I don't miss that necessarily! Also notice the large belt shield covering the primary drive belt that runs from the motor to the Sunstrand. It has a spring loaded manual disengage tensioner pulley. I'm still amazed that dad could do all that heavy duty work with out having a direct drive from the engine to the hydro. More pics to follow.
Jeremiah--stay safe with that big storm coming in down there!

 

[kmcconaughey]

Josh, very cool that you still have that in your family! I like that tilt up fender setup.

 

[jstertz]

Marlin- I got over to dad's tonight and the only number sequence I could find without disassembling stuff was on the back or left side of the hydro. The number is T3100075. I couldn't find any other numbers or letters on the casting. However, if you point me in a certain direction I'll look for any other numbers needed to identify the model, build date, etc. Can't wait to hear more about this hydro!

 

[mhomrighausen]

Joshua S. I'll see what I can come up with. For now here is a site Wheel Horse Tractors for you. One little thing ... you may want to point out to the group over there that Wheel Horse didn't design their hydro... Sunstrand engineers did. Sunstrand also used a Wheel Horse transmission if I recall correctly as the basis for a prototype generic hydrostatic tranmission to market in the off brand sector. It was too expensive at that time. It is VERY buried in the back shed however I have <u>on loan to one day refurbish</u> that prototype transmission for Sauer Danfoss. $$$$ prevents me from doing such a thing in the near future.

 

[kweaver]

Marlin - An old friend of mine has a Sunstrand that is shaft driven with a (maybe #40) chain sprocket out put. I always thought about getting it but never had a use for it. Didn't WH use one like that too ?

 

[mhomrighausen]

KENtuckyKEN. It could be. I haven't been around the Wheel Horses too much. I think Massey Ferguson's MF 12 Hydro had the same as the Wheel Horse with the side belt. I always wanted a Wheel Horse. My Dad used to say they were very stout little tractors for the money.

 

[jchamberlin]

Josh: You jinxed me. The power went out 5 minutes after I read your post "stay safe" (about 8:33 AM).

 

[jstertz]

I haven't posted in here in a year and a half but dad got out the old Wheel Horse and was using it to move some of this snow storm out of his driveway.

For those of you that know WH garden tractors, you will see that this isn't a WH thrower. My dad was given this thrower by a friend and he isn't sure what it is off of. So he fabricated his own mount and got it working. For a little 32" single stage thrower, it really does the job.

It was tossing the snow about 15' and was giving the old K301 the best workout it has had in 15 years!

Wait till I get some of the slides of this thing uploaded. Dad bought this in 1975 and it has been in service throughout the decades. It is good to see it working hard still after all these years!!!

 

[mschutz]

I love to see old tractors still working hard.

 

[balder]

Josh great pics

 

[bjamison]

Josh,

I've got a 1997 314-8 that I bought new, a 1988 year 520H that my FIL gave me before he passed and a 1992 520H. I've had several others that I have bought and sold or scrapped out. Here are a few pics:

I got into the IH Cub Cadets just 'cause I wanted to try out some different make tractors. I've also got a Simplicity Sovereign and an MTD Cub Cadet lawn tractor that give a GREAT cut and starts every time...

 

[thoffman]

Bill,
The top pic must have been taken in a "Warm snow".

 

[jstertz]

Tom--ROFL!!!!

Bill--thanks for the pics. It's about time someone posted some pics on this thread other than mine of my dad's "horse"! That is some super wet heavy snow that you are moving and it appears to be doing a pretty good job. How have you liked that series of WH tractors? Have you noticed any specific problems with them that seem to be weak points of the series? My last surviving great uncle on my dads side is in his final stages of life and they are starting to liquidate his assests to help pay for his care. He has a late 80's 520-H that he has owned since new and I'm contemplating purchasing it. It is a really good tractor and well taken care of, there is a sentimental tie, and it would help him out. Decisions, decisions!!!

Anyone else on here own one or more of these horses??? Lets see the pics!!!!

 

[jstertz]

Finally, I have a video of dads WH in action! I've been watching this tractor working hard my whole life. Sometimes from the drivers seat and sometimes from somewhere else in the yard. I hope you enjoy it.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cHKTlrNCX6E&feature=plcp

It's not a big blower but it has been keeping his yard clean over the years.

 

[eblake]

well damn......i saw horse n got all excited