Garden Tractor Forums banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

Voting for feature Tractor of April 2017

3K views 19 replies 17 participants last post by  DougT 
#1 ·
Feature Tractor April 2017
Who will be the feature tractor?
1968 Commando 8 Autism Horse by mtoney1013.16%
1988 John Deere 165 Hydro by Larrybl22.63%
1973 Cub 149 by Mark 149 J79.21%
1967 Minneapolis-Moline 110 Hydro by MM Mark2532.89%
Simplicity 7016 by BTS11.32%
Allis Chalmers B-10 by petrj633.95%
Old Jake by Stroud56.58%
1967 Speedex S18 by GTpicker011013.16%
1977 John Deere 208 by Kster5261114.47%
1972 Sears Custom 10 xL by Tecumseh power22.63%
 
#2 · (Edited by Moderator)
Voting for GTtalk Featured Tractor of the Month for the month of April has now officially started and will end the last day of March. This month's theme is before and after.

The winner will be featured on the GTtalk Home Page for the entire month of April and in our Featured Tractor Section for infinity.

We have 10 nominations this month. Before voting please be sure to check out all the entries in the posts below.

Let the Voting Begin!

 
#3 · (Edited by Moderator)
Being April is Autism Awareness month, I will nominate my 1968 Autism Horse. Started with a nice original condition 1968 Commando 8 Wheel Horse, complete with nice 36" RD mower deck. The K181 Kohler engine has been rebuilt, carb completely rebuilt. Still has all the original Wheelhorse embossed tires. Custom decals donated by vinylguy from over on the Redsquare WH forum. Tractor will now promote Autism Awareness at every show and plow day I attend. Tractor is still a worker, mowing my grass and doing normal chores we all use our GT's for. Still some minor things I want to do, such as the embossed WH hub caps and such, but will have to wait for summers mowing income. See, I myself am on the autism spectrum, and income to spend on hobbies beyond family bills is hard to come by. Keep your eyes open, for now its the only WH done up for Autism that I am aware off.

The hunt for a tractor to make into a custom decorated one took a year or so, I first got a nice JD212 with Hyd lift, but it was to large to mow our small lot with all its landscaping. So I sold that tractor and started looking for one of the later short frame Wheelhorses as I knew they could turn tight and had small mowing decks. They are also easy to work on, less complexity = less anxiety, something I have enough of on a daily basis. I looked at several tractors, I didn't want a real rough one as I have lost most of the patience and desire to deal with a real rough condition tractor. I found this horse on Craigslist a couple towns away from where we live. Most of the paint looked good except for the top of the hood and fenders, which was faded to an almost pink color. Once the custom decals were installed, I was able to buff out the remaining paint on the tractor. I still want to put a couple more decals on the tractor, just haven't decided what yet.

First we have the before pics, both at the seller's house and on my trailer

00a0a_3xTSD32E1l9_600x450_zpszsfpqfeu.jp
[/URL]

00E0E_5IyJyPnJ9AA_600x450_zpsozqheohp.jp
[/URL]

20170122_174607_zpsh6pscg0r.jpeg
[/URL]

Then we have the Autism Horse with her rear discharge mower deck installed and custom hood and fender decals, Ecco strobe light for safety, working front and rear lights and even a functional cigarette lighter(no I do not smoke).
20170301_131656_zpsedxpdj8j.jpeg
[/URL]

I will take some nice outdoors pics in a day or two when the weather improves, very windy here today. Being on the spectrum has its challenges, they are different for each person as no two are alike. Without my tractor and my model trains, I would be a hermit and stay in the house all the time. But with my tractor, I get myself out among others and try to make friends and be somewhat social. I hope to add more attachments for the tractor to use and attend more shows to help raise awareness and acceptance of those of us on the spectrum. This is very important to me as there is little in the way of help and support for adults, espically the ones missed as kids and have not had the benefits of therapy and training to cope with the disorder as an adult. You do not grow out of this disorder, just learn to better cope. This tractor serves as a segway to help me communicate with others outside of the online world. Mike the Aspie.

Wheel Tire Vehicle Tractor Automotive tire
Wheel Tire Vehicle Tractor Automotive tire
Wheel Tire Vehicle Automotive tire Locking hubs
Wheel Tire Automotive tire Motor vehicle Plant


Weather finally moderated where I could dig the Autism horse out of the garage for some nice pictures.

Tire Wheel Automotive tire Motor vehicle Vehicle
Wheel Tire Vehicle Tractor Automotive tire


Wheel Vehicle Motor vehicle Tractor Tire
Tire Wheel Automotive tire Vehicle Tractor


Automotive tire Flooring Recreation Electric blue Motor vehicle
 

Attachments

#4 ·
I would like to nominate Logan's "Little John". Honistly not the worst before & after I have done, I think the Ford LGT-145 I had would win hands down, but it was sold. So I present Logan's Little John.

LJ is a 1988 John Deere 165 Hydro, This was given to us by a Police Commander at Waco Police Department. All he wanted in return was pictures after it was restored. Logan instantly claimed it as his, and couldn't stay away from it. It had some serious wiring problems but over all was in good shape. We did a complete teardown, and frame up restore which took about nine months. This was also the first "Green Machine" for me as all my previous restores were Sears or AYP's with a Ford thrown in for good measure. Logan was more of an inspector on this project, as he and his mom moved out of town and he could only help every other weekend.

He Has not mowed with it yet, but he did ride it to town for a maiden voyage, and most recently for a local event. He has a blast riding it, and showing it off for now.

The restore link is here --> http://gardentractortalk.com/forums/topic/53867-jd-165-hydro-little-john/page-1
 

Attachments

#5 · (Edited by Moderator)
I would like to nominate my 1973 Cub 149.

I purchased this tractor in January of 2016 in Monroe Washington. I had seen it on CL and had talked to the owner. He wanted more than my wife was going to allow me to spend but I said I would keep in touch. A week or two later and I saw that he had dropped the price by $800. I quickly called him back and he agreed to hold it for me until I got there on Saturday.

Saturday morning came and my son and I headed out for a 300+ mile road trip. We had to travel over a 3000 ft mountain pass to get to the town of Monroe. As we headed up the pass the snow started falling fairly heavy causing traffic to slow down and for me to put the truck in 4 high. After 45 minutes of driving in the snow and dropping in elevation the snow changed into rain allowing me to increase my speed so I could make the scheduled meeting time.

We arrived at the owners house and the tractor was sitting out front. The owner came out and we started talking about the tractor. During our talk, four or five people kept texting the owner about the tractor so I agreed to pay him his asking price of $1200. We quickly loaded up the tractor with smiles on our faces. We got something to eat and headed back to home. The trip home was smooth sailing because the roads we clear.

The next day I brought the tractor into my shop and started accessing what needed to be done. My biggest concern was the engine. It had a sound that reminded me of a bad bearing. While taking the motor out I came across my interest repair that we made to the cub.

Wheel Tire Hood Automotive tire Tread
Tire Wheel Automotive tire Vehicle Motor vehicle
Vehicle Automotive tire Tire Wheel Motor vehicle
Wheel Tire Plant Vehicle Automotive tire


post-78623-0-99683600-1453182390_thumb.jpost-78623-0-96639500-1453182346_thumb.jpost-78623-0-67809900-1453182287_thumb.jpost-78623-0-22452400-1453182245_thumb.j Tire Wheel Vehicle Automotive tire Motor vehicle
Tire Wheel Vehicle Motor vehicle Automotive tire
Wheel Tire Riding toy Plant Window
Tire Wheel Automotive tire Motor vehicle Tread


With the motor removed and dissembled I found out the motor needed a new crank and to be bored out. I didn't have the money for all of that at the time so I found a 129 parts tractor with just about everything that I needed including a motor for $100. Over the next couple of months I sandblasted and repainted the whole Cub including the FEL.

The FEL is a Danco and it came with a Danco weight box. The FEL was the biggest surprise of the build. I found many long and serious cracks in the arms. I also had to rebuild all of the cylinder and replace all of the hoses.

post-78623-0-89223800-1457759929_thumb.jpost-78623-0-08039300-1457759911_thumb.jpost-78623-0-73803100-1462943856_thumb.j Motor vehicle Wood Automotive tire Bumper Automotive exterior
Water Automotive tire Leg Tire Wood
View attachment 227502

I still need to install the decals and a couple of small things but it's pretty much finished. A lot of this would not have been possible without the help of GTtalk and the great people on this site. I've only been around these tractors for about 14 months but It's been a lot of fun for my son and I.

post-78623-0-28726900-1475970490_thumb.jpost-78623-0-90915800-1475970510_thumb.j

You can see the whole project by clicking on the link below.

http://gardentractortalk.com/forums/topic/51200-new-cub-cadet-149-the-tear-down-begins/page-1
 

Attachments

#6 ·
Tire Wheel Vehicle Tractor Automotive tire
I would like to nominate my 1967 Minneapolis-Moline 110 Hydro.

This tractor was listed on EBAY in September 2014, and I won the auction. My friends brother hauled it to Pennsylvania from Ohio, and the work began. This tractor only had one front wheel on it, the other front spindle was broke off, the rear axle housing was missing. There was no grill and the glass headlight lenses busted, the seatback was cut off and the steering wheel busted. The motor did run after the usual cleaning of the fuel pump, carburetor, and gas tank.

Wheel Tire Automotive tire Vehicle Motor vehicle
Wheel Tire Vehicle Automotive tire Locking hubs


This tractor took a little over a year and a half to restore. Every nut and bolt, roll pin, cotter pin, set screw was removed. Bushing were made in the steering to remove all the wear, the transmission seals and bearings replaced and new gear oil, the hydro seals replaced new filter and oil, the engine was rebuilt but when it was started it had a vibration in it that I did not like so it was taken apart the 2nd and 3rd time changing crankshaft, flywheel, installing new crank bearings. On the 4th time we sent the flywheel, crankshaft, piston and rod out and had it balanced its a lot smoother running now. The generator was rebuilt and we made a new wiring harness. This tractor is as good as new, saved from the scrap heap and will live for another 50+ years! Thanks to my brother this Minneapolis-Moline looks better than new with that paint.

This post has been promoted to an article
 

Attachments

#7 ·
I will nominate my Simplicity 7016 with tiller and mower.

I got this garden tractor from my great uncle after he passed away, he was the 2nd owner, the original owner used it for towing boats around his lot at his boat dealership. When I got this garden tractor it was in poor condition, it wasn't running, it had really bad rust starting on the fenders, tiller and mower deck. I had the engine running with in a half hour of having it home, it really fogged out the smoke and was in desperate need of rings. I used the garden tractor a little bit in the garden with the tiller till it started sputtering and running oil out the carburetor.

I coated everything in rust stop and then primed and painted with a paint gun.

I just ordered rings and gasket set. I am hoping to get the engine rebuilt and painted this next week. I am going to use this garden tractor for all the mowing and some tilling in the garden. I also have a set of dual wheels and front and rear wheel weights that I am going to put on it. I am also going to paint the wheels once I get new tires put on.
 

Attachments

#8 ·
I will go at this again, I will nominate my fathers allis chalmers b-10. we picked this up about 5 years back and it was in deplorable condition, painted about three different shades with a brush. it was still a solid machine and had lots of potential, we started with the mechanicals and overall working cond of the tractor. had to rebuild the engine and do lots of overall repair on the tractor including all the bearings and seals in the rear differential.

After mowing and using it for two summers my father headed to new mexico for the winter and I decided to give him a nasty surprise when he got home, as you can see from the pics it was a total teardown and rebuild. not one nut or bolt was left unturned. replaced allot of it with stainless hardware, new decals from maple hunter. the paint is PPG single shot and I am super happy with it, sprayed and covered super well and seems to have help up very well over the years.

When my father came home from new mexico I had hidden the tractor and made a huge deal of giving it back, invited some friends over and had an unveiling. dad was in tears, now after every mowing he goes al around it and cleans and polished it any time we take it somewhere to a show he sets over it like an old mother hen standing guard. my only stipulation for him thru the whole thing was that he had to USE IT!! he couldn't just polish and store it. so the b-10 is a working machine, he mows about an acre with it all summer then stores it for the winter.
 

Attachments

#9 ·
I would like to add Old Jake to the mix. My stepfather bought it from a friend about 1983 or 1984. He mowed with it for about 10 years until he wore out the deck. He bought a new Sears riding lawnmower and let it sit for a few years. I was allowed to work on it but never ride it.

After moving out of the house as I got older, I lived in a small apartment in semi-city life. Just pay rent and find ways keep yourself occupied after work and all weekend long. Not for me. The house neighboring the house I grew up in came up for rent and I moved in. The only issue was mowing almost 2 acers with a push mower, a long task. One day I walked over and asked my parents if i could try get the old tractor running to make it easier to mow the lawn and they said just get it out of their yard.

I got it running, patch welded the deck, new spindle bearings, and cog belt we were mowing again. After about 3 seasons I moved out of that house and moved to the suburbes with a small yard and the tractor went back to where it sat.

I moved into my grandfathers cottage 10 years ago and needed the tractor again. Brought it back but it would not charge. The neighbor across the road walked over with a starter/generator for it with the trade of getting his 1200 Jacobsen running, fair trade.He was like a father to me, collected a lot of tractors and showed me around 18 Jacobsen tractor and one Ford 100 that I now own.

We worked together and one day at work he passed from heart issues. As they were cleaning the estate, the night before the scrap dealer was to start, the ones handeling the estate said to go free pick and settle on price later. Nabbed the 1200 Jacobsen and Ford 100.

Four months later I was offered to buy the estate and did. Scrapers only took good dollar items but left 2 36 inch decks. House came with many contents and Joe hoarded many hydraulic items, so after wearing out the last two decks, I took use to all of the left over scrap that was left behind.

I started with a 1967 Jacobsen 800 and part way through the rebuild the motor was starting to come loose. I installed the 12 horse motor and now have so much power that if I run the throttle too high I will break the pinion gears. The only bought items on this build were the paint, tires, and a drive belt. Under $300 into it needs one more repaint after the backhoe build. Not promoting, but I have youtube videos under 1967 Jacobsen built to homemade backhoe to see it in action.

[sharedmedia=core:attachments:223180]
[sharedmedia=core:attachments:223180]
[sharedmedia=core:attachments:223181]
[sharedmedia=core:attachments:101793]
[sharedmedia=core:attachments:101794]
[sharedmedia=core:attachments:223183]
[sharedmedia=core:attachments:223187]
[sharedmedia=core:attachments:223190]
 
#10 · (Edited by Moderator)
I would like to nominate my 1967 Speedex S18. I bought this tractor from my wife's grandmother in 2014. It had belonged to her husband and as far as anyone knows it was parked sometime in the 80's after the transmission gave out on it and never moved after that. Cosmetically it wasn't in too bad of shape, but it had been slopped with paint over the years. I pulled it out of the corn crib along with a Cub 102 that I bought and brought them home. I gave it a good pressure washing and started on the restoration. I got the engine running without too much trouble, but it needed to be rebuilt. As for the transmission, it needed totally rebuilt as everything was loose.

So I rebuilt the 8hp Kohler on it, and bought a whole lot of Peerless Transmission parts from a member right here on GTTalk. I replaced almost all the bearings save for a few needle bearings, replaced cracked thrust washers and thrust bearings. It was a real mess! But with time all got it all back together and tightened up. The engine came together real nice and runs like a champ. I was able to save the original muffler, put new tires on the front and new belts on it. The back wheels had calcium in them and were nice and rusty around the valve stem, but I had one of my friends cut out the rotten metal and weld in new and drill a hole for the valve stem and then all the rims got powder coated.

Now this thing came with original lights that are pretty rare. The one light was original but the other was some kind of yellow light, but I ended up buying a set of lights that were off a 1960's Case Combine NOS that were nearly identical to the original light.

The last thing was to give it a nice coat of Red paint and I used CaseIH Ironguard paint in International Harvester Red. I always wanted a Speedex in my collection, and I think this was turned out pretty nice!

Chair Motor vehicle Wood Gas Automotive lighting
Tire Wheel Automotive tire Tractor Motor vehicle
Cookware and bakeware Gas Motor vehicle Automotive tire Machine


Tire Wheel Automotive tire Vehicle Tractor
Tire Wheel Tractor Vehicle Automotive tire
Tire Wheel Vehicle Automotive tire Toy
Tire Wheel Lawn mower Riding mower Mower
 

Attachments

#11 ·
Here goes this will be my first entry into this realm and there are already a lot of great tractors in the category for everyone to choose from.

I would like to nominate my 1977 John Deere 208 that I purchased from my father two years ago.

My father already had two one with a 12 hp Kohler in it as the engine in it was expired and one he has restored.

He decided to do the morning coffee run for he and my Mother and just happened to look over and saw it sitting abandoned under a pine tree. It was only two miles from their house in a yard that he and I have probably driven by a thousand times.

He turned the truck around and knocked on the door and nobody answered. That being said he then went over to it to see how bad it was. He called me telling me of his find and not knowing if it was for sale or not explained how ripped the seat was and the amount of pine needles and sap that were covering it.

Pop has pretty good judgement on these things and then proceeded to leave a note on the home owners door hoping we'd get a call from them sometime that day. A week had gone by when the call finally came in and they had apologized but were on vacation and said that they were willing to sell it but that the motor was no good and they could not remember the last time it ran. They did not know what to do with it and just left it sit and wondered what he would give for it.

Pop had turned it over manually when he was there the first time and knew it had compression. A deal was struck Pop went with ramps in hand and brought her home.

Once home the first thing was to clean it off as best he could. He then removed the seat and threw it away as it was terribly rotted and full of water but the pan was still there.

Pop being pop checked the fluids drained the nasty old gas out of it and removed the rubber gas line from the fuel pump and installed a line down into the gas can, installed a battery but nothing. So after a little fiddling around he replaced the ignition switch and he had success, after a bit more of his fiddling he had her running but she had a smoking problem. Love those old Kohlers.

That was when he called and offered it to me as he said he had two and did not want another but had already got it running. I enjoy my Round Fendered units very much and never gave it much more thought after he called me the first time telling me what he had found.We were two weeks from the Oley Apple Festival so he agreed to bring it up with him on the first trip up with some of his tractors for the show. So now I was the proud third owner of the forgotten 208 and drove her around the festival that weekend and realized that a full restoration was in order with her smoking and the remains of the Pine sap all over it I thought it deserved more.

My wife had told me no more tractors but that did not work out well as this was the easiest way to bring one home as pop just brought it along with him and I took it home with me as it blended in with the others I brought home. She did finally figure it out but has since just left me alone as it keeps me out of her hair.

When it got to my house I started by pressure washing it down completely after removing the pan deck and hood. It had not been serviced well as the amount of oil and built up debris were amazing.

That being said I had her down to the frame and started the clean up and repainting to make it as i pictured it in my mind. I went to my local parts supplier and spoke with them about it and learned how collectible they have become also before tearing it down

I took it all the way down to the frame and started from there cleaning and painting everything that I could on the way back to putting her back together.

Their were many more parts than a RF but I'm glad I took alot of pictures and bought the parts and service manuals.

A new piston and rings for the engine, new drive belt ,new front tires,air cleaner and the necessary stuff for putting her back together were purchased and it started to seem like the never ending project. The rear tires and hood decals are the only remaining items not updated.The rear tires got tubes and the hood decals are no longer available. Glad I checked before I removed the old ones to paint the hood.

After I had a rolling chassis I started with the green but had some troubles with my spray cans and ended up redoing the hood three times and pan deck twice . I think I had a few bad cans of paint from Mother Deere as once I used the new cans I purchased the problem went away.

Only had it to two shows last year the first was the Roots Market Show and the our hometown Oley Apple Festival . Pop and I did a nose to nose set up with both of our refinished 208's and a bit upset with myself that i did not take a picture of that moment as we had alot of comments from people as they walked by.

So the pics you see are of the final completed project of what was once a 208 left to rest under the Pine tree.
 

Attachments

#12 · (Edited by Moderator)
I'd like to nominate my 1972 Sears Custom 10 xL. I lost the pics of when I drug it home, but I have a few from the tear down. My neighbor had this sitting in the woods for 27 years. I gave him $20 for it. The original engine was replaced with a Briggs by the guy. but he still had the original HH100 in his garage. he couldn't get the hh100 running before, I checked it out and it had a broken wire on the solid state that I repaired.
I rebuilt the engine- new piston, rings, seals, and gaskets. Cylinder was still in spec, so I just honed a new cross hatch in it. Made a bar for the grille , that they had cut out, so they could get to the choke on the Briggs they had on it. I also made the top out of the hood, because it was sitting in the woods with a piece of cast iron on it that had it rusted to heck, also made the tins that bolt to the frame that cover the sides of the engine. I made a pattern for them from another custom I have. I also made the gas tank out of two five pound propane bottles welded together, until I can find a good original. I think it came out okay considering I was just going to use it for parts when I first got it. Had it tore down about a year but never did anything to it. Until last month, I decided to get on it.

Automotive tire Motor vehicle Vehicle Asphalt Gas
Vehicle Motor vehicle Wood Asphalt Gas


Automotive lighting Vehicle Motor vehicle Hood Grille
Plant Wheel Tire Vehicle registration plate Automotive tire


Tire Wheel Automotive tire Tread Vehicle
Wheel Tire Automotive tire Motor vehicle Window


Tire Wheel Vehicle Automotive tire Motor vehicle
Wheel Tire Vehicle Automotive tire Tread


Tire Wheel Automotive tire Tread Locking hubs
Wheel Tire Automotive tire Motor vehicle Toy


Vehicle Motor vehicle Gas Wood Machine
 

Attachments

Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top