“Ol’ Red” 1979 Wheel Horse C-81

I crossed another item off my to do list today. I installed a key switch.  I hooked up the ignition wire and the rectifier to the same ignition terminal which made the most sense to me.





Here's what I had to do to make my stock belt cover work with my 6" engine pulley.  I really didn't want to take a grinder to these beautifully well made old parts, but what I had to do to make it work was pretty minimal and I think I maintain the stock look.

I just drilled a couple of new holes in the foot rest to move the lower belt guard forward.



I had to take a little bit out of the top flange of the belt cover.



I removed most of the bottom flange and a mounting tab on the forward lower portion of the cover.



I made a couple of cuts and bent this piece up where there was an existing notch in the dash to get more clearance for the belt.



I also installed some very simple belt guides.  The belt hasn't come off since I put these on.



The belt does rub a little more than I'd like on the brake linkage so I have plans to change the geometry of the linkage to gain more clearance.



I have a shorter 84" belt on its way because my clutch is almost at the end of its travel and a shorter belt would reposition the clutch arm when the belt is under tension to give me more clearance on the underside of the dash.

My to do list is getting pretty short for this tractor now.

-install shorter belt
-rework brake linkage
-make modified tie rods
-install a new clutch pulley
-make a custom front bumper

Cannot wait to see this thing done, it will be so cool!!

Looks good.  Yeah, that belt will get hot quick and start stretching quick.  I had a similar issue with my buildoff tractor last year.

Well that's something new I just learned. If a belt is rubbing a lot in some spots, the heat will stretch the belt out. I don't really have a lot of experience pulley swapping tractors and I'm learning that it's a pain the butt, but well worth the effort.

Nice to have a key switch....

I saw a few of these for sale, how does that belt hook up to the rear axle? Is that a wheel horse only design? Seems like it would be tough to re power one or restore with anything but original parts, engine and trans axle.

The driveline on this is very similar to a sears suburban which is a tractor that is famous for having engine swaps done to it. The transaxle on this and the Sears are both set up with horizontal shaft input pulleys on the transaxles I could just as easily do an engine swap on my wheel horse.

One unique thing about the wheel horse is that the tractors frame ends on the front side of the rear transaxle more similar to an agricultural tractor and nothing like a lawnmower. The transaxle is so strong that the drawbar, fenders, gas tank and seat are all bolted to it. Also the snow plow mounts to the rear transaxle.

Now of course I think whell horses are better. They commonly have great Kohler engines and the front axle is a beefy piece of cast-iron and the trans axle housing is a beefy cast-iron too. The wheel horse does have a thick angle iron frame but the Sears has a formed tubular frame that I think is more rigid, while my angle iron frame I think can twist a little bit

I just about have my belt issues solved.  I made a slick little bracket to move the brake rod out of the way of the belt.  I had to cut the dash and belt cover more but I still like the way it looks.  My clutch makes a rough grabbing sound when I let it out and even though I moved the lower belt guard forward the drive belt got below it somehow on my first romp with it.

Looks good, whats the pulley ratio and ground speed?

Here’s a little bit of the romp I did today.  This tractor handles like a tank.  I love it.  I want to get some better footage for you guys and build a go pro mount soon.





The rear pulley is 6.25” and the engine pulley is a 5”. It tops out at 10mph @ 4000rpm

Wheel horses are awesome! Yeah, big tractors like that shouldn't go too fast or else you'll roll it.

Thats a reasonable speed i guess. i still like around 20 for mine .

I had an amazing time romping Ol' Red this past weekend.  I had a tough time with icy steep hills, but I had a blast running it on trails during the day and at night.  Here's a video of a very steep hill that I couldn't climb.  It's so steep I had a tough time walking on it when I went to go pick up the wood that fell off the Kubota RTV.

Oh boy, that's a little skeery. It would really suck to go careening down the hill backwards, haha. Cool stuff Carl, that ol' Kohler sure sounds great!

That hill would be fun on my Red!  Probably end up rolling down the hill.  LOL

Hate the way cameras flatten everything out.  When you first said you got stuck up there, I was like, "Is that even a hill?" but when you got closer I could see that there was a huge elevation difference.  That would be fun try!

That last video shows some good elevation! But yeah, the flattening, hard to do in a 2d media format without a point of reference.

mightyraze wrote:

That last video shows some good elevation!  But yeah, the flattening, hard to do in a 2d media format without a point of reference.

When I was riding I looked up and down the hill to try to get better references for the camera. I can't remember if Lil' Red is locked or not but it would do pretty well there. I've made it all the way up that hill before when the ground was pretty soft with my Green Machine.

When I rolled back when I wasn't actually in gear it was very scary. This is why I think it's important to have working brakes and a solid back up plan. I knew if the brakes failed or if I wasn't in gear that I could just cut the wheel to the right which would steer the tractor back in to the drainage ditch on the side of the trail and stop me.

Yeah, red is locked. I also believe brakes are important. In your case, even more so! I can lock them up at a low speed, but not any faster. Some day I plan on adding more stopping power.

mightyraze wrote:

Yeah, red is locked.  I also believe brakes are important.  In your case, even more so!  I can lock them up at a low speed, but not any faster.  Some day I plan on adding more stopping power.

Speaking of brake upgrade, check this out:  https://www.ebay.com/itm/Rear-Disc-Brake-Assembly-Master-Cylinder-Caliper-125cc-150cc-Dirt-Pit-Bike-ATV/291772979558?hash=item43ef065966:g:xdsAAOSw2gxYxUlX&vxp=mtr

That would be sweet on Lil Red and it gives me ideas too.

Does anyone have any experience with or know a good review video about the 2500 lb. Traveller winch from TSC?  It's looks like it's built more rugged than the harbor freight equivalent and the 2500 lbs ones I've seen on ebay and amazon.  I'm thinking about getting it for this tractor. It looks like a great value for 69.99.

IDK, but TSC usually doesn't sell junk. I buy like all my ranch equipment from them, don't have any issues. If it has good reviews online, I'd say go for it!

After a bit of research I decided to spend a little bit more money and get this Viper winch from cabela's.  I probably would have liked the tsc one too but I want to try this one.

http://www.cabelas.com/product/MotoAlliance-Viper-Midnight-Winch/2582960.uts?productVariantId=5413138&WT.tsrc=PPC&WT.mc_id=GoogleProductAds&WT.z_mc_id1=04942978&rid=20&gclid=Cj0KCQiAzMDTBRDDARIsABX4AWydxRPqagSqVsmUxJqCD2S5UnNEenKYvd4-eHHYcYJ1B6ErPVG2d5EaAiWlEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

From what I see it seems like they're a great brand and better than the traveller brand.

Was the tsc one wireless or did it have direct controls?

Prices are all similar, they are all Chinese knock off stuff... I have used a badlands winch for years, and also know many other people with them without a problem.

I rolled my craftsman going up a hill one time, it was pretty scary, but it probably weighs nothing compared to that wheel horse. I just jumped off, it landed on my leg a little bit & I just rolled it back over & kept going.

Crazy_Carl wrote:

mightyraze wrote:

Yeah, red is locked.  I also believe brakes are important.  In your case, even more so!  I can lock them up at a low speed, but not any faster.  Some day I plan on adding more stopping power.

Speaking of brake upgrade, check this out:  https://www.ebay.com/itm/Rear-Disc-Brake-Assembly-Master-Cylinder-Caliper-125cc-150cc-Dirt-Pit-Bike-ATV/291772979558?hash=item43ef065966:g:xdsAAOSw2gxYxUlX&vxp=mtr

That would be sweet on Lil Red and it gives me ideas too.

That does look interesting. I am leaning towards a drum and band brake. I have the pieces planned out, it is just a matter of purchasing them.

biggasmowers wrote:

Was the tsc one wireless or did it have direct controls?

The tsc one comes with a bulky wired remote, but as an added bonus it also comes with a snatch block.

Anyway, this morning I got sick of shoveling so when I got home from work I decided to take 20 minutes and mount the genuine Wheel Horse plow I've had in my shed for 10 years on Ol' Red and it worked awesome!



There's still plenty of room between the plow and the grill for a custom bumper and winch!


This is the greatest thing about this plow.  This lever allows you to angle the plow left and right and lock the spring loaded pin in from the driver's seat.


Remember how I did those dangersous hill climbs and I thought I had perfectly good brakes?  Do you see anything wrong with this picture?