1969 Wheel Horse 700 WORKHORSE

Wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and be safe traveling!

Merry Chrysler

Decided to cut out most of the rust from the blade today and got that over with so when I sand blast it I can get inside the channel behind the rust holes. Not much to it just alot of cutting and prying but I finally got it.

Well I decided to break out Brutus today and go for a ride and I honestly forgot how much fun it was. But I ran out of gas.....again but this time we actually had some so I didnt have to push it back this time.



Decided to take some pictures on the mound of grass cause why not?

Looks like fun! She's a good looking ol' Wheelie!

One thing I'm gonna have to do is clean out my air filter. Luckily enough it has a drain hole in the bottom but still have to get the bigger chunks out. Might try to find an air filter that is higher. I dont think I need a snorkel or anything just something that doesnt stick way outside the hood and is fairly waterproof.

sweet rig, I love me some wheel horse

Thanks bub! Something about em....they just have the right style and stance

I know this page is for my wheel horse but I wanted to show something sentimental and pretty much this little guy got me into lawnmowers and garden tractors. This is a 80s john deere 312 that was built by my grandpa when I was a kid. Basically it was built as a utility/ride around/buggy thing that he called his hov-around/hov-along   (his own homemade mobility scooter) The first time I heard it run I was on it riding around and I loved it cause it was so easy to drive (being a hydrostatic) I use to ride this thing everywhere. I think I killed the first couple engines that were in it. It never had the original engine but I remember it having a briggs in it at some point but I killed that one.   But after going through a few motors my papaw got a honda gx200.....I think...idk its 5.5hp and its never quit which is why I love honda gx engines!   the 2 seater bench seat is out of a jeep and the dump box is an old lawnmower trailer cut apart and shaped to fit. He was a crafty old man, and man did he build stuff to last too. What he did to put a different engine in there is he extended the driveshaft and welded in a plate so that he could mount the engine higher and mount a pillow block bearing underneath for the driveshaft support, and it just has a belt from the engine to the driveshaft, so its pretty simple. The grill XD is made from an old milk crate and I love it...john deere should have done that from factory! Unfortunately he's not around anymore but this thing is and alot of the stuff he made is so I'll always have memories. He's also the one who bought my john deere 110 from a guy just because I liked it, so he was really cool! Sorry for the long post but just though it was cool and just is another tractor we've got hanging around!  

Great story! Glad to see you've held on to your Grandpa's old project. Thanks for sharing!

Well since it snowed today I decided to go out and do some snownuts and it was a blast!

Washed this turd yesterday cause it smelled and looked like one.....still shines up good.

I've realized that I never have shown all the modifications that I've done so I've decided to start with the frame and I'll work my way around. I dont have pictures of the process but you get the point.

Number one thing on wheel horses (especially the 60s models) is that the frame cracks on the back mounting plate right where the transmission mounts are. I'm not sure why but my guess is the weight of the transmission is alot of stress. But the backing plate was a weak point for these, From 1961 to 1965 these plates were completely flat and they cracked out quite easily so staring in 1966 wheel horse added in some ribs to give the backing plate some strength. Now mine has the ribs but was still cracked so I decided to not only weld up the cracks but also add in a 1/4 inch plate to the bottom bolt holes to give it some more strength and it's pretty easy to do as long as you make sure that everything is still flat.




I had my dad weld this in because he's the better welder and I wanted it to be strong so thanks dad!

Looks pretty stronk. I'm gonna come steal your front tires, hope you don't mind

@RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

Looks pretty stronk. I'm gonna come steal your front tires, hope you don't mind

I kinda need these but they would look good on Budgie! I dont think I paid alot for them they're sunF 18x7x8s on craftsman gt rims.

Yeah, ATV tires around this size have really gone down in price, there's a surplus of them these days. I just don't have the money at the moment lol.

Another thing I had to do was put bushings in the clutch and steering because wheel horse never put bushings in anything. But basically the clutch rod goes from the left side where the clutch pedal and brake is through the frame to the right side where the clutch is mutch like alot of other tractors even new ones. So basically I drilled out the holes to 13/16 (so it gave a lot of material to wear out) then I asked my sister to make me some 1/2 ID 13/16 OD bushings on the lathe (this was before I had machine shop class) so thanks sis! Then I used some half inch lock collars to keep the bushings from backing out and I works great!




I also put in a steering bushing at the front of the steering shaft with the sun gear on it because these short frames didnt come with one (idk why) but the the long frames did so the bolt holes are there but theres no bushing and the thing that holds the bushing in. So I just made one out of some 1/4 inch plate and a 3/4 ID with a 1 inch OD bushing and some washers as spacers and BAM! you gotta el cheapo stearing shaft support thingy.

Those bushings should do you well. At least you didn't have to deal with plastic ones like i did on budgie, lol.

The only real problem I've found with good tight bushings on offroad mowers is they'll dry out and almost seize from being dirty. Mutt's clutch is like that from when i drilled out the frame and put bushings in. Make sure to keep yours oiled or greased.

Oh yeah. One thing I'm taking very seriously on Ol' Blue is replacing crappy bushings with better stuff and keeping things greased. That'll always bite ya if you don't watch out.

Will do!

My wheel horse didnt come with an engine which for a 700 is a 7 hp tecumseh. My papaw gave me the honda for free so one of my papaws gave me the tractor and the other gave me the engine so both are the coolest! Putting the honda engine on this thing was a pain and I couldnt have done it without my dads help. Basically we had to move the engine back because the cylinder leans over on hondas opposed to straight up and down on the original tecumseh. So the battery tray had to come out (this engine doesnt have electric start anyways) and we had to make an engine plate because the honda is skinnier than the frame rails so you would only have 2 bolts bolting the engine down. Plus it had to be raised up about an inch because the gas tank mounts on the engine block were hitting the upper dash....or something like that....dont really remember   but it had to be done so we made a engine plate out of some 1/8 inch plate and some 1 by 2 C channel. We just used some holes that were already in the frame to mount it.

Left side


Right side

Since this engine came off of a generator the gas tank was massive so I couldnt use that but luckily enough the original gas tank was still with it and it was clean inside. It originally was mounted to the engine on this model but someone had it mounted wear it would be located if it had a kohler engine. I had to move it back further than they had it to make room for the engine so I had to drill a hole and put an extension on the outlet of the tank be able to screw the fuel line fitting in all the way. I also had to install a fuel pump so we came up with this slick lookin plate that we mounted to wear a honda gas tank would have been if this engine was equipped with one. This engine believe it or not had an automatic choke that used the vacuum off of the intake to open the choke. So I got rid of all of that and just hooked it up manually and used the vacuum line to run the fuel pump and it works great. Even used some of that edge gard to protect the fuel line and some little holder inner thingys on the fuel line to keep the fuel line in place.

Oh and no I didnt make the tank straps they were already there...I know they're ugly but I really dont care.




Heres a better pic from the other side

Looks like a really well done swap!

Sweet setup. Engine mounts look sturdy for sure.

Update on the top speed. Went 9 mph to the floor and 15 mph when I hit the governor. Pretty good I think for having a 3.5 engine pulley and a 4 inch transmission pulley.

I really like that engine mounting plate with the fuel pump to a remote tank. Yeah wheel horses are geared so low and slow but make great crawlers.