older wheel horse lawnmower

[Soundguy]

This is a post I placed on another old tractor board.. I x-posting my original msg and my reply here for info / comment:

--- In OLDTRACTORGROUP@yahoogroups.com, "Chris Britton" <c.britton@w...> wrote:
> A lady at work has moved into a new house and while cleaning up the
> garage found an old 'wheel-horse' gas powered riding lawnmower.. pull-
> rope type start.
>
> I know some old lawnmowers are 'restorable/collectable. She's getting
> rid of this one as (uhaulit.. it's yours ).
>
> Is this worth picking up?
>
> Soundguy


REPLY

Good/bad news.

It doesn't look to be of super-old vintage.. though is still a wheel horse.. didn't see any toro tags on it.

Even though it looks newer than i wanted to tinker with.. I picked it up anyway as the lady wanted it outta the yard.. and she has no way to dispose of it.

When i got it home.. I started going over it.. has a briggs engine.. no air cleaner.. though carb looked fairly clean.. pulle dbowl drain and was surprised to see only a few drops of water followed by a full bowl of old smelly.. bad smelly gas.

Pulled the carb for a looksee at valve.. no rust.. valve looks clean.. that's a pluss.

On to other side of engine.. oil just showing on stick so I fille dit completely up with some excess 10-30 supertech oil.. just to get everything wet while i decide what to do with it. Pulled plug.. hosed cyl down with pb oil. reinstalled plug and carb.. taped off carb mouth.

Now.. unit has what looks like starter or starter generator.. but also has the top shroud for the pull rope.. could top shround have been added as a bandaid for a non working starter?? Or did these units come with both pull start and starter? Old disconnected ignition switch has a spring loaded option where I think 'start' would have been,. lots of unplugged wires and wire nuts and twisted wires. If I had to guess.. I'd say it used to be electric start and the prev owner swapped over some parts to make it pull start.. and rigged the wireing to be so.

I do see one little 'module' bolted to a bracket under the seat with wires still plugged into it.

Mower deck looks thrashed.. but then.. I've seen worse. My goal is:

Best case scenerio... have a 2nd working beater mower.

next best.. have a ride- on 'vehicle' to tote a small trailer ( trans axle seems ok.. not stuck.. moves between r-n-1-2-3 ok. )

worst case.... salvage the engine and get it running for other projects.. like a water pump.. etc...etc.

comments?

Soundguy


--- In OLDTRACTORGROUP@yahoogroups.com, "Chris Britton" <c.britton@w...> wrote:
> A lady at work has moved into a new house and while cleaning up the
> garage found an old 'wheel-horse' gas powered riding lawnmower.. pull-
> rope type start.
>
> I know some old lawnmowers are 'restorable/collectable. She's getting
> rid of this one as (uhaulit.. it's yours ).
>
> Is this worth picking up?
>
> Soundguy

 

[Mith]

Wicked nice going man. Give you a tenner and ill save you the trouble /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif.
Whats the model no, serial no ect?
The pull start is a sign of quality, you get a way to start it if the battery is flat. Normal for good qual tractors. (Snapper, WH ect)
Starter should have 1 red wire to a nut on the outside (+) negative ground system. there will be 2 wire coming out the bottom of the engine shroud from the alternator ring under the flywheel, the one with the diode is the charging wire the other is PTO, lighs clutch ect.
Tell me the serial no ect and might be able to find you a manual, schematics ect in it. Dont start it unless wiring is sorted, you can do bad things to it im told.
Post a pic, we like pictures.
Wish I got free mowers /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[renz]

Hi Soundguy,

My family's an old WH clan - my father was an exec at the original Northeast distributor. Long story short, I'm happy to help you in your project given a model #, etc. BTW, Toro has a fantastic parts finder on line that'll give you schematics, etc. plus copies of old manuals. Just pulled up a part # yesterday for a 20 year old part and ordered it from my Toro dealer.

Toro Partfinder

The pre-Toro WH's are great machines. Still run a 1985 417-A (850 hrs, no rebuild) every week to mow, and a slightly newer one as a backup when I've got a non-mower attachment on the 417-A.

Hope this helps - you and others have helped me greatly with advice here, so I'm happy to return the favor if I can.

 

[billfires]

Chris, go to Yahoo groups, "wheelhorsegardentractors" and you will have as much info as you could want on your tractor. Good bunch of guys (like TBN). Hope this helps, Bill C