“Ol’ Red” 1979 Wheel Horse C-81

@Crazy_Carl Nice great job on the key, it the best feeling when you make something and it work. but it goes the other way lol

I got my step key to fit and the hub slid right on!




I need to get my hub turned shorter before I weld the pulley on.  I mocked up the new pulley without welding it and put the original belt on.  It fit great.  The clutch works great too.  It releases the tension and also puts a lot of tension on the belt without maxing out the travel like before.  I do need to re-do all that work I did to get the belt to not rub on the brake rod but I have a couple of ideas.  I might just make the bracket I made longer to move the brake linkage out of the way of the belt to gain clearance and I have to notch out the sheet metal on the side of the tractor to get the brake rod to go higher up.

Looks good, seems like the patience put into that key payed off.

Got my hub turned down today.  If I over rev the motor after the pulley swap is done I should hit 16mph!

Today I welded up my trans pulley.  I threw it on and took it for a test drive.  The max rpm I can rev my motor to is 4,000 RPM.  According to my top speed calculator I should hit 13 mph but according to the GPS I only hit 10 mph again but it definitely seemed a little bit faster.  She got a little tippy when I turned around in the road going a little too fast.  This is definitely as fast as I feel comfortable going on this tractor and I'm really happy with it.  Due to my new tie rods and front end alignment the tractor handled like a dream.  It even steered easier going backwards. The smaller trans pulley allowed me to bolt on the lower belt guard again.  I have some brake linkage work and some paint to put on the pulley then this pulley swap will finally be done.  Clutch worked great too even with the original belt.  Unfortunately I think my new input shaft and brake shafts seals are leaking a tiny bit.   I'm going to keep my eye on that for now. Next I'm thinking gas pedal and a front bumper.




Man I hope this ole girl becomes the new website header. I sure am proud of her.

Yay!, she won!

The paint dried on my trans pulley, so I put it on for real.

Then I reworked my brake linkage and made another bracket.  The paint is drying on it right now.

Looks better with a coat of paint on it.  I'm glad to have this tractor back together finally.


Hmmmm there's definitely some room here for a gas pedal.  I'd like to put a small one right about where the head of that carriage bolt is.  That would be kinda like how the "gas" pedal is on my dad's and my uncle's compact diesel tractors.  I'm open to ideas at this point.  I'm brainstorming.  I'd like to get the gas pedal, bumper, winch, and some rear wheel spacers ready to go for Haspin.

Brake linkage bracket looks nice Carl! The foot throttle setup you're describing sounds like the secondary foot throttle you usually see on bigger diesel tractors from like the 80's up. That'd be neat, are you gonna try and rig it up so you have dual throttle controls?

Looks really good Carl. Looks factory.

I've been thinking about a dual throttle setup which would come in handy for engine tuning and warm up.  Do I really need both throttles for moving trailers, plowing snow, and having fun?...no

"Cruise Control"

hmmmm that's not a bad point.

Yeah I kinda figured for certain stuff a hand throttle would probably come in real handy. Just wanted to ask, haha.

MightyRaze wrote:

"Cruise Control"  

i second that, i know i like it

I use it on Li'l Red especially in transport.

I've always wanted a idle adjust I could reach from the seat like some ATVs have. Be cool if I could adapt one to a mower.

So, Everytime I open your thread I see that key that you made.  Do you think that will hold?

Yeah I'm leaning toward a dual throttle setup.  I know I can do it.

@MightyRaze My step key is made from a 3/16 Woodruff key so I think the material is good quality.  My step key is quite bigger that the little stock 5/32 woodruff key.  I'd do a photo comparison but it's installed in the tractor with blue loctite on the set screws.  The beauty of the Wheel Horse 8 speed is the 24.6:1  reduction in high gear so there's quite a bit of gearing between this key and the rear wheels so I'm got worried about it at all.  My 8hp K181 is a powerful motor for what it is but it's not a huge torque monster either.

I did some experimenting today with a gas pedal and this is what I've come up with so far.



I made it from stuff I had laying around like an angle iron bedframe and this go-kart pedal that was leftover from a build years ago.  I had to go out and buy a package of bicycle brake cables at Wal-Mart for $10.  It's just clamped to the floorboard to figure out where it needs to go and I have some refinement to do on my return spring mounting.

I like exactly where the pedal is.  It doesn't interfere with the brake pedal at all and it's comfortable and easy for me to get to with my boot.

On the subject of dual throttle.  After the test drive I was pretty convinced that I have no need to be able to control the throttle in two different ways.  There is a way modify the governor plate and make it work but I don't want to do that right now.  For now I'm going to zip tie the original throttle under the hood so I could switch to it if I wanted to for plowing or just in case of an emergency out on the trail.

Wow that pedal setup looks great Carl! The go-kart pedal should look neat for sure, haha.

Looks good carl. Gonna be bangin gears now!

Thanks guys!  I was banging some gears too.   I still have some experimentation to do to see if she likes shifting from either 1st or 2nd into 3rd better, but it sure is  nice to start out in a lower gear and shift into third.

looks good i like that pedal set up

Being able to shift on the go is great. Id only be able to start out in 5th gear on mutt on a hill if i couldn't.

Lovin the gas petal man!

Made good progress on my gas pedal tonight.

I got it mounted where I want it and I made an adjustable stop that I can lock down with a set screw.


I also made a bracket for the return spring on the governor plate.  I've also come up with a more elegant way to do the return spring on the pedal too.