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My Wheel Horse 212-5 restoration attempt

16K views 14 replies 14 participants last post by  mrolds88 
#1 · (Edited)
My WheelHorse 212-5 restoration attempt

Well...here goes, this is how it looked when I bought it three or four weeks ago for $70. It had been sitting a "couple of years", covered I believe. I bought it from a man in Ellenboro, NC that worked on mowers, mostly Deere John's I think from the look of his shop.




I have my work cut out for me on the hood. I think it was used as a battering ram.


It was a little rusty but, no rust thru. I evaluated the engine and transaxle operation before I made a decision to restore it. The engine ran really good after a carburetor cleaning, just a hint of blue smoke on start up. the transaxle operated fine but I later found a loose axle on disassembly, I was not deterred.

The axle is fixed with bearings. I sealed the case with Threebond, the same stuff I sealed my motorcycle case with. It works great and no leaks. I filled it with 80W-90 gear lube and turned it upside down, nary a drip. What about the shifter shaft you asked? I added an O-ring on top beneath the shfter arm. I filled the transaxle a little less than half way up, the gears with distribute it.



The bolts that secure the front axle support had loosened and a bolt had fell out of the support bracket for the transaxle. This allowed the front axle support and transaxle to rock around when the mower was in motion. The frame was stress cracked at the bolt holes in front and the frame had broke where the transxle mounts, a small piece of metal fell out when I unbolted the transaxle. I welded it up, ground it smooth but decided to add additonal support where the transaxle mounts. I made these supports from 1.25" angle and bolted them to the frame (see pictures). It's not going to be a concours restoration or show winner, I intend to use it like a mower so these minor modifications were necessary.
Before;


After;

Above; metal strip added on top of the frame with one additional bolt added in the middle.



The wheels are sanded, primed and painted, new tires installed.


I took the liberty of replacing the front wheels bushings with bearings. The front axles were worn so I had to weld the worn areas and file them back to size so that the bearings had a nice seat on the axle and not wallowing around.


That's as far as I've gotten.

 
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#3 ·
I have to say--from the pictures, you have the equipment and knowledge--and looks like a first class job.:hatsoff:

glenn
 
#6 ·
I have a $70 212-H. Fun little tractor! Your work is amazing. Keep the pictures coming!
 
#13 ·
I have this same tractor, but mine has the round 30" deck. It's cool to see another one, and you're doing a first class job. Mine had over 1,000hrs on the meter when I purchased it from the motel that bought it new. It was in pretty rough shape, but looks nice now after a repaint and new decals. Just found an NOS 30" deck about 6mo ago. What a score that was.

Neat to see the trans apart. I've had others apart, but not one of these. Amazing to see actual ball bearings, and bronze bushings. All I've ever seen are shafts running in aluminum bores. What a quality built transmission.

I like your front wheel bearing mod too. That'll last forever! I replaced the bushings on mine and said, "Good enough.....I'm not flying it to the moon."

Looking forward to your next update.
 
#15 ·
I have a 212-5 too. It's got 400+ on the meter. Have the bagger for it (never used it) and it has a twin blde deck (dont know what width.) And a snow blower. It's my number 2 tractor now since I got a bigger Craftsman. Maybe soon, I might go through it and fix it up a bit.
 
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