Hey folks, thought I would share my next wheel horse project. This tractor popped up for $25 back in the summer and I jumped on it for a future project. Well the time is now! Plan is to just get this running good and be a solid user. It won't look as nice as the 312 I have but can still be a great machine. Main issue is a bad engine, Kohler 10hp K241s. So seemed it was ran low of oil and the connecting rod gave due to the heat. Part of it melted to the crankshaft journal. It cleaned up nicely though with muriatic acid. I was careful 
The the crankshaft, camshaft block all were not damaged. The cylinder wall did take a small chip but it is below the ring travel line so I'm going to hone it and see what happens. This was rebuilt as the piston was a .020 over and the rod .010 under. I don't think the unit had high amount of hours since the rebuild as the carbon build up on the head was not much. So I'm rolling the dice and replacing with same size piston and rod. We'll see what happens. Machine shops around cost too much to make this a worth while budget project. If this doesn't work I'll wait another engine or maybe do a Harbor Freight predator swap. We'll see. But onto some pics for this project:
not what you want to see!
Here is the crankshaft out and journal cleaned up!
And block ready to be reassembled.
I'm awaiting a few tools I need to get started on the reassembly. I'm also doing a valve job while I'm in here. I'll post some updates as I get to it!
Great project OE,
My youngest son is into restoring cars and tractors, we had a Craftsman garden tractor with a snow plow and a mower deck, we scrapped the deck and used the tractor/snow plow for the better part of 10 years to clean snow from out parking area and driveway, the frame and plow finally got to the point where it just no longer could be patched or repaired, but the Kolar engine was still running ok.
My son has a friend who knew of a man who had a 1989 Bolen garden tractor that he bought new and used in his small landscape business, when he retired in the late '90's he stored the tractor in his barn and forgot about it
It looked to be in pretty good shape, and the engine turned over, but the hoses and tires were all cracked and rotted, and the seat had been chewed up by mice, my son (a professional mechanic) got the engine started, he replaced all the hoses and tires, and also replaced a couple of hydraulic pistons for the power angle plow and rear PTO, the body was in excellent shape and the original paint cleaned up like new, he found a like new fork truck seat that fit right on the tractor without having to modify it, the tractor looks like new.
Unfortunately the engine blew up and he swapped it with the Kolar engine on the Craftsman, but it too is running rough, so we'll be buying a new engine for it this spring.
Just a suggestion, if you don't want to repaint the frame and body on your Wheel Horse tractor, think about cleaning and degreasing it (no sanding or priming) then give it a couple of coats of Clear Coat paint like they do with Rat Rods, it would be protected from the elements, and it would look super cool.
