Toro Wheel Horse

Hi everyone!

Due to an unexpected matter, I needed to sell my New Holland tractor.
Because I still needed something to cut the grass on my 3.6 acre lot until the house sells (16 months and counting), I starting looking for a replacement in a lower price bracket. I decided against the cheap box store models, and instead found a 1993 Toro Wheel Horse 520H on craigslist and negotiated a price that I thought was acceptable.

It only has 400 hours on it and it has been meticulously cared for by the previously owner. Like my New Holland, it has a 60 inch deck, but it does a much better job cutting.

Anyone here have any Wheel Horse experiences?

Yup, thats a very good mower. I have its smaller brother (312-8) with a backhoe and loader.

Only 'issue' with the 520H is the Onan engine, which is very expensive to rebuild. But with only 400 hours and good maintenance you shouldnt need to worry about rebuilding it for atleast 1000 hours yet.

Toro WheelHorse 520H

OK, I'm frustrated.

I bought this 1993 Toro WheelHorse 520H with a 60 inch mower deck recently on craigslist.

The seller said it came from an estate and had been sitting for six years. After bringing it out of retirement, the seller had all of the filters and fluids changed. It only has 400 hours on it and it looks almost new, and it even came with all of the manuals. It appears the previous owner took spectacular care of it, keeping records of all maintenance and even documenting when the blades were sharpened and when the tractor was waxed! For such a heavy duty mower with low hours, I felt the $1600 price I got it for was right and even included delivery.

When I looked at it, it started and ran great and the guy delivered it later in the afternoon and again it started and ran great. When I went to use it about a week later, it wouldn't start... after some coaxing it finally started but was only running on one cylinder. Both cylinders are getting gas and spark so I called in some help.

The guy who owns the tractor repair shop at the corner pointed out that the intake gasket needed replaced. After that, it still won't run on the back cylinder. He says he would need to take the engine out to get it apart to access the back cylinder, and with so many unknowns he suggests it's not worth going any further, especially with the Onan engine.

I'm not a small engine expert, so can anyone tell me what is up... Why did it run so good when I looked at it and for the first time I mowed with it, and now it seems like I have a two cylinder paperweight with no notice that anything was about to go wrong.

Any advise would be appreciated. I only mowed with it once, but I can say this was the nicest mowing tractor I have ever used. It would be great if I could get it going again without too much financial investment.

Thanks for the help in advance!

Get the mechanic to do a compression check on the dead cylinder. If its got good compression then it'd be worth pursuing the problem further.
I'd phone up the guy you bought it off and see if he will give you any information. It might be a completely new problem.
It wouldnt be beyond possibility that a valve has stuck or something. Unlikely, but possible.

did you get it running yet or are you going to sell it

Thanks for the bump Bearfoot ....and welcome to Net Tractor Talk. I'm glad you found us.

Andy,
I was on vacation when your originally posted of the problem so I missed that part of this thread. Sorry to hear about it. I've had nothing but bad luck with used mowers. I hope your end result was better than mine was.

Please give us an update.

It turned out to be a loose valve seat. My wife's uncle has a machine shop and he tore it apart and fixed it, charging us only for parts.

Only problem now is the wiring isn't quite right since he put it back together and it won't start without being jumped, but that shouldn't be too bad to fix... all I need is TIME and a warm place to work on it.

It sure is a nice mower, but the 60 inch deck is too large to maneuver around now that we've moved to a one acre lot. I'll probably keep using it for the time being though.

That's a great tractor, and the engine will last years if cared for properly. You may just have a safety switch malfunction preventing starting. You can place a jumper from the "S" terminal on key switch & go directly to small terminal on the solenoid to test. If it still won't crank over, then it's either the solenoid, or solenoid has poor ground.