Dad's 98 314-8

Dad made sure a some things were here a few months or more before he passed to make sure they were mine, or were here where they didn't "disappear"...  Dad was very wise that way.  Someone overheard someone in the family asking Mom about the Kubota and where it was at the funeral, very distasteful but true.  A few things already here were the new Country Clipper he never used, his 98 314-8 he bought new, the Kubota backhoe, among other non tractor things.  

The 314 has been here since March 14, 2025, 2-1/2 months before he passed.  The pics below are when I brought it up here.  I am proud to have both of the Horses he bought new now, the 87 414-8 and the 98 314-8.  

The 314 has almost 1,000 hours on it but he took great care of it like he did everything.  He also had some help from a great mechanic and Wheel Horse guy I know lol.  

 

Dad's 314 is gonna become my new hill mower.  I've been using a 1987 312-A for many years and took the tires, wheels, plow mount, slot hitch, wheel weights, lug kit, etc off of it to put on the 314.  I also took the really nice Wheel Horse seat off of the 312, and put the Toro seat from the 314 on the 312, I just like the old Wheel Horse seat a lot better and they last a lot longer.  I have some other nice original tires + wheels sitting around and put them on the 312 so I could keep the original wheels and tires off of the 314.  

The 1st 2 pics are the 312 before and after I took all of the "goodies" off to put on the 314.  If you notice the new style motor with the oil filter on the 312-A, I bought this tractor with a bad engine and put a newer style engine on it.  

I put all the seals in dad's tractor several years ago and the hubs have to come off to put the stud in the hub near the hub lock for the key.  The lock has to be put in farther, then the stud put in, then the lock backed back out to put the hub back on.  It's the only thing that makes the job a pain sometimes.  These came off easily, a few taps with a hammer and they came right off by hand.  The axles were just wiped off with a shop rag and still looked new thanks to the white lithium grease I use for everything.  The case hardened locks I use also curl the metal in instead of making any flaring of the axle shaft so they don't bind up when taking things that use them back apart.  It sure pays using the best stuff when doing a job.   

 

I've been behind on making posts so these pics are from the last time the steamer was out and a few days after, actually August 8-11.  The pics in the post above are from the same time frame.  Not enough hours in a day to do what I need to do for customers so I do what I can when I can...    

After the work from the last post it got a good steam cleaning and a wax job.  It didn't need to be buffed, dad always took good care of it.  It can use a little more detailing but that can wait until this Winter sometime whenever there's a little more time.