Wheel Horse Products Inc. was founded by the Father & Son team of Elmer & Cecil Pond, in South Bend Indiana, in 1946. They began with 2-wheel walk-behind tractors, and as the buisness grew and expanaded, they created one of the earliest small 4-wheel "Garden Tractors" meant for suburban homeowner use, the "Ride Away Junior" line, that began in 1955 with the models RJ25 and RJ35. 

These first RJ models, the RJ25, RJ35, RJ58 and RJ59, made from 1955 to 1959, also began the "Round Hood" line of Wheel Horse tractors, with a neatly designed smooth round hood. These early models were also distinctive in that the engines were located in the middle of the frame! a hold-over from their origins as modified 2-wheel tractors.

The Round-Hoods then continued in to 1960 and '61, with the "Suburban" models, then the evolution and refinement continued with the model 701 of 1961, which was the first Wheel Horse model with the engine in the front of the frame, in the (now) more traditional style. 

The Round Hood Garden Tractors then continued to be refined and updated, with various models, through '61, '62, '63 and up to 1964, where we reach the pinncale of the Round Hoods! The largest and most-powerful Round Hood ever, the only 8hp Round Hood, the Model 854 of 1964, the subject of this page.  

Model 854 is named using the naming convention that Wheel Horse used from 1960 to 1967: 

8 = 8hp engine, 5 = electric start, and 4 = 1964.

Note! The 854 was not actually the "top of the line" model for 1964, that was the 1054, which was not a Round Hood. The 854 was also not the last round hood! Round Hood models did continue from 1965 to 1968, but after '65 only with the "Lawn Ranger" series, which was Wheel Horse's smaller and much less powerful entry-level "Lawn Tractor" (LT) series, meant as basically riding mowers only, not a true Garden Tractor (GT). But! It can be honestly said that the 854 is the Ultimate Round Hood! :) Because it was the pinnacle of Wheel Horse Round Hood GT evolution, the largest and most powerful Wheel Horse/Round Hood/Garden Tractor, ever made. 

And the 854 was "The Last (GT) Round Hood" because the following year, 1965, Wheel Horse introduced a whole new style for their Garden Tractors, now known as the "square hood" style, with a redesigned more angular hood, and a new flat seat pan in place of the previous round fenders. This new style would then be used for the GT models for remainder of the 60's.

But back to 1964. ;) The 854 was the "cover girl" for the 1964 Wheel Horse brochure! The brochure that went out to all dealers, and then was handed out to customers. Then! in addition to being on the cover of the 1964 brochure, the 854 was also used in basically all advertisements for 1964! These ads appeared in various "home owner" and hobbiest magazines of the time, such as Popular Mechanics, Better Homes & Gardens, etc.

And with that background on the 854, here is the story of my own 854! :) 

My story with "vintage power equipment" begins in 2009. My wife and I bought our first home a few years earlier, (first-time home owners for both of us) and for the first few summers and winters I only used a push-mower for the lawn, and I shoveled the driveway by hand for the first few winters! but, being in the lake-effect snow belt of Western NY, hand-shoveling wasn't going to cut it, due to the high levels of snow, plus a fairly large driveway, plus the fact that I wasn't getting any younger! ;) (I turned 40 in 2009) So, a Snowblower was in the cards! :) I hopped on the internet and began doing research..

Which led to the discovery that a lot of *new* snowblowers, mowers, riding mowers, etc. can be very low quality these days, especially the least expensive models. It's possible, and likely, (if you don't do any homework) to buy a brand-new "off brand" (IE: China) $500 snowblower from a Big-Box store that is nearly useless junk when brand new. Sad.. Wasn't quality much better  in the past? I quickly confirmed my suspicion that yes.. yes it was.

More research and reading then also led to the discovery of the hobby of "vintage power equipment"! :) many people are happily still using (and restoring) snowblowers, mowers, garden tractors, etc. that are 40, 50, even 60 years old! From the 1950's, 60's, 70's and 80's. They still work great, because they were excellent US-made quality to begin with! I became enamored with Ariens, Cub Cadet, and Wheel Horse in particular. These brands (and many others) began in the golden-age of suburban home and garden equipment, the "suburban boom" era that began right after WWII, starting (for some companys) in the late 40's, then really ramping up through the 50's, 60's and 70's. Wheel Horse offered small Garden Tractors for homeowners by the mid-50's, Ariens was making rototillers in the 50's, and introduced their first self-contained "Sno-Thro" snowblower in 1960, and not to be outdone, International Harvester introduced their famous "Cub Cadet" garden tractor in 1961. These are all classic machines that were 100% designed, engineered, and fully-built in the USA, down to every last nut and bolt, when high quality was built in.

In 2009 I bought my first snowblower, a 1971 Ariens, which is all-original, fully functional, and still going strong at the half-century mark.

 The purchase of that '71 Ariens then led to the creation of several webpages!

The Ariens 1960's and 70's Sno-Thro Info Site

Ariens Manorway lawn tractor, 1969 to 1973 

Snowbird Snowblowers

And a 4th page, about the Wheel Horse model 854, the page you are reading now. ;)

(all my webpages can be found at www.scotlawrence.com)

So, after a sucessful first winter with the '71 Ariens, the search was on for my first vintage Garden Tractor! I had already been a member of the "Red Square" forum for about a year, the place for "all things Wheel Horse!" :)  https://www.wheelhorseforum.com/   So I made a post there saying I was looking for a RJ or an 854 in Western or Central NY. "Buckrancher" Brian replied saying he had an 854 for sale! So on a February Sunday in 2011 I drove down in to the Finger Lakes region to meet Brian and check out the 854. My first meeting with the tractor looked something like this:

(Much of the artwork on my webpage is from vintage Wheel Horse advertising, including that one from a 1958 owners manual!) 

It was great to meet with a fellow Redsquare member, chat for a bit and check out his other tractors, (thanks again Brian!) finally I loaded up the 854 and headed home, back up through the frozen Finger Lakes region of Central NY. I took the back roads, avoided the expressways, and got back home later in the afternoon. So here are the first photos of my new (new to me) 1964 Wheel Horse model 854:

Some things I know about the Tractor:

I am only the third owner!  The original owner lived in Victor NY (near Rochester). He bought the tractor new in 1964, and was the only owner until Brian (the 2nd owner) bought it only a few years ago. I am now the third owner, and it has spent its entire life in Central and Western NY.

The Kohler engine is original, never rebuilt, but could use a rebuild.. smokes a bit on startup, but then runs clean. Starts nice and easy though, and runs great, transmission is very smooth.

The gas tank and dash are not original, both are the wrong style for a 854, thats a very minor concern for me, I might replace them eventually, when I do a restoration.

Starter system is not original, and obviously the seat is not original, (although I like the look of the white pan seat!)

The hood has seperated a bit at a seam, and will need to be welded..and thats about it as far as "issues", which I dont really consider big issues at all. Overall it's is in good original "running and driving" condition for its age, and having never been restored! Just the thing I was looking for.

I also have a thread on the Redsquare forum with much of this same information, the forum thread will somewhat duplicate this webpage, but the forum is where I can get comments, advice and input from other Wheel horse owners!

which is very fun..thanks guys!  :)   

That first summer, 2011, I found a Wheel Horse dump cart, and have used that for general clean up around the yard. Here are some photos of the 854 at work! :)

The primary task of the 854 has been as a mower, that's where it spends most of its time, although you can see from the photos above it has done other work around the yard! :)

I bought a second riding mower in 2017, specifically for its bagger, for autumn leaf pickup. It's a 1987 Toro RER, (Rear Engine Rider). Another high-quality US-made machine! (Toro did buy and absorb Wheel Horse in 1986, although this particular Toro RER design was developed by Toro before their aquisition of Wheel Horse, so my RER does not have any Wheel Horse DNA in it.) I use the push mower to grind up the leaves first, then I run over the leaves with the RER, sucking them up into the bagger, then dump the leaves in the large compost pile, then Deb uses the leaf mulch the following summer to add to her flower gardens! A great system, and it works really well. So the 1964 854 and now the '87 Toro RER are my lawn maintenance team:

I'm updating this webpage in January 2023. It's now been 14 years since this adventure began with the '71 Ariens snowblower in 2009. Since then I still only have the two tractors/mowers, the 854 and the Toro RER. Although I did top-out at five vintage snowblowers! ;) I have since sold two, and am now down to "only" three. This summer, 2023, I plan to look for another vintage tractor! I would love an RJ58, and.. Im thinking I also need a 1960's Cub Cadet.

The 854 has been very reliable! no real issues. I did have a mower-deck repair, when a c-clip popped off, was lost in the lawn, and required some pully rebuilding. I made a thread on the Red Square forum about that, and also made a series of videos. I also broke a different part of the mower deck! but that was my fault, not a failing of the tractor. (I hit the edge of a driveway lip, and cracked a mower blade spindle)  I have added all my Tractor and Snowblower videos to one public play list, you can find it here: https://youtube.com/scots-playlist

 The 854 is still my only Wheel Horse, for now (mainly because I dont have much room!) I also have some vintage Ariens snowblowers:

Vintage Ariens Snowblowers 

And a Snapper RER:

Snapper Rear Engine Riders 

I'd like to find a Wheel Horse RJ58 as my next addition to the collection:

if anyone knows of one for sale in Western NY, please let me know!

So! that is everything for now. I will never sell the 854! :) and I am still considering doing a full tear-down and restore/refurbish on it! someday.. no hurry. I'll update this page when that happens! meanwhile, here are two of my favorite photos of the 854 at work, after completing some summer lawn mowing..

Thanks!

Scot