Colt Case Ingersoll Garden Tractors

I drained the hydraulic oil two weeks ago. The cylinders were retracted to push as much oil back to the tank. The backhoe boom is fully extended in the air with a piece of channel under it to support it. Since the tractor is up with jackstands supporting it, I thought it would be a good time to take a good look under it. I knew the banana control plate was a problem last summer, so that was a good place to start. I could see there was a bit of wear on the plate and the one control rod had a lot of play it it. I removed the control plate and the rod with ball socket that goes to the valve body spool. The lbh has a cylinder under it to lift a mowing deck. Who would ever mow their lawn with a lbh. Since the control rod to lift the cylinder has never been used I switched it with the one that controls the movement of the tractor. Since the control plate didn’t look to bad for wear I TIG welded up the wear areas and the ground the welds down. Painted it up and now it’s ready to reinstall. Harry

Looks good @Harry ! I’m sure you’ll notice the difference. I was able to do similar repairs to my 648 and it helped a lot!

That’s why I say I’m cheap. Being a maintenance welder for 30 years it’s what I do. I can’t always fix something but when I can I do. I’ll spend that money on a new hydraulic hose or paint maybe. Harry

Harry wrote: ↑Sun Mar 05, 2023 3:15 pm That’s why I say I’m cheap. Being a maintenance welder for 30 years it’s what I do. I can’t always fix something but when I can I do. I’ll spend that money on a new hydraulic hose or paint maybe. Harry

I suppose tig welding is better for finer weld fixes like this one. Nicely done @Harry , it shows you've done welding for that many years. If I did that it would look quite different.

A few Mig welds would work fine too. It all grinds down the same. I just use the Tig because I have it available. Harry

Still cleaning up the 644, the closer I look the more I see. PO had hoe attachment pins held on by heavy wire. They didn’t come loose I just didn’t like the way it looked. They were replaced with big cotter pins. I had to remove the rear wheels to get some of the wire removed. I noticed dirt and grease on top of drive motor. Cleaned it out and saw motor mounting bolt out and laying on top of motor. Tight area to screw it back in lock tight on threads. The other bolts were tight. The front of the tractor had oil film every where, hydraulic oil leaking on oil cooler connection. Since oil is drained a good time to remove oil tank and cooler. Cooler was plugged with dirt and oil and fan was missing three blades. Cleaned cooler in cleaning tank then carefully straightened bent fins. Fan was old and brittle, had a new one on shelf. With all that it probably was not cooling the hydraulic oil at all. This morning installed the tank cooler and new hose. When I buy hose I usually get a piece a foot longer than I think I need so I had some hose in a drawer from the 646 oil filter project. I’m getting anxious to get this down off the jackstands because I want to check the valve settings and timing on the Kohler 321 before I can say it’s ready for use. Harry

That's quite something to find, a bolt that's almost gone and the cooler all plugged. I bet it feels good once you get each of these issues fixed, one at a time!

As you can see from pics I installed the oil cooler with new hoses and clamps. Oil tank was also cleaned and remounted. Oil filled in tank and checked for leaks, found none. Greased all zerk fittings on the hoe and the loader arms and bucket. I noticed that there were no zerks on loader arms where it connects to the tower. Support rod for loader arms is slightly bent. That’s another project down the road. I redid the one on my 646 which was an extensive welding and machining project. It took me almost a week to complete it. I take my time being retired now. Tomorrow I hope to change the engine oil and check valve adjustment and timing. By the time I complete the 644 it will be time to check over the 646 and make sure it’s ready for discing the garden. That will be another posting. Harry

Great job @Harry ! You made some good finds and repairs. That tractor is going to be ready to get some work done when the weather breaks!

I don't know how you cleaned the cooler so well, looks like new. The old chipped fans are a sore view on my machines. The new fan looks real nice @Harry .

After looking at the pics again I thought I should have taken some time to paint a few things before assembling them. If I ever run out of projects I could always throw some paint on it. lOL. Harry

Eugen, I cleaned the oil cooler in my parts cleaning tank. Using the brush with solvent coming out of it washed away the nasty imbedded oil and dirt. Harry

I worked on the hoe again yesterday and all I can say is, “the closer I look the more I see.” I pulled head on the K321 and confirmed the piston is .010 oversize. Carbon buildup was not to bad. Removed muffler and air cleaner to clean area on engine to access valve cover. When I used the 644 to clean up the snow from the blizzard after the 446 died in the middle of my driveway. The engine seemed to be really loud. Hole was found on back side of muffler, see pic. Easy enough to weld a patch on it. Then after scraping dirt and oil off of the oil return I found three gouges in the pipe. That can be repaired also. I can’t figure how they got there. I never saw them before. Probably because it was so dirty there I couldn’t see them. I wonder what I will find next! Thinking back to when I purchased this GT I had never seen one before and I should have been more diligent about looking it over. In the future I’m now better educated on what to look for. Harry

The good news @Harry is that the issues you found seem easily below your skill level, you'll feel so good once the tractor is spruced up. People who can't fix anything get gray tractors from home depot and replace them after five years. At the price you got this tractor for you're coming waaaay ahead of most of us, even with the repairs that need to be done.

That is curious @Harry. What would rub those lines like that? I’m betting that has had those rub marks long before you owned the tractor. You did find some things to fix but thankfully it’s nothing major. Hopefully that’s the end of things you find! Either way you still have a great machine!

On the right side of the machine in the engine area the loader cylinder is the only thing there. I can’t imagine what could have made those wear marks! I can weld those up and grind them smooth. A little paint and you would never know they were there. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that there are no more surprises. Harry

I have one such spot on a hard line on my 644 but I am afraid to try an weld. That is the difference between having years of experience and not having. I admire your skills and experience @Harry ! Respect!

I’m going to MIG weld the areas. I will just strike an arc create a little puddle then stop. Doing that over and over until the area is covered. I will use a .028 wire with Argon and CO2 mixed gas. I just want to build up some weld on the tube and not burn through. It doesn’t appear that any if the areas had worn through, but one area looked like it was close. The story about this tractor is as follows. The seller told me it was his Dads GT and he passed away. When he sent to Pittsburgh Pa. to take care of his affairs he noticed the GT in a building. He trailered it to WNY and had the engine rebuilt then got it running. He was using it to dig graves at a cemetery. I actually went to the cemetery to see it before purchasing it. He said it took to long to dig a grave with the little tractor so he had purchased a large tractor, which I saw there. Since I never saw one of these tractors for sale before, I wanted it but was unsure about buying it. We dickered back and forth a bit and we came to a agreement and I came back the next day with a trailer and brought it home. The first thing I did was pull it into my shop and drained the oils and said to myself, “what the heck am I getting myself into here.” The following spring I started to use it by taking it into my back field and dug trenches with it to check it out. It really surprised me how well it dug. That’s my ramble for this morning. Harry

JSinMO wrote: ↑Fri Mar 10, 2023 6:36 pm That is curious @Harry. What would rub those lines like that? I’m betting that has had those rub marks long before you owned the tractor. You did find some things to fix but thankfully it’s nothing major. Hopefully that’s the end of things you find! Either way you still have a great machine!

With the dirt and grit most of these machines see, any thing rubbing the steel line will wear into it. I have seen rubber hydraulic lines and throttle / choke cables do this.



Gordy

Got 3” to 4” of snow Friday, so I had to clean out three driveways this morning. Just as I finished the caster drive chain broke. I had to put in in the shop along side of the 644 to replace the chain. I had a piece of NIB #40 chain so no problem there. I fired up the woodstove to melt the snow off the caster. While waiting for the snow to melt I welded up the hole in the 644 muffler. I took a piece of 1/8” piece of low carbon steel and formed it in the vice to match the curvature of the muffler. Held it on with a hose clamp and tack welded it on with the TIG welder. Removed the clamp and welded all four sides. Ran to TSC and picked up three master links for #40 chain. Ate lunch and went to the shop, snow all melted and installed and adjusted chain. Time for a break. The 644 can wait till tomorrow. Harry

Nice job @Harry ! Wish I was in your neck of the woods, I’d love to get a few welding lessons from you!

JSinMO wrote: ↑Sat Mar 11, 2023 11:05 pm Nice job @Harry ! Wish I was in your neck of the woods, I’d love to get a few welding lessons from you!

I would be happy to give anyone the drive by training. I was a welding instructor for six years after I retired from GM. It was the best job I ever had. Harry