Well it got me through leaf pickup at least...

[Toolslinger]

Yesterday, I managed to wrap up the repairs to the 444. All new low pressure lines, and new carb. It fired up, and ran ok enough... It only wants to run smoothly with just a little bit of choke, otherwise it hunts a bit. That was just before dark, so, I wrapped it up.

This morning, I confirmed no oil leaks, and hooked up the Trac-Vac/EZ Rake hybrid, and got after the leaves. They're dry, so I really wanted to get them all before rain made it far more work. We ran 10 loads through it. That's right around 20 cubic yards of compressed leaves. They didn't shred as much as damp leaves, but still reduced them nicely. Run through a mower deck would do a better job with that, but that isn't happening now, and I've got plenty of space for a slightly bigger compost heap.

Everything ran good, until (you knew there was an until coming didn't you?) I was on the way back to the barn to put everything away. I made it just across the street, and the 444 just flat died. I was pretty sure I didn't run out of gas, it just sat and idled most of the time. Checked, and yep, plenty of gas. That's far less good.

Wound up being a dead battery. I'm guessing I've got corrosion involved with the charging circuit, but will need actual testing. Idling doesn't help either. Stole a battery from a 646, and drove it the remaining 40' to its parking spot. It's frustrating, but I can't complain too much, it did get me through the work I needed it to do.

[JSinMO]

“Everything ran good, until (you knew there was an until coming didn't you?) “

That made me smile, why does there always have to be an until?! Seems to be the story of my life!

Sounds like you got it running good again. Hopefully the charging issue will be easy. I wonder if it’s charging at higher RPM. Like you said a little investigation is needed.

[Eugen]

You have a way of writing things that always makes me chuckle.

In all seriousness though, it seems to be the way things go, one gets one of these tractors, and start using it. Then various issues show up, get fixed, and once the bugs get ironed out, the tractor works well for a long time. One of the things I like about these Case tractors is that they are not hard to fix.

[Toolslinger]

Yesterday afternoon, I revisited the 444. The plan was to clean up the contacts, and look into the charging.

First though, I thought I really need to tighten up the brake. There isn't any flat ground at my place. I mean none. With full brake on, it will roll, so I was throwing a good sized rock under it while using the vac. That isn't exactly convenient. I had forgotten how busy that brake band linkage is. threads on things were pretty gritty/stuck/rusted, but they did break free with some Liquid Wrench. Afterwards, the brake is better, but I'm not there yet. Brake design is probably the only real failing on these tractors.

Then it was on to... Wait, I need to work on that carb surging issue...

So tip open the hood to get at the carb, and remember I need to move the coil a little in it's mount. It was positioned such that it was really straining one of the wires running to it. Annoyingly, the 10-24 bolt that holds the band to the coil had lost it's nut. There is exactly no room to get in there with tools, so that had to come off, get replaced, and then back on. Nylock nut this time. Hopefully the nylon doesn't melt being next to the engine, but the coil can't get away even if it does. Wires are now not strained, and on to the carb.

So started it up, and ran it outside to warm up a little. After a little reading on the adjustment procedure, it seems to have settled down reasonably. I hadn't bothered to try to find my tach, because I'm supposed to be working on the charging system, so can't say the gov is set quite right, but no reason to suspect it's off by much if any since I didn't change anything there. Sounds about right for a K321.

In the morning, I had put the battery on a charger, so it was complete. I wanted to get the 646 battery out of the 444 because the 444 wires fit better on a U1R than the U1 I have in the 646. So pulled that apart, and dealt with it. Made sure all the wiring contacts were clean while I was at the terminals. Didn't put the 646's back yet, didn't feel like going down to the barn basement.

So, on to the charging circuit. Happened to be on the left side of the tractor, about to take off the access panel on the tower to clean up the regulator contacts. Looked down, and saw a couple wires with a plug end on them, not plugged in to anything... Yea, it was that simple... It must have pulled apart when I had that panel off to fight with the hydraulic lines. Plugged it back in, started, and it was charging nicely again.

At some point next year once the weather gets nice again, I really need to give the 444 some more time. The resilient engine mounts are pretty much shot. The brake needs more work. I need to look in to the travel control as it doesn't stay where you put it. The PTO hose needs to be replaced as the outer jacket is cracked badly.

All that has to wait though. I will have one more session pulling the Trac-Vac for this season, just to kinda do the annoying detail areas. Then the new to me 48" blower needs to be gone through, mounted, and get ready for snow. If I find an issue, I still have the 38, so I'm ok either way up front. It really would be nice to get some chains on the rears. The loaded ags are nice, but the driveway right at the road is steep, and curved (great choice, thanks dad). Typically, I don't get ice on it until I've cleared the snow, so I would most likely be fine. Having chains would eliminate any uncertainty though. Of course, chains on ags can be difficult. I've priced the net style on occasion, and always have to sit down when I see the number. This would all be a lot easier if there was a little heated space to work in... An old hay barn that was made to be drafty isn't ideal for cold weather work. Keep thinking about if I can build a heatable room in there for winter repairs. Just something with wind proof walls, and a solid floor where parts don't fall into the basement abyss. Should probably just finish unloading one of my shipping containers, and use that. And with that, I'm wrapping up this 4am ramble...

[DavidBarkey]

Have you thought about studding the agg tires ? Might be enough to bite into ice when needed .

[Timj]

Nice Ramble @Toolslinger I'm laughing/crying with you. All of these things needing to be done with that sense of urgency the coming winter brings.

[Eugen]

To me AG tires didn't make sense outside of the garden, so I put some effort in finding a second pair of rear wheels just so that I can change the wheels quickly. For me Winter gets turf tires with chains and summer AG tires for the garden. Well, I guess I'd really like one more pair of wheels with turf tires for doing the lawn, as the chains I got are not easy to take off.

You're right, the brake design on these tractors is pretty bad. From all the 7 or 8 Case tractors that have passed through here none could hold the tractor still if I put it in drive. For inclines I don't know if there's a practical fix other than disk brakes like Dave did on his machine.

[Toolslinger]

Have you thought about studding the agg tires ? Might be enough to bite into ice when needed .

I suspect studs would probably do just fine on the ice I get. I'm just not inclined to do it, and then have to pull them in good weather. I'd suck it up, and buy the net chains first. I guess if I ran in to another set of rear ags, I'd go for studs, but that isn't terribly likely. Rear turf, and chains would be just fine too. That's at least plausible to happen across around here.

The only "tractor"here that we run with turf tires is the Walker mower. That would make a huge mess of the grass with ags, or even the AT's. ( I would kinda like to try a Walker with the AT's, but I haven't run across that yet either, though they do get good reviews) Everything else here has ags. My open air Gator has the OEM tires, and that does ok, but my Gator with a cab has the rears that you'd have on a golf coarse. Super dense kinda knoby. They're terrible if the grass is even damp on the flatter areas, forget the real slopes. At least on the Gators, there's a diff lock to get you moving.

Snow, and ice don't really hang around here for terribly long. We almost always get down to the grass between storms unless it's a weird year. So, while the ice episodes are a pain, the reality is that I get to deal with mud more often. Last year, we didn't even get a hard frost in the ground. That was weird, and while I don't expect that, there's no doubt the winters here have gotten a lot warmer over the years. I only had to clear snow off the drive once, and it wouldn't have even been enough to use a blower last year.