Colt Case Ingersoll Garden Tractors

So, a couple of months ago I was all excited and bought my 2nd tractor - a nice shiny '88 Ingersoll 222 (aka Maxine)
Drove it around the owners yard, even cut some of his grass with it. Everything seemed ok and we agreed on a price. I returned a couple of days later with the truck and trailer and brought it home.

The next day I was online and saw the great deal for Grandpa (the 195) - so we hurriedly unloaded the 222 and took off on a crazy drive to Sarnia to pick up the 195 and bring it home...

The following week I went to start Maxine and do a couple of laps around the yard as the grass was getting long... Maxine didn't want to start...

Words were said and Maxine was pushed to the back corner of the yard and the tarp of shame was draped over her...

So yesterday before the storm I took the mower deck off and pushed Maxine back into the tent garage behind Max so I could start figuring out why her attitude.

Popped the hood open and I immediately noticed the pile of dried grass behind the dash,
I'm sure I didn't notice this when I was originally looking at the machine before I agreed to the price...
and all the messy electrical tape covering most of the wires. Cleaned up the grass and pulled back some of the electrical tape... seems a previous owner had problems with mice -
- every wire on the back of the ignition switch had been chewed on
Spent several hours this morning doing a combination of making up new wires, or cutting out the mangy sections and repairing them with heat shrink butt connectors.
Handy thing to have is this generic electrical connector kit - perfect for releasing connectors from plugs so you can re-use the original plastic connectors
Going to go out later and get some liquid electrical tape to seal up the wires coming out of the plug with the resistors / diodes or whatever is hiding in the chunk of epoxy...
might have to get a replacement for that eventually...
So far mission accomplished, the back of the Ignition switch looks all nice and clean and tidy now.

A common problem on "new" to you tractors. While not the most pleasant of jobs, being forced to redo the electrical can be one of those blessings in disguise. Does it start now?

Does it start now? Ha, you make me laugh -
Going out later to get some liquid electrical tape so I can make sure all the smoke stays inside the wires,
By then the batteries should be charged - having a battery party in the basement - big case backhoe, Samurai, Ford F350, Case garden tractors and a few spare ones for good luck
Making sure they are all ready for the trip up north -
I definitely got the power!

Well... Electrical is done for now,
Brush on electrical tape worked great, (Oops, forgot to do an "after" photo with black goop over all the bare wires )
Everything electrical seems to work (sort of) It looks like the big issue is the fuel system.

I can see some crud in the bottom of the fuel tank, and when I pulled the fuel filter and replaced it with a small clear one I cranked and cranked but didn't see any fuel going into the filter. Put my finger on the inlet to the fuel pump and as the engine is cranking I can feel a tiny little bit of suction.

Enough for tonight, tomorrow is a new day, take the fuel tank out, clean it out and replace the fuel lines with new hose/

A couple of electrical questions for the more experienced here - I found my in line spark tester, when cranking If I hold the Ignition switch all the way over I don't get any spark until I back off just a smidge - so it's still cranking, but the key isn't pushed all the way over - Is that normal ?

And the other thing... When I turn the engine off (or stop trying to crank) the battery light stays on,
for several minutes after the key has been taken out of the switch - It does eventually go out, I've been disconnecting the battery just in case...

Quote / A couple of electrical questions for the more experienced here - I found my in line spark tester, when cranking If I hold the Ignition switch all the way over I don't get any spark until I back off just a smidge - so it's still cranking, but the key isn't pushed all the way over - Is that normal ? / Quote
No , the switch is worn . That may explain the battery light on for a time after key off. Get on from our dealers . They all look the same on the out side but have different contacter patterns on the inside . Very easy to get the wrong one if you are not familier with them . Get a new pig tail at the same time .

Thanks for the info @DavidBarkey
Sounds like it's time to get a shopping list together
Gerry

Update time... (Is it Spring yet ?) At times last summer it felt like I was running a drop in centre for non-running Case tractors, no problems, there was always room in the tent garage while I did my troubleshooting and waited for the packages of new parts to arrive... In addition to replacing all the rodent chewed wiring, Maxine got a new ignition switch, diode pigtail, fuel pump, fuel lines, changed out the fuel tank, cleaned out the carburettor, and will eventually get new LED headlights. (the original plastic lenses were badly melted ) As the chewed wires and other electrical issues were tidied up it became obvious I now had spark but wasn't getting any gas to the carb, previous owner had substituted a smaller steel fuel tank for the original which he said was leaking... @Eugen sold me a good used fuel tank and I slid it under the seat along with new fuel lines and a new fuel filter. Once fuel was able to make it out of the tank I then discovered the fuel pump was marginal and needed to be replaced - so it got swapped for a cheap plastic one from Amazon ~ (seems to be working ok so far)... The next headache was fuel now made it to the Carb, but nothing was getting into the bowl.

I took advantage of the crazy warm winter day today and pulled the carb off, cleaned it out, replaced seals, float needle and the float pivot pin... Cranked it over a few times, and miracle of miracles it started running for the first time since I drove it off the trailer when i brought it home 8 months ago. Of course there are always nit picky things to tweak and improve... Looks like previous owner had issues with losing the retainer for the throttle linkage, And... the hole was pretty badly worn, Made a quick and dirty plastic bushing to take up the slop for now, and found a clip from my old Samurai carb parts to retain the linkage.
Still have a little more electrical work to do - finish the wiring to the headlights, and decide which of the handful of LED lights will work the best (none of them fit perfectly and I'm still on the fence at the moment about enlarging the holes in the front of the hood...)

But I'm very happy that I finally have a tractor that I can drive out of the tent garage again...

Thanks for sharing the story and good pictures! You’ve done quite a bit of work to Maxine. With everything you found wrong I’m surprised it ran and mowed when you first looked at it. Maybe she was asking for help and knew you could fix her up! Now that she’s on the road to recovery it should be a good machine for a good long while!

@RoamingGnome Gerry. The reality ith old GTs. is poeple lose interest in keeping them up or can't find anyone to work on them . Most people want new , shiny , cheap and right now . So we can pick up these fixer uppers , and with some time / patients/ and money we get a machine that will most likely out live us .

Thanks for your comments @JSinMO and @DavidBarkey The rambling story and photos of Maxine's repairs help remind me of time spent figuring out her attitude problems and appreciate all the hidden stuff that will hopefully give me years of use with fewer headaches.

They definitely don't make them like these anymore, and I know that the shiny, mostly plastic riding mowers on display outside the big box stores will have a shorter lifespan, with a much quicker trip to the scrapyard when the time is up. For me, there is a lot of enjoyment in finally seeing something running and knowing I solved some problems and learned some new stuff along the way. Funny thing is that despite having 3 garden tractors with mower decks, none of them are likely to cut much grass... But I'm sure there will be some interesting GT fabrication projects to share in the near future

Nice fixing, soon you'll have a fleet of Case tractors running around!

More progress with Maxine... She can see in the dark now!
It's part of the rewiring process, The original plastic lenses had melted and I had been debating the replacement options for a while... I settled on these 6" LED Combo spot /flood lights. They had been mentioned on a FB group or a forum somewhere and I decided to give them a try. The assembly is quite thin, and was perfect for mounting behind the grill. The lens dimension was pretty close to stock, but the back of the housing was too large to fit in the existing opening - Yes, that meant I got to play with cardboard and practice my CAD skills and you get a quick visit to the basement workshop I measured up the reflector section of the lamps and decided to widen the openings by 3/16" on each side, hopefully enough that I wouldn't be blocking any of the light when they were on... and if things didn't work out the original lamp assemblies would still fit. and they looked pretty good - not perfectly square (but that can be tweaked later when I do a proper restoration) The wiring was run down the right front corner of the grill
And used a weatherproof Deutsch connector at the bottom corner so it would be easy to disconnect if I had to remove the hood (and I will, I found a couple of cracks that will need welding eventually) I also added a 2nd connector so that I could add additional lights (possibly magnetic mount)
The wiring is zip tied to one of the hydraulic hoses running back from the cooler assembly - We'll see how it works when it has been running for a while - There are also some noticeable grooves rubbed into the cooler hoses - that's yet another job on the to-do list I can't wait to see them in the dark

Nice installation, outcome looks great. I like how you ran the wires down the side because with the hood closed there's not much room between the cooling fins and the grill. Thanks for sharing with the pics.

Nicely done, they look great! I know you’ll be thrilled with them at night. I’ve got the same melted lens situation on the 648 I may have to look into this at some point.

I got those original plastic lenses at, I Save Tractors, for my Case 446. I then put LED bulbs in the original sockets.

Gerry, you should make a trip to NS. There’s a deal there waiting for you.

Noel

Thanks Noel... I'll stop by and say hello when we are on the east coast again, I can imagine what that Tracker looks like underneath. They rust pretty quickly once they start... would have some issues if I brought another one home -

Looks good Gerry . Just make sure the muffler shields are good . Most LED modals like that don't like heat and the circuit will shut down if get to hot .

Gerry thanks for the post on the lights and the Amazon pic. I've been procrastinating on changing the old lights on my 400 series GT's. Harry

DavidBarkey wrote: ↑Tue Mar 12, 2024 7:32 am Looks good Gerry . Just make sure the muffler shields are good . Most LED modals like that don't like heat and the circuit will shut down if get to hot .

Thanks for the reminder about LED's and heat - Fortunately Maxine's muffler shield is in good shape, although there may be a missing shield on the left side - over the exhaust pipe where it exits the head - That one is gone.

The heat issue was one of my hesitations before going this route. I've done aftermarket LED floodlight installs on forklifts at work. They always had lots of cooling fins on sturdy aluminum housings and the lights were mounted out in the open with good airflow. But that style of light just didn't look right bolted on the front - I wanted something that looked a little more "updated but still stock" look These lights have a super thin plastic housing, and not much in the way of cooling fins - That's why I was being overly cautious about not making the holes in the grill too big. If it doesn't workout it will be easy to put the old lamp assemblies back in place and just buy new lenses for them.
I also put a fuse on the lighting circuit to prevent blowing out the main fuse if there is an issue with the LED's or a short in that harness going up to the lights. I also ran a dedicated ground wire in the light harness, it's connected to one of the bolts for the cooler support.

Battery hold down... It's been really warm and sunny the last few days here so I've been spending a little more time working in the BigSky Shop™ Was getting ready to button up Maxine and kick her out of the tent garage and I remembered she didn't have a hold down for the battery - in fact all of my 3 Case/Ingersoll tractors have loose batteries just hanging out - waiting for a big bump to see if they can hit the underside of the hood.

I found some misc brackets in my Dad's collection of treasures lately and figured with a little modification they would look like factory original parts... Finished one for Maxine yesterday, and I'm making a 2nd for Max today...
If anyone needs a hold down, I've got enough material to make a couple more...

BigSky™ Shop has been busy the last little while, taking advantage of (mostly) clear skies and warm temps (for early) March.
When we bought Maxine she had a simple home made tab / hitch bolted on the back of the axle housing, I need something a little fancier so that I can move "real" trailers around the yard and any other attachments that fit in a 2" receiver hitch.
Our 446 (Max) came with a Sleeve Hitch and one of the first things I made for it was an adapter for a 2" receiver that would pin on the sleeve hitch This time I wanted to build something that was more solid, adaptable for things other than just a receiver hitch and would be up and out of the way if I decide to get a sleeve hitch for the 222. Pulled off the little trailer hitch and measured up for mounting points - decided to use the 2 upper (going into/through the frame) and the 2 lower ones started off with a simple box made out of 2" angle iron, with a lip to rest on the one behind the fuel tank cover. then a 2nd piece of angle iron for the two lower mounting bolts... and two diagonal bits to triangulate and brace the whole affair...
This was the exciting part for me, as I was making tack welds on the braces while everything was bolted to the axle... and the gas tank is only inches above... Happily - no big boom It was windy, and I put a leather welding jacket hanging over the back of the seat to make sure no stray sparks wandered off. Once I was happy with the tack welds off it came and the final beads were laid down while it was on the bench... and yesterday it was even warm enough to splash on some Tremclad paint for that "finished" look when the paint was dry, it went back on the 222 Final step was to bolt on a 2" receiver hitch assembly from Princess Auto. Overall I'm really happy with the results, It's nice when something turns out looking as good in real life as it did when you were imagining it...

Excellent fabrication skills Gerry. Harry

Thanks @Harry - It was a fun project and nice to be able to take advantage of early spring weather...

Looks really nice. That should come in quite handy! I agree, it sure is a good feeling when a project turns out as good as you imagined!

Nicely done .

That looks great Gerry!