Colt Case Ingersoll Garden Tractors

Organizing and cleaning the shop has become a full time and ever consuming task. Sorting Clearing trays and bins of years of collecting is daunting. The number of incomplete allen wrench sets is astonishing. Separating small metric from imperial wrenches take lots of time. Once the organizing is complete restoration of the 646LBH can began in ernastine.

You are welcome to pick through my incomplete allen key sets and look for ones you are missing - mine are mostly metric though...

When I "retired" I emptied all of the drawers in my tool boxes into empty 5 gallon buckets so it would be easier to get everything moved from truck to basement at home... I think I was eventually tripping over a dozen or more buckets downstairs.

Crazy how many sets of multiple tools you can acquire just so you don't have to bring tools home
- or stop work when that 5mm allen key slips out of your oily hand and disappears into the dark greasy belly of a machine

often suggests I should get a table at a swap meet and trying selling the surplus tools...
But because the majority are not 'brand names' like Snap Off or Mac I suspect they might eventually end up at the scrapyard where I'll get $ 0.17 a pound for them...

RoamingGnome wrote: ↑Thu Jul 31, 2025 12:21 pm You are welcome to pick through my incomplete allen key sets and look for ones you are missing - mine are mostly metric though...

When I "retired" I emptied all of the drawers in my tool boxes into empty 5 gallon buckets so it would be easier to get everything moved from truck to basement at home... I think I was eventually tripping over a dozen or more buckets downstairs.

Crazy how many sets of multiple tools you can acquire just so you don't have to bring tools home
- or stop work when that 5mm allen key slips out of your oily hand and disappears into the dark greasy belly of a machine

often suggests I should get a table at a swap meet and trying selling the surplus tools...
But because the majority are not 'brand names' like Snap Off or Mac I suspect they might eventually end up at the scrapyard where I'll get $ 0.17 a pound for them...

Grab your welder and start making these during winter months .

I try to keep my shop half way organized and cleaned up. My problem is I can’t bring myself to throw things out. I’m convinced as soon as I do that’s when I’ll need it. So back on the shelf it all goes! Looking forward to the LBH build!

Organizing the shop is an on going process. The problem for me is after organizing and tools have been moved. Where did I move them to? Yes, looking forward to the 646 lbh build. Spike I do have another Onan CCKA if you need one. Harry

More shop organizing today. Added shelves to 2 tables. Used the mill to shape the ends of ligh gage 2" tubing to fit around 1-1/2" pipe for a no welding needed fit. 12 load beams for redirack were found on Facebook @ $7.00 per beam. 4 off the beams were 5-1/2 feet and perfect for adding 2 shelves to the top of a rolling work bench.Yesterday we tied in the gasline running to the shop and added a take off for hooking a natural gas bbq to the deck. We got a bit creative and managed to complete the connection using threaded nipples from our spare parts bucket.

Another Marketplace find. 9ft tall, 42" deep, 7 x 12ft long with wire mesh shelving. picked up at 4:30 and set up by 7.

nice find , that will come in handy.

While I am by no means orginized, I have been getting better... That said, I am at the point I need to orginize my unused orginizational equipment...

Waiting in the wings are a few sets of pallet racks, half a dozen gray metal shelves, 3 bakers racks, 4 bolt pigeon hole racks, and a few metal cabinets... Haven't figured out quite what I need to put in or on them, or what building to put them in, so they're scattered here and there almost mocking me by taking up space I could really use to get orginized...

A few hours this morning makes a lot of difference Like @DavidBarkey said, keeping our trophies out of the weather is important. One change on shelving the cart will be storing it upside down.

@Spike188 - Heck! Is that a garage or the new Canadian Case/Ingersoll warehouse?

All kidding aside - It looks Awesome !

More rack picked up today, another barging from FB.

A little progress toward preping for winter. Ports for fresh air exchanger were framed in this week. Custom ductwork was drawn up, ordered and picked up last week. Tube heater should arive in 2 weeks.

It sure is coming along Eugene. All that’s left is a tv and a couch and you’ll have to list it as a 2nd home!

The fresh air unit duct work is starting to come together. A partial coil of isolation connection was found on marketplace. After a quick course at Google University four pieces of 8 by 14 isolation fittings were made from the coil. Each piece of ductwork is connected by S and drive cleat. The drive cleat requires a half inch hook on the 8 inch side of each piece of duct. A couple of pieces of slotted Shelf angle join together made the perfect tool for bending the half inch hooks. after forming the Drive cleat hook attaching the duct work began. The Next Step was making the correct length duct at a 45° angle. That required a bit of old school math and the Pythagorean theorem. A 30" peice of duct was cut and a side 90 to exhaust the air outside was attached. Now that everything has been test fit on the floor the unit can be lifted to the ceiling for mounting. I'd like to do that this week but it may not happen.

@Spike188 Looks like you are going to end up with one really comfortable shop to work in...

i hadn't planned getting the duct up today but snow is in the forcast for early next week. Next Step is hanging the air exchanger.

Adding 2X4 supports laid a cross rafters for hanger rods to bolt through took about 30 minutes. The exchanger hangs from springs and is isolated from the ductwork. There is still 28 feet of inlet air duct to hang to front of shop.

Spike keep up the good work, it looks great. It will be so worth the effort down the road. Harry

The shop was a mess with floor space at a premium while hanging the ventilation and calculating hole location, cutting duct, and moving forklift. We put the Fiat an the lift and parked work carts and tool boxes under the car on hoist.

After a nap yesterday I went to the shop to clean and found Merri there running a broom. She helped put up more shelving. Part of which was laying outside, and in front of the shop door. And and 2 hours later the place is presentable again. This morning we woke up to snow.

The air exchange unit and ductwork is hung. Running the propane forklift in the shop makes a cloud of blue smoke at the ceiling. The exchanger cleans the air rapidly with out dropping the room temperature noticeablely.It was finished in time to put M's van on the hoist for front brake work and winter tires put on.

@Spike188 - I went back and looked through your posts on building the shop and didn't see what you were using to actually heat the shop? The air exchange unit sounds like it's doing a great job...

@RoamingGnome The reason you could not find anything about heat in the shop is because the radiant heater was only delivered yesterday. It is a 2 stage 120,000-75,000 btu unit 30 feet long. The burner was hung this afternoon, squeezed between the overhead door rails and will hang centered on the ceiling. It will be close to completed tomorrow if all goes well.

@Spike188 Eugene I know you will love yours I do mine . If you have not already thought of if put a thermostat cut out switch on each door so when you open the doors it interrupts the thermostat signal . I learned the hard way One time it got part of the door so hot it would not close properly .

@DavidBarkey Both doors are getting redundant swirled for the thermostat. The flame tube it's about 8 inches away from the door when it's opened. Specs say 6 in is needed. But I want to play safe.

The new radiant heater had a curcuit board issue from the get go. The unit cycle correctly but the bower would no shut off. Between procrastination, Thanksgiving, and troubleshooting a new board arrived this morning. It is installed and working. While testing this morning I attempted a one hand installation of the K1 cab onto the 448. It is possible to do but sapped my strength. A nap is called for.

Spike188 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 05, 2025 1:38 pm The new radiant heater had a curcuit board issue from the get go. The unit cycle correctly but the bower would no shut off. Between procrastination, Thanksgiving, and troubleshooting a new board arrived this morning. It is installed and working. While testing this morning I attempted a one hand installation of the K1 cab onto the 448. It is possible to do but sapped my strength. A nap is called for.20251205_152321.jpg

I know oh to well what it is like to try and do thing with one hand tied behind your back . Back in my 20ies I cut mu left hand bad with a deburing tool . I worked at gear cutting plant at the time where sulfer oil was the main cutting fluid . I was told to take 2 weeks off on comp. Having a lot of time on my hands and a bad camshaft in my inline six Camero . I got and old race cam from one of the guys who ran six cylinder street stocks . With a plastic bag one my left hand and tools in my right hand I set to work . A job that should have taken less than a day (no power tools ) took 4 days to complete . But it was worth it . Man did that cam ever wake up that 250 six .

Eugene , have you tried the inferred light yet . I think it is helping , but too soon to know forsure . Oh does it feel good when it is on .

@DavidBarkey I haven't tried infered light. I might when things slow a bit. I have been concentrating on heat in the shop and customer issues.

An update on the inferred light therapy. I am not sure yet about the wrist one , but I can tell you that my chiropractor noticed a difference in my mobility ( flexibility ) the last couple of time in since using the bigger pad on my back in the mornings . I am not as tight as I usually am in the morning after using it . I find it helps using it before my exercises for my back in the morning . So that's a plus .