Colt Case Ingersoll Garden Tractors

I decided to work on the field cultivator today. The 648 will be our work horse for the day!
I drug and then pushed it up to the shop and it just fit through the door. I turned the tractor around and used the backhoe to lift up one side, then loosened the bolts and slid the sections into position.
Once everything was in the position I wanted, it was time to cut the tool bar in half. For some reason modifying stuff always makes me nervous. Well too late to worry about it now! I put the discs on the section to use later. I’m thinking of maybe making a hiller for the garden but I don’t know. I think I found the tipping point for the tractor! That 500 pound counter weight wasn’t quite enough! Hard to drive around while pulling a wheelie! There that’s better. I hauled this section over and set it in the row with the other implements for now. This project would have been so much harder to do without the 648! I have found many jobs around here that it’s perfect for, sure does save a guys back!

And just like that we have a 6 foot cultivator! I still have a few things to finish but it’s almost ready to try out. It’s kind of heavy so I guess the next step will be to see if the 2N can handle it!

Well the weather here has gotten much better. Snows all gone and temps are in the 50 to 70 range. I’m getting antsy for spring so I went up to the shop to work on a project for this years garden.

You might recall I had that cultivator I cut in half and made a two row out of it. I still have the other half laying around so I’m going to start on it.

download/file.php?id=15743&mode=view Right now it’s just a 4x4 box tube so first order of business is making a 3 point setup for it. I dug around in the junk pile and found some bits and pieces. I was wanting to make something that would bolt on, but I don’t really have what I need for that and besides I need to practice my welding so that’s what I’m going to do!

I found the old stabilizer bar that I bent and ruined last fall. The parts of I need for the top link are straight enough so i cut them out.
I also found some old worn out brush hog blades, those will
Work for the lift arm attachments. I cut them to fit on the bar at an angel. Getting things measured and set, I’ll be making crappy welds in no time!
I really do like saving what my calls junk and finding uses for. It’ll never look like it came from a factory but it should be very useful.

I've lost track of how many times the sway bars on the 8N have been turned in to pretzels like that... Typically it's just been a sledge hammer to put them right. This year I got a little smarter, and did it on the hydraulic press... Much safer, and quieter, plus a lot more control of the finished product...

Toolslinger wrote: ↑Mon Feb 16, 2026 6:38 am I've lost track of how many times the sway bars on the 8N have been turned in to pretzels like that... Typically it's just been a sledge hammer to put them right. This year I got a little smarter, and did it on the hydraulic press... Much safer, and quieter, plus a lot more control of the finished product...

I was going to straighten it out and use it again, but, it was just about right for what I wanted to make and I have a couple of other stabilizers bars laying around so I used it!

I really need to get a press at some point. Your right, it beats the heck out of using a sledge hammer!

Toolslinger wrote: ↑Mon Feb 16, 2026 6:38 am I've lost track of how many times the sway bars on the 8N have been turned in to pretzels like that... Typically it's just been a sledge hammer to put them right. This year I got a little smarter, and did it on the hydraulic press... Much safer, and quieter, plus a lot more control of the finished product...

I agree wholeheartedly, but the truth is, a press has less educational value. How can you teach the next generation that the sledgehammer is less safe? For instance I keep shoving my distorted thumb in my kids' face trying to educate them.

I’ve doing some clean up in my shop rearranging equipment and selling off some things I don’t need. I built a welding machine cart I call a tower to hold three welding machines. A Hobart handler 125 120 volt mig welder was in the middle position and it stopped working a few years ago. Recently picked up from a High School friend a Lincoln 175 240 volt mig welder. Yesterday I reworked the tower with better wheels and installed the Lincoln machine.

I just heard today that my grand daughter next door has siged up to learn the welding trade in vocational technology school next year. So grandpa is going to be prepping her before school next year.

Harry wrote: ↑Mon Mar 09, 2026 6:17 pm I just heard today that my grand daughter next door has siged up to learn the welding trade in vocational technology school next year. So grandpa is going to be prepping her before school next year.

Thats awesome Harry . My grandson finishes high school this year and is wants to do welding as well . I am going to take him to talk a couple of welder fabricators i know in the area . Iike I told him . A good background in is beneficial in most trades and i consider it a life skill for a trades person .

Harry, getting to spending that kind of time with your granddaughter is a precious moment to be cherished.