Colt Case Ingersoll Garden Tractors

Eugen wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 5:22 pm Part of me is in disbelief that this ended up working and I thank God for this.

This struck home for me. I’m not afraid to admit I’m more often than not filled with self doubt and low confidence when I start a project. There are times I really have to make myself more forward.

You took on a big job with this tractor, and did great work! I honestly never considered that you wouldn’t get it going.
I try not to be prideful but there are times it’s deserved. You should feel some pride at your accomplishment, and I hope you do!

I’m looking forward to some posts of this thing doing some work!

Great job Eugen! Now it’s Play Ball, let the games begin. The projects that you can do with this machine will be unbelievable. Harry

Old switch, new switch, oily switch, shiny switch.




New wire connector, idiot light working as it should. Little things taken care of, little by little the old girl's getting in better shape.

I'll soon start working on the smaller Case brothers and thus be back to the forum theme of Case garden tractors

Eugen wrote: ↑Thu Aug 24, 2023 11:19 am Old switch, new switch, oily switch, shiny switch.



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New wire connector, idiot light working as it should. Little things taken care of, little by little the old girl's getting in better shape.

I'll soon start working on the smaller Case brothers and thus be back to the forum theme of Case garden tractors

I’ve heard said “life gets in the way.” I say “other projects get in the way.” It just seems when I start making good head way on a GT project, something else comes up, sometimes something else breaks. Life in the fast lane as they say! Harry

That's right @Harry , it is what it is.


After our zoo trip today I finally set on getting those head bolts re-torqued. Got the tools ready and used the backhoe for about 40 minutes just pushing dirt around, until it got to operating temperature. According to the manual each bolt needs to be undone quarter turn and then torqued to spec 210 ft lbs, while the engine is still hot, so I knew I had to work pretty fast.
I quickly found our why they use the special wrench for this operation.


Because most head bolts are covered by either rockers or fuel return lines. Not having that tool I quickly took those off. And the muffler, to get enough space for leverage. Good thing about this engine is that it doesn't get cold fast, it's massive. Worked as fast as I could. Then assembled it and adjusted the valves again. Tomorrow I'll do some more tests.

The saga has not ended. The driver side bucket tilt cylinder has started to leak badly.


Took it off the arm and ordered a seal kit.


More excitement awaits..

A few minutes later this grade 8, 1000 ft lbs tight piston bolt's staring at me defiantly. And I'm staring at it in defeat, not even having a 1-1/2 socket. Fine, we'll fight another day.

1000 #/ft? Geesh, I don't know if my big sockets, or wrenches would stand up to that...

I just picked up a pretty full set of 3/4" drive sockets at an estate auction for $30... All good, older, US made brands. I was really shocked that almost all of them were 12 point, rather than 6. By the time I would want to go to 3/4" drive, I know I wouldn't want to just be depending on the corners of the nut... Perhaps I'm wrong... Never really had all that much call for tools up in those size ranges, but I sure couldn't pass up that buy.

Eugen, Is the bolt seized in with thread locker and needing about 300 deg to free up?

@Toolslinger yeah, I wish to have found a quality set at a low price, but something similar happened to me. A local tool shop similar to your HF had a whole bunch of 3/4 drive sockets on clearance, prices between 1.99 and 4 dollars. Bought all kind of sizes, except a few including the 1.5". All my 3/4 drive sockets are 12 point too, and I had similar thoughts to yours.

One of the dipper cylinders I had done last year had an even bigger bolt, using the 1-7/8 socket. Without warming it up good with the propane torch the 1" bar was bending and the bolt did not give in. After warming it up it came undone, with good effort though.

@Spike188 , the manual does not specify thread locker. I think it's just the big torque specified for these large grade 8 bolts.

I stand corrected though, it's the 1-1/8 bolt that's spec'ed at 1000-1200 ft lbs. I read the service manual last night and this 1" bolt is spec-ed at around 600 ft lbs. Walk in the park eh?