Colt Case Ingersoll Garden Tractors

I started looking at the snowcaster the other day and was not happy with what I found. I was planning on replacing the chain and belt then put it back on the GT. I removed the auger which appears straight and the bearings look good. There are a few dings in the auger which can be hammered with a dolly to straighten but the sprocket is looking poor. I can probably get a few winters out of it but would hate to get stuck with no GT to move snow. I have an older Sears two stage blower that works great but as I get older it’s a struggle to use. So do I look for a used 48” auger or just upgrade to a Berco for the 446? I think you all will agree a Berco is the way to go. I see a couple of used 48” two stage blowers on CL that are about an hour away drive time. Both close to the same price. Harry

Nothing can stop you now @Harry .

I have yet to put a Berco on a Case . But I have put them on a few other tractors and am always impressed how well they work .

Harry,

An option to consider would be to just replace the auger sprocket as in the long run it would likely be more cost and time effective than locating a used auger with a good sprocket. If the rest of the R84 is in good shape, that's what I would do.

I do always keep them in stock......... https://www.casegardentractorparts.com/c1sncaausp.html

Bob

myerslawnandgarden wrote: ↑Sun Nov 26, 2023 4:58 pm Harry,

An option to consider would be to just replace the auger sprocket as in the long run it would likely be more cost and time effective than locating a used auger with a good sprocket. If the rest of the R84 is in good shape, that's what I would do.

I do always keep them in stock......... https://www.casegardentractorparts.com/c1sncaausp.html

Bob

Thanks Bob . Did not know was ready available as a separate part .

myerslawnandgarden wrote: ↑Sun Nov 26, 2023 4:58 pm Harry,

An option to consider would be to just replace the auger sprocket as in the long run it would likely be more cost and time effective than locating a used auger with a good sprocket. If the rest of the R84 is in good shape, that's what I would do.

I do always keep them in stock......... https://www.casegardentractorparts.com/c1sncaausp.html

Bob

But the man who does that needs to know a thing or two about welding! @Harry , I wonder if you know somebody who does!?

Harry here is another Berco. Its probably a bit of a road trip for you to NH. This model has the chain drive auger like the model sold for ingersoll tractors. The input stage may be a different belt drive setup but you can probably adapt it. The impeller has 4 blades. Mine only has 3. Maybe it's a newer model? I can post any pictures of my Berco that you need. There is also an electric chute kit but it will set you back about $300. Also the chute rotation handle is on the left side.

https://nh.craigslist.org/grd/d/berco-s ... 23380.html

Berco has a couple of different drive setups on their blowers.
The chain drive auger like Matt's This seems to be the style used for Ingersoll tractors

The other style has the drive pulley mounted to the blower impeller like MTD and Agri-fab. This seems to be a more popular design. I have considered adapting one of these style to my 448. My hang-up has been with getting the right rpms to run this style. I had found that Agri-fab had designed theirs for 800-900rpm impeller speed. I would assume Berco's would be similar rpms but don't know for sure.
Running off the front PTO at around 3500 rpm there's not enough room to increase the blower drive diameter to get the rpms down to 900 if I figured right. I didn't run numbers to see were rpms would be after running through multiple pulleys like above but I think this design would put blower too far in front of tractor. I had figured with going directly from pto through mule and to blower pulley like the model Harry posted.
Just a little ramble, throw your 2 cents in.

The MTD style snowblowers are setup for the correct pulley rotation on the 3 digit tractors but not the 4 digit tractors.

Below is a picture of my Berco. It's got a chain drive gear reduction from the input shaft on the bottom which drives a gear box to the impeller and it also drives the auger through another shaft and chain drive gear reduction. The input pulley can be flipped to move the belt to the right. Tim if I remember correctly the Berco already sits forward quite a bit. I think my 4016 struggles a little to lift it. Another 50psi in the lift circuit might fix this?

I have mounted Both styles on different tractors, but the one thing in commond was they were all vertical shaft engines . I had both here at one time when thinking of addapting one to a Case before Eugen brought me the caster I used .
My conclusion .
Was if I was to use the all belt design was to build a belt to belt reduction sub frame to come back under the tractor . This had some pros and cons . Pros, move some weight rear , belt slip if jammed , all pulley are available off the shelf . Cons belt maybe damaged if jammed , more parts to wear out .
If I used the chain/gear box design . One belt and snap fast sub frame . Sub frame could be made to extend under frame to allow the addition of extra weight mid tractor . Pros , less parts . shear pins not belts damaged if jammed . Cons , high load will shear a pin and instead of slipping belt , Jam up means you are pulling the cover to replace shear pin which fail very easily .

Dave it looks like the belt drive Berco that Timj posted may have a shear pin on the large input pulley. The Berco manual does have a warning about some sort of misalignment causing repeated shear upon failures. I'd have to look in the manual for more info.

MattA wrote: ↑Mon Nov 27, 2023 7:01 am Dave it looks like the belt drive Berco that Timj posted may have a shear pin on the large input pulley. The Berco manual does have a warning about some sort of misalignment causing repeated shear upon failures. I'd have to look in the manual for more info.

Yes they have a 1/4" grade 2 bolt on both drive pulleys. The chain drive style has a 3/16" pin that I have to up grade to a 1/4" grade 2 bolt for my customer . It still shears in a jam up , but is now strong enough to take heavy snow load of Muskoka winters . This guy brings me this unit every fall to get ready for winter . He travels almost an hour and a half one way each time . Has done so since I sold him this big Craftsman gt/ blower set up 5 years ago .

Wow, you all gave me a lot of info to digest. Chain drive, belt drive, auger vs sprocket replacement. The sprocket is definitely wore some but I can still get some more use from it. Welding another sprocket on would be easy enough removing the old one is more a delicate matter. Time is of essence now with snow in the forecast so it will go back together today. I appreciate everyone’s professional advice. Harry

Bob got me thinking about changing the sprocket on the auger. It’s a 7.5” diameter sprocket. TSC has sprockets that are one inch less in diameter. I know that would make the rpm of the auger faster, but not sure how much. I know there is a formula to figure this out. Harry

Harry, the auger sprocket is 47 tooth. I once tried to figure the formula out as I thought about changing the size while mine was torn down. I don't think I found the size I wanted so I didn't change mine. Mine wasn't in bad shape so I opted not to. One thing I noticed was the replacement sprocket has 3 holes in it. You could always plasma the old sprocket down enough to get the old teeth out of the way and drill and bolt the new one on to the old remaining sprocket. You may want to weld it though. That's what I'd want to do anyway. Regardless, I'd say repairing the current caster will get you back in business faster than replacing with something different.

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Jancoe, thanks for your reply. At TSC I had seen they had collars that can be fitted to a shaft and sprockets that bolt to the collar. Then you could change ratios with different sprockets. A person would have to remove the auger everytime. Harry

@Harry not sure if this will be helpful but I found a gear ratio calculator. https://www.omnicalculator.com/physics/gear-ratio

You can enter the number of teeth on the input and output sprockets and you engine RPM and it will calculate the auger speed. Might be handy if you want to try a different size.

Bob could probably get you the correct sprocket in 2 days... anyways Berco for $100. Looks similar to mine. Mine is model 700211-1.
https://nh.craigslist.org/for/d/dublin- ... 43447.html

Edit... I just looked up Lockport NY... didn't realize you were on the complete opposite side of NY from me. That would be quite the road trip to get that Berco.

Thanks everyone for your input. I put it back together and trying to get it ready for snow. I like the idea of a Berco, but that’s a battle for another day. Harry