Colt Case Ingersoll Garden Tractors

I'm curious guys, how many years you've involved with Case garden tractors. I got my first 220 in late Fall 2019. I'm quite new to the madness ... ahm, I mean hobby.

I bought my 1978 446 new in the spring of '78 so it has been mowing my acre of grass for 43 years.

I'm thinking that it was 1973. Dad was a rural mail carrier and always had a part time job at various places to fill in after he finished his route. He was working for a guy that had a bulk fuel oil business, installed furnaces and had a small excavating business. The owner, Vernon saw an ad in the Prairie Farmer magazine that J I Case posted looking for garden tractor dealers. He says to my dad, "Ken, you need a new mower and I need one, what do you say, I'll take an order and we'll both get a new tractor at cost and should be able to get rid of the rest". ( I think you had to order 5 to become a dealer ). Dad agreed that it was a good idea and when they arrived, since I was mechanically inclined and a 16 year old high school kid I was given the task of assembling them at the rate of around $3 per hour. So the extra 3 tractors were parked out along a county road going past Vernon's house and they sold (at cost) in no time. So he orders another load and that's how it started. Within a few years Vernon became the top North American dealer for J I Case Outdoor Power Equipment.

Sometimes I'm asked about how i know certain things about the older models and I guess it is because I was around when they were new. Hard to believe that 50 years has gone by.

There's a whole lot more to the story, but that's how it began.

Bob

@myerslawnandgarden great story!

You got me beat @Eugen ive only been monkeying with these for a couple years. My 648 was so impressive I had to grab the 446!

2008 I was looking on Craigslist for a Cub cadet. I wanted a vintage American iron garden tractor.

I came across a case 1972 442 with deck and blade for 475. Never heard of them but it was clearly American iron. And a great price.

I drove an hour away at 9 pm to be the first one there.

What a blessing that turned out to be !

Bought my Case 466 from a neighbour in September 2020, then bought the Case 224 from a fella I know in August 2021.
But, I’ve been in the garden tractor hobby for 20 years and knew about the Case, high crop, I call them, tractors for a lot of years. Loved the look of them. Because of the big tire on the back, they looked like a small farm tractor. So I’ve wanted one for many years, but they are not to popular here. So I wanted one, and wanted to put 3 rib tires on the front an ag tires on the back. It took years to get one, but I got it and have it fixed up to the way I always wanted. Looks like a small farm tractor. And strangely it was right next door were I bought it. The neighbours were only there a few years. And I have no idea where they got it.

Noel.

@myerslawnandgarden Bob 50 years and still going strong .

I got what is now Frankie in a basket with few attachments back in 2013 the year after we bought our century home and 2 acre property . Up to that point never had anything or the need for anything bigger than a push mower . No I have a shop with a hoist just to work on them .

myerslawnandgarden wrote: ↑Thu Jan 18, 2024 9:36 pm I'm thinking that it was 1973. Dad was a rural mail carrier and always had a part time job at various places to fill in after he finished his route. He was working for a guy that had a bulk fuel oil business, installed furnaces and had a small excavating business. The owner, Vernon saw an ad in the Prairie Farmer magazine that J I Case posted looking for garden tractor dealers. He says to my dad, "Ken, you need a new mower and I need one, what do you say, I'll take an order and we'll both get a new tractor at cost and should be able to get rid of the rest". ( I think you had to order 5 to become a dealer ). Dad agreed that it was a good idea and when they arrived, since I was mechanically inclined and a 16 year old high school kid I was given the task of assembling them at the rate of around $3 per hour. So the extra 3 tractors were parked out along a county road going past Vernon's house and they sold (at cost) in no time. So he orders another load and that's how it started. Within a few years Vernon became the top North American dealer for J I Case Outdoor Power Equipment.

Sometimes I'm asked about how i know certain things about the older models and I guess it is because I was around when they were new. Hard to believe that 50 years has gone by.

There's a whole lot more to the story, but that's how it began.

Bob

That’s a terrific story Bob, I enjoyed reading it very much. Harry

My Case story began in the early 80’s. I had an old lawn tractor that had a steering mechanism that when you turned the steering wheel the back axle would pivot. So the turning radius was very tight and great for mowing around all the trees I had. I kept fixing it until I got fed up working on it. I was telling a millwright I worked with and he had a GT that he had at his camp to cut the grass there. He suggested that he bring it over and try it out to see if I liked it. At that point I just needed a machine to replace the one that was broken down. So I said sure and he showed up with a Case 446 with a mowing deck. I was ignorant about Case hydraulic drive GT’s but he had manuals to educate myself. It worked great but didn’t cut around the trees as easy as my old lawn tractor. I told him I liked it and then brought over a snow caster and a set of ag tires for the rear. My son cut the lawn for years with the 446 because I was working six days a week. The story goes on how my hobby got started but that’s for a fire side chat with a few libations. Harry

You guys have interesting stories!

The way it happened to me was also not planned. After a few years of trying to do things around the yard by hand, my back was hurting and it became clear that it's not the way to go. Started looking for a package that would include a tiller and snow blower, and maybe a mower deck. Had no idea about garden tractors, but for my budget of at most $2k a new tractor was clearly not an option. Was keeping an eye on the second hand market and saw an Allis Chalmers up for sale. Had a tiller and snow blower, 17hp, and was listed as working. Talked to the guy and I was set on buying it. But then, after a few days it disappeared off the market. Turns out the guy sold it to someone else. For some reason I was really upset, it lasted a few days. Then I resolved within myself that clearly it wasn't meant for me, so I should stop being upset. After some weeks the Case 220 with tiller, deck, and snowcaster was up for sale near Niagara Falls. That just opened the door for me getting at least 8 more Case tractors in the next few years. I'm so glad that guy sold the Allis Chalmers to someone else!!! Another great lesson for me, that God will give you what He knows better that it's good for you and you should not be too upset when you don't get something that you may have wanted.

I guess I am a newbie, only 10 or so years for me. I had two 220's (one for parts), and now a 224 and 648.

@Ingersoll224 Welcome to the forum .

Some of you guys have some interesting stories. Mine came about in 2006ish? I just had moved into my future wife and I first house. I had a Murry rider, and my neighbor had a case 448. Snow season was around the corner and he ended up snow blowing my place faster than I could basically make one decent pass. I was hooked on that. His was a dedicated Snow machine with a case cab. He was the guy that did around 5 houses and the street on our block. I was in love. Lol... Just watching that thing make short work when I was struggling with the little rear tires and no traction. The next winter or 2 after I had my own. I have moved twice since I started my collection. I bought and sold alot and I mean alot. I was scanning fb marketplace and Craigslist ads daily. Buying just to resell so I could have the pto, hitch, vaccum, log splitter and what ever attachments i was after. I sold off alot and now just have a handful like the rest of us. Lol... Don't know why I have an obsession with these. But I can tell you every one of these tractors I've sold over the years every guy was giggly when they were leaving with a case ingersoll in tow.

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I grew up on Simplicity, my father still runs a Simplicity and an Allis Chalmers.
I bought my first house and land in 93 and needed a garden tractor. On a Saturday morning I set out to go look at a couple of used JD's at a nearby dealer. One was 5 the other 10 years old, OMG talk about sticker shock.
So I left and drove over to Winneconne, the Ford dealership sold Ingersoll and I knew it was where my uncle had bought his. I talked to the salesman, they didn't have any used high wheels and as we talked about new pricing I was surprised how expensive green and yellow paint was. As we talked he said they had a leftover tractor that had a couple of hours on it from letting customers drive it around and plowing the sidewalks. A deal was reached and I came home with my 4118 with deck, 54" blade, HH34 3pt, and wheel weights for considerably less than the 10year old JD with just a deck. So that's how it started for me.

Love reading the stories guys, Bob yours is pretty great!

I can honestly say that I grew up with the 155 that my dad bought in 1983 (I was born in 82). Sometime soon afterwards it stopped running and was kept in the corner of the garage. 10 years and after moving to a different town, us kids (3 other brothers) convinced him to rebuild it. That was a great time, watching over his shoulder and helping out when we could. We did a budget paint job and got it running to be able to cut our 2 acre lawn. I was hooked then!

Fast forward to 2018 - this old John Deere 68 mower I had is giving me nothing but headaches, and after looking on Kijiji for a replacement I see a 444 with mower, wheel weights and plow for $1000 and only 20 mins away. Seller says he takes trades so I got a better deal and got rid of my headache. In 2021 I picked up another 444 (1981 model year from original owner with receipts and brochures) with a rear discharge mower and snow caster, I and also managed to drag home the 155 we had growing up. Last summer I picked up another 155 project. Since 2018 I have also picked up a Case dump cart and another blade.

Currently only 1 in my fleet is running, but the rest are waiting patiently in the shop for a rebuild, something I look forward to doing with my kids - coming full circle you could say

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Hi group, I sure enjoy reading these stories, I picked my first 224 case up to help a friend out, they were moving out of town and he stopped out at the shop to see if anyone would give him $300.00 for a 76 224, no one wanted it so I told him I would buy it if, he could trailer it to my house, cause I had no trailer then, this was in 1999,well I get home and he shows up with the tractor with deck and case cart, didn't know I was getting a cart. anyway he tells me about a snow caster he sold that he used with this tractor, that really got my attention and I have been hooked on case and case ingersoll since then, never knew anything about them before this deal, still have this tractor its been rebuilt and somehow its like its been retired and I don't see no reason to interrupt that.

Everyones story was so interesting. I wanted to thank Eugen for starting this thread. The rest of my story about my Case hobby is as follows. I wanted a tiller for my 446 so I posted on CL in the wanted area. No bites for awhile but while on vacation in Oregon visiting family I received a call. I told him get in touch when I get home. I bought it for $200 and when I went to pick it up the seller said do you want to take the GT and mowing deck? It was setting behind the barn out in the weather, so we loaded it up and that’s how I acquired the 444. Harry

I always wanted a loader and the newer GT’s loaders were always more than I wanted to pay. Finally one came up for sale on CL not to far away. It was sold the same day it was posted, so back to searching for one. I looked at two different basket cases but that’s not what I was looking for. Then low and behold the first one on CL was up for sale, it was a 646. I called right away and it was available. First question to the seller was did you purchase this loader recently? He said yes but he said it was too small for the job, he purchased it for. It started right up after I checked the exhaust pipe to see if it was warm. It ran well and everything worked as it should. The seller didn’t want to dicker on the price and since they don’t come up for sale very often, I purchased it. It’s been a GT that I have done a tremendous amount of work to because it had seen a lot of use. One thing I can say is I know this 646 inside and out because of all the work I have done to it. Harry

I've enjoyed reading your stories of how you caught the Case/Ingersoll "bug"

My short answer, with a long story - 2 years

I'm a relative newcomer to the Garden tractor scene - always lived in the city and had no need for anything bigger than a push mower. Dad was the frugal type who would never buy a new mower, always preferring to expand his vocabulary each spring when he with the old one, that he left outside all winter and then it refused to start in the spring - - It left enough of an impression on me that when we needed to buy a mower for our house we got a 36V Black & Decker cordless one... (20+ yrs with no problems)

The Case curse started for me in June of 2022, We had bought some acreage up north, and I want to eventually have a small garden plot. I saw a listing on FB for an '84 446 with a bunch of attachments - (Mower Deck, SnoCaster, tiller, blade, single bottom plow and cultivator)
It seemed to be too good a deal to pass up - We discussed options and next day brought home the start of our garden tractor collection. It was a good summer, busy as a rebuilt the mower deck and made a few laps around our backyard in the city (The 446 really is too big for the patch of weeds we call a lawn) What I was really looking forward to was using it that winter to clear the driveway and 80' of sidewalk at the front of our house. Finally the first big snowfall came and we hooked up the blade, pushed it out of the tent garage, started it up, drove it 10' - when after a bit of stalling, stumbling and backfiring it died - we pushed it back into the tent garage (it hasn't run since...)

Fast forward to the spring of 2023 and I was seduced by the call of a newer Ingersoll 222 - I mansplained to it would be a good backup for the 446 as I could use most of the attachments with it. I also mentioned what I had really wanted was an older 195 ('cause they were cool and looked like an old miniature farm tractor), but said they were rare as hen's teeth around here and I wasn't ever likely to find one anytime soon... We went and looked at the 222, I drove it around his yard, cut some grass with and had a quick peek under the hood, everything looked ok. When I got home with Case/Ingersoll #2 I felt I got a pretty good deal. Drove it off the trailer, and parked it in the tent garage behind the dead 446.


The very next day I was looking on Kijiji and saw an ad for a "Compact Garden Tractor" - it didn't mention make or model, but the pictures spoke a thousand words, it was a '68 Case 195. - I agreed to buy it based only on the photos in the ad - It was one of those "First one here with the cash gets it" deals. That evening (after a 10 hour drive) I pulled into my driveway with our 3rd Case tractor. (Spoiler Alert) It is the oldest of my collection and has given me the least headaches of the bunch.
Oh, and a few days after bringing home tractor #3 I decided to cut the weeds in the backyard with the 222 - despite cutting grass with it at the owners house, now it wouldn't start... It also got pushed back into a tent garage that was slowly filling up with non-running Case garden tractors. Looking closer I discovered not only a dead ignition switch but it had been ravaged by mice in a previous life, and all the wiring needed replacement
Our 195 eventually made it to the property up north, where it is spending the winter in a locked shipping container... and I've still got a pair of tractors waiting to be put back together in the tent garage...
They keep me out of mischief, and I can never say I don't have anything to do -
but I'm willing to wait until it's a little less cold outside

Gerry I’ve gone through what you were saying. Get it home and it dies. Hang in there I’m sure you’ll get to them in time and be beaming from ear to ear. The sense of perseverance and satisfaction of a job well done. I’m sure it will happen were all pitching in for you. Harry

Yeah, I don't think any of the Case tractors I ever got worked well when I got them. Some with bigger problems, some smaller, but they all needed work. The good thing about them is that they're simple and quite easy to work on. Well, unless you need to do anything on the TCV. That's just a personal opinion, a pain to get that out. Draining the hydraulic oil... yuck. I find that unpleasant.

I seen a CL ad back in 2016 for a 644 lbh. I posted it on the other site noting, nothing I’m interested in. A few members mentioned how much power the hoe has on these machines. That got me thinking. I figured I owned a 646 loader I don’t need a loader backhoe. I called about it just to go and check it out because I had never seen one before. At the time I was doing some welding inspection work in the suburbs of Buffalo and found out I was driving by it everyday. I showed up at the address the seller told me, but it was a cemetery. So I called him and he told me to drive in and go to the metal building in the back. The 644 lbh was inside the building, the guy said his Dad had passed in Pittsburgh and he found it in his Dads barn. He trailered it to home had the Kohler rebuilt and was digging graves with it. It took so long with the hoe to dig a grave so he upgraded to a larger machine and wanted to sell the 644. He started it up drove it outside and showed me everything worked like it should. He wanted $4000 for it but that was a little high for my price range. I told him I liked it and was interested in buying it. He came down to $3500 immediately and was firm he said. I told him that was a bit high and I would have to think about it and started to leave. He said how much are you looking to pay. I said $2500 and he said no way, it’s worth more than that. I then told him I had a 646 and didn’t really need it. I know you want it he said so I told him how about $3000. He countered with $3200 we shook hands on it and I picked it up the next day. I posted some pics on the other site and someone commented, what happened to nothing I’m interested in? I replied it was to cool not to buy it. After looking it over really good I found many problems with this machine, which I have fixed. This was my fourth Case tractor and my wife never questioned it. She just knows I have a lot of them. I have never seen another Case lbh near me for sale and it is a cool tractor. Sorry for the long morning ramble. Harry

A 600 series lbh would have been my dream tractor if I could find one in the last couple of years. Great story @Harry !

Thanks @Harry and @Eugen - it's been good reading about other peoples adventures buying old equipment and then finding and fixing things previous owners have ignored...

I would love to stumble across a good deal like your LBH Harry,

A friend of mine who is a little older than I repairs anything with an engine on it. I stopped in one day back in 2000 to shoot the breeze. I noticed he had an Case Ingersoll 226 with a lot of other GT’s. He said the church he attends owned it and it needed a coil. A couple of years pass and he calls me up and asked me if I wanted it. What do you think I said? If you can deliver it I replied. A couple of weeks later he drops it off. It had a craftsman 30” blower on the front with an electric rotation motor and chains on the back. Just to get rid of it I gave him a Honda self propelled mulching mower. The engine ran great but the deck was rotted and the tranny was wore out. I’ve looked at the 226 a few times but still couldn’t figure why it wouldn’t crank over. I leading towards a bad neutral safety switch. It’s currently in the back corner of my lean-to. It’s a good project for another day when I get caught up on my other GT’s. LOL! I have a mowing deck that needs to be gone through from the 444 acquisition, that could go on the 226 as a back up mower. This is the last of my Case GT’s and the end of my story, or is it? Do you think I have a Case problem? Harry

I got started with my Ingersoll 4016 back In 2016. Back in the mid 90's we had a new neighbor move in next door. He was a banker and rode the train into Boston every day. He had a friend on the train tell him about a friend of his selling a hydraulic drive tractor. I recall my dad talking to him about it and he went to look at it and came home with it. It was an Ingersoll 3012 with an RM38 deck, hydravac and SB38 snowblower. That tractor did an amazing job cutting and bagging the lawn and it moved an incredible amount of snow compared to our 10+ year old 5HP walk behind snowblower. We also used it to pull small saplings out when clearing the neighbors side yard and man was it fast in high range.
So in 2016 when I bought my house, I needed something to cut my 60,000 square foot overgrown lawn when I moved in. I visited 3 different cub cadet dealers looking for an XT2 model with a 54" deck. All they had was 42" and 48" decks. I took one for a ride and man did it drive nice compared to the craftsman we had from the mid 90's. But I didn't buy one.
My sister and brother in law had that craftsman tractor which I grew up with. They had run it into the ground and bought something else. They dropped it off at my house and I had something to cut the lawn. I ended up rebuilding the steering, replaced the front axle which had broken the weld holding the spindle in, replaced the wheel bushings which they had never greased and were worn out, replaced the blade brakes, belts and the blades with splitting tips with a set of gator blades. I had that old craftsman running great but I kept looking.
I remembered the Ingersoll 3012 my neighbor had and started looking. I looked at an early 4020 with an RM60 deck but it seemed over priced and I wasn't sure it would fit in the garage. I kept looking and eventually found my 4016 with 55hrs, the SB48 snowcaster and cb34 cab in upstate NY. I contacted the seller within hours of his add going up and made arrangements to go get it. I brought it home in a uhaul truck and on the way home I picked up another SB48 snowcaster and rm44 deck which I had found with a wanted add. Eventually I upgraded to a RM48 deck, sold the second snowcaster and rm44 deck.
Then I found out my parents neighbor wanted to sell his 3012. I bought it, kept the pto and hydravac selling the tractor and snowcaster.
In the summer of 2018 I added the Berco to my garage + a large Ariens? weight box + 2 link chains. In 2019 I replaced the weight box with three 42lb suitcase weights. So that's where I'm at today. Some day I home to have an RM48 deck in better shape and a higher HP tractor... or a pair of higher HP tractors... one with a RM60 deck dedicated to lawn work and one dedicated to snow service + a building to keep them in... I can dream right...
Enough rambling... the kids are asleep now. I didn't realize I rambled so much lol.

Matt, I enjoyed reading your story. I especially liked how you kept buy keeping what you wanted and selling off what you didn’t need. That’s the way to do it. Harry

Harry wrote: ↑Sun Jan 21, 2024 9:31 pm Matt, I enjoyed reading your story. I especially liked how you kept buy keeping what you wanted and selling off what you didn’t need. That’s the way to do it. Harry

What stops me these days is time. Work, my wife, 2 and 4 year old girls consume my free time. At least four 4020 tractors popped up forsale on marketplace within an hour from here this past summer.

MattA wrote: ↑Sun Jan 21, 2024 9:54 pm

Harry wrote: ↑Sun Jan 21, 2024 9:31 pm Matt, I enjoyed reading your story. I especially liked how you kept buy keeping what you wanted and selling off what you didn’t need. That’s the way to do it. Harry

What stops me these days is time. Work, my wife, 2 and 4 year old girls consume my free time. At least four 4020 tractors popped up forsale on marketplace within an hour from here this past summer.

All in due time Case brother. I’m retired now but it wasn’t that long ago I was working full time. So I can relate to the time situation. Harry