Colt Case Ingersoll Garden Tractors

For a while I've wanted a Johnny Bucket for my tractor. I've seen a few forsale in the $400 range but never bought one. I put out an add about a month ago on CL and got a local hit the other night. Like new Johnny Bucket with no tractor adapter bracket or wiring harness for $300. I reached out to Johnny Bucket and the tractor bracket kit is $600 Looking at the bracket, its seems like it would be fairly simple to try and modify a Case/Ingersoll mule bracket to attach the bucket. Deck mule brackets start at about $50 on ebay but they are a lighter gauge steel. Then I had the idea what if I dual purpose my snowcaster or bercomac bracket. The berco's bracket is probably 1/4" steel, much heaver than the deck brackets. It looks like I could run the Johnny Buckets lower pin through some bushings in the berco's bracket and I would have to fab up the upper mount. The seller told me the Johnny Bucket bracket is 13" wide. The berco's mule drive bracket is only 8" wide so it would require some spacers. What do you guys think?
The missing tooth is replaceable. The wiring harness can also be bought at a reasonable cost. Lift and dump are both done by linear actuators. Earlier versions used the tractors mid lift (AFAIK).
Johnny Bucket webpage https://johnnyproducts.com/J_Bucket_HTM ... gersol.htm
Johnny Bucket parts. Bracket is #10. https://johnnyproducts.com/ordermain.htm#JBandACCorder Berco mule drive. I would only reuse the snapfast portion of the bracket. Johnny Bucket Bracket Case only Johnny Bucket Bracket

I don’t have any experience with one of these but it’s a really neat set up. I can see where it would be handy around the house. And I think you’re right you could adapt your mount fairing easily. I looked around the web a little and the only downside that stuck out at me is a 250 pound lift capacity that’s pretty light, your tractor is certainly capable of more. But for hauling mulch and such it would be fine.

Well done @MattA . Very well thought out and executed . Should serve you well .

JSinMO wrote: ↑Fri Apr 26, 2024 11:07 pm I don’t have any experience with one of these but it’s a really neat set up. I can see where it would be handy around the house. And I think you’re right you could adapt your mount fairing easily. I looked around the web a little and the only downside that stuck out at me is a 250 pound lift capacity that’s pretty light, your tractor is certainly capable of more. But for hauling mulch and such it would be fine.

Dirt and mulch is pretty much what I'd haul with it.

Looks like the bucket side bracket is a bit wider on the bucket I am looking at than the Ingersoll bracket from Johnny Products.

Well I pulled the trigger and bought the Johnny Bucket bracket last week. Should hopefully be here in a few weeks. JB is throwing in a free tooth for the tooth bar.

I'm going to DIY the wiring/control box. I've spent quite a while looking at joysticks to control the bucket but what I've been able to find are SPST and would require an external DPDT relay setup to control each linear actuator forward/reverse. I may just throw a pair of DPDT 15Amp switches in a project box and call it done for now. I'll have to figure out where to mount the control box. Possibly on the fender?

SPST = Single Pole Single Throw.
DPDT = Dual Pole Dual Throw.

When I bought a tractor with the Johnny Bucket it had the switches in the tower access panel where they were easily accessed by the operator, that worked pretty well.

That was on a 222 however, so there wasn't the tower cooler taking up space. I think it'd still be feasible with the 4 digit tractors though.

Have you looked at Amazon or similar for 12v joystick switches? After reading your post I was curious and did some poking around and was surprised at the options available (and at a reasonable price too...)
Some of the ones for electric kiddie cars looked interesting too... They are cheap because they are simple on/off switches - rather than proportional control joysticks that cost big bucks and need way more electronics than a bunch of 12v relays... small enough you could use fingertips to operate them - mounted in a waterproof box with a big magnet on the bottom and some weather pack connectors it could sit on your fender in easy reach and also be easy to remove if you weren't using your johnny bucket...

I have been looking on Amazon at the same joysticks. The ones I have looked at will all require a pair of external relays to control the bucket up/down and dump functions (4 relays total). At least some of the joysticks are also a single function at a time. I wouldn't be able to say lower the bucket and dump at the same time.

I did find some motor reverse modules but I've struggled to find something in the 30-40A range. These are a bit more than I need:
https://www.amazon.com/YLQASOON-5541100 ... B0D8XNSM97?

Amazons got a lot of relays with harnesses
https://www.amazon.com/irhapsody-12-Vol ... B07XC6HT5C?
Complete BS amperage ratings... but at least these have 12AWG wires.

Using a pair of 20Amp DPDT switches could avoid the extra relays... The linear actuators (part number K2G20-12V-BR-04R90JP) are about 25A at full load (1200lbs).
https://www.amazon.com/Nilight-Polarity ... B0BJ2C8TGC?

Similar thoughts on a big magnet to hold the control box to the fender

Johnny bucket mule arrived today. I've also got a bunch of parts to build the control box. Cab and snowcaster still need to come off the tractor.

@MattA Why do you take the cab off ? Do the doors not just pop off ?