Here's my next flippin' project...

Lance Skene

Lance Skene

Alberta, Canada
Member
Brought this Case 444 home today, engine runs quietly but the needle jets dont do much so the carb needs cleaning, drives fine in both Hi/Low range, deck works but its a bit noisy, rear 16"s show some minor sidewall cracking but I dont think they need to be replaced. Battery is dead so I had to boost it but it drove on and off the trailer and drove around the yard for 20 minutes, no issues on hills, didnt overheat, steering is reasonably tight. At $600 I didnt steal it by no means but these Case sell real good around here.... I should do fine once its gone thru and cleaned up.


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that should clean up nice, paint the grill add a few stickers, and detail it, make a few bucks on it
 
Around here your lucky to find a parts machine at 400-600... thats mostly thx to one guy that collects them, restores them, and then advertises them at 3k. Last time I saw one of his ads he had 7 restored machines lined up for sale and the cheapest one was $2800... I doubt he sells very many.... probably just advertises because his wife tells him to. Lol

The most Ive ever got for one was $2200 and that was the 446 with an Onan, it had the hydro tiller, front blade and mower deck... I posted it on FB at $2500 and it was gone in less than two hours.

Biggest concern with this 444 is the deck... its gonna need some bearings and/or complete spindles... hope I dont have to go visit the collector dude for parts... he thinks a deck is worth $1200 o_O
 
Wow very cool my grandfather bought one brand new and now my uncle has it I've been trying to acquire it for years nice machine
 
the case 400 series have really jumped in value, where the 200 series seems to be dropping. I think alot under estimate their capabilities. personally I think they are one best working garden tractors out there.
 
I agree that the 400s are one of the better GTs out there.... but they are hard on fuel, your using 15-20% of your HP just to move the oil around, same thing with a hydrostatic transaxle, you have to rev them up to get any work done... and gas aint cheap.... Im old school... my tractor has a disc clutch and gearbox.
 
Lol....it is quite surprising how much more fuel the Hy-Drive and Hydrostatic setups use... Ive had two MTD 990s here with the same engine as my 960 and fuel usage is at least double if not more... mind you Im pretty sure the bigger wheels on the 990 are at least partly responsible for the extra fuel aswell.

Didnt work on the Case at all today other than put a trickle charger on the battery.
 
So here's a little prelude to the Case story..... on route to pick it up last thursday in my '89 Ford 1/2 ton and the horse trailer in tow.... I get about 1/2 way there, some 80km from home... cruise set about 100km/hr.... start to climb a hill and the tranny kicks down...... and the little 302 engine goes KaBluey... still running, maintaining temp and oil pressure but missing a few cylinders.... so I get turned around and head for home.... and although I couldnt get more than about 75km/hr.... I did make it home... Thank You Ford Truck....LOL

I bought the 1/2 ton several years ago, primarily as a tractor getter, for $1100 with about 110,000km on the odo..... as it sits now there's 300127km... so it doesnt owe me anything, Ive dragged home over two hundred tractors with it, and hauled the camper trailer on several holiday trips. Never had to put much into it other than basic maintenance.... was great while it lasted... time to move on.

By shear coincedence..... about 5 years ago, and less than two miles from where the Case was... I found an old Ford Bronco in a barn and bought that for $400... didnt really have a plan for it but the price was right, It has the 351M engine. Ive driven it around the farm and run into town a few times with it... it runs and drives nice enough but has all the typical old Ford rust issues so I dont think I want to invest alot of money into it but I likely will transfer the insurance and plate over to it so I can continue tractor pickin' without having to buy another truck.

So Ive busy trying to get the Bronco road ready, swapped over the wheels/tires from the 1/2 ton, drained both 1/2 ton tanks which filled the Bronco plus a couple tractors.... it'll be a day or two before I have time to look into the Case much further.
 

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I’m not a Ford guy, but is it possible to toss the 351 into the truck?
 
Well ya its possible but not really worth the effort... would have to swap tranny and the rad aswell cause the 351M is a big block.... with 300k on the truck its time to let it go.... it served me well;)

besides... at $400 even tho it is rusty the Bronco will be fun for awhile.... it will pull the trailers better than the 1/2 ton did and these older ones still have the easily removable roof..... who knows... if I start driving it around somebody might make an offer I cant refuse.Lol
 
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Only cautionary experience I've had with a Bronco concerns the coil springs. If you happen to be chasing a coyote across a rough summer fallow field in one (ooops, did I say that??) you can get pretty thoroughly launched into space if you're not careful. o_O :eek:
 
Lol... I never heard Nothin'........ I actually spend alot of time shootin golpher and any other nuisance critters in the pasture with a smaller Bronco II.... same one I plow the snow with in the winter
 

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Replaced a hit/miss fuse holder on the 444 so Ive officially started working on it finally... had one of those plastic holders with a glass fuse so I made up a new line with a modern 2 prong fuse... and dropped in a differant battery.... seemed to run quite alot better except the throttle kept backing down. I picked up a spare deck yesterday hoping that it will have replacement parts/bearing to cure the rattle on the current deck... a little progress is better than none ;)
 

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Gettin near the end of this project, went thru the deck and replaced the idler puller and a couple spindle bearings.... orig bearing Hoover #Z9504B, replacement SKF #P204-RR6 if anyone happens to need them, they were $15ea at Bumper-to-Bumper. Carbs been off for cleaning, points cleaned and set, condenser changed, dents in the grill straightened, lights wired up, oil change and grease.

Had it out mowing a bit today.... seemed to bog a little in the thick stuff so some adjustment on the governor spring should fix that... and it sometimes blows a fuse went shutting down so the regulator might need adjustment or replacement.... but it ran pretty well and cut nice.

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