Casey—our Case 224

[PeacemakerJack 10,738]

I’m going to start a thread for my longest owned Garden Tractor. It isn’t a Wheel Horse or a John Deere or a Cub Cadet. It is a Case.  Many of you happened upon Wheel Horse tractors in the same way that I happened upon this tractor—necessity and convenience and a little dumb luck.  My first gt could’ve been a throw away lawn mower but I ended up with a heavy duty machine. 

These pics were taken about a month ago when my cousin (a Case GT guru—owns about 25 of them!) had just completely rebuilding a “new” deck for it.

It is a cool little tractor with dual range and a true hydraulic (not hydrostatic) drive system.

Case never held a large part of the market segment with these but they still were a player and definitely had a unique machine.

 

The Story—my young bride and I had the opportunity to build a small but new home right after we were married.  There are a lot of things that you don’t think about when you are setting up a household for the first time. We were building on a country lot with an acre of land and would have a 250’ driveway.  I didn’t think about it at the time but we would need a lawn mower and snow blower to keep it up.  About this time my uncle Eric approached me and asked if I’d be interested in purchasing his old 224 since he was buying a newer one. It came with a 44” deck and a 48” single stage snowthrower. This story now goes even further back...

Eric got married to my aunt Judy in 1986 and in 1987 they bought their first home. They also needed a mower/snow removal machine so they contacted Judy’s oldest brother Bob who worked for a CaseIH AG dealership.

 

 

(Just a few tractors from my uncles vast Case collection. Our family has been farming with Case tractors since they invented the old cross motor tractors in the early 1900’s)

 

He told them they had taken a 224 cemetery mower in on trade. It had a bunch of hours on it for only being 7 years old but they could fix whatever needed attention and it was cheap. I have a file with all the receipts of the work that they performed at that time. Eric used and maintained it until selling it to me in 2001. 

 

I used it it religiously for about four years as my primary tractor. During that time I got my hands on a NOS M16 Kohler and I repowered it. At this point, I still wasn’t into the hobby. I just needed a GT to keep up my yard and I had one. Years later...I would become a hobbiest and this tractor would mean more to me.

 

Caleb and I at a plow day with Casey in 2014.

 

 

Just finished dragging the strawberry garden in preparation for planting a second bed. There are more stories surrounding this tractor.

To Be Continued...

 

[Pullstart 62,834]

Looks like a true worker indeed!

[Achto 27,565]

Awesome tractor!! Cool to own a tractor that was born less than 10 miles from where you live. Only thing I've always wondered is why they choose to have a left side discharge on the mower deck.

[WHX?? 48,814]

21 minutes ago, Achto said:

Awesome tractor!! Cool to own a tractor that was born less than 10 miles from where you live. Only thing I've always wondered is why they choose to have a left side discharge on the mower deck.

Agreed Dan & good catch on LR deck ...I had to do a double take on that. At the Portage show there is always a good showing of Case's and I always enjoy them .......  for sharing Jack. Case would have to be my 2nd choice over  with CC and Masseys being close on other brands.

[Pullstart 62,834]

1 hour ago, Achto said:

Awesome tractor!! Cool to own a tractor that was born less than 10 miles from where you live. Only thing I've always wondered is why they choose to have a left side discharge on the mower deck.

 

Only one logical reason to me.  Mr. Case musn't been a fan of NASCAR.

[PeacemakerJack 10,738]

The only thing I’ve been able to figure out with that is the orientation of the engine. Mine has the flywheel to the front with the PTO attached to that side of the motor. It has the hydraulic pump mounted to the crank output shaft side. So given that the engine is turned 180 degrees from a Cub or a Deere, I would assume this is why it runs the opposite way. The down side for summer use is that it blows that hot engine air towards you.  When cutting lawn on a hot day, I will typically tuck my right leg behind the tower. Between the engine heat and the exhaust on the right side, one’s leg can turn into a drumstick!  

 

The interesting thing is that Year’s later in production, they turned the engine the other way and had to build a mirror image deck because now the whole rotational operation was opposite!  So the later Ingersolls have a RH discharge deck!

 

like this one...

 

They built the Colt/Case tractors in Winneconne, WI for over 30 years. I wish I would’ve been a hobbiest in the early 2000’s, I could’ve went to the plant and took some pics and videos. My loss...

 

Because these tractors are hydraulic drive, they have no mechanical link between the engine and the transaxle. Therefore, they are very smooth machines, if the engine is running good.  They also have a very low tunnel/step through design because there is no driveshaft or drive belt, just a supply and return hose. All in all, well built machines.

Edited November 11, 2017 by PeacemakerJack

[Sarge 3,463]

I was always a fan of the bigger Case garden tractors - but around here now one would turn loose of one used as they never seemed to wear out . Repairs could be expensive  but they would do an incredible amount of work without breaking a sweat and were seriously overbuilt in their frames and such - great design in my opinion .

 

Sarge

[ericj 1,578]

my dad had CASE farm tractors growing up and in May of 1958 bought a new CASE 800 with case-a-matic drive. but when it came to garden tractors he bought a new 73 12 AUTO with a 36" rear discharge deck. I grew up driving both tractors and farmed several acres of corn as a teenager in high school with the 800 and a 630 he bought in about or around 77 and I drove home between 10 to 20 miles from Quaryville Pa to Delta Pa on RT 372. That was a long drive at 20 mph

 

 

 

 

 

eric j 

[PeacemakerJack 10,738]

 My grandpa bought a Case 400 with Case-o-matic brand new in 1958.  My uncle Roger was also born that year and still owns the tractor today.  It is a great mid sized tractor and the hi/low range with the “automatic” tranny mode is super convenient to use. Those are great tractors! I grew up driving a variety of Letter tractor Case tractors as well as 530, 930, 870, 2090 to name a few. In spite of the  Case farm tractors my grandpa was the only one if his brothers to buy Case GT’s. My great uncle Elmer owned Wheel Horse tractors from the early 1960’s through his passing in 2016. His last tractor, a 520 H is now owned by Russell (Rogers youngest son).

 

Even though it has over 2000 hours on it, it looks amazing and runs excellent. Elmer always kept up with the maintenance stored it inside and waxed it yearly.

 

Eric—thanks for sharing your story of Case tractors and your family 

[PeacemakerJack 10,738]

Just unearthed this photo while looking for pics of vintage trucks...

 

We built our house in 2000 as mentioned above and got Casey from uncle Eric soon after.  I used it to clear the snow in the winter then the following summer to prep the yard and seed it. If you zoom in, you’ll notice that it still has the round air cleaner of the original K321. When I replaced that motor with the M16 currently in it, I had to elongate the hood relief cut to accommodate the larger rear drop shaped air cleaner.  

 

Another comical thing to me as I look at this picture is how much beefier I was back then.  I was heavily into weight training back then and it shows.  These days I’m busy with other things and just don’t have the time that I’d like to for lifting!

 

Also—I’ve mentioned this elsewhere on the forum, but my dad is in the background of the pic spreading seed and looking for debris to clean up. He told me at that time to get rid of the willows on the fence row.  You can seem them in the picture at about 3-6’ tall. He said to replace them with pines, spruce, maple, anything but willows.  I wasn’t convinced and so I did nothing and today those are over 40’ tall and drop tons of branches every time the wind blows.  I still use that analogy when I speak to my teens about the importance of listening to your parents even when it doesn’t make sense to them...

[PeacemakerJack 10,738]

I took this video late last summer of Claudia driving Casey and cutting the lawn...

 

It is crazy to think that I was cutting the lawn on that tractor on this same lot about 16-17 years ago and now my second born is doing!  Testament of well built machines and a willingness to take care of them!

[pfrederi 17,719]

That is an impressive line up of Flambeau Red Tractors!!!

 

Mine not so impressive

[PeacemakerJack 10,738]

7 minutes ago, pfrederi said:

 

Mine not so impressive

On the contrary—those are sharp machines and by the looks of the mowers, you use them!

 

 I grew up farming with  Case tractors and so I appreciate the old letter series machines on up through the 90 series nearing the end of the Case run. Lots of seat time!

 

if you care to, tell us a little more about your two Case tractors here...

[WHNJ701 4,165]

I have an early case 220 that was my wife's grandfathers.  a very tough and reliable machine.  by far this is the best tractor I ever used for snow removal with the snowcaster, unfortunately it sat for few years neglected outside.  I was able to get the tractor(which started right up), the snowcaster was a total loss, the mower deck I have will need to be rebuilt and I have snow plow.  someday it will get a full restoration.

[19richie66 17,500]

Wish I still had this one. 

[PeacemakerJack 10,738]

If that was a genuine demonstrator as it appears to be, that would be worth quite a bit of coin in the Case GT community.  I don’t remember ever talking to you about that tractor Richie but I’d be interested in hearing about it for sure.

 

My cousin Mike picked this one up last fall.  It has most of the original parts and will likely get a full resto in the next couple of years...

[19richie66 17,500]

It was original. My dad bought it off his neighbor who had it since new. He gave it to me but it was too big for the yard at the time and he jumped on the Wheelhorse bandwagon. So we decided to sell it and get more horses. Looking back I wish I still had it. Would be perfect where we are moving. 

[PeacemakerJack 10,738]

Time to reopen this thread.  Claudia turns 14 this fall and Casey has “officially” been her tractor since I got into the GT hobby about a decade ago.  This tractor is in great running and overall operating shape and so there is no REAL reason for an every nut and bolt “restoration”.  However, I would like to do a refurbish of this tractor with Claudia later this summer.  My plan of attack is to dismantle the tractor for the purpose of her learning how to take the major stuff apart and how it all works (electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, etc).  At this point there is no reason to take the engine down as the M16 in it has under 100 hours on it!  The HyDrive system on these tractors is pretty bullet proof and so we will only replace seals, lines, gaskets that are showing signs of leaking or the potential to leak.  The steering system definitely needs attention (tie rods, steering gear, etc). The mechanical PTO is quite worn and needs an overhaul.  I am going to contact @jimkemp about building me a special muffler for this tractor to quiet it down a LOT because the straight through Farmall Cub muffler just doesn’t quiet it down enough for regular mowing duties.  All switches will be overhauled or replaced as necessary and new LED lights installed.  My primary focus though of this build will be the paint.  I have had a good 8 years to think of what I would like to do and it is going to be a labor intensive project but because my daughter is an artist anyway, I feel that she is more than up to the challenge.  I don’t want to stay with the stock color scheme.  As you see above, In the early 1970’s Case offered their demonstrator tractors with the introduction of the 70 series agricultural tractors.  They had two versions:

 

The “Black Knight” Demo

 

or the “Golden Demonstrator”

 

As cool as the Black Knight paint scheme is, I’m drawn to the Golden Demo for some reason and want to do my best to replicate this color scheme of an open platform GD to Casey...

I really think it can be done with tenacity and hard work along with attention to detail.  Please stay tuned as we take this father/daughter journey together🤞🏻

[19richie66 17,500]

The Golden Demo paint scheme will look good. Those are really nice tractors and she will enjoy spending time with you doing it. That is if the boys don’t jump in there too. 

[RandyLittrell 3,877]

Don't know how I managed to miss this thread! Great story as always!! 

 

I would vote for black night myself and can't wait to see the progress you make with your daughter!! 

 

 

 

 

Randy

[PeacemakerJack 10,738]

 Randy!  I’m looking forward to this project with Claudia as well.  She isn’t a gearhead by any stretch of the imagination but she is extremely detail oriented, smart, and not afraid to get her hands dirty.  That makes her a perfect candidate for this kind of project—at least in my mind😉