Hi folks, my name is Ed. It’s great to find this group.
So, I was just yesterday given a Case 646 bucket loader. That’s right, a freebie. Here’s the backstory.
I have a piece of property that was part of my family’s larger farm from I bought from my brother, who now owns the rest of the land. He doesn’t farm, and has let the bigger fields go back to nature as he has a government job. He bought a gray market Yanmar to bush hog two small fields, he gave me that about five years ago after he bought a new Kubota that had a a cab. That Yanmar was too big for anything I would need it for so I sold it. He had also bought the 646 used, as well as a new Ariens tiller with a Robin motor to use for his garden. He quickly decided that he could do everything with a new Kubota with a loader and tiller attachment so he traded the Kubota.
Yesterday, he asked me if I wanted either piece of equipment, probably feeling guilty because I’ve been spending my weekends trying to remediate bamboo his wife planted on my property when they lived there-over the septic drain field. Of course, a rototiller would be great, and it fired up on two pulls after draining ten year old fuel.
I was not familiar with the Case 646, so I looked at it an and thought ‘Could this critter possibly be useful ?’ I mean, it looks like a lawn mower on steroids, so I asked him how it runs. He said it starts great, but it only goes about 1mph.
I said I’d think about it, came home and found this group, and the many testimonies that this little guy is a beast, and well suited for exactly what I need: to remove about 18” of soil including the bamboo roots before isolating the area using aluminum panels.
From what I was able to gather on this website, this could be related to the banana plate. I don’t even know what that is, but I have rebuilt two Farmall cubs, so I figured I’d give it a closer look. Today, I went back over and took a bunch of junk off that he’d stacked on the machine. If my decoding is correct, it’s a 1979 model. The motor, which should be an Onan has been replaced with a 23Hp Briggs Vanguard.
That kind of threw me, but I looked up 646+ vanguard and see that they made a purpose built repower motor for this. The install appears to be professionally done, but I don’t really know what I’m looking at. One of the things that concern me is that the Vanguard retrofit says it’s a direct replacement for 74-76 , but if this is a 79 AND if the banana plate is the cause of its poor performance, how will this impact repairing the plate?
I’m also curious about the grille. Most machines I’ve seen have headlights. This one does not, were they an option?
Sorry to ask such questions but this is all new to me. Thank you for any enlightenment you could offer.
So, I was just yesterday given a Case 646 bucket loader. That’s right, a freebie. Here’s the backstory.
I have a piece of property that was part of my family’s larger farm from I bought from my brother, who now owns the rest of the land. He doesn’t farm, and has let the bigger fields go back to nature as he has a government job. He bought a gray market Yanmar to bush hog two small fields, he gave me that about five years ago after he bought a new Kubota that had a a cab. That Yanmar was too big for anything I would need it for so I sold it. He had also bought the 646 used, as well as a new Ariens tiller with a Robin motor to use for his garden. He quickly decided that he could do everything with a new Kubota with a loader and tiller attachment so he traded the Kubota.
Yesterday, he asked me if I wanted either piece of equipment, probably feeling guilty because I’ve been spending my weekends trying to remediate bamboo his wife planted on my property when they lived there-over the septic drain field. Of course, a rototiller would be great, and it fired up on two pulls after draining ten year old fuel.
I was not familiar with the Case 646, so I looked at it an and thought ‘Could this critter possibly be useful ?’ I mean, it looks like a lawn mower on steroids, so I asked him how it runs. He said it starts great, but it only goes about 1mph.
I said I’d think about it, came home and found this group, and the many testimonies that this little guy is a beast, and well suited for exactly what I need: to remove about 18” of soil including the bamboo roots before isolating the area using aluminum panels.
From what I was able to gather on this website, this could be related to the banana plate. I don’t even know what that is, but I have rebuilt two Farmall cubs, so I figured I’d give it a closer look. Today, I went back over and took a bunch of junk off that he’d stacked on the machine. If my decoding is correct, it’s a 1979 model. The motor, which should be an Onan has been replaced with a 23Hp Briggs Vanguard.
That kind of threw me, but I looked up 646+ vanguard and see that they made a purpose built repower motor for this. The install appears to be professionally done, but I don’t really know what I’m looking at. One of the things that concern me is that the Vanguard retrofit says it’s a direct replacement for 74-76 , but if this is a 79 AND if the banana plate is the cause of its poor performance, how will this impact repairing the plate?
I’m also curious about the grille. Most machines I’ve seen have headlights. This one does not, were they an option?
Sorry to ask such questions but this is all new to me. Thank you for any enlightenment you could offer.
