I will start slowly posting my Case 446 with diesel swap here which I'm going to call the Super 446. I'm currently half way through the build but I'll start from the beginning and post a little bit at a time until I'm at the current state of the build.
So a bit of background, I got into Case tractors this past summer. With the help of this forum my son and I 100% mechanically restored a 1988 446. That is our mowing tractor. We went over it top to bottom, and besides paint.... it is basically brand new like it was from the factory with the exception of a few mods like the TCV linkage and factory looking led headlights. It is a wonderful tractor and is quite amazing how nice it mows and how quiet it is while it mows.
So moving forward, this past summer I needed to remove a tree stump in my yard and my powerstroke F250 would not even budge it. So I rented a kubota BX23 with loader and backhoe. That little diesel tractor was absolutely amazing, but the $20k price tag was now. After the tree stump was removed, I no longer needed a loader or backhoe on my property but still wanted a diesel tractor.
In comes a excellent condition one owner 1982 446 that I drove 4 hours one way to Virginia from Pennsylvania to buy. It came with a plow and tiller. The gentleman who owned it said his father bought it brand new in 1982 and used it till he died in the mid 2000's. He himself never used it but it was in amazing condition and came with a book full of records and receipts for everything that was done. So definitely a good score.
So the plan is to completely redo the '82 446 and make it better at least in my opinion. I love to tinker and have the necessary skills and knowledge to do so. I know there will be naysayers but I honestly don't really care as it is my tractor and I already have a stock 446 to do things the Super 446 can't but it won't be many things. Please don't take this the wrong way, as this is a hobby and passion of mine always tinkering and making things better.
So here's the start of my 1982 Super 446.
I started with completely stripping it and cleaning everything. Nothing real special here but as I put it back together I started to replace little things that needed it and fixing little things as I went.
I put on some new Firestone tires all the way around. The fronts are the 16x6.50-8 tri-ribs from Miller tire. The rears are 8-16 Firestone Regency. I like these tires for the fact they aren't as steep of an angle on the bars and bite a good bit better in dirt. I do kind of wish I would have went with 9.5-16 but I still can down the road and put these on the '88 446.
I cleaned and the reamed the front spindles for a nice smooth turn. They were extremely gunked up with old grease. I also drilled out all the grease fittings and tapped them for 1/4-28 fittings. I also did the poor man's power steering on the front with parts from McMaster Carr.
The pivot pin was replaced on the front axle. I also did this on my '88 446, but on the Super 446 it still had some slack. I'm not sure if I want to try and fix that and how I'd go about it. Carefully slicing the frame from the bottom up and then pull it tight with some clamps, then rewelding it would probably fix the slop left but I'm not sure if it is even worth messing with.
What have some of you done to fix the excess slop on the front axle? It isn't much but with my OCD it bothers me.
