You are a true craftsman. Looking at this project coming together one would think it was a factory install.
Super 446 Build- Diesel Swap
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.
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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.
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.
2
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So not much more to report..... I've been dragging my feet. I made the decision before I start it for the the first time, or attempt to... I would at least plumb the cooling system. My plan was to just try and start it but as I get older I believe more and more to take your time and do things right first instead of rushing.
So I propped and shimmed up the radiator to where it needed to be, and fit all the radiator hoses. Everything worked perfectly except I had to cut some mounting knubs off the crankshaft pulley to have some more clearance for the bottom hose. I used Summit racings website to narrow down to 1" hoses and imagined in my head how they would fit. Everything worked great. I got really lucky on the top hose. It worked out pretty good and kept it a one piece hose. On the side bottom I did use a 1" 90° mandrel bend aluminum tube. That let me cleanly cross over and back up to the water pump.
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One thing I'm worried about is the thermostat housing is a touch higher than the radiator cap. This is gonna cause some issues but I'm hoping if I put a bleeder in on of these ports it will correct it. Any opinions on this from any of you?
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And last, I finished off building the stack with a nice little turn out. I didn't want a flapper on it, just a nice clean turn.
So I propped and shimmed up the radiator to where it needed to be, and fit all the radiator hoses. Everything worked perfectly except I had to cut some mounting knubs off the crankshaft pulley to have some more clearance for the bottom hose. I used Summit racings website to narrow down to 1" hoses and imagined in my head how they would fit. Everything worked great. I got really lucky on the top hose. It worked out pretty good and kept it a one piece hose. On the side bottom I did use a 1" 90° mandrel bend aluminum tube. That let me cleanly cross over and back up to the water pump.
One thing I'm worried about is the thermostat housing is a touch higher than the radiator cap. This is gonna cause some issues but I'm hoping if I put a bleeder in on of these ports it will correct it. Any opinions on this from any of you?
And last, I finished off building the stack with a nice little turn out. I didn't want a flapper on it, just a nice clean turn.
4
I think that is how I'm gonna start and see how it works. I did a lot of research last night on this topic and found out a lot of information. There are apparently quite a few European car manufacturers that do this with bleeders.
My thermostat housing has 1/8" npt ports, possibly just for this purpose. I ordered a Schrader valve type bleeder which is the same as tire valves.
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Another thing I will try, and is used commonly by hot rodders is to jack the front of the tractor up off the ground to make the radiator cap the highest point. Then fill while it is cold. With the radiator cap being lower I will need a recovery tank so it can expell the excess when hot and suck back in coolant as it cools. If I don't it will just spit out the coolant than suck air back in while cooling creating the problem every time. The cap isn't that much lower so I won't have to jack it up much.
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The next solution if the bleeder doesn't work is a surge/expansion tank. The difference compared to a overflow tank is it is pressurized. You mount it so it is highest point and then becomes the fill as well. The bottom port gets plumbed into a heater/radiator hose and then the cap vent on the radiator gets plumbed to the surge tank and the ports on my thermostat housing. This let's air bleed out to the highest point at the surge tank. I made a plug on the side of the thermostat housing that would be the feed port. Then the surge tank is the jiffy jar in the picture which is the exact size of the surge tank I would buy.
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So it is definitely able to be fixed just depends which works better. One thing I'm starting to get disappointed with is I'm running out of under hood room for a turbo lol.
My thermostat housing has 1/8" npt ports, possibly just for this purpose. I ordered a Schrader valve type bleeder which is the same as tire valves.
Another thing I will try, and is used commonly by hot rodders is to jack the front of the tractor up off the ground to make the radiator cap the highest point. Then fill while it is cold. With the radiator cap being lower I will need a recovery tank so it can expell the excess when hot and suck back in coolant as it cools. If I don't it will just spit out the coolant than suck air back in while cooling creating the problem every time. The cap isn't that much lower so I won't have to jack it up much.
The next solution if the bleeder doesn't work is a surge/expansion tank. The difference compared to a overflow tank is it is pressurized. You mount it so it is highest point and then becomes the fill as well. The bottom port gets plumbed into a heater/radiator hose and then the cap vent on the radiator gets plumbed to the surge tank and the ports on my thermostat housing. This let's air bleed out to the highest point at the surge tank. I made a plug on the side of the thermostat housing that would be the feed port. Then the surge tank is the jiffy jar in the picture which is the exact size of the surge tank I would buy.
So it is definitely able to be fixed just depends which works better. One thing I'm starting to get disappointed with is I'm running out of under hood room for a turbo lol.
4
81 - 94 of 94 Posts
