Our old place had about a 1/2 acre to mow - which I did with a 22 inch Craftsman self propelled (I was young and stupid). We also had about 60 trees on this lot - so there was quite a bit that you could not do with a tractor. But - we also had a 200 ft blacktop driveway - and it can SNOW in Michigan. Again - I was stupid and used a shovel.
One day - I finally inquired about the Case and was told that the engine had "stopped" about 10 years prior. I offered to "take a look" at it. So - the owner and his son pushed the thing over and I popped the head off. The engine would spin on the starter - but the top of the piston did not move - not good. His son wanted to learn about engines, so the next thing I know, the Kohler 14 HP is apart in my garage - and I've found a broken rod, a cracked piston, and a crank pin smeared with aluminum. His son proceeds to tell me that he was mowing their front ditch (at a sharp angle) - when the engine "quit". He also admitted to not checking the oil frequently. So - as you can guess it looked like the thing had run low on oil, the rod stuck on the crank, and then broken rod.
Well - over the next few weeks I did my internet research and learned all about Kohler 14HP singles. I think the parts were about $180 including a manual to help me put it back together - I think this would have been sometime in 2000. Well over that winter, I rebuilt the engine (etched the aluminum off the crank pin using Tidy Bowl - an old machine shop trick). The engine sat in my garage until moving day in November 2001 - they brought over a wheelbarrow and took her away. A couple days later I saw the son cruising up and down the street on the tractor - he had thrown her back together over that Thanksgiving weekend and she ran!
Well I still had the engine cover - I took it to the new house to weld up a crack in it. The cover sat in my new garage until this Summer, when the owner told me that he finally was going to give the tractor to a nephew who was going to put it all back together and try to "sell" it for him. Well - I welded the engine cover, gave it back to him - and the tractor went to live at his nephew's house and shop - about an hour away. I inquired at the time as to a purchase price and was told " the local Case dealer said it was worth $1300. Well, I should have offered him $1000 on the spot, but I now had a 5 yr old Craftsman 42 inch tractor that was just fine for our new .9 acre lot (very few trees). So - after the third snowfall of December, I gave the owner a call and offered $1000 - which he took in about a second. Then, we spent a day collecting the tractor and attachments from the nephew - the tractor and snowcaster were in two different places. Turns out the nephew was using MY tractor to plow snow from the parking lot of his shop (not sure how much tractor selling was going on - I think it was mostly tractor using). The snowcaster was at his house - attached to HIS CASE 446? (16HP Onan twin?). So my tractor was being used with his snowcaster to plow the lot at his shop and MY snowcaster was on his tractor at his house - did I mention that his driveway was gravel?? Funny how my snowcaster was being used there...
Well after collecting tractor, mower deck and snowcaster - I headed home - minus the wheel weights that used to belong to MY 444. Well the nephew claimed he was keeping them as "payment" for all the work he had done on the machine. I guess all the hours he put on it were not factored in - so I'm currently looking for wheel weights. I do have tire chains and they seem to work OK for all but the deepest snow - but.... I want my weights !!!! So - three snow falls later, I've used the 444 and the snowcaster does a great job. Only problem is that my choke cable seems to freeze up below about 20F, but a heat gun fixes that. Can't wait to see how she cuts grass (the Craftsman may be for sale in the spring).
Jim Stewart
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