While it’s not a restomod muscle car from the 1970s, or a dusty barn find, I hope this Late 1970s/early-1980s Case 446 Tractor with a 44″ mower deck is at least somewhat as interesting to a few (thousand) readers as it is for me. This tractor would sure come in handy for plowing our driveway right now. This little multipurpose tractor can be found listed here on Facebook Marketplace in Clintonville, Wisconsin, and they’re asking $1,800. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Lothar… of the Hill People for the tip!
Growing up with two acres of land to goof around on wasn’t a lot compared to farms with hundreds or thousands of acres, but it’s 1.75 more acres than we have now. I’d sure love to have some land again to be able to really enjoy vehicles like this little tractor. A nice pole building on two acres would work for me. It was enough to have some trails in the woods that we created for riding motorcycles and snowmobiles, and my brother and I even built a little bridge over a creek for the trail. A tractor like this Case would have come in handy with a plow for keeping the driveway cleared, rather than shoveling it, which is what we did back then. The 44″ Case mower deck has three blades and a hydraulic lift and would make our current mowing chores more fun than chore.
The J.I. Threshing Machine Company was founded in 1842 (!) by Jerome Increase Case in Racine, Wisconsin. After 1928, it was called J.I. Case Company, or sometimes, just Case. Ownership changed hands several times until Tenneco bought the company in 1967. In the mid-1980s, Tenneco bought International Harvester’s ag business, and the company became Case IH. In 1999, Fiat purchased Case IH (what don’t they own?!), and I’m sure things will keep shuffling in the volatile and ever-changing agricultural equipment marketplace. Ingersoll Equipment bought the Case garden tractor division in 1964, mainly for its innovative hydraulic drive system, so that company was in the mix as well. This 700-pound tractor is from the Case-Ingersoll era and is in the 400 Series family of big wheel tractors, with 32″ six-lug rear tires with 16″ rims. The seller says it’s wearing new wheels, so this $1,800 asking price is really seeming like a deal to me.
The Case 446 was made in two generations, or iterations: the first from 1972 through 1976, and an updated 1977 through 1988. The later version shows graphics as seen here, and without any serial numbers or any other data info, we don’t know for sure what year this 446 is from. We do know that they were powered by an air-cooled Onan B43M, a 716-cc twin-cylinder with 16 horsepower, and it starts and runs great, according to the seller. It has a two-speed hydraulic transmission (“HY-Driv”) sending power to the big rear wheels. There was an 18-hp 448 tractor introduced in 1980, and earlier 442 and 444 series tractors with different engines and configurations. From what I found on forums, $1,800 is a pretty reasonable price for a tractor with these capabilities. Would you have a use for this nice little tractor?
Now we’re cookin’ with gas( remember that?) Clin-ton-ville, home of FWD, another Wisconsin miracle!. J.I. Case, is another of the great industries from Wisconsin. While the biggies are still made in Racine, Wis., I read these smaller ones were made in Winneconne, Wis.( near Oshkosh) until 1983, when IR bought them, and not sure where, if any now. They became Case Ingersol, and then Case IH in 1987. Not sure you can even get one of these new today. This, for the record, was not called a “garden” tractor, but more like “sub-compact” tractors, and were kind of the middle of the road, tractor-wise. It appears to have a hydraulic lift, and perhaps a “wet line” there, to run attachments, Onans are some of the best motors, and the price has already begun to drop. I guess limited interest isn’t just affecting the old car hobby, huh? Great find, super deal, yet,,,is this thing on?
Hey Howard–just noting–Is there anything you don`t know about?
After Ingersoll bouget Case’s lawn & garden business, they were briefly called Case Ingersoll, then just Ingersoll. These never became Case IH.
And as the brochure picture shows, these WERE called garden tractors. Check out https://tractors.fandom.com/wiki/Ingersoll_Power_Equipment
That is badass!!
This is one sweet tractor. I had a chance to run a Hydrostatic drive Case decades ago. What a solid tractor. Its exactly as Howard said, more medium than garden for sure. The Onans are great engines too.
Scotty You and everyone here is just hitting them out of the park today!!!
Onan engines are great until they need overhaul, which is quite expensive. The Deere 318 crowd tends to repower with more modern, more powerful engines when that time comes.
We had a large log splitter with this Onan engine. We found it difficult to keep running after it had quite a few hours on it. It was also quite difficult to find the parts we needed, as no one in the area serviced Onan anymore. We still have the splitter, powered by a B&S V twin.
From the days before asian imports flooded the market with “compact” tractors. This is quite a deal, you’re buying the tires and he’s giving you the tractor to get them home on!
You are going to need turf tires, if you want to mow your lawn and not a field. The tires on it would be great for ploughing though.
Scotty, well-researched and educational write-up on an interesting tractor. I have no experience with prices for these, but it doesn’t seem like a ton of money.
Still moving snow with a 1974 Case 444 with a snowblower.
This age tractor could be used sparingly but a biweekly mowing would be pushing it as I have 3 acres of lawn. I have a Husqvarna 48 “. Tempting though to have it.
This will go forever with proper upkeep . Built like a tank . Not like the tin and plastic lawn mowers sold at the big box stores for twice the price +. Yes change the rear tires for lawn service.
Would hate to get it dirty. It’s too perfect. Probably what keeps it from selling. It belongs in a museum somewhere.
It has the same problem as a 100 point car. Great to look at, but can’t drive ’em for fear of a little scratch.
Great little farm tractor, and great big residential tractor. If you were right around the corner I’d make a reasonable offer, even though I don’t need it being the fact that I have a Troybuilt about the same size, and hardly get on it and fire it up maybe twice a year. Good luck to the seller and the future buyer, it’s a great piece of equipment and a great deal.
I’ve got the 14 hp (Kohler) version of this tractor. Originally mowed with it’s 44″ deck, but graduated to 72″ and 88″ Toro diesel Groundsmasters.
These are great tractors. With chains and a 34″ front blade not much will slow it down. I like the tall rear wheels, plenty of traction and they just look like a “real” tractor!
I realized I didn’t have a recent picture of my 444 so I trudged through the snow to the granary and took a (dusty) photo. A REAL barn find!
As has happened several times before, the picture didn’t post. I’ll try once more with this but I looked back at all of today’s Barn Finds. No pictures. I wonder why?
Somewhere my mom has a picture of me on a yellow case yard tractor my Uncle bought for grandma’s farm. I was 8 maybe 9yrs old. Grandma had a huge garden and a big farm yard. Last time it was parked in the barn it was still running.
That would look good, showing it off at the Pickett Steam and Gas Engine Club annual Garden Tractor Show on the last weekend of August. It is a fair price for a great piece of equipment.
My dad had a Cub Cadet 122 and we used it for everything, even running a grain loader at harvest time. He had an opportunity to replace it with a Case 446 in the mid-70s. A lot of things needed to be done before it could do the same job the Cadet did though.
We had to gear it way down so we could run the roto-tiller attachment. Even with that it tended to push the tractor beyond its creeper speed. Then we found that the PTO was too slow so we had to speed that up. Overheating of the transmission and hydraulic system was also a problem. If I had to choose between the Cub Cadet and the Case, it would be the Cub by a landslide.
My SIL has the identical twin to this. It keeps the snow off his driveway and the grass mowed. Pretty much does everything it was designed to do. He doesn’t have any complaints…
Wow! Whuda thunk? I own and use a 4120 witch factory PS, PTO, 3 point, 9.5 R1 fluid filled, (Ingersoll). A 446 3 point PTO, have most attachments including tiller (most used) a 3016 and numerous parts tractors some complete.
Had one in Illinois and it was a fantastic little tractor. Bought it from a farmer down in southern Illinois, over 2 hours away I was way up near the Wisconsin border. Had several attachments including a tiller, harrow, snow blower, and a plow. It also had a full cab which was nice in the winter, bad in the summer since I didn’t remove the cab just bungeed the doors open. I installed an electric heater in the cab and glued carpeting to the cab. Kept it comfortable but you still needed a coat and gloves. Sold it when we moved south and as far as I know the gentleman I sold it to still uses it. Headlights weren’t the best so installed LED driving lights on the cab and that brightened things up. Cab also had an electric windshield wiper. enjoyed it more in the winter than any other time.
I have some pics and older you tubes up but can’t link them.
https://youtu.be/8LEyatryVdY?si=JYLfK8kKyHe-ZkN5
https://youtu.be/pCXkgSD0KpE?si=fFf_3W7QcCxmiaCa
amazed at what these lill garden tractors have*, can do.
We gota case, yellow (I think 400 range, not sure on yr, a gift. But I found a shop manual on-line, brought it home for $60, priceless to me).
Nother mechanic bud (AZ right now, after a life in SoCal) is using 1988 John Deere 420. These are all ‘garden tractors’ to me. Club Cadete is under the name ‘compact’ to me and looks a lill like top pic here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farmall_Cub
a scaled dwn ‘regular’ tractor. Ford 9N, etc… The ‘garden’ is the square modular looking one as per auction (not sale) here.
Still… Not a toy. I’ve made some $, done some great work w/them
* yeah, just surprised to C the 3 point hitch on back of this one. Like 2 C the implements it’d drag. This Might kick it up a notch to me (gotta see in vid action or person). Appears in good rest0 condition. Price depends on location, motivation, etc…
Thnx Scotty
There’s $650 hanging on the back of it.
There are more suburban types out there who have no idea what owning a tractor like this is all about. Reading the comments has me thinking of my late dairy farmer father-in-law who drove real tractors all his life–he would be so much into this tractor.