Case 646 History

MY 1973 Case 646 Loader tractor

Actually it doesn't look like that any more. That was the picture in the auction listing when I bought the tractor.  At the time the tractor was not running, but its essentially complete.. The belt clutch PTO on the flywheel end of the engine was previously removed, but otherwise its all there. Including the most often missing sheet metal covers.


The Tractor hadn't been modified before I got it. But it also had lead a hard life.

How did I get to purchasing a 45+ year old mini loader?

Well, I live on 2+ acres of property and the only tractor I had prior to this was our old, 1958, farm loader:

Which worked GREAT when I was digging the crawlspace for an addition. But when I take it across the lawn "The Lady of the Manor" does NOT appreciate what it does to the turf.

Since I am now 50+ years old, moving trailer loads of mulch for flower beds in a wheel barrow was killing me.. In 2016 as part of another addition to our house I rented a "dingo" to do some work and it got me thinking that I should be looking for a small loader like that.. But I needed something that was NOT a skid steer so I could use it on the lawn without trashing the turf like any skid steer would do.

So I started looking at all kinds of used loader tractors, My equipment budget was NOT going to cover anything new.. And as an old Farm Kid I am, lets just say partial, to JI Case Brand tractors.

Various searches lead me to the Case - Colt - Ingersoll forum  where I learned that from about 1972 -> 2000 JI Case company, then Ingersoll tractors, build a line of Mini Loader tractors that ranged from 14 to 20 HP. The tractors are based on the JI Case garden tractors at the time with design input from the People that created the "Construction King"

The more I read about this line of tractors the more I figured out this was something simple enough that I could repair and maintain it.  So I started looking for a unit for sale.  I missed out on a few, but when this unit showed up for Auction on June 22nd, 2016 in Manchester, MI (Outside of Ann Arbor, Mi) I got a proxy bid in on it and won the auction.. One of the reasons this unit stood out was that it included a set of OEM Pallet Forks that replace the loader bucket.  With the saw mill operation my son runs and all of the woods on our property I figured Pallet Forks would be useful, and man are they. The pallet forks are mounted on the tractor about 90% of the time.

There has been ALLOT of hours of diagnosing problems, work, repairs, done to get the tractor to where it is now.

Oh, and those pallet forks are useful for all kinds of work:

I actually used those forks to dig that old cement step out of the ground, and we use it to move all kinds of things. The specifications say it can lift 800 pounds to the max height. And it certainly can, its just fun trying to keep the rear end on the ground..

I have been updating a thread on the CCI forum with all of the various ways we use this guy, I call it the Mighty loader