Great find! You got a lot of nice tractor w/ bagger system there for the money. No need to buy new, it already looks restored. Low hours too.

Man, I love the look of that rig. A big looking brute. It's gotta do some serious ground engagement, in the homeowner sense.

Here you go.
{{gwi:335247}}

Sure a nice looking rig you got their.

You have been born again. Now you understand machine quality. I'll never forget my first experience with a box store mower. I only had experience with older JD gardens. I was amazed at the light weight characteristics. I took the Deere GT engineering for granted, up until then!

Dave,

Good choice :). These are the only line of tractors that I would personally consider a step up from Wheel Horse! I have never tried one, but I know them well from folks like you who have shared about them

Buying used can be a very wise way to go if you buy a machine that is designed to last and to be serviced.

Enjoy it !

"Big looking brute"
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yeah it is rather substantial for lawn mowing ... But I didnt buy it solely for lawn mowing purposes...

I will say the guy had quiet a few of these things stashed away and if I had the choice I might have gotten the 22x model instead. Mostly because I felt I didnt really need to climb up onto a big @ss brute GT (just a brute GT would have sufficed) . For the first couple of days afterward - I felt a little bit like Arnold Schwarzenegger driving around on the Humvee of garden tractors.

I think that the 22x probably would have done me nicely. However the size of the machine wouldnt have changed, just the height - So I went forward with the purchase on the 444.

They sure are a rugged machine - this morning I was out there and started it up to move it. Letting it warm up a bit - I was amazed at that cast iron Kohler motor and how it idles so lowww - you can almost count the revolutions as it fires. (they dont make em like that anymore).

"GT engineering for granted"
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I do believe that as well... I dont think the engineers are designing tractors so much as they are designing something with a predetermined life time... Instead of selling quality product, parts and services - they sell junk that needs to be replaced every few years. Its almost as if these guys should be taken to a tractor junkyard and shown what heavy duty really looks like, as opposed to making Sears tractors with plastic bumpers (to add automotive styling).

Its a shame we (USA) cant build cars of this quality. Id be willing to pay a bit more for a truck that didnt have to have its tranny changed out 3 times over the course of a 119k miles. (and it didnt even get worked hard ).

Let us prey that the bankruptcy procedures remove the chaff from the wheat within GM and Chrysler.

Dave

I was actually looking at wheel horse's as well. But there were so many models over all those years - I was unable to clearly identify a model that would have fit my requirements.

I had looked an an older (70's vintage WH) - i really like that stamped metal hood, I could see that it was rugged and built for the long haul (just like the plastic crap in the box stores :) But it lacked the bagger (I doubt one ever existed for it).

One thing I notice with the Case/Ingersolls was that the overall design (and lineup) hasn't changed much. Incremental changes along the way (over the course of many years) but it was easier to study the line up (and compare them to my requirements). As opposed to seeing numerous WH models having different bells and whistles, which complicated things for me when trying to compare apples-to-apples.

I probably would have bought a WH - had I "stumbled" across the right one. I was also hesitant to look at any machine which had a hydrostatic in it. So if I saw the H word in the posting I would have dismissed it.

I was kinda thinking that a WH 312-8 was looking like the direction I might go. But comparing prices I was seeing that both the Ingersoll and the WH were in the same price ballpark.

It might not have been sound logic, but considering it came from an unsound mind - it made perfect sense at the time.

Dave

I am glad you are enjoying your new tractor, although I think trashing the Big Box tractors takes away from your posts as they are "apples to oranges." It is like saying car companies should only build one ton trucks with manual transmissions and diesel engines.

Alot of guys have those box store tractors and love them. Lets all hope all our tractors run for years and years and be happy we have them.

{{gwi:335248}}

Dave,

Certainly WH had a lot of different models over the years, and some of them are barely considered to be (for example the skiff was a design bought with REO equipment and some of the stuff made by Toro after purchasing the company).

On the other hand the Raider/Charger/Electro line started in the mid 60's had direct descendants at the end in 2006. Toro has done a respectable job supporting the stuff from before the bought it.

These are often referred to as the "C" series which was the 70's to early 80's. After that they got different names.

You are correct that bagging was relatively late feature.

In any case, while a C series might have met your needs, the D series is the comparable model in the WH line up, and those are harder to find.

Enjoy your Ingersol :)

Congrats you lucky "dog", nice ride. :^)

i love the ingersolls w have an 15 or so years old one with 10821 hours on it my granpa had bad knees so he drove that for the whole day thats why it has so manyy hours

njdpo!

With an axillary blower mounted to that thing why bother with the bagging attachment?

I would just enclose my (home made)mower trailer with it blowing the clippings into it and unload once a day rather than every 300 to 500 feet! (estimate depends on how tall your grass gets)
I have a double bagger and get almost one run around the outside of the back yard before I have to empty them!

I want to convert my Sears 20 gallon 5HP air compressor to electric and use the 5HP B&S engine into a trailer mounted deck vacuum!

Here's a good link to a post with everything required to make a trailer mounted leaf/grass collector.

Here is a link that might be useful: Home made leaf collector trailer

That one is not bad but I doubt my mower would throw the clipping that far.

I like this one better, but it is a whole lot more work.

http://z15.invisionfree.com/Lawn_Mower_Central/index.php?s=bf3d5014d5d804f37e3fd2f9bb34ba3b&showtopic=2361&st=0

This summer I'm going to try building something in between the two.