Case444-Big Garden tractor - opinions please

Hi Jolatu and welcome, I think that this tractor would be alright to cut your lawn and harrow your riding arena with 1 harrow. As for putting up hay, it won't be big enough, and I forget what kind of PTO they have. For moving manure around, like Food Plotter has suggested, I think you have a long search finding a loader for it. At that age for a GT, you may also have a hard time finding parts for it. I would look for a compact utility for what you are describing. There should be plenty of dealers in that part of the world to go looking. Just tell the dealer what you plan to do and they should be able to help you. You don't get enough snow to worry about there do you?
Cheers, Your neighbour to the East,
Jake

Jolatu said:

Very new to tractors, but we've just purchased 5 acres with a four horse barn in Surrey, BC, Canada. We plan to have horses and 2.5 acres in grass/hay. Would this tractor do the job for us around the new "ranch"? We need to cut grass (there's about ).75 acres to cut, harrow the riding ring, move some manure around a bit I guess, deal with hay, maybe occasionally plow some snow. Any other suggestions?

:thanku:

Case444-Big Garden tractor, 14 H.P. Kohler engine, lightly used, in excellent condition, everything works like it should, a real classic, with hydraulics, hi-lo range, 49" 3 blade mowerdeck, 43" hydraulic rototiller hardly used, 30" rear tires, 14" front, new belt, 300ca battery, rebuilt starter generator, carberator, fuelpump, even have new seat, it is capable to use frontend loader and snowblade or blower but doesnt come with, year-79 or early 80's

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Congratulations on your new home. Let me start by saying that 2.5 acres of pasture is not enough if you intend to fill that four horse barn. Bank on buying hay all year round because you will have severly limit the amount of time four horses can be in that pasture, especially when the ground is soft.

A Case 444 is a very capable garden tractor and will handle mowing 3/4 of an acre with ease. It will have no problem pulling a set of drag harrows for ring grooming or a small manure spreader for managing what you clean from the stalls. With the 54" utility blade, you can push snow or with a 48" SnoCaster, you can blow snow. I don't know what you mean by "deal with hay" so I can't comment on that application until you explain in more detail.

As for the "creative" language used in the ad copy, I don't buy into the phrase "lightly used" and neither should you. No one spends that kind of money to buy a Case just to have it sitting around looking pretty. I wish that you had posted photos of this machine and disclosed the asking price as well. The language used by the Seller tells me that they have little knowledge about what they own. First off, the mower deck is 48", not 49", the tiller is 41", not 43", the rear tires are 16" not 30" and the fronts are 8", not 14".

And since this tractor has a start/gen unit on it, it isn't as new as they say it is. Get the serial number and we'll tell you the correct year it was made. As for it being capable of accepting a front end loader, well that's a topic that gets debated heavily on these forums. In truth, Case NEVER designed this tractor for FEL usage. Can you put a loader on it? Sure you can but it does not make for a great FEL.

Contrary to one of the other posters, parts are not a problem for this tractor.

CGtoo covers the program pretty well.
I would add that a FEL on this tractor could handle the job of cleaning the horse barn and loading the manure spreader. If you wish fill the bucket with sand, you had better beef up the front spindles at a minimum. Case built the 600 series for that job.

The 400 series will handle a fel as well as any other GT. with loads less than 300 lbs, and will do the rest of your needs well!

Well shes a lot older then the add lets on.. The other guys can probably pin it down better, but Im guessing mid 70's. Looks in good shape though. Farly clean, has the rear hydrolic PTO, tiller, and deck... The price.... Well I will let the guys north of the border give there thoughts. A little steep in US coin IMHO

This tractor is a 1973 by all appearances. Someone has spray painted the tin to make it look nice. Here in Ontario, we refer to this as an "Italian tuneup". LOL The tractor certainly has some issues such as a bent tie rod. Most certainly the pluses are the sleeve hitch and PTO but the PRICE..... outa sight. I know that these tractors bring more money west of the Manitoba border but 2800 for a 1973 machine is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much by at least a grand, even for a western tractor.

I don't know how close the US border you are but you'd be far better off finding something on e-Bay that's much newer and then making some arrangements to get'r home. It's not that hard to do. I've bought three so far and am working on a fourth. Tom Hanson is an Ingy dealer in Wisconsin and for $2500.00 US, he'd sell you a mid to late 90's 4020 Ingersoll with power steering. If you want to put a loader on something, then buy a 4020PS because you'll be a lot happier.

When someone misrepresents details on a tractor, their either dishonest or an idiot who knows nothing about what they're selling, including what the true fair market value of it actually is. If I were you, I'd give this one a pass.