My $200 skid steer

[TraderMark]

About this time last year the Case dealer where my SIL worked closed.
They were selling off equipment, parts, attachments and supplies for ridiculously low prices.

Among the used/junk equipment they were selling sat this lonely old Case 1845 skid steer.
The decals claimed it was an 1845B but some research with the serial number revealed it to indeed be older, a straight 1845.

The old girl had been back in the corner of the dealer's lot for several years. The dealer assumed the engine was locked up since it couldn't be turned via the fan belt. (No one ever even tried to reach under the flywheel and turn it there . The right front drive hub/chain were completely shot In fact ALL of the chains were rusted and corroded to the point of being locked up. Steering linkages and valve controls had so much free play that they wouldn't actuate the valves completely in either direction. Exhaust manifold was broken. Muffler had so many holes in it it looked like it was made of screen wire instead of solid metal. All the sheet metal on the right side was missing and the left side was so banged up it was unusable.

They were going to sell it as scrap iron @ $9/cw. SIL let me know about this little jewel and between him and myself we talked the dealer into selling it to me for $200 cash in hand.

This is what I bought. Sorry for the pic quality, these were cell phone pics.

Mark

 

[TraderMark]

So I got her home and got started on the tear down.
Here's what I found:

1. Injection pump had to be rebuilt
2. Radiator core was too rotten to save, had to recore it
3. Bearings and seals in all four wheel hubs were shot. One axle had been gouged by bad bearing and had to be built up and re-turned.
4. Boom had a severe crack where it attaches to frame on right side, had to be gouged and rewelded
5. Front belly pan was missing
6. No bucket of any kind
7. Something wrong with the starter. There was a shim between the starter and fw housing on one bolt and starter sounded like it wass tearing the flywheel off when it engaged.
8. Wiring harness and gauges were almost non-existant

I had the inj pump rebuilt, got the radiator recored, replaced all the gauges and rewired everything.

Removed all the chains, gears and disassembled all the drive hubs to replace bearings and seals.

Took the starter to the local starter repair shop and through some extensive research, we found that the starter drive was incorrect for this engine. This engine used a 9 tooth gear. It had never been converted to the 10 tooth drive as per a service bulletin back in the 80's.

Once I got all that done, I found a few big things on the plus side:

1. Engine started right up and didn't smoke or use oil at much more than normal rates.
2. Hydraulics, including hydrostat pumps and motors were in GREAT shape. Only had a small leak around the control shaft on each hydrostat pump.

 

[TraderMark]

Feeling MUCH better about my little jewel, I started working on it diligently.

I removed the boom and anything else that I could remove from the frame.
I did a lot of sand blasting on the parts and assemblies I removed and I used a side grinder with a sanding disc to sand the frame down to the bare metal. I didn't remove the engine or the hydrostats though.

Here are a few pics of the work....

 

[TraderMark]

I have a friend in the scrap iron business and he called me one day to ask, "What kind of skid steer do you have?" I replied that it is a Case, 1845 and he asked, "Do you want another one?" I told him that I'd be right there to look.

The second one was too far gone to save it. The engine, boom and cab were all missing, but I was able to buy it at scrap price and I got the missing belly pan and the bucket I needed.

I also got a second complete set of hydraulics, including hydrostat pumps and motors.

All four of the drive hubs were in great shape and the drive chains and gears looked almost like new. Too bad I didn't find this a few weeks earlier, since I'd just rebuilt all my drive hubs! :confused2:


But, after several thousand dollars and 3-4 months of evenings and weekends, I came out with what I think is a real gem!!!

A few pics below.

Thanks for looking!

Mark

 

[bakerg]

Nice job, nice to be at the right place at the right time:thumbsup:

 

[Johndeere3720]

wow, it looks practically brand new! great job! :thumbsup:

 

[Bob Rooks]

Nice job! New decals and all :thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[20 20]

I bought a 1840 case last year with over 7000hrs, needs some TLC but runs real strong. I was told by many{case dealers included} it's not odd to see them still running strong even after 12000hrs I'm thinking about tearing it down and going through it, need to check into prices. What I like about mine are the hand controls, real easy to operate. From all the info I have gathered most claim these were the best machines out there during their time.

 

[Duffster]

Good Deal. :thumbsup:

 

[TraderMark]

Thanks guys!

My cousin owns a sign shop and did all the decals for me. I couldn't find the right style decals in the proper color anywhere online.

It's good to have family sometimes :

 

[Milton Burro]

Nice rebuild. Wish I had your talent.

 

[jinman]

Talk about magic. . . Abracadabra and Shazam!:thumbsup:

 

[tony Cecil]

Really nice job...Thanks Tony

 

[magicheater]

WOW! Great resolve to a fruitful end.:thumbsup:

 

[scoutcub]

Nice refurb!!
I always wanted a SS......

 

[kf4uda]

Great job!...I just hate seeing a salvageable piece of equipment going to scrap. You should get a lot of service out of that machine.

 

[BimmerPower]

Thanks guys!

My cousin owns a sign shop and did all the decals for me. I couldn't find the right style decals in the proper color anywhere online.

It's good to have family sometimes :

Nice! What kind of paint did you use? What kind of prep? I have a case tractor and want it to come out just like yours!

 

[TraderMark]

Getting the right color paint was .... interesting. .

Case no longer sells the "Power Yellow" paint for these old machines.
I did find some spray cans of "Power Yellow" at Agri supply, so I primed and painted a small piece of flat steel and took it to my local Ace Hardware. They used their computerized color matching and custom mixed the paint in an oil based, farm implement paint for me.

I tried to buy the paint from NAPA since they can do the color matching too, but NAPA wanted $125/gallon for the paint so I went with the ACE brand for less than $40/gallon.

Just make sure that the paint you get can be used with a hardener. Without the hardener, the paint is just too easy to skin up.

Mark

 

[TraderMark]

For the prep .... I sandblasted everything I could. Which was really everything except the frame. After the sandblasting I used a Scotch-Brite medium pad on my 4-1/2 angle grinder to smooth the surface, then primed and painted.

The frame itself was sanded with flap discs on the same 4-1/2 grinder, then also primed and painted.

Mark

 

[Travelover]

Great job. Maybe you can part out the good parts from the second machine to get back some of your investment.