1992 Ingersoll 3118 Garden Tractor

[OldCarGuy]

This was my uncle's tractor that was left to me by my Aunt. And his pride and joy. He cut several acres of grass and plowed a garden that covered another acre. In the winter he'd use the 48” snowblower for his and neighborhood driveways. It had 15 years of heavy use and didn't run when I picked it up and needed a ton of work to get it back on line.

The original invoice price was $9,200.00, that's $20,600.00 today. This wasn't your average tractor and weighs 700 pounds. Compared to today's John Deere 48” weighting 250 pounds less with a price tag of $2,800.00. What do you get for the extra six Grand other than 250 extra pounds? First off the Ingersoll is a garden tractor and not simply a riding lawn tractor. It has an Onan twin cylinder air cooled engine that drives a hydraulic pump. Everything is powered by hydraulic oil, The 48” 3-blade deck, lowering deck movement, the power3-point hitch, power steering, along with attachments 48” snow blower, chipper, log splitter, tiller, and hydravac.

Jack Ingersoll purchased the Case Garden Tractor business in 1983 and re-badged the name Ingersoll Equipment Company. No connection toIngersoll Rand. Then design the series to Ingersoll. Because of the high cost of the All-Hydraulic 3118, it was only made in 1992 and 1993. In the late 1990s, Jack Ingersoll sold his company to Rothenberger whose poor management gave to the demise and by end of 2004 it finished off Ingersoll..
After rebuild

Power 3-point Hitch

Power Steering Cylinder

rebuilt 48" Snow Blower

It's like cutting the lawn with a Cadillac. Just takes a little over idle speed to mow.. No need for ear plugs!

 

[sdelivery]

Nice tractor and a beautiful job at restoring it.

 

[IHinIN]

Nice! Great job on the resto

 

[Nutfarmer]

That’s the first 3 point hitch I have seen on a riding mower

 

[matthewsx]

I don’t miss cutting grass or moving snow, but this brings back good memories from my power equipment shop days.

Real hydrostatic garden tractors are in a class by themselves.

John

 

[markba633csi]

That is a thing of beauty my friend- you really fixed it up nice

 

[projectnut]

Nice machine. I have a little older 1982 Case 224 that gets used at the family cottage. It isn't nearly as nice cosmetically as your 3118, but it does get the job done. The 224 bare tractor weighs in at 720 lbs. I had to add 100 lbs. to the rear tires and another 200 lbs. of suitcase weights on the front to maintain traction when climbing the steep soft hill from the lake to the road.

I bought this machine about 15 years ago after trying a navigate the terrain with a couple other tractors. The first was a Bolens Ride A Matic. The second was a JD445. Neither of them could keep the wheel speed down low enough to prevent loss of traction.

I love the Hy Drive transmission. It's essentially just a hydraulic pump and motor combination with an extremely sensitive control valve. I use the machine to haul wood, pier parts, mulch, rocks, and other building material to and from the lake. Down is easy. I let gravity do most of the work. Coming back up with a 500 lb. load in the trailer is a bit trickier. I have to set the throttle at between 40% and 50% to keep the engine from bogging down. Then I barely move the shift lever to the forward position. The wheels will be turning less than 1 rpm, but still pulling the tractor and load up the steep hill.

If the wheels are turning any faster, they will break traction. Once that happens there's no starting over. The wheels will just spin and dig in until the tractor is sitting on the axle. Then the load has to be removed from the trailer and the trailer detached from the tractor. If all goes well the tractor will pull itself out. If it's rained recently it will have to be jacked up and fill put under the wheels to regain traction.

Here's a few pictures of the Case and JD. The Case had just arrived at the cottage I was using weights from the JD for test purposes. The JD is sitting on the trailer before the recent upgrades of new fenders, axles, and hoist. It's interesting that the pictures of the JD are identified on my computer as being taken in 1997. The truck pulling the trailer was purchased in 1999, the tractor was purchased in 2009, and the trailer was purchased in 2007.


On Edit: I forgot to add that the original turf saver tires had to be changed out for ag ribbed tires. Somewhere along the way either the hydraulic pump or motor have been changed out. The original top speed was supposed to be 8 mph. It can actually go 13 mph which is all but uncontrollable except on smooth pavement.

 

[RandyM]

 

[OldCarGuy]

These small old tractors are amazing and so rugged. The Ingersoll decks are not stamped from thin sheet metal. Rather fabricated from heavy gauge sheet metal. The weight adds to its' being quiet..

I have a 24 year old grandson that inherited my defective gene to own tools and equipment. He worked beside me for the past 12 years. He's a college graduate and purchased a new home two years ago with 1 1/2 acres and a small barn. Last winter he pulled into my driveway with this 1968 Allis Chalmers B-110 tractor loaded in his small trailer. Together we got the old gal up and running and made a rear 3-point hitch setup & rake to level the stones in his driveway.

 

[projectnut]

Like you I love the old machines. If they aren’t abused and properly maintained they seem to last forever. I still see the 1955 Bolens Ride A Matic occasional at tractor and antique shows. The last time it was part of a plowing contest. Sort of like a tractor pull for distance and time.

As kids we did a lot of farm work with the JD A and B models. We also had a lot of IH H, M, and Super M tractors in the neighborhood. The newest one I got to drive as a kid was an IH 1066