This 1937 Case RE power unit was purchased from Ron Schaupp from Little
Sioux, IA in October 2002. The engine was not stuck, but did not
have any compression and the magneto was known to have a problem.
For the most part, the engine was complete, although something had
landed on top of the engine at one time, denting in the bottom of the
gas tank and wrecking the top of the air cleaner.. The engine was
setting on an old Chevy axle and attached to an old transmission for
some
unknown use.
From my research, the RE was used on the C combine. I haven't
found any mention in literature or books of Case building the RE for
separate sale, but who knows. I think most of the REs that did
exist were scrapped or used as parts for rebuilding a RC tractor.
I have seen pictures of some incomplete REs, but this is the only
complete, restored RE I know of.
What the engine looked like when I brought it home. A mouse poked
his head out of the clutch housing so I left it setting outside for a
while. I really didn't want him taking up residence in my shop.
The teardown begins. There were several valves stuck, but the
cylinders and pistons seemed to be in good shape. I removed all
the valves to clean them up, but didn't touch anything in the bottom
end.
The block is starting to look a little better. New gaskets from
Napa and Don Livingston were needed to put the parts back
together. Several mice had been calling the clutch housing home,
so the entire clutch assembly was rusted tight. It had to be
completely disassembled to get it to work again. Although the
clutch looks like a off-the-shelf Rockford clutch, many of the parts
were specially made for Case. A patch had to be welded over
a broken section of the exhaust manifold and a new hand crank
fabricated. I had to use parts from another carburetor in order
to make that work.
The gas tank had a lot of damage from something landing on it, crushing
the bottom and breaking loose the internal baffle. I decide
to cut the front out of the tank so I could reweld the the baffle and
straighten the bottom of the tank. Then I rewelded the front back
in place. A little body putty and the hood will cover the
work. Also the entire top of the air cleaner had to be cut off
and a new top made.
Finished product. The entire engine was wire brushed and primed
and painted with acrylic
enamel with with the proper RC gray. A new frame was fabricated
and
the engine was mounted on an imported 4'x3' utility
trailer. The engine was completed in time for the Case Expo at
Albert City, IA in August, 2004. The engine at this point was
very hard to start. I was never able to start it by hand
cranking. It always had to be belted to something to start
it. After messing with the magneto for about 6 months, I finally
gave it to John Ruth from Waverly to work his magic.
I got the mag back from John in June 2005 and 3 days before the Case
feature at Antique Acres in August I finally got the mag put back
on. After having the mag off for nearly a year it started on the
second quarter turn! Finally all problems were fixed. I
added a flat belt pulley made from a pulley from a SC. Since this
picture was taken I have also replaced the clutch lever with one made
from the SC. Here it is ready to head to the Antique Acres show
in Cedar Falls in August
2005. Hooking the engine up behind the S-10 and driving away is a
lot easier than chaining tractors onto big trailers!
