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Tom Loos
03-07-2007 08:01:23
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I have been looking for a 555 for about one year to help get my five acres situated. I just bought a 1980 555 for $7250 that was "supposed" to be in good working order, but needed a few odds and ends to be in really good shape. I went to look at it (6 hours away) and it started easily, ran really well, and the front bucket and hoe worked well. The swing was a bit loose but not bad for a 27 year old machine, otherwise pretty tight. I bought it and had it picked up for $500 ($7750 invested now). It was delivered yesterday. The driver pulled it off of the trailer and stopped in my driveway to put his ramps up and adjust the cones in the road. I got in and pushed the shuttle lever forward and nothing. Pulled the lever back, nothing. Now I'm getting worried. We ended up pulling it back to the barn with my other tractor, and I left it sit for a few hours while I researched. I checked the transmission fluid, clean and full. I started it again and it did move! I was excited to try it out so I drove over to a pile of stuff and lowered the front bucket to pick it up. As soon as the bucket hit the pile, the tractor stopped moving. The engine rpms were fine. I backed up and tried again, same thing. Then I went over to some gravel that I need to move and tried to scoop that up. Same thing. Now I'm getting really worried. I did some searching on the boards here at ytmag and saw that some guys had success blowing some screen and draining sludge from the trans, plus checking some detent springs, etc. I called the local Ford service guy and explained the situation and told him about the posts that I had read. He said that there was no screen, and that I probably needed a total front trans rebuild including a torque converter, clutch bands, and possibly other things. He said that they would put gauges on the unit to see where the pressure loss was and then be able to tell me better, but that it sounded bad. Like $3000 bad. He said that fluid was leaking somewhere and a 27 year old machine like this was just plain worn out. I am stuck. Sorry for the long post, but I need some advice. What a huge mistake.
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