Ford 5550 Basic Information

[Birken Vogt]

I have a friend who has bought a well-used 5550, however it seems to be in pretty decent shape from what I can tell. I am a truck mechanic but not much into tractors. I don't know what years these things are by looking at them but by the Ford part numbers the newest I could find was a D9 (1979) on the fan blades. This tractor has a torque convertor 6 speed transmission.

What I would like to know is what oil the two sticks in the floorboards go into. I am thinking the torque convertor and final drive oil? Also what types of oil those cases use. Also there is a mysterious pull knob down below the loader control on the floorboard that goes into the transmission (not the brake lock) and also another one on the left side that looks like a brake control but doesn't over center.

The swing valve is leaky and I wonder how hard and or expensive that is to do. It looks like taking the floorboards up beneath the backhoe controls should get right there but I haven't tried yet.

Any hints or things to watch out for with this tractor. Also who, if anybody, has parts for these any more. The engine is a 256 diesel from what I can tell.

Seems like a good tractor, the motor runs good and it pushes a lot of dirt easily....

Birken

[motrack]

for parts find your self a New Holland construction equipment dealer.

leaking swing valve.......there are o-rings between the valve segments and o-rings in the segments that seal the valve spools.
we just pull the valve and reseal it all, saves us from a comeback later.

does this hoe have hydraulics for a hammer on the boom? if so there are some other things to check out.

give me a machine serial # and I can tell you exact year.

let give me a day or 2 to double check my thinking as to the rest of you questions. Havent worked on one of these oldies for a while...............:)

[KYnovice]

We too recently bought a well worn 5550 TLB. Don't have manuals on it and not sure of the year but need help. It works out well but there's a steady leak around the rear axle. Our mechanic has never worked on a machine like this but is willing to tear into it. His question is whether the 5550 is supposed to have dry brakes or not. Any help with this problem or info in general about the 5550 would be appreciated.