What a jewel?

Wow you're making some headway, glad to see you decided to try and make it run. I like the old stuff.

Received an email back from the original owner whom traded this machine in. Those rear cylinders haven't been on the tractor in about five years and sitting outside on a cart under a tarp. No wonder they are so crusty. Hydraulic shop told him they were too bad to work with so went no further. Again, "Bullshit" has been called and another path taken.

He busted the Schrader fitting off on the LF wheel when using his skid steer to straighten out the wheels aligning it so I could winch it onto the trailer. Also informed me he purchased a new tire for the tractor to replace the one with a rubber chunk out of it, but didn't send it thinking the tractor would be junked. I'm welcome to it so will get by there on a retrieval mission.

Pulled out one of my welders last evening with torch tanks mounted so will get those fitting both separated and built up later this afternoon. Looks to be a clear day today so hopefully I can get to actually moving the tractor from it's current dormancy position. I have a full day hauling a couple of farm tractors and garden equipment so don't actually know how much time I'll have to work with this but do want to get that hose mounted up and prove the driveline.

Thanks for the encouragement and I too like the old stuff; actually prefer it over new if possible.

Finally got the ends separated and it was not easy at all. Warming the ends red finally softened the pipe dope these were assembled with and they came apart. The first one I worked with came apart with heat only. The second one shown in photos there was no way to get the fitting apart while in the tractor. While looking at the connector I thought it looked like a field repairable type and it was. I then disassembled this end:





After clamping the fitting end into a bench vise, it came apart fairly easy. I then installed the male quick connect ends onto the new built up hose. More on this later as about all I got done being busy elsewhere. Tomorrow doesn't look too good to continue at this point.

Received an email in the overnight hours and it appears this machine is local to me it's entire life. No real history other than it was the only one of it's type in the area. New in 1972 and rotated through in 1978.

The next 20 years are probably lost to history as the guy I basically got it from purchased it in 1998 from a long defunct machinery dealer in the area.

One of the hoses is emblazoned "Caterpillar" so either the local Cat dealer has worked on it, or somebody brought hydraulic parts home from work with them. This area has many Caterpillar facilities so anything is possible.

Yesterday I did discover the hoses when disconnected from their attachment points are quite long and curled, or rolled up a bit behind the backhoe valve body. It appears with the hydraulics connected, one would run the boom and bucket down touching the ground, remove the upper pins retaining the backhoe assembly, deploy the outriggers slightly lifting the backhoe assembly from the "sockets" the lower pins set into, drive forward a few inches, and then disconnect the hoses. The backhoe forms it's own stand this way. With new and flexible hose this wouldn't be too difficult but given these are very stiff, it's not that easy. It also appears as the tractor is moved forward of the backhoe attachment, the rear is open meaning access to the quick disconnects is quite easy. I don't know why the supply line fitting has had the plumbing fittings installed angling the fitting, but I surmise the original orientation was rearward facing as the return connection is? More on this as I figure it out along the way. Surely wish I had some type of manual, or experience with such things but it is what it is I suppose.....

Got to pick up a small dealer transfer farm tractor down south of St. Louis this morning so will continue the updates later when they happen.

Thanks,

Didn't get back from that run till almost dark so did nothing viable the balance of the evening. Seven hours in the saddle with a single stop for 15 minutes to load and strap, then another five minutes to fuel and pizs, makes for a long day and lower back cramps for an old man like me.

Hope to get back at it later today but not hauling local yesterday makes for a backed up Tuesday; ahh, the fun of retirement..... Forecast calls for rain today so kinda "iffy" at this point whether I'll touch the tractor or not.

Thanks,

Nothing really exciting with the backhoe repairs but I did see some excitement yesterday on my travels:

Don't get to see a car flipped upside down on the interstate everyday:



And then this morning while delivering two smaller farm tractors, I hit an unmarked washout of the pavement on a state highway and the trailer hitch apparently is defective as the trailer separated from the gooseneck ball at about 65mph. I was able to bring the truck to a safe stop, lowered the landing gear, and reconnected. As you can see in the latch assembly, it is bent and although the locking pin falls into place, it must not be engaging fully. Looking close you can see one safety chain has let go also from it's anchor point. The safety clasp on this hook is destroyed so it did it's job though sacrificing itself in the process.

Regardless, another hitch and safety clasp are on order to replace these. Not my first rodeo but a bit of luck and good fortune on my side for sure.

The tractor you see is about 7200#, and the one on the rear is just a bit lighter in weight:




It was raining like a cow piszing on a flat rock at the time and the road spray precluded immediately seeing this in the mirrors. Upon slowing and seeing the trailer was not centered behind the truck I "tapped" the brakes to slam the neck riser into the tailboard. I then slowed and pulled to the side while remaining on the pavement. Uneventful after this.

All in all, nobody got hurt nor any customer equipment damage and we lived to tell the story.

It's all good.

Didn't do anything with the tractor today as it's rained heavy all day. I did ensure my plastic zip lock bags were still on the open hydraulic connections to disallow water to enter just before the rains moved in.

Got a few deliveries tomorrow I couldn't get today citing weather and hopefully they'll conclude early enough I can get the hose bypass finished up.

little bit of spooky stuff there rob glad no damage done

petepilot said:

little bit of spooky stuff there rob glad no damage done

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Thanks, never a dull moment it seems. I look at those safety chains, hitch, lights, tires, along with general overall condition and chain equipment heavy every trip. You never can predict what you will endure during a seemingly simple endeavor.

I called the road washout into the county office whom called the state. I didn't go back that way so no idea how the roadway was addressed. Nothing mentioned on the news, so hopefully was addressed quickly.

Me & the missus were driving on I91 50 miles from home on a sunny summer Sunday in her Grand Cherokee. Suddenly, a dead tree fell across my lane, the top branches shattered all over the left lane. I swerved, but there was a Ford Escape in the left lane. He must have swerved also. I ran over part of the trunk, he ran over numerous broken pieces of 4" wood. No wreck!
A tractor trailer was following me.

I, and the guy in the Escape stopped to check on each other. Looking back, the truck was stopped where the tree trunk would be 4' above the pavement. There was a group of people forming. I didn't back up to investigate.

I called State Police, dispatcher acted like I was imagining it all. She clearly thought I was some kind of nut. Said there had been no report.

I was surprized a dead tree could be that close to an interstate highway. I wish I had got a better look. Was it a 100' tall monster & only the top reached the lane? I don't know.

Great Project! Please keep the photos and updates coming.
Glad that you came out unscathed from your trailer incident.

Figured I'd get back onto this project since it's been a few months doing nothing. I made a jumper hose to bypass the backhoe valve block and this seems to work pretty well as it's not puking oil any longer. 30 degrees outside and with just a "sniff" of ether, she fired right off and immediately settled to a nice and smooth idle. Had a multimeter with me this time and the alternator does not appear to be charging. Didn't bring any hydraulic oil with me so could not stroke the bucket full height before starving out.

Supposed to be much colder the next few days so today was the day to do anything if going to. Glad I did get a look at it. Now going to return and with a five gallon pail of hydraulic oil and impact wrench to bring the left front time back to the shop for valve stem replacement. The original is broken off.

Backhoe is chained up and if I get the tire repaired I should be able to drive it back to the shop. Rear swing cylinders are at the hydraulic shop getting rebuilt at this time.







Hopefully get it back to the shop fairly quickly and remove the backhoe portion to install all new hoses.

That is cool, older TLB. Very nice work. Always great to see older machines brought back to life. They are real work horses. The extra heavy steel they have gives them durability and weight, combined with low gear power, makes them great machines.

Thanks. This one is a challenge with it being so cold outside now. I went by this afternoon and the bucket is still up in the air so must have some fair seals still. It had no problem picking the front of the tractor up from the ground but I quit when the hydraulics starved where the photos show. Thursday is supposed to be above freezing and I have two five gallon pails of hydraulic fluid in my truck be so hopefully something further can be accomplished. I also found a set of bolt in valve stem assemblies to replace the broken one on the left front.

I swear this thing has the best starting "53" series I've ever been around. Most have been thoroughly thrashed but this one seems to have had very good care. It's not even greasy.

Do you have the front cowl/hood for it?

Yes, it is in the front bucket but bent up. There never were any side panels on these and the engine is open.

Drove by today and the bucket has dropped to about centered in the grille. So between Monday afternoon, and Saturday late afternoon a drop of about 3.5 feet. Not too awful bad for such an old machine.

1693TA said:

Drove by today and the bucket has dropped to about centered in the grille. So between Monday afternoon, and Saturday late afternoon a drop of about 3.5 feet. Not too awful bad for such an old machine.

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Better than my old Deere 310A. Cylinders were rebuilt before I bought it, so now I think the valve is seeping. Plenty strong though, has no issues breaking out a pile and hoisting a full bucket.

If I leave it raised overhead, it'll be on the ground in a day.

My loader leaking down wasn't a problem until it I had to continually hit the hoist lever to keep a loaded bucket elevated when traveling
After resealing both hoist cylinders it still leaked down.
I replaced the spool in the loader valve and it ended the problem.

Tinkerer said:

My loader leaking down wasn't a problem until it I had to continually hit the hoist lever to keep a loaded bucket elevated when traveling
After resealing both hoist cylinders it still leaked down.
I replaced the spool in the loader valve and it ended the problem.

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Mine doesn't leak down during operations, at least not noticeably. The boom on the hoe does, though. Quite a bit. I can't drive 600 ft without having to pick it up a couple inches. The boom cylinder was replaced right before I bought the machine, so I know that one is in the spool. It'll live like that for awhile though, as there are 6 valves connected together and a dozen hoses to remove to be able to do any work to it. Low priority.