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Who's still running a jd 500c or any 500.
- Thread starter JDfan500C
- Start date
JDfan500C
Well-Known Member
Sorry for late response. As far as to look at its the same as any other machine. To me there are no none problems with these machines. They are light in the front end tho when using it on hills.
JDfan500C
Well-Known Member
Any more input?
JDfan500C
Well-Known Member
Let's try and bring some life back to this.
HarryMonkey
New Member
I do have a John Deere 500CD. It's my favorite toy. It's old and tired, like me, and I baby it. It has given me some problems over the 13 or so years I've owned it, but luckily, nothing serious. Right now I'm down because the park pawl arm has disintegrated so I was stuck w/o a park position out on our road with a bucket full of asphalt but I got it home and discovered the faulty part. Unfortunately, some pieces of it have left the tractor so I only have a picture of it from the manual and am looking to buy one if I can find one anywhere, otherwise I may have do a work-around, maybe make a lever that replaces the cable operation and goes directly into the shaft that engages the pawl. I solved a little of the tail-heavy aspect of this guy (I live in the foothills) by filling the front tires with water & antifreeze. Not a perfect fix, but a definite improvement. I still back up the steeper hills. 
old-iron-habit
Senior Member
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2012
- Messages
- 4,233
- Location
- Moose Lake, MN
- Occupation
- Retired Cons't. Supt./Hospitals
It seems to me that I remember these having a front cast counterweight wrapping under the front axle. Might not be to major of a project to hang some weight their.
HarryMonkey
New Member
Hi Old-Iron, You're correct, and there is a big hunk of factory-looking (cast?) iron strapped to the front of my tractor. I imagine I could put some more up there, but water in the wheels added several hundred pounds by my calc's and I think that's OK for now. It used to rear up like a stallion on even small hills so I would only go uphill in reverse, which I learned to deal with, but the water trick helped a lot. Plus my piece of dirt is quite hilly so on side-hills, having more weight down low feels better. Another trick old-timers know is to load the front bucket with dirt or rocks. It was and is my first backhoe, so imagine how I felt when it reared up and started bouncing down the hill towards the house I was building.... I dropped the front bucket real quick and was safe, but it's a caution to any newbies out there to be careful on hills. I bought it for less than the quotes were to dig my basement and still own it years later, one of my few good investments.
El Hombre
Senior Member
I think my Ford 5550 is about the same class as the JD. I looked at one in '88 at the Napa Deere dealer. Too expensive and when I checked JD parts pricing versus Ford, that's what sealed the 5550.
This is my first and only hoe, 28 years I've had it. I did all the same mods with the water in the front tires, scoop up some dirt before driving up my driveway. They are definitely tail heavy, especially if it has a Dig More, 24" bucket, and a mechanical thumb hanging off the back.
If you don't have to trailer it around, this size hoe is great; stuff a 555 can't do is easy with this one. I'm on a lava flow, need the weight to keep the hoe from sliding around when I'm breaking that up. Then I can lift huge lava rocks with the thumb and stack them out of the way. Can't do that with the little ones....