New Holland 555E Hydraulic System

[Swetz]

This tool box is such a stupid design! How could it not get water in with the hinge and lid and no seal. Good thing they put the holes or it would be a mini swimming pool in there! cosmaar1, yours look in good condition, my holes are all rusted, I guess from water pouring out, or just crappy powder paint that de-laminates from the steel, or a little of each. NH575E, I really like your idea of bed liner. when I have some spare time, I think I will clean my toolbox and put the bed liner in.

 

[NH575E]

I don't think mine leaks. First time I opened it was FULL of water because the drains were clogged.

 

[cosmaar1]

I don't think mine leaks. First time I opened it was FULL of water because the drains were clogged.

I didn’t take a super good look when I was out today, but guys I really think they are holes for the reservoir. I do have a tube of grease in the tool box for quick use and maybe it’s leaking, but when I used the hoe today and let it sit for a few minutes while I took a break, I had quite a few drips of oil on the ground. It cannot be water as my toolbox does not have any water in it and it hasn’t rained here in about 2 weeks.

Next time I am out, I will look in more detail but I thought I would share.

 

[Swetz]

I wouldnt doubt that the tube of grease is what is dripping. Not only is it hot, but the oil in the tank is hot. Prolly like an oven in the toolbox. The tank is made from peaty thick steel. There would have to be a deep rust to get thru. Mine only has surface rust in it. I am definitely going to bed liner mine in the future tho...I will just have to be careful not to seal off the holes in the sides.

 

[cosmaar1]

I wouldnt doubt that the tube of grease is what is dripping. Not only is it hot, but the oil in the tank is hot. Prolly like an oven in the toolbox. The tank is made from peaty thick steel. There would have to be a deep rust to get thru. Mine only has surface rust in it. I am definitely going to bed liner mine in the future tho...I will just have to be careful not to seal off the holes in the sides.

Swetz and everyone.... I will admit my assumption was wrong. I was able to find out that those holes indeed are drain holes for the toolbox. Back to the drawing board!

As a side note, I noticed one of my boom swing cylinders was starting to leak a little bit. Looks like I'm going to have fun here soon! Yippee.... NOT!

 

[aighead]

Boo to leaks! I've apparently got some dirt occasionally getting into the seal on one of the stabilizers that likes to spray a little upon retraction. Via a video someone posted somewhere it doesn't look like as difficult a job as I was thinking to re-seal but still more work than I'd like to do...

 

[Willie B]

My son & I tried to do a boom cylinder once. I built a spanner with 5' handle. Couldn't budge the gland. Slipped a 10' piece of pipe over the handle. 400 pluss pounds of human hanging from the 10' long spanner, it wouldn't budge. I had to heat it with a weed burner. Probably 250 degrees F. it started to move. It was a long fine thread, coated in red Locktite.

Next day we were ready to remove the piston from the rod. A friend has a 1" impact wrench. We clattered away on it half hour, it wouldn't budge. I didn't have a spud wrench, so we went off to a hydraulic shop I had used happily before in upstate NY. They broke a few Chinese sockets before explaining the former owner took most of the tooling with him.

The Case dealer in New Hampshire was willing to repair while I waited. We raced across Vermont to get there before they closed for the day. 6:00 PM we were heading home with a rebuilt cylinder.

I later met a guy in a one man shop. He had a home built rig. A table for the cylinder he could anchor the tube end, there were stops to keep the gland end in place. A hydraulic cylinder hung from a track with a hollow cup on the rod end. He had homemade spud wrenches, and spanners. He'd place the cup on the end of the wrench handle, and push with the hanging hydraulic cylinder. If some fool hadn't slobbered the gland with a whole bottle of red Locktite they spin off easily once started.
This guy made it look easy. He even had a 25' tall puller for trash compactor cylinders.

 

[aighead]

Well, jimoney Christmas, that sounds like quite the ordeal @Willie B . Maybe removing it and letting someone else do it is a better move...

 

[Swetz]

Aighead, I would give it a whirl! Try breaking it loose prior to removing anything...you are just trying to crack it loose. If you cannot break it, then I would go to plan b and remove the cylinder and bring it to a hydraulic shop. If you can break it loose, the gland bolt is the other obstacle. I would put the rod pin back in and crank away. If that is a no go, then just take the rod assy to the shop for repair.

 

[Willie B]

Here at least, there are fewer shops than broken cylinders to fix. There was until recently one hydraulic shop. They are a big trash hauler. They have a shop for their own needs, and they take on other builds, but they are always months out. Twin brothers worked there. One of the brothers went on his own. I hoped he'd take a while to build a group of customers.
I had an angle cylinder for a crawler tractor needed a new tube.
After it laid on the ground outside his shop a couple weeks, I called him several times over the next month. He finally admitted he didn't know if he would find time for it. A huge company had him committed to four days a week, wanted him to commit to more.
I find a similar situation at other shops. Big customers feed them most of their business. They take priority. A customer needing an occasional cylinder will wait.

 

[cosmaar1]

Well folks, I finally figured out how water got into my hydraulic system and why I kept having hydraulic oil coming out of the tool box drains.

The top of the tank is rusted out!

I tried uploading a video but it won’t let me paste it directly here so I snapped a photo and when the machine is running and building a little pressure, you clearly see bubbles coming from the top of the tank. This picture was taken by lifting the toolbox lid up.

Being that this backhoe is about 25 minutes away from my house, looks like I’m sealing the lid and drains shut with some high temp silicone!

At least I finally have an answer!!!!

 

[csthompson12]

Cosmaar, very interesting.. I have been trying to figure out why I have milky hydraulic oil as well... my 555e was used for pushing some snow, so there is a fair amount of rust. I’ll have to check this area for pinholes. Thanks!

 

[cosmaar1]

Cosmaar, very interesting.. I have been trying to figure out why I have milky hydraulic oil as well... my 555e was used for pushing some snow, so there is a fair amount of rust. I’ll have to check this area for pinholes. Thanks!

A friend of our family works at a local landfill and they had a new holland backhoe with the same issue. He finally was able to pressure test the tank a few years ago and found out the back of his tank had a hole in it. It wasn’t in the same spot I just found mine.

Now the pain of getting all the water out begins.

 

[NH575E]

I think I caught mine in time. It was full of leaves and dirt so I cleaned it out, coated with rubberized undercoating, and repainted it. Now that I can park it out of the weather it should last a while.

 

[aighead]

Hmm... @cosmaar1 that picture is from the inside of the tool box? Mine is always damp or wet in there. I bet I have the same issue... Do I understand properly that you are just going to seal up the entire top of your tank? Hmm, again. I can't imagine a new tank isn't like a billion dollars.

 

[Swetz]

No aighead, only $3300 not a billion

 

[aighead]

Shew! 3300 bucks is a lot!

 

[Willie B]

No aighead, only $3300 not a billion

A tank is a small vessel. Only a small portion is bad. If the dealer can't sell you a replacement at an acceptable cost, fix it, or make new.
Few of the machines I have ever owned are pristine. Most have been revived from death. It isn't unusual for a machine to sit in one place years. A bottom of tank corrosion hole is expected.

Use all precautions to clean combustible hydrocarbons from the tank, set fire to it. Fix it.

Most tanks have one corrosion hole, several more are months shy of leaking. Figure out where your corrosion is. Cut it away.

Now that you have a hole in your tank, clean it!!!!

Without exception, holes are in a corner. I look about for something shaped like the missing piece. Propane tanks are sometimes donors.

Cut, or pound a replacement piece. Grind away anything in the way. Weld it back in. I always Tig. my sons reject TIG, it isn't fast.

A $3300. project becomes Saturday morning......maybe 3:00PM.

 

[NH575E]

Well folks, I finally figured out how water got into my hydraulic system and why I kept having hydraulic oil coming out of the tool box drains.

The top of the tank is rusted out!

I tried uploading a video but it won’t let me paste it directly here so I snapped a photo and when the machine is running and building a little pressure, you clearly see bubbles coming from the top of the tank. This picture was taken by lifting the toolbox lid up.

Being that this backhoe is about 25 minutes away from my house, looks like I’m sealing the lid and drains shut with some high temp silicone!

At least I finally have an answer!!!!

Since it's in the top of the tank I would clean it good and seal the floor of the tool box with something. I scraped mine and wire brushed then cleaned it out good with brake cleaner to get it clean and dry. I used rubberized undercoat in mine but it wasn't leaking. If I were you I would epoxy coat or fiberglass the inside. Paint it back with yellow so you can keep an eye on it.

 

[Swetz]

JB Weld may be your friend here...gotta get rid of all oil residue tho. I was never a fan of this kind of stuff, but used on my truck oil pan and it is holding for a year now.