I'm working on a 955L (approx 1975 model) that has sat for about 20 years. I've gone through the fluids (engine, trans, steering clutches, final drive and hydraulic tank). The engine starts and runs beautiful, turbo sounds good etc. Trans acts like it's in nuetral, I've checked the fluid at idle, shows full. Removed both covers under the pedals. Moving the shift lever into reverse 1,2,3 is smooth and easy, and rotates the shaft on the side of the trans with 3 noticeable notches. Moving the shift lever into forward, the cross over linkage binds, but I'm able to rotate the shaft on top of the trans, directly below the brake pedal, it will rotate about 20° to 30°, but is stiff. There's no change in engine RPM when shifting the trans or moving the hydraulic loader/bucket controls. Not even a hint of effect on the hydraulic cylinders when moving the controls. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I'm getting this machine ready for sale and would like to have it at least move and operate. Thank you.
I should also mention, the hydraulic tank took about 22 gallons to fill, the trans was full, the steering clutches took about 1.5 gallons. The loader piston seals look like they had been leaking when the machine was parked and a I'm guessing over 20 years, most of the hydraulic fluid seeped out of the seals. There are no significant leaks on the machine. I've run the engine on/off for approximately 1 hour total and there are no noticeable other leaks.
This morning I disassembled the linkage for the shaft at the top of the transmission. Without the linkage attached, I'm able to easily rotate the shaft with a solid stop in each direction. Should this shaft only have two positions with about 15-20° movement? I'm assuming this is forward/reverse only, with the shaft at the side of the trans being N-1-2-3. With the machine running, I'm still not getting any drivetrain movement or any load on the engine, regardless of position of the foward/reverse shaft or the speed control shaft. Any troubleshooting advice or direction on what to look at next would be greatly appreciated.
silly question, but i the couple behind the engine intact? Is it driving the shaft into the gearbox?
@Island thank you very much, that's exactly the issue! It appears there are only two pucks left and the coupler is completely disconnected from the trans. After your comment, I did some research on replacing the pucks, and see it requires an engine/trans alignment. It also appears the bolts are missing for the missing pucks. Can anyone provide a link on the coupler replacement procedure? I found the alignment procedure, but nothing yet on coupler removal and install.
look up 955 puck install there should be a few write up's on the puck install, if not i'll write one up again
Found a couple of your posts regarding alignment, but not seeing anything on the puck removal and install. Not looking forward to removing the belly pan, as the machine is currently parked on gravel. Does this require removing the complete plan or is there a service panel?
You need to pull the whole pan off just replace the pucks leave all bolts loose untill you get them lined up. If you can not line them up then yo need to figure out if the back of the engine needs to come up or the front un bolt front and rear mounts and add shims as needed normally you don't have to worry about alignment
if i remember , you will need a 7/8 box end off set works best.get the front part off first, 8 bolts then do the rear 8, get all pucks out of the way, the flange will then slide forward and clear input shaft, it will be a bit sloppy its like that, i would advise you to do" run out" and face of flywheel, if you do not check and just pop in the pucks you will prolly be back in there pretty soon, those pucks look very old, that could have been the cause just age , do you feel like taking chance , i did and it did not last too long like maybe 150 hrs. also get a new seal its worth the 10 bucks or so, if the flange is bad there is a speedy sleeve available its about 30 dollrs maybe more now, you can jack the pan down with a good floor jack and some large blocks, please be extra careful !!!!!, i did once change the pucks from the top , but too dial it in the pan will have to come down, good luck
3/4 bolt heads
i forgot too mention besides the 3/4" box end which is on the other end of a combo craftsman box end , check the front trunion bearing, its a coaxial bearing right behind the frond pulley, if you loosen the 2 front mount bolts and lift the engine a little then move the bearing and look for slop, buy the way the 2 front bolts may be a bear,they get pretty tight with age and corrosion , front trunion bearing is a little over $130.00 after market unless your a caterpillar must have oem,
Thank you guys very much with the help and advice! Dropped the belly pan, installed 4 new soft coupler bushings this morning and everything works! Machine moves good forward and reverse, all hydraulics work...steers left and right. There's a major hydraulic leak at one of the lift cylinder hoses, right side. Looks like I should be able to access the hose by removing the small guard plate from underneath that's next to the belly pan, directly below the lift cylinder pivot point. What a satisfying feeling getting this machine running and moving again! Hope to get the hose removed and repaired this week, then I should have a fully operating machine.
nice