Hi! First, I am new to the forum, and this looks like a great place to find information. Me: I have run backhoes, excavators, loaders, dozers, log skidders and other machines a fair bit in the past. ( My favorite are wheeled skidders! they go anywhere!) I have a small piece of property and have many projects that will require a backhoe. The machine: I just sort of inherited a Ford 555 hoe with 4 way loader bucket and extendahoe. It came with a trenching bucket, a regular 24" toothed bucket, and a 36" smooth bucket. I called a shop with the numbers and they said it is a 1981. It is old and worn, and needs some work, but if I can get it running it should do fine for putting around the place. The guy who gave it to me was cleaning up his mom's property before its sale, and was rushed to get to a job in Alaska. The problem: Last week he was using the machine and it suddenly lost power and started blowing black smoke. He shut it off for a bit, and then did some more work. He was pulling a shed on skids and it again suddenly lost power and poured black smoke. When it lost power it rolled back into a ditch and could not drive itself out. The guy called me and said he had to get to Alaska and was sick of clearing out his mom's place, could not deal with the backhoe, and said "It's yours! Good luck with it!" It starts right up just fine, idles just fine and sounds normal. But when you try to give it throttle, it wont rev up and starts blowing thick black smoke. It sounds kind of "choked up" when trying to rev it. I have not started tearing anything apart yet, but I was thinking maybe something with the turbo? Black smoke would seem like too much fuel? I thought by giving it throttle it is dumping in extra fuel, but if the turbo isn't spinning up then it is not getting the matching air and thus the black smoke and no power? Sorry to be so long winded! I didn't mean to be that way! I did do some searching but I could not find anything similar yet. Thanks for any suggestions.
Welcome to the forum Scarsman. :usa Not real familiar with you machine components, but thick black smoke indicates rich fuel mixture. Be sure and check air filter being clogged. Turbo not working wouldn't really make black smoke. If air filter is not clogged, and air piping is not restricted, then you probably have a failure of injection pump. Just a thought.
Thanks for the welcome. I'll try and check the air intake system tomorrow. Unless something came apart and caused a blockage, I don't think it will be the filter, as it was a very sudden thing. Almost like flipping a switch. Maybe it will be an easy fix, like a collapsed filter or something! That would be really sweet.
555's don't have a turbo so rule that out. Does it make smoke only when in gear? I had one that did that we thought the motor finally gave up. Put in a rebuilt and same thing. Turned out the Torque conv. was bad.
Hmmm. Well, this one does have a turbo, and when I called the dealer with the numbers they said it was a 1981 555. ??? I'll try reving it up in neutral and see what happens.
We still own a 1978 555 and had an 1980 both 3 cylinders without turbos. May be it's newer? I don't know what motors the b and c series had, I think they went to four cylinders but don't know if they had turbos.
I agree with Atco on the rich fuel besides the air filter check the hoses from the filter to the turbo sometimes when you pull real hard there are rubber hoses in the line that will suck together there by cutting off air to the turbo.Also check the one from the turbo to the intake making sure the clamps are tight and not letting the air blow by. Check the hoses for holes also. Hope for something simple :beatsme
AMEN!!! I went out this morning and tried revving it in neutral, no change. I checked all the air lines from filter to turbo and all good. I then pulled the air filter out and it was NASTY!!! Looked like it had been soaked in oil and then covered with dirt and grease. The inner one was horrible too. I started it with the filters out and it revved up just fine!!! :woohoo:bouncegri:woohoo Quick trip to Napa and $137 later and it runs just fine with new filters. I can not believe I just got a functioning working backhoe for free because its air filters were so bad it wouldn't even run anymore. I love my $137 backhoe! Don't get me wrong, this thing desperately needs a lot of TLC. Today I found that the pin holding the outer boom to the inner one was backed out so that it was only through one side. Glad it did not break off the one side of the inner boom! There is also a pin on the loader that needs to be put through and welded. It is part of the stabilizer looking linkage thing for the bucket. I'll post some pictures later. It also needs the king pins rebuilt, and it leaks power steering fluid, and there is a small diesel leak, and it needs a REALLY good cleaning, but it works and is useable as is! I am a happy man today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for sharing your wisdom! I think I am going to like this place. :notworthy
Ha, there's a lot of us here feel the same way. Glad to hear ya got it sorted out. Sounds like she's lived a life of neglect, that's too bad. But I'm like you, can't complain when you get a piece of iron for the cost of air filters. One thing your likely to find on the machine is grease fittings that won't take grease. Nearly a given on a neglected machine.
555 had no turbo.... 1983 755 was turbocharged and had 4 cylinders... how many cylinders does yours have.........i have 85/86 555A 3 cylinder, its not turbocharged either
The 555 series loader/hoe changed to 4 cylinder with turbo starting with 555C.
check engine specs http://www.tractordata.com/backhoe-loader/000/1/0/101-ford-555.html
Hi jimg984, I'm certainly not a Ford 555 series expert, but here's a pic of the exhaust system from the Ford/New Holland construction machinery website for North America. The 555C model offered a 4 cyl diesel engine with or without turbo. I'm not in a position to argue and say the 555 did not have a turbo when it's right there the Ford/NH website that the C series in fact did offer turbo.
my point is this: scroll back to the orginal part of this post,, he called a shop with the numbers and was told it was a 1981 555 (he didn't say 555C)..........how did you enter a C model into this... other than just to show when a turbo was used...I posted that a 1983 755 4 cylinders was turbocharged to let him recheck to see could be a 755. if i'm outta text say so
Your absolutely correct jimg984, he did not state it was a 555C. But it's not unusual for someone to not provide all the details. Scarsman did say this, "I have not started tearing anything apart yet, but I was thinking maybe something with the turbo?" So I just assumed he has already been looking in engine compartment and saw a turbo in there. That's what lead me to look at the C series to see if there may be something about the turbo that would cause his problem. Maybe a poor assumption on my part. As I stated previously, I'm not a 555 expert, so I think I'll just leave this one alone and enjoy the posts from those who know them far better than I. :drinkup
Hmmm. Well, when I called the shop they seemed to have trouble looking it up, so maybe he just pulled something out of his hat. It says "555" on the loader arms, but it has been repainted at some point and could have had the wrong decals put on it. I will have to look specifically, but I am almost certain it is a 4 cylinder, and I am dead certain it has a turbo. No way around that one. On the ROPS there is a tag that says "555 TL/TLB". On the side of the console there is this list of numbers: Tractor # C662684 Model # DF311F Unit #1C03B Engine #1A26A Transmission #0M02B Rear Axle #1A23B The guy I got it from said it was a 1983, but when I gave the shop those numbers they said 1981. I told them I had a 555 and wanted to find out what year it was. They did not actually say "555" anything, he just said "it is a 1981." I guess I am going to have to do some more research to figure out just what the heck it is!
The 555 Ford repair manual breaks down the date code syntax as follows. 1st digit is year 4-1984 5-1985 6-1986 Etc. 2nd digit is month A-Jan H-Aug B-Feb I – Note “I” is not used C-Mar J-Sept D-Apr K-Oct E-May L-Nov F-June M-Dec G-July 3rd and 4th digit is day of month 01..31 5th digit is production shift A-Midnight shift B-Day shift C-Afternoon shift Therefore based on this, your tractor 9a04b was built on the 4th of January, 1989 by the day shift. Your engine 8j01a was built on the 1st of September, 1988 by the midnight shift. This is assuming you have a 555 as Daman stated. If so, you can calculate your transmission and rear axle build dates similarly. Note the model number does not follow this same syntax. There is not a lot of useful information in the model as it just tells you things that you already know like engine type=diesel, etc. I hope this helps.
Ok, I am confused though. Are you saying mine is a 1989, or just making an example? My tractor number looks like a different format than the "9a04b" that you listed.
thats an example,,, use your numbers and convert,,, if they dont come out right then your numbers may not be for a 555 could be other models 555A, 555B, 555C, 555D or even other models such as 655, 755. how many lever controls do you have on the rear to operate the backhoe, it was the late 80 when they went two levers, before that they had four levers ( in both cases i'm not counting the stabelizer levers) would help if you posted pictures
It has 4 levers for the back. I'll take some pictures tomorrow. Just a little more info, it has a 4 speed tranny with a stick on the floor between your feet with a TC. There is a forward/neutral/reverse lever on the left side of the steering wheel. There is only a throttle pedal and double brake pedals. I found a sight with specs and all the 555 models seemed to list 3 speed trannys. I found pictures on google of 550 TLBs, and they look the same but seem to have 4 speed trannys. Could be it is a 550 and not a 555?
Look at the back tires, 24", it's a 555. 28", it's a 750, 755. The big ones have turbo's, 4 cylinder engine. Rented a couple of 555's, no turbo, 3 cylinder engine. You can just about pick up a 555 with a 700 series. Those are strong motha's.
Well, here is another twist. I went out to take some pictures today and it is a turbo 3 cylinder. And the rear tires are 16.9 R28. This is really getting confusing! I am uploading pics now and will start a new post with them.