I ended up putting 2 new master cylinders in my 1998 Ford 555e because one was broken and the other quit working. I bled them per the manual, "open bleeder screws until oil comes out", by using the L/R bleeders on the rear end. I had them open for about an hour and had a small drip coming out of both. I still am not building any brake pressure at the pedal and am also not losing fluid so I don't think its pumping into the rear end, is there a trick to bleeding them right? should I vacuum bleed them? Thanks for the help!
takes two people to bleed them, one pushing on petal with the bleeder open, other person close the bleeder with petal still down, repeat till no air in system good luck
I had a second person and we did the pump and bleed technique and the pedal wasn’t building any pressure. We were squirting some fluid but it wasn’t like a regular car brake building up.
Nick350, A couple of things come to mind: 1. Did you bench bleed both master cylinders prior to installing 2. Did you use the special NH brake oil (brake fluid is no good) 3. Is the plug in figure 5.95 below orientated properly (bleeder needs to be on the top or it will not bleed properly) 4. Is it possible that the brake apply pistons is leaking into the rear (loosing fluid level in the reservoir is a tell tale sign of this, and is common) Be sure to let us know how you make out! Good luck!
I did not bench bleed them, I do have the correct NH mineral oil. I am not sure on the plug orientation but oil does come out of the drain. I don’t think the seals are bad because I’m not losing any oil from the revisor. today I’m going to try and vacuum bleed them, if it doesn’t work I will pull the output hoses and try using a syringe to bench bleed them while they are still in the machine. Thanks for the tips
I have a feeling the new masters have the air in them...How bout getting someone hold the pedal down while you crack the line on the master. If there is air, you should see it come out.
Yeah we tried regular bleeding the other day for about 30 mins and weren’t getting any pedal. today we used the vacuum pump while isolating each master cylinder (holding the opposite pedal down) to draw some oil through each. after this we were starting to get some firmness to form so we proceeded to bleed each side. That got them rock solid and I even got a couple hours of work in with it. Thanks for help!
GREAT! Glad it all worked out...Happy Tractoring!!
Swetz, I have a 1999 555e as well and when I add the special fluid to the reservoir it leaks out onto the floor. The brakes work great, there's just no oil in the reservoir. Do you know what's going on? Thanks, Mike
Hey Mike-G, Looking at the pic below, it could be the reservoir, the hoses to the master, the switch on the left master, or the masters themselves. I doubt it is the piping coming out of the masters, because when there is fluid the brakes work. I know it is tight where the masters are, but take off the covers in that area to get a good look. That special oil is a bit pricy, so the sooner you find the leak the better
[QUOTE="Mike-G, post: 982166, member: 7367] Mike[/QUOTE] I agree with everything Swetz said above. When my reservoir leaked out it was one of the hoses going to the master cylinder. if it leaked on the floor of the cab, my bet is the reservoir hoses near the connection or the reservoir itself. If it’s on the ground I would say it’s a hose or the connection to the master cylinder.
Thanks so much for your replies. I will check it out when I can and let you know what I find. It may be a few days. Thanks again.
I think you got it whooped! However it's worth noting the cheep brake bleeders are awesome. I bought a $10 Lisle unit years ago and was skeptical. It was one of the best tool purchases to this day. Try one out on the next bleeding job
Hey guys thanks for your help. Here's the story. When I bought the machine and got it home (2018) I was checking all the fluids and the brake reservoir was empty. I was surprised because the brakes worked great. I filled it with the expensive oil and later noticed it all over the floor. As I recall i looked it over and it appeared to be leaking out the seals on the back of the cylinders (no pressure side?). I must have added more fluid and left it alone thinking I would replace cylinders when I had to. I checked yesterday and was surprised to see oil in the reservoir. I topped it off. My guess is the seals were dry and after lubed they started sealing again? Anyway if there is no oil on the floor I'm calling it good! Yay! This forum is great. Thanks again Mike
video of our install if anyone comes here looking for help
I’ve watched a couple videos you guys have put out and it’s been helpful. Hopefully you guys will put out more, but that means your machine needs to break….. sorry!! If you really want to help me out, take a part the radiator and oil cooler as that’s a job I need to do this winter. Boo.
HA HA HA! Flushed my radiator in the machine in February, installed a new 180 thermostat, and it has maintained temp all summer. HeavyEquipmentForums
I'm envious of you guys with brakes. My slave seals will leak into the rear axle in a couple of days last I tried. I even tried filling the masters with Lucas hydraulic oil leak seal. It's as thick as STP. Leaked right into the rear axle. When I got the tractor the axle was about 5 gallons over filled from them dumping oil in it.
That sucks. I haven't looked into it, but I'm sure is a job to get the brakes working again.
I have heard this is caused from using the wrong brake oil and overtime it destroying the internal seals. I was happy to find out it was a master cylinder issue for mine not internal to the rear end, otherwise I would not have brakes haha
Update on brakes. My initial issue was the master cylinder leaking out the push rod side. They would make pressure but the oil leaked out. The master cylinders finally gave out and I replaced them. I bled the cylinders with a vacuum bleeder. I once again have good brakes. I think. They are solid together but not independently. I'm thinking this has to do with the pipe that connects the cylinders. Probably so it doesn't snap the axle? Is this correct?
I have a 1989 Ford 555B with no brakes. When I got it, there were no brakes. I am new to backhoes and now know that I got served, but I checked the reservoirs moving forward. They were all empty. I looked underneath to see what happens when the brakes are pushed down, and I noticed that the cable that goes to the rear somewhere does not move when the brakes are pushed. what is happening here? Should it be moving at all now that I have filled the reservoirs up?
jackiej, Not sure what you filled. The 555B had mechanical brakes, no master cylinders. Below is an exploded view of the service and parking brake systems. In your pic, the coil spring has the parking brake cable going through it. Parking brake pulls on the service brake rod where it goes into the rear housing. Hopefully this makes sense. Now, as far as no brakes: Does the pedal go to the floor with no resistance? Does it have resistance? If so, is it like a low pedal. Trying 2 figure if the linkage is disconnected or out of adjustment?? The brakes are wet on this machine. They are kinda like the clutches in an auto trans. In order to access the brakes the rear axles must be removed from the machine, a fair bit of work. The good news is that with normal use, the brakes do not wear quickly. Driving the machine on then road to jobs is a killer to these brakes.
@Swetz the pedal go to the floor with no resistance. Thanks for responding back with pictures
If no resistance at all, I would separate the pedals and have an assistant look and push the brake pedals one at a time. The assistant can note any movement at the rear axle housing. No movement, perhaps a pin has fallen out. Movement, perhaps the brakes are misadjusted.