Was just looking at a 955L, real clean machine in decent condition and cared for but the hydraulics when running the bucket sound terrible, like its pumping mud or concrete or something. I'm new to this machine but I'm assuming this is a bad sign. They had mentioned they had topped it up with hydro fluid, but I raised/lowered it a bunch to bleed it and it didn't help. When I pop the hyd tank cap off it hisses like its got compressed air in it (checked this each time after I ran it). How hard is it to replace the pumps in these machines? Do you have to pull the whole cab and top end off? When I use the word "hard" here I'm talking about time, is it a 1 day job, 2 week job, etc.
Can you drop the schematic pls?
Schematic of what? I don't have a service manual because I don't own this machine. I'm assuming it's a Vickers style vane pump where you can swap out the cartridge, but I just want to know how much labor is involved.
I don't remember that being a real bad job
If you have the machine Serial Number I can look up the pump and whatever parts might be available for it. TBH I doubt it's a Vickers pump, but that is TBC.
I knew I was forgetting something... 71J4277 This is showing up for me as a 955K on the Cat website, but the side panels say 955L. They must have swapped out the hydro tank or something off a newer machine.
From what I'm reading 71J is a prefix for a machine built in Japan? I believe it has the D330 engine although it was so covered up it was hard to verify. If the side panel doesn't match the S/N it could be a frankenstein repair from several different machines. It appears to have factory ROPS on it, which I don't think the K did so maybe thats what this is? Getting more confused the more I read.
It was built in Japan. It is the equivalent of a US-built 85J-prefix machine. In the same way as the 85J machine production started as a K model with a D330 engine and switched to being an L model with a 3304 engine during the course of the production run. As near as I can tell the engine and model change (from K to L) happened at Serial Number 71J4558 and the 3304 engine used from there onwards was a 43V-prefix. So provided the engine in your tractor is original it sems most likely to be a D330.
Thanks for the info Nige, I always appreciate your help. I wish I had spent the time to grab the engine tag to know for sure, but I suppose it is possible that it is actually an L model as the S/N is within a few hundred numbers. I guess the main question still remains though as to how much labor is involved to replace the hydraulic pump. I think this machine is pretty cheap given how good of condition everything else is on it, especially the UC, but I don't want to add a huge new project to my plate. I can probably get it for around $6-7k.
Answered my own question I think, was poking around on jensales website and the sample of the manual for the 955L by pure providence includes the page on removing the pump...looks like it's running off the crank pulley...shouldn't be too hard.
I believe you will find it mounted to torque housing
That sure would make a lot more sense
I wouldn’t trust Jensales manuals as far as I could throw them. Just sayin’
Highly unlikely seeing as there are two Parts Manuals, one with 955K on the cover and the other with 955L. The S/N ranges are 71J1-4557 on the former and 71J4558-Up on the latter. Someone's been playing sticker bingo.... Attached the instructions for R&I of the hydraulic pump. This was not from your machine but was as near as I could get.
Now that I think about it, this makes more sense as the bad pump noise seemed to be coming from underneath the seat rather than the engine compartment. Either way it looks like a simple job that wont require pulling the ROPS off. The machine will be here next week so the first thing I'll be doing is getting the engine s/n to make sure its a D330 before I buy a parts and shop manual.
For your Serial Number. Parts Manual is Cat publication reference UMX00085 covering 71J1-4557. Service Manual is REG00634. Here is a copy for sale on eBay where it states that the publication covers machines 71J2178-Up.
The machine finally arrived, I was able to get a probe past the panels and see that the serial number tag on the engine matches the one in the cab, but that's really no help. Is there another tag on the engine or way to identify if it's a 330 or 3304? The only parts book floating around on ebay only coveres serial numbers up to 71J39XX. I ordered one off servicemanualpro, but its not coming or they can't find it. The service manual I bought says it covers 71J1-5831 along with 57J/64J/85J, but it only has the D3304 engine covered in it.
What does the valve cover look like?
If the Serial Number on the engine is the same as the machine (i.e. 71J4277) then the engine is a D330C. If it was a 3304 the engine Serial Number would be 45Vxxxxx. The change from D-series engines to 3300-series was the time at which engines got their own separate Serial Numbers instead of carrying the machine S/N.
Thanks Nige! The simplest explanation would seem to be that they just threw the 955L decals on after repainting it at some point. It was really hard finding a newer version of publication UMX00085 that covers my serial number, hopefully the one that's coming from ServiceManualPro will do the job. The Cat website is no real help, it doesn't even recognize the serial number. Kind of cool seeing "made in Japan" on tags throughout the machine along with some labels being in Japanese.
It wouldn't be the first time we have come across this. UMX00085 is available as a pdf download, on a CD, or in paper form from HERE Just put UMX00085 in the box and click the Search button.
UMX00085 is the manual that I own a hard copy of, it was published in 1972 and the highest S/N mentioned is 71J39XX. It doesn't appear to cover the changeover to the 3304 in it either. From my previous experience with my D4, if Cat has a parts manual that covers later serial numbers, it is released under a new publication number, not as a second edition of the original publication number. I can't really seem to find a 71J only parts manual for the higher serial numbers, so maybe there isn't one or it was rolled into an 85J parts manual. edit: there is a newer parts manual that starts at s/n 71J4558-up for the 955L
For machines 71J4558-Up (955L) with the 3304 engine the Parts Manual is XMBP9568. Note that this one shows the 43V-prefix 3304 engine on the cover. See below.
When you are in the seat the hydro pump is below and in front of your left foot mounted on the front of the transmission. I think you would want to remove the dash to lift it up and out.
you can get at the pump from the engine side with the loader arms lifted all the way up, the later L series usually have a cover over this area that is bolted in place, the cover is a pig to remove and comes free in 2 parts, it's one of those items that is best left in a dark corner and not refitted.
Ok finally got some updates and a resolution on this. I had some time to pull the side panels off the machine, and the block casting number is 2P940, which is a 3304 block. Additionally the oil filter housing is a 3304/3306 part number along with the governor housing. I got in touch with Mark over at ServiceManualPro who did some digging, it turns out there is a discrepancy in the Cat literature. According to the sales brochure, the changeover from 955K->955L happened at serial number 71J3198 in 1972, not 71J4558. This number is significant because it is mentioned throughout my parts manual as the final serial number covered by it. There appears to no specific parts manual covering the spread from 3199 to 4557, although the manual that starts at 4558 will probably be the most helpful for me. Not sure what happened exactly, but it is easy to guess that there was miscommunication between Mitsubishi and Japan back in the day. Anyways, I guess mystery solved. This info will probably never benefit anyone else besides me, but it was interesting trying to figure it all out. The machine cleaned up very nicely after hosing it down with a bleach solution to kill all the algae growing on it.
No miscommunication, the D330c was increased from 115h.p. to 130h.p. at serial #71J3198 and they became L series at that point. At serial 71J4558, the D330c was discontinued and the 43V series 3304 took it's place. At least that's what the book I have says and I believe it to be right in this instance (it isn't always).
All of those parts were carried over from the D330C to the 3304 engine, so not conclusive either way. The fact that your engine block carries the same Serial Number as the tractor conclusively identifies the engine as a D330C. As @Rusted mentions above the D330C power was increased from to 130BHP from machine 71J3198 onwards and that was apparently the same time as the tractors started being badged as L models. If your machine had a 3304 (the same point from where engines started to carry their own unique Serial Number separate to the S/N of the machine in which they were installed) then the engine S/N plate would be stamped 45Vxxxxx.up As was mentioned earlier the correct Parts Manual for any 71J-prefix machine with a S/N between 1 and 4557 is UMX00085. There will be different pages in it that will take account the 115-130 BHP power increase that was introduced from 71J3198 up to 71J4557.