we have an old Clark Michigan 175 wheel loader. It has been parked oustide for several years. It lost some oil underneath the machine between the front and rear whells. We were able to start it, but it wont move in forward or reverse. The dipstick on the left of the driver's seat shown very low or empty, so we added several gallons of transmission oil. It did'nt solve the problem. Can someone tell me what to check for. We dont have a manuel. My brother took the following information by the loader's seat: Clark Equipment Michigan 175 ADGM: serial no.c-4hg9-37: bucket 9 fte: tires 18 * 28 ply. Have a good night, Gilles
First thing that comes to mind is does it have air pressure? If so there could be air putting pressure to the neutralizer valve on the transmission. Are you saying the dipstick to the left of seat is in the cab? Just for fun any chance of posting some pictures? I think you may have to wait till you have posted a few time so give it a try or just post a few more questions to this thread to get past that point. Not to be dumb but where is Cantley,qc in the world?
Okay one more question what engine does this loader have? Cummins, Detroit or something else?
And for a little more information do you know when the last time it did move? Did you see it move yourself or are you just taking someones word? And next will the boom and bucket move? Does the steering work? I know lots of questions with no solutions yet! Just trying to learn things that if I was there I would know in the first couple minutes. These questions if answered will point to the direction I need to go to suggest things to then check. It has been many years since I worked on a Michigan/Clark loader but with good feed back from your end I would like to try to help. Also I understand that you are not going to be standing there waiting for my questions.
Ken, Click your mouse on his location and Google maps will open up in a new tab with the location.
Yea! I got that idea a bit too late and see he's up in Quebec. Hope he comes back with some information that will help come up with some ideas.
I'm following his thread because I like to see old iron resurrected and put back to usefulness. That's a neat old loader.
There is lots of air pressure, we can hear it well as we press the brake pedal. After being parked for several years the wheels sank for about 6 inches in the ground; the back wheels are moving when using the steering. Yes the dibstick by the of the driver seat in the cabin. I will take pictures of the beast today and try to sent them if it is not too hard to do. Thanks a lot for your interest. I will be back shortly. The engine make Iwill tell you later today, it is indicated on the engine. Have a good day
The bucket is moving, it was a bit stiff at first. Cantley is right beside Gatineau on the north side. We are up on the hills.
I took 6 pictures of the loader, here they are. I drove the loader myself when we parked it 5 to 10 years ago. There is an oil transmission leak. It lost some oil since we added some over a week ago. Where it leaks there is one or more allen key bolts, it is a bit loose. My brother said he will try to find the right allen key socket to tighten it. The leak seems to be forward ( in front) to the torque converter.
OK then a rear steer model, a bit older than what I worked on! Well if hydraulics work then my thought that the coupling between the converter and the engine idea is out. That is assuming these are still built similar to the ones I'm familiar with. Not saying it will help me but is it possible to get a picture that shows the converter or pumps? I'm sure it is a bit crowded in there! I'd be just guessing but if you can find a line that goes from the transmission up to a pump on the converter maybe there is a hose clamping two halves together and the hose has dried out and is causing a suction leak?
Here are some pictures underneath the loader
a few more pictures loader 175 michigan
Hard to tell if the leak is coming from the fittings on the pump or the trans. or both. In the last pic. it looks like a cast 90 deg. elbow on the pump. I don't know if that was common back in the day? I'd rather have a steel hyd. elbow.
Thanks a lot, Gilles
Agree on the fitting shown in the picture that ends in 1064. Sure looks like a homemade arrangement of fittings brazed together. Would be interesting to know where the other end of that hose is connected.. Just because it looks to be a little on thr crude side does not mean it has to be a problem. Couple things I would be looking at would be: Does one of those pumps have a line that hooks to the transmission case that maybe the suction line? If so I would expect the other line to that pump to be connected to a control valve. Not sure if there would be an obvious pressure test port that one could hook a gauge to to see if the pump was producing pressure. There are many things that seeing the machine in person would answer questions that are hard to explain in text going both ways. The other thing that comes to mind. Many machines of that vintage use air pressure from the brake system to shift transmission into neutral while digging. A sticky or leaking air brake foot valve can hold a slight bit of pressure going to the transmission valve and keep it in neutral. I had a guy asking me to rebuild a transmission in a Cat loader of about that age and when I took a look at the machine found just that. The left foot valve for the brakes was a little stiff. A good shot of penetrating oil and working the peddle up and down a few times and it was fixed!
Wouldn't that be sweet!
Yes it was as I really didn't want to pull and rebuild the transmission, even if I was going to get paid to do it! And if I remember guy paid me at least $25.00 for my time and the machine was at the most five miles from my house so I was happy and so was he!
The brake pedal moves fairly smoot ; it does not come all the way up, probably because the engine was not running. I looked at the air switch underneath the pedal, under the floor, it has a device attached to it with 2 wire hook up to it. I wonder what that is. Next time we start the engine I will look at the switch to see if there is any air Ileak there. I will also look to see if there is an air line going to the transmission. I will also recheck the oil level in the transmission.
Device with wires hooked to the brake valve might be the brake light switch. Does this machine have two brake peddles? Right and left? If so the most common place for the hose to the transmission would be from the left peddle.
There is only one peddle, its a wide peddle, you can use the left or right foot or both to brake.
Wish I could be of more help, guess that one is to far from my experience circle for me to have much more to add. If I do stumble on to another idea I'll look this thread up. Good Luck Ken inNY
Actually the steering wheel does'nt work acording to my brother. The back wheel dont stear, they dont move even if the wheels are 6 inches sunk. The next thing we will do is check the oil level for that. Have a nice week end
This thread is a couple of month old, did you fixed it ? If not, I completely rebuild a 55B which I think is basically the same technology. Mine was not moving either after standing for years. If you have as bad luck as me TC and possible Gearbox are fully rusted inside and I had to completely rebuild both. When machine is off and gear in idle, can you spin the shaft by hand ?
I am asked to put the machine in idle, machine turned off, and try to move the shaft by hand. Really you think that I could move that shaft by hand!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ABSOLUTELY, I am talking about the shaft between the torque converter and the gearbox. You said the machine is not moving , same issue I had on mine. So the first steps are: Is the shaft between TC and Gearbox turning when in idle and no gear ? - If Yes Is the shaft stopping to turn when machine is in gear (and revving up) - if yes If machine is really not moving, than most likely your TC has no power. - If No As I said, turn it by hand. If you cant turn, it's already a sign that something is stuck. Try with a crowbar, if you still cant turn, either your TC or Gear (or both) are heavily stuck. I had BOTH stuck due to water in the TC and gear and all bearings where rusty. Unmount the shaft and see if one or both are stuck. With the shaft unmounted the TC should turn pushing with your pinky, the gear has a little more resistance but should still be turnable by hand.
Hey I've got one of these too and yes the shaft does move by hand Turning one of the propeller shafts by hand will actually move the wheels a little bit Since we can't get type a transmission fluid in any large quantities what is the recommended fluid type for one of these older transmissions? Do they have brass clutches or the friction material on steel
Reminds me of a customer, went from several years ago to I parked it 5 or 10 years ago. Doesn't help to fix it but seemed funny that now it's maybe 10 years with the wheels sunk 6". But it does run, there's that. Could be salvageable, looks like a beast. Engine still an unknown. Joe H
So I worked on cleaning the transmission sump screen filter changing out the hydraulic filter "under the hood" and changing the transmission fluid filter in the triangular hatch on the passenger side and once i pumped it full of 9 gallons of the right sae 30-wt transmission oil it started to spin some tires for me. 3 of which i had made sure to add a considerable amount of air to..... but the one i hadn't added air to broke its bead and now i need some ideas on seating the bead .its only on one side of the rim (outer bead) and please remember is a split ring that can fly off like a horse shoe.the tire in question is the front passenger side and is pictured in its current condition in the (headlights picture)
I think the wheels are different from split rims on trucks. Use a clip on tire chuck and put a heavy tarp around the wheel so if something decides to let go it will be contained. To fill gaps get some Murphy's tire soap and pack it around the gaps and it will hold air until it seats.
Also since i filled it with the wrong fluid the first time (travelers universal transmission hydraulic fluid) anybody know a good way to flush the remnants of the old fluid out . With this next... fluid change. And also why does hydraulic fluid pump out of a little hole in the steering column shaft/pipe right down by the floorboard.
Yeah big spring clip of a ring making up the lip of the rim . Like in an old deuce and a half trailer wheel
Definitely about to check out some tire soap. Was thinking about using a chain and a chain comealong wrapped around the tire like you would on a truck tire with a ratchet strap.
If you do that make sure to have lots of slack so you can loosen it enough to get it off after the tire is seated.
Worked well
Lol used alex fast dry pianters caulk instead.