I have a ford 5500 backhoe with a questionable torque converter. Does anybody know if there is a repair shop out there that will repair the stator and the turbine? The fins look ok but some sort of contamination has gone through and scored the OD. Of the stator and the ID. of the turbine. This transmission was working but leaking so I removed the tranny for repair and this was one of the problems that I found. I don't know if it is possible to get these surfaces welded up and recut or not. I have contacted brockhouse about getting replacement parts for inside the converter but I'm concerned about the scored up surfaces and if this should be repaired. I have not heard back from brockhouse yet to see if they have replacement pieces.
You can get a rebuilt one with a warranty here ; http://www.joseph.com/Remanufactured_Torque_Converters.asp . I have had good luck with parts from them.
That's a good resource to know. I was talking to a 5550 owner that had $1500 of parts into a convertor, and this was 20 years ago.
Thanks for the help, I did not realize that you would have to check part availability before buying a ford backhoe. Oh well, I didn't pay much for this machine and knew I would have to put some money back into it.