I bought a ford 555b backhoe about 3wks ago. In getting it home I am in the process of changing all the fluids in it. All I have left now is the power steering. I just changed the coolant level and noticed it was a hair below the level of the top of the tank (1/2" or so prior to change). This particular radiator has about a 6" rad fill tube that sticks straight out the top of the rad. It consistently "blows" the coolant out the overflow as it warms up(if you completely fill the rad and fill tube). It Seems to level out at pretty much the same spot (1/2"-1" below the top of the tank). It is therefore about 6+" from the cap opening. I just put a temp gauge on yesterday and ran it for about 30min using the loader and temp never got about about 175 (with a new 7psi cap) . I have both an operater and tear down manual and both give different versions of where the level should be. One says level should be in the neck, the other says (in the trouble shooting section) that rad overflow could be from overfilling and that the correct level should be 1-2" below the tank level. I only have about 2.5" between the core and the top of the tank. Anyone with experience with these hoes? I ask because when I refilled I THOUGHT I had purged all the air out and ran it for 15 min high idle , went and used it and rechecked it. I could not see any coolant at all and minor oil seepage from the head gasket area. was running fine and added about one gallon to fill it up. Wiped oil off block and ran again that day and yesterday with no oil seepage and ran fine (temp gauge was put on after this). Mark
I have a 7710 ford farm tractor.It has the same type of raidiater&fill neck.I stop filling when the top tank is half full.Hope this help's.
When you re-fill it let the machine run on tick over with the rad. cap off until the top hose is warm (thermostat) has opened. Don't forget to open up the heater taps and turn the cab fan on to max to get the coolant circulating around there too. If the machine isn't running hot I wouldn't worry too much about the level being right up the neck. I think as long as it fills the top tank it will be o.k..........the extra 1/2 a pint you will get in there will make bug all difference. It is worth noting that although the spec. of that cap is 7lbs, Ford actually list a 13lb cap as the 'tropical' option - not sure how tropical you are there, maybe you're pushing sand around your palm trees, but also could be worth trying good luck
I thought I was the only one with that problem. My temp is 179 to 180 all day, but since day one it always over flowed right around when the termostat starts to open. So I broke off the spring and assembly off the pressure cap, so it is now just a cap, and put a napa expansion tank as high as possible. So when it burps >into tank and then back in radiator. end of problem. Interesting my loader started doing the same thing that got a tank too. Must be some kind of catchey germ around here. sam
Hey Guys, I did not realize it when I bought the hoe, but the temp gauge was not working and so I felt uneasy about looking down 6-8" of filler neck not knowing just exactly where the radiator fluid level was. I mounted an overflow res. , replaced the rad cap and put a new temp gauge on. That was all done fairly much at the same time. The temp stays right at 170-175 +/- and now the fluid is within an inch of the top of the filler neck and easily seen. Although the temps probably have not changed any, I can sleep MUCH better knowing whether or not I am overheating or loosing coolant. I am in the process of bringing everything up to snuff (changing oil/fluids, filters, greasing etc) Got one cylinder (dipper) that is leaking, but it is holding and using pressure just fine so I am not going to tackle that just yet. I also replaced the starter and alternator so it charges great and starts great too. thanks for the help Mark