Hey fellas, I picked up a 555D with the 4x4 torque converter transmission last week and have been feeling my way around it. Replacing filters and fluids, greasing all the zerks, etc. Replaced a stabilizer line that blew, pulled a couple stumps in the yard. Everything working great, except that after running a while, my forward gear stops working. Reverse still works fine at this point. I shut the machine off for 5-10 seconds and restart it, and forward works fine again for a short while, a minute or less, then stops working again. If I let the machine cool back down, it works just fine for a half hour or so until it gets warmed up again. I saw a short note in one of the repair manuals about there being some sort of "overload" on the shifting solenoids and if they tripped, that shutting the machine off for 5-10 seconds would reset the overload. So that's how I discovered that shutting the machine off would get it going again right away. Anyway, just figured I'd ask if anyone has run into the problem and diagnosed and repaired it before I go digging in to the troubleshooting rabbit hole.
You mentioned replacing fluids and filters so I assume the transmission fluid is not low? Nice looking tractor, by the way!
Thanks! I think I'm going to go back to the original black where the yellow is flaking. Somebody rattle canned those areas, I think. And nope. All fluid levels look good. Checked all 3 dipsticks (2 under floor, one under hood flap) as well as engine oil and front axle oil. I almost wonder if it could be a shift solenoid coil biting the dust and drawing too much current. Also, when it's just warmed up for 5-10 minutes it has plenty of grunt in 1st. I bumped the loader bucket against a big stump and locked the diff then gave her a little. She dug a couple holes with the back tires. It's like all or nothing.
Could be, I just figured check the easy stuff first.
Looks like it. Are the fenders steel or plastic? My dad's has a full cab, but the cab and fenders are black. The fenders are plastic, as is the roof (which is yellow).
The fenders are plastic. The uprights look like they were factory black too. Not sure why someone would paint over the factory colors. The original black paint still appears to be in great shape under the rattle canning. And yep, my roof is yellow and looks like original paint too. And yikes! What happened to the windshield?! Wish mine had a cab. I roaded it down to the gas station in a light wet snow to get some diesel the other day and damn near froze my face off.
The windshield has been cracked for the 20ish years my dad has owned it. The crack grows a few more legs every year but it's still holding together. The cab is nice except for the windows that have been replaced with plexiglass. They are so scratched and clouded up now that it's impossible to see through them.
Pretty nice looking machine but what was Ford thinking with the lift arms?? The bucket is too far forward and the lift arms look like an after thought or something home made. Very crude looking. I'm not sure but maybe the D model was the last Ford branded model? The earlier 555 models looked more refined.
Standard safety glass isn't all that expensive.
Dunno, but with 6,000 pounds of lift to full height and a 12,000 breakout, this machine is a beast. I have no complaints in the loader department.
I used it earlier this year to load 300 yards or so of material into my small dump truck with 8' sides and I would definitely not want the lift arms any shorter. It's too bad they went away from the mechanical self leveling system they had on the older series loaders. I think you're right that they changed to the New Holland brand name for the E series. I agree. My dad nicknamed this one Hercules
I've been trying to get him to replace at least the front one that's plexiglass. But for a farm machine that sometimes gets only a dozen or two hours a year it's not a high priority item for him.
I'm sure it works OK but it seems like Ford was going backwards in the design. They older mechanical self-leveling seemed a better set up. I've also read of issues with the self leveling on the newer style machines. There's not much to go wrong with mechanical self-leveling.
Plexiglass is awful. As you know it yellows and get cloudy from UV. You can replace it with polycarbonate. Looks the same except it will not yellow and cloud. As far as scratches go it is better than plexiglass but not as good as real glass. With polycarbonate you can buy sheets and cut yourself. You could also try using a buffer and some plastic polish to clear things up. Toothpaste works well too. Look up how to restore headlights online and that process would work for your plexiglass. Might get you some life out of it.
It works on the way up. Doesn't work on the way down. Fine for loading dirt; not so great for using forks.
They went backwards. Ford knew the end was coming so was probably a money saving move.
So I've run through the service manual and schematics a few times in the transmission section. I think I've narrowed the issue down to either possibly a bad forward solenoid coil or the control module under the dash. Next time I get a weather break I'll be checking the coil resistance of the solenoid by unplugging the harness at the control module and measuring across the Blu/Grn wires on the harness side of the plug. Figure that will save me the trouble of having to drain and remove the fuel tank. Service manual says I should see 6-10 ohms there across the coil terminals. If that's good I'm going to run through the troubleshooting suggestions from the manual on the control module and see what I find there. If the coil looks iffy, I may pull the tank and swap solenoids to see if the problem moves to reverse.
Well, cold resistance across the coil was 9.4 ohms. No problem there. Both sides were 25 Mohms to ground too. Oh, and the forward solenoid wires were actually turquoise - which after a couple minutes I noticed is footnoted in the service manual schematic. Had me scratching my head for a minute at first. Drove the machine around a while to replicate the problem, did a little pile pushing. After about 20 minutes, forward went out, as usual. Checked resistance at the forward solenoid coil just after and it's sitting at 10.1 ohms. Both sides of the coil to ground are high Mohms still. I have a good input signal to the control module at battery voltage from the shuttle switch when the switch is placed in forward. No output signal from the module output side. If I do the reset, then I get a split second of output, then it shuts off. I also monitored the current on the forward solenoid coil while driving around. It stayed right around 1.4 amps the whole time until it quit working. This leads me to believe that the control module is the problem. Wish they had not potted the b*****d. Edit: I may try de-potting it and attempting a repair. The compound doesn't seem that hard now that I'm inside where it's not 30°.
Well I'll be a SOB. Started digging out potting compound. Look what I found under there!
Very interesting indeed! Did you find any potentially faulty components? One of the relays maybe getting weak?
Not yet, still digging down to get to all the component leads. I try to identify every component first when doing this, as it's highly likely that I'll damage some of them digging down to remove the potting compound. To get to the relay pins I'm going to need to get the circuit board completely out. Still digging but I might not get it all the way done tonight. So far I've inventoried the 2 relays, 2 capacitors, 3 FETs, 3 variable resistors, a zener diode and a plain Jane resistor.
And, as I feared, the back side is WAY more complex: I'll check the relays individually, as well as look at all the solder joints and check for cracks. I'll also check the two electrolytic caps for high ESR - they can sometimes cause all sorts of trouble as they age. I broke diode D5 and slightly melted the variable resistors on the opposite side while removing potting compound, will have to order those and replace them.
New development. I've got an idea for a replacement setup that is actually available to buy today, and not very expensive. It will basically replace this entire module. I'll try out the idea and report back.
Victory! Just ran the machine for a couple hours with zero issues. Pulled a couple stumps, then hauled off the wood and graded back over with the loader bucket. Not a hiccup the whole time. I only had this set up in a temporary fashion at the moment to see if it would work. I happened to have a PWM DC motor controller with programmable soft start laying around the electronics bench. This particular model soft starts as soon as it powers on. Perfect for use with the signal from the shuttle shift stalk. Also can be set to display either voltage or amperage in use. Also nice. I took the plugs from the original controller so it could plug straight into the harness. I set it up with a ganged ground to both solenoids, and the positive from the controller going to a 3-position toggle switch. That way I could set the toggle switch for sending power to either the forward or reverse solenoid, then engage the shuttle shift to forward to activate the solenoid and engage the selected clutch. I settled at a 2.5s soft start engagement time, that worked pretty good. I just ordered another controller, so in the permanent installation I'll have one controller for forward and one for reverse, that way the toggle switch will be eliminated and the shuttle will work just like it originally did. These will tuck up under the dash just like the original. They're rated for way more power than is needed in this application, so I'm hoping they'll be pretty hardy. Speaking of which, the original control module is unavailable anywhere as far as I can tell. These DC motor controllers are available on eBay for around $25-$30 each. I'll probably order some spares.
This is one of those times you're specific knowledge with something really paid off. I'd have been totally lost. Congrats on getting it working.
Thanks. I am told that I'm pretty good at fixing things. People call me all the time for help, heh. Have always had a knack for it. I wasn't particularly looking forward to spending several hours on digging through the original board without a schematic, so it was a happy circumstance that I thought of using the motor controller.
Now you just have to get it to read the proper speed you're going or RPM. A problem like you had would have a huge majority of people pulling their hair out trying to figure out what's wrong and how to fix it.
It already has a separate tach that still works just fine. Never had a speedo. And yeah, I have saved more than a few things that would otherwise have been in the dumpster or a rusting hulk somewhere... I'm not a fan of disposable stuff. I would rather rebuild or repair, modify if necessary. Hopefully this will help some other owners who might run into the same issue some day. Next on the list for this machine after the new controllers are installed is an adapter for a front quick change. I'd like to be able to use a set of forks (and still see where they are!) and a couple other things. May make and weld up my own. I'm leaning toward the Global/Euro.
I was thinking with your electronic skills you could utilize the digital readout somehow.
Ah, gotcha. I'll probably leave those hidden away up under the dash. Useful for troubleshooting though, they display the amperage that the solenoid coils are pulling.
That could be very useful if it acts up again.
Unfortunately I don't have enough hair to pull out...but you are right on in your assessment --- I didn't understand a thing that he said
If any future readers should need help setting this up, just send a PM, more than happy to help. The nice thing about this setup is that if an original module *is* ever found, it can still be plugged right in and used too. All the modifications made to wiring are on the module side of the plug, the tractor side is still all original.
Ack. My order of DC motor controllers got screwed up and instead they sent me AC fan speed controllers. Working on getting them swapped now. Latest project: cleaning up the rims and getting them ready for new front tires. Sandblasted them outside behind the garage, and then a couple primer coats, then a couple of Raptor bed liner paint. Should outlast me hopefully.
Well, there's that done, at least.
Here's my near final implementation of the FWD/REV controllers. Including a shot of the harness terminals and my extended harness. The original red wire is not used, so it can just be capped or taped off. I only have mounting the controllers up under the dash left to do. I made up the small extension harness earlier tonight and tested the controllers, everything is working perfectly via shuttle switch. I used the same color wires on my harness that the original harness uses. I'll include a photo of the wired connections. I just ran a jumper across from "Power -" on one controller and connected it to the same terminal on the other with a black wire. For the overload setting, I set it at 3.0 amps, and I think I'm settled on a 3.0 second soft start. I left the under-voltage protection setting at 10.0 V. I left my displays set for amperage so I can monitor the current the solenoid coils are pulling. Oh, and the "soft stop" timer I set to 0.2 second so that it's almost instant off.
eKretz, i'm having the same problem with my 555D. When you cleaned out that dirt and sand did the problem go away? Thanks
Dirt and sand? Do you mean from the transmission screen? I didn't have any in there, but I've heard that if that should get blocked up, it's another source of similar problems.
sorry i didnt see the rest of your posts. the last one i saw was the one with the board all dirty. i thought cleaning the board and pots would maybe help with the problem but i see you went much further than that. and yes way beyond my electronics know how. i might try to contact you if my problem persists and i cant figure it out. you definitely have the know how thanks