I have a 550J serial number X114546 that is overheating on hot days. Dozer temp runs fine when ambient temperature is 85 or lower. When ambient temperature is above 95 will overhead after approximately and hour of moderate pushing. I have pressure washed radiator with minimal if any improvement. I'm thinking radiator core may need to be cleaned internally. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thank you Steve
If you slow down and push in a lower gear does it still heat?
Pushing at 1.5 setting it overheats. The higher the ambient temperature the quicker it overheats.
I don't have any answers, hopefully someone will come along here that has had and solved your issue. I will add however that with the Hydraulic cooler and the ac condenser in front of the radiator it's extremely difficult to clean all three an maintain a good air flow so once dirty they never get fully clean unless they are removed and done separately.
Sounds like an air flow issue. That is usually what it is when you have high ambient temps and long slow temperature climb of the engine. Belt good and not slipping? Seals around the radiator in place and in good shape? Fan ever been off and reinstalled backwards? What is the temperature drop across the radiator? Deere cooling systems are typically have a drop of about 10*F. More - water flow issue. Less - air flow issue.
I had a 650j that stumped me for a while with the same issue and it turned out to be thermostat sticking shut/hanging up. Just a thought. There pretty cheap and real easy to change out.
thanks for the info men. I spent a couple hours blowing out radiator with air. i ran it as hard as I could here at the house and temp guage never went beyound med point. Hopefully I got the issue resolved, will find out next week on job site. Thanks again for the advise.