1989 Prime-mover or John Deere LD50

[Mitch55]

Thanks for reply. Yeah doesn’t seem easy to find at all and I have a book with diagrams but can’t seem to find something close to what I need.

 

[Tags]

You need to try to locate someone with one, online or otherwise, and see if they can send you some pics.

 

[Mitch55]

So I found the part number for the caliper it’s a single piston. Is there a cross reference guide out there or any one know where to locate one? The part number is B-31179. Thank you

 

[Prehistoric Fish]

Coming in late to the conversation but has anyone been able to find a repair manual for the LD50? I have searched high and low and only been able to find and download the parts book. Please let me know, thanks!

 

[bgdumas]

He does not have the loader home yet, it is still at the sellers house. My brother is in central Iowa, I am in IL. He has a cabin on a river with no internet access. This is going to be one of those long distance diagnose and repair jobs. We all know how fun those are. On top of that, he is leaving the first of Oct. for his home in Az. , so not much will probably be accomplished this year. Unless for some UN-GODLY reason he decides to bring this thing to my house. I hope and pray that doesn't happen. We have only heard the loader run for about 30 seconds. We never saw it move, never saw it lift the bucket. Personally, I would not have bought it under those conditions, but it's his money I guess. At this time we are simply trying to make it run long enough to put on a trailer, and unload.

Hello from iowa
I may be the owner of that loader. I live in iowa on the DM river. My friend lived a mile away and I helped him keep that thing running. He has passed away a year ago and he had given me this machine. Needless to say we used the he'll out of that thing. My friend overworked it trying to move stumps. He was hard of hearing and didn't hear wheen he was stressing that thing. Currently I recently had to pull the hydrostat to fix a front leak.
That was a chore. Now after refilling it with new fluid it will only move back and forth just fine. Nothing else functions. Replaced some of the hoses just because. It had all functions prior to removing the hydrostat. So now I'm scratching my head trying to decide what to do.
Any ideas please pass them on.

 

[DKB]

When a machine gets this old it's best to just put it out of service for a year and begin replacing everything to bring it back to reliable working condition. That's what I did. So now when I use mine, I don't have to work on it every time I use it. I spent around $8,500 dollars refurbishing mine, doing all the work myself including replacing the hydrostatic pump, the hydraulic pump, hub seals, bearings, hoses, oil cooler, radiator, etc. Replacing those pumps was indeed a chore and a learning curve. I pretty much know everything about these machines now since I done all the work myself. These small brutes are so handy to use around the farm. If you find one that runs, it's well worth spending the money to fix it back up when you consider how hard it is to find an affordable articulating machine in decent shape. Mine is probably the earliest model still in service. It was made during the first production year

 

[DKB]

Never mind the previous message. I think we have it figured out for now. We managed to bolt the hydrostatic pump to the engine without taking anything apart besides removing the battery box. Unit works fine

My brother got the machine back to his cabin. He has to give it a shot of ether to get it started, but says it runs very well, once it's going. I'm sure the carb could stand a rebuild, or at the very least, a good cleaning.


Where did you locate all these parts? Or were they from different vendors?

In case you still have your machine, the parts come from different vendors. Let me know which parts you need and I can help you find the vendor for the specific parts. Some of the parts are rebuildable at local hydraulic shops.

 

[DKB]

Hi DKB, since you have done so much work on your LD-50 I was hoping you could answer a question. I have a Lull LD-50 (made by Prime Mover) with the 3 cylinder John Deere Diesel. Been running it for nearly 10 years. Just yesterday the main hydraulic pump came loose from the engine and it made a terrible grinding noise. I immediately shut the engine off and soon found the the top bolts on the pump were missing or broken off and the pump is gapped away from the engine about 3/4 of an inch. It has been sending a vibration through the drive petals for over a year but unfortunately I never figured out what the causing it until the pump came off. Now I suspect based on the noise that the splines on the pump or engine crank shaft are stripped out.

So here is my main question. How do you take the pump off? It is very difficult to access from the front even with the seat and surrounding panels removed. Is it easier to take the engine out or do you access it from the front with the engine still in place?

I know this post is old, but I was confused if you were talking about the hydraulic pump or hydrostatic pump. Both are labor intensive and time consuming. And no, the engine doesn't have to be removed to fix the hydrostatic pump. Just the hydraulic tank. Figuring out how to remove those side panels to get the tank removed took some time though.

 

[bgdumas]

Coming in late to the conversation but has anyone been able to find a repair manual for the LD50? I have searched high and low and only been able to find and download the parts book. Please let me know, thanks!

Have u found a manual.
If not I have one

 

[neale-o444]

Hey there, new member here! It's good to find a few other LD50 owners out there! Here is my machine:

- 1979 Prime-Mover LD50 (all original, including the paint)
- 558 original hours
- Stored inside it's entire life, owned by the same company (I'm the 2nd owner)
- Ford 172ci industrial gas engine
- Enclosed cab with heat

 

[neale-o444]

These machines came with 3 different engines. The 4 cylinder Continental 2.7L gas engine, the Deutz 2.8L diesel, and the John Deere 3164 or 3179 diesel. Mine has the John Deere. You can eventually find a service manual for the machine itself on e-bay if you keeping checking the site often. Just type "John Deere LD-50". A complete service manual will detail everything on the machine including all the part numbers. Any local hydraulic shop can rebuild the leaking cylinders. Just be sure to flush the entire hydraulic system and replace the filter. After draining the hydraulic tank there is also a drain plug under the hydraulic motor. Be sure to drain the tank first!!! It's a messy job and time consuming. It takes close to 14 gallons of high quality tractor fluid if the system is drained entirely. The good thing is the parts for the machine are still available and were used on different machines. However the service manual does NOT include anything about the engine itself. That has to be purchased separately. Good luck on finding one. If you need parts for anything else on the machine I can help you. I've replaced almost everything on mine, including the hydrostatic pump and hydraulic pump. But I have no info on the Continental 2.7 engine itself. I'm not sure what other brands of equipment that engine was used for. If you can find that out it may lead you in the right direction.

Hello, my Prime-Mover LD50 was built (or at least delivered new) to the original owner on April 18, 1979, (serial number 84) and has a Ford 172ci industrial gas engine from the factory. I am the 2nd owner of the machine.

 

[bgdumas]

Hello
I do have a manual that I got online. It's a PDF file format. Covers all info. Such as
the body or cab assembly to part numbers for all aspects of this machine. Some part numbers that have been changed are also noted. The pictures you sent are identical to mine. If this is what your after let me know and I will find a way to get this to you.
The price however is really pricey. Are you ready for this?
Absolutely FREE!
That's what I paid.

 

[bgdumas]

After reading all the posts again on this LD50 I noticed someone posted that removing the hydrostat involved removing the fluid tank. I may be reading it wrong.
I removed mine through the inside the cab. I could not fathom removing that tank.
So I just started taking apart the seat mounting area. Low and behold I got to the hydrostat. Keep in mind here, this was my first ever doing this. All hoses on the Stat had to be removed (of course) as well as anything attached to it. Long story short......
Whale there it was waiting to come out. No cherry picker was gonna get to this thing, and if you did you would give up.
So I followed my instinks on this. By the way I had an automotive shop specializing in auto trans rebuilding for 15 years. Also they call me Mr gadget. Ha ha
So here's what I did. This is not a patented routine.
I took a 2x4 that was as long as the roof lip inside the.
I had to beat it into place so it was snug.
I took an automotive scissor jack and bolted it to that 2x4. Once in the cab it was upside down.
I used 2 chains and attached them to the hydrostat.
After the last bolt was remove from the hydro it was now ready the removed. I used a 13/16 socket to lift and lower that unit. (Chains were run in such a way to allow the jack to hold the hydro)
I had to wiggle and wrestle the unit out but really the 2nd time was easier.
(Yep she still leaked out the front once installed)
So anyway there's a brief potential if anyone needs to do this repair.

 

[DKB]

After reading all the posts again on this LD50 I noticed someone posted that removing the hydrostat involved removing the fluid tank. I may be reading it wrong.
I removed mine through the inside the cab. I could not fathom removing that tank.
So I just started taking apart the seat mounting area. Low and behold I got to the hydrostat. Keep in mind here, this was my first ever doing this. All hoses on the Stat had to be removed (of course) as well as anything attached to it. Long story short......
Whale there it was waiting to come out. No cherry picker was gonna get to this thing, and if you did you would give up.
So I followed my instinks on this. By the way I had an automotive shop specializing in auto trans rebuilding for 15 years. Also they call me Mr gadget. Ha ha
So here's what I did. This is not a patented routine.
I took a 2x4 that was as long as the roof lip inside the.
I had to beat it into place so it was snug.
I took an automotive scissor jack and bolted it to that 2x4. Once in the cab it was upside down.
I used 2 chains and attached them to the hydrostat.
After the last bolt was remove from the hydro it was now ready the removed. I used a 13/16 socket to lift and lower that unit. (Chains were run in such a way to allow the jack to hold the hydro)
I had to wiggle and wrestle the unit out but really the 2nd time was easier.
(Yep she still leaked out the front once installed)
So anyway there's a brief potential if anyone needs to do this repair.

 

[DKB]

Sure isn't fun no matter how it's removed. It's a learning curve for sure. I opted to remove the fluid tank and side panels to give myself more room to get the pump removed.

 

[DKB]

Hello, my Prime-Mover LD50 was built (or at least delivered new) to the original owner on April 18, 1979, (serial number 84) and has a Ford 172ci industrial gas engine from the factory. I am the 2nd owner of the machine.

Yours is slightly older than mine. I not sure but I think 1979 was the first year these machines started production. Mine is also 1979. I use it a lot but only on my farm. I don't let anyone else use it because I don't want it abused. These machines can be dangerous because of lack of safety features.

 

[neale-o444]

Yours is slightly older than mine. I not sure but I think 1979 was the first year these machines started production. Mine is also 1979. I use it a lot but only on my farm. I don't let anyone else use it because I don't want it abused. These machines can be dangerous because of lack of safety features.

Man, this forum is great. There just isn't much information out there on these things, so finding other owners/operators (and repair folks, as we must be) is great! What is your serial number? I have a feeling that mine might have actually been built in 1978. There are several parts on the machine that say "1978." Like, my seat belt has a stitched label on it that says "1978" and a couple other things. I also believe that my Ford 172ci engine was manufactured in 1978 (Engine casting # D4JL 6007 K2.) Of course, it would make sense that building a 1979 machine would have been built in '78 and sold in '79. I'm curious to how many of these were built in total. Does anyone know? Who has the highest serial number around?

 

[neale-o444]

After reading all the posts again on this LD50 I noticed someone posted that removing the hydrostat involved removing the fluid tank. I may be reading it wrong.
I removed mine through the inside the cab. I could not fathom removing that tank.
So I just started taking apart the seat mounting area. Low and behold I got to the hydrostat. Keep in mind here, this was my first ever doing this. All hoses on the Stat had to be removed (of course) as well as anything attached to it. Long story short......
Whale there it was waiting to come out. No cherry picker was gonna get to this thing, and if you did you would give up.
So I followed my instinks on this. By the way I had an automotive shop specializing in auto trans rebuilding for 15 years. Also they call me Mr gadget. Ha ha
So here's what I did. This is not a patented routine.
I took a 2x4 that was as long as the roof lip inside the.
I had to beat it into place so it was snug.
I took an automotive scissor jack and bolted it to that 2x4. Once in the cab it was upside down.
I used 2 chains and attached them to the hydrostat.
After the last bolt was remove from the hydro it was now ready the removed. I used a 13/16 socket to lift and lower that unit. (Chains were run in such a way to allow the jack to hold the hydro)
I had to wiggle and wrestle the unit out but really the 2nd time was easier.
(Yep she still leaked out the front once installed)
So anyway there's a brief potential if anyone needs to do this repair.

Thanks for sharing this information. Conversations like this will help us all keep these ole' Honeys movin'!

 

[DKB]

My serial# is 211. The axles have "79" stamped on them. It doesn't have a foot control brake, only a hand brake. The others I've seen have a foot brake. Your machine looks like it's been well taken care of its entire life. My machine had to be brought back from the dead. The engine itself was good, but everything else needed work. The biggest expense (and the most fun) was replacing the hydrostatic pump. The machine is now in reliable working condition. A lot of people keep bugging me wanting to buy it but I can't do without it. I used it 2 hours yesterday.

 

[neale-o444]

My serial# is 211. The axles have "79" stamped on them. It doesn't have a foot control brake, only a hand brake. The others I've seen have a foot brake. Your machine looks like it's been well taken care of its entire life. My machine had to be brought back from the dead. The engine itself was good, but everything else needed work. The biggest expense (and the most fun) was replacing the hydrostatic pump. The machine is now in reliable working condition. A lot of people keep bugging me wanting to buy it but I can't do without it. I used it 2 hours yesterday.

Yeah, I will be going through and greasing everything (including all linkages that I can gain access to) and then do all fluid changes. After that, I'll use it a while, listen to what she's telling me she needs and go from there. My machine also has the hand brake, but I need to take a look at it since it isn't holding, but I can't imagine it needs to much repair, perhaps just some adjusting. Mine also wants to "creep" juuuust a tiny bit, (like an inch a second at low-mid idle) but I'm hoping cleaning up the pedal linkages and the pedal shaft will help it out (fingers crossed!) I'm also noticing that is has a hard time shifting between 1, 2 and N. These are my initial findings having just got it, and driven it for 15 minutes collectively. I've been stuck at work just chomping at the bit to explore this thing in further detail!


Future plans will be to convert it to accept any Bobcat Quick Tach attachment, and also run remote/aux hydraulics/electrical up front. Also, I will check my axels to see if there is a date on them as well.