Jd 555a Crawler Loader

[jboettcher]

I have a 555A John Deere. I rebuilt the right finale drive that was leaking. Pushed good but leaked oil. All the seals and bearings were junk. When I installed I "did not" tighten the set screw on the splin/shaft that goes into the the clutches. Now it does'nt leak but it also does not push on the right side. I was told that I had proberly let the clutches slide back and ruptured the hydrulic line which pressurises the right clutches. I have started to take off the fuel tank so I can get to the top of the right side. I'm hoping to find that line cut and a simple replacement. Has anyone run into this before and any words of wisdom for me as I tackel this problem?

Myassitis

 

[srs_mn]

Yes, I agree... the clutch pack probably slid over and tore the hose.
When you get the new hose installed, make sure that the clutch pack is in the correct location so that the set screw will bottom out in a detent or slot on the shaft. In other words, the set screw can't be just tightened any old place, it has to go into a specific spot milled into the shaft. This is one of those undocumented things that the manuals never go into much detail about, but all the mechanics seem to know about it when you tell them what happened.
srs

 

[jboettcher]

555a

SRS
Thanks for the prompt reply. Second question. While I'm in there how hard/difficult would it be to pull streeing clutches and how do I gauge them to see if replacement is in order? Remember, I'm a shade tree machanic at best who must do his own repairs. Do you think I'm going to far? It is going to take quite a bit to remove all the steel hoses to just get to things. I don't wish to remove the finale drive again unless I absolutly have too. That was lots of work and I think I did a good job on the seals and bearing replacement. I might mess something up if I pull it again.

Myassitis

 

[srs_mn]

First off - I'm no mechanic, but I worked on, and with, a few of these old JD's as an owner/operator twenty years ago... mine were 450C's, but they have pretty much the same guts.
IF I remember correctly, you can pull the steering clutches from the top without removing the tracks/finals, but it's still going to be a pretty fair amount of work as there's a lot of stuff to get out of the way first.
I would recomend that you get a shop manual and a parts catalog so you don't wreck something expensive in there.
Second - since you can fix your main problem, the hose, from the top, by removing a cover and bending a wrench to get the hose out, I would recommend you just replace the hose, tighten up the set screw, and go out and see how it works... Did it push OK before you did the seal job? if so, your work is done... Don't fix it if it ain't broke yet. If you do need more work in there, the parts are all available from JD and other suppliers, but bring your checkbook.
By the way, there's no way I would go to all the trouble of pulling a steering clutch just to see what it looked like in there!!! If you take it apart, you might as well replace everything that moves.
srs

 

[jboettcher]

Sns

SNS
You hit it on the head. After much struggle I removed the top of the streeing clutch without removing the hydrolic tank. I stuck my hand down on the hose and half way down the hose is ruptured. My son, who does mechanical work on large equipment (not dozers) is going to make a replacement. Now I just need to figure out how and where to get that set screw in the correct place. Thats scheduled for this week end. Thank you for getting me this far. Another question. The crawler did push good, however the transmission at best runs only about 35#. Just in the green. Any wisdom on that. I never had a transmission temperture gauge so did not know if it was getting hot. I bought a new sensor and will install it also. I'm taking your recommendation and will not pull clutches.

Myassitis

 

[srs_mn]

Hello again,
You need to take a plug out of the final drive housing to get at the set screw and line it up in the correct place on the shaft...
Here is a discussion on the very same problem you are having trouble with from the 'Yesterdays Tractors' (YT) site:

http://www.ytmag.com/cgi-bin/viewit.cgi?bd=crawlers&th=60156

I really don't know anything about JD550/555's other than they have a reputation for having expensive transmission problems when they get a few thousand hours on them. Do a search for "555" on the YT Crawler site and you will find lots of information on them - probably more than you want to know.
srs