Run from Ford 555a with welds on bucket linkage?

[flyingfrog509]

Guys, I was looking at an 80 Ford 555a today. It was a county owned hoe then bought by a private party who is now selling it. The engine is rebuilt 200 hrs ago. Starts up and runs real good. Drives fine in all the gears. Digs good, has new teeth.

The bad:
Tires are pretty ratty
Doesn't have a tooth bar on the bucket
(where do I get one of them)
The brakes at least need adjustment, but might need to be replaced
(anyone know how hard that is OR how much to expect to pay to have it done?)
And most concerning...welds in places I wouldn't think would break with out serious abuse. Such as the pivots where the arms to the bucket connect. See images below.

The dude is asking 6500 for this hoe. Just want to make sure I don't get into this backhoe and then have to spend another 1-2000 just to get it good.

I'm only using it to clean up a dry creek bed, add some drainage to 4 acres of pasture, dig up stumps, general land clean up, and dig a basement into a hill side eventually.

 

[Phillip P]

looks very abused to me. You can not keep welding on the same spot of any piece of material and expect it to have the same inherent strength that the original material had, that is why it keeps cracking in the same place. in my experience all the old welding will have to be cleaned away to get back to the original material and slightly veed out to assist penetration of the weld, then rewelded with a low hydragen welding rod(stick not mig weld)and then look for a way to reinforce the joint by welding on a cross brace across the weld. If you can not do this your self and can not find somebody to help you this is not the machine for you.

 

[Mikefromcny]

WOW poor thing..555A's came out in 1984.

 

[flyingfrog509]

Well if they came out in 84, then I'm guessing the wool is attempting to be pulled over my eyes on yet one more thing. I'm so over this backhoe. Guess I'll just have to do this all over on the next one. Wonder how many beat up hoes I'll have to look at before I find one that just might last long enough to do what I need.

Either way thanks for all the feed back. Probably just saved me from myself.

 

[carogator]

Thats a $3000 machine if it runs really well.

 

[flyingfrog509]

serious 3K?

carogator - It does run real good, the engine was rebuilt ~200 hrs ago. But I don't think I put in that the brakes go to the floor, might be an adjustment...but since one side chatters a bit when I went to stop it & the other side just kind of came around instead of stop. If I could do the brakes myself then it might actually be worth doing the other work. I can do the grinding, v-ing, & rewelding. However I don't think the dude will come down to 3K from 6500. Do you think it is really worth making the offer any way? I mean heck I can use the hoe for what I need right now and fix the brakes a little further down the road. OR should I just keep looking.

 

[Mikefromcny]

Its probably worth a little more then 3k. Cant speak for the rest of the country, But 3K where I live will get you:
A 3 point hitch backhoe for a farm tractor
A Ford 8N with a pipe loader and pipe backhoe
A medium sized machine from the 70's not running needing major repairs

Last spring I watched 2 Ford 4500 TLBs sell at an auction, a running gasser brought $5500 and a non running diesel brought $3350, I bidded up to $3000.

Not to say the deals arent out there, Just usually by word of mouth.

How many hours are on it? I have a '81 555 I'm fixing up.

 

[flyingfrog509]

Its probably worth a little more then 3k. Cant speak for the rest of the country, But 3K where I live will get you:
A 3 point hitch backhoe for a farm tractor
A Ford 8N with a pipe loader and pipe backhoe
A medium sized machine from the 70's not running needing major repairs

Last spring I watched 2 Ford 4500 TLBs sell at an auction, a running gasser brought $5500 and a non running diesel brought $3350, I bidded up to $3000.

Not to say the deals arent out there, Just usually by word of mouth.

How many hours are on it? I have a '81 555 I'm fixing up.

I don't know how many hours are on the machine but the engine has about 200 hrs on it. If that helps as tall.

 

[Phil]

A welded crack is not necessarily a bad thing, if it's done correctly. Does devalue the machine somewhat especially if in a critical area. Sometimes they can be redone, sometimes a proper job can't be done without taking parts off. I only use dry 7018 rod for any cracks I weld. The machine has obviously been overloaded at some point. The brakes may be internal, not sure, I always figure the worst. I would be more concerned with what you can't see, the drive-train. The Ford does have one sweet running engine. Phil

 

[jimg984]

the brakes are internal.......... but do have extenal adjustment on the rods at the opposite end of brake pedals......... check extra movement on the swing pins of the backhoe boom

 

[OneWelder]

If you think you are going to buy a thirty year old machine and NOT spend money in repairs you are wrong. No matter how good a shape it is in sooner or latter it is going to have to be fixed ,. Repairs done by somebody other than yourself are easily going to be in the 1200 to 2000 dollar range
Think about what complete service would cost - Motor, trans/ rear hyd. sys
Take the people who are going to fix it and get repair estimates, and machine evaluation

 

[Snuffy]

I'm not sure what part of the country you're in but I bought a Ford 555a about 5 years ago after looking for months. I paid 8k for it knowing it wasn't a machine you'd want on a job site working 8 hours a day. In other words, I knew it wasn't a new machine but here in the south TLB's can hold their value.
I use mine on my twenty acres digging stumps, trash moving, clearing, etc. I have had to split it to fix transmission, and am now repacking cylinders.
I'm not a mechanic by any means but fairly mechanically inclined and this type of work is stress relief for me.
As much as this machine has helped me and as hard as I've worked it I have no complaints on the price.
Hope this helps.
Carl

 

[brian falcone]

interesting.

up here you cant buy a working backhoe foe less than 6 grand. my dad sold his 60s internatiuonal in need of an injector pump for 6500. we had a ford 655a at work and it was a tank. yeak it was ugly and uncomfortable but it would not stop. we finally traded it in for a new cat but im sure its still running to this day. ive never seen loader frames crack like these have. i would think the bucket would crack or bend before this part. if it was a town machine perhaps it was struck by a car or truck while working on a road. a hard impact may explain the cracks. personally if i was in the market for a used hoe. id offer him 6, use it for everything you need to then sell it. but like i said running working hoes are worth that price here all day long

 

[2stickbill]

The welds in the picture was not done by a welder.Welds do not crack if done right and the patch plates are junk.A good welder would gouge out then weld with out patch plates.
A welder would laugh at these welds.

 

[mitch504]

I have owned a couple and worked on several more 70's and 80's fords and those kinds of cracks are not uncommon. I almost never see a good running useable backhoe for less than that.
Carogator, what part of SC are you from?

 

[rockdog]

Wow, I paid $11,500 for my 410B. Every old hoe has problems as stated above. Don't plan on not fixing things on a 20 to 30 year old hoe. That's just not realistic.
I've rebuilt the main hydro pump and replaced two spool valves. I now have a good old dependable hoe. But I bought it knowing that I'd have to do repairs as needed.

 

[KevD815]

I'm currently employed as a welder for a site work contractor...

That being said, those welds make me sick. The only thing worse than those welds are those splice plates. But all hope is not lost. Spend a weekend and grind off that horror show. Vee out the original cracks, preheat the area to the appropriate temp, and weld 'er up with some NEW 7018. Make sure you select the right size rod for the amperage and dont try to fill the whole area in one pass. Make multiple passes and dont make beads more than about 2.5 times wider than the electrode. Go ahead and add some reinforcing plates if needed.

Also, wash the machine really well and really inspect the boom, frame, etc for more cracks. From my experience if theres 1 crack theres bound to be more.

 

[SouthOnBeach]

I agree with KevD. Those welds are horrid! but nothing that a grinder and some proper welding can't fix. Fords are known to have stronger hydraulics then others which lead to more cracking then others. if it runs strong and the hydraulics are good, I'd say 6k would be a good deal I think.

 

[daman]

I'm currently employed as a welder for a site work contractor...

That being said, those welds make me sick. The only thing worse than those welds are those splice plates. But all hope is not lost. Spend a weekend and grind off that horror show. Vee out the original cracks, preheat the area to the appropriate temp, and weld 'er up with some NEW 7018. Make sure you select the right size rod for the amperage and dont try to fill the whole area in one pass. Make multiple passes and dont make beads more than about 2.5 times wider than the electrode. Go ahead and add some reinforcing plates if needed.

Also, wash the machine really well and really inspect the boom, frame, etc for more cracks. From my experience if theres 1 crack theres bound to be more.

Kev what's your thoughts on using high tensile strength wire and mig welding these types of cracks or would a buzz box and 7018 be better still?

 

[flyingfrog509]

Thanks for all the advice

Well I ended up taking someone with me to look and he had a lot of bad things to say about several other problems that I don't even think the current owner knew were there. I didn't want to dive into a TLB that needed brakes & the reverser thing. (yes I don't know the right terms yet)

HOWEVER only after looking at about 5 more backhoes I came across an old timer who still plays with backhoes and had two. I ended up getting his Case 580ck 70's vintage. Everything works. He dug a huge hole and ran it pretty hard for me wo/incident. So for about 6K I'll get some work in before I have to fix anything. My wife is very happy. OK, everything isn't perfect the tires are about shot and there was one crack on the cross member up by the loader that I'll have to fix. They just welded a plate on the one side and called it a day. I don't know why people can't seem to weld or read a welding manual. He is suppose to bring it up to me this weekend, so I'll start another thread to show off the new toy and start getting advice as needed.