What did I bring home?

steel1st

New User
Hello! I'm new on here. I think I have a Michigan 55 or 55a but only think for sure it is a Michigan. It has rear wheel steering, a 353 detroit diesel and no ID plate that I have found. I bought this sight unseen and found it to be bigger that I thought it would be from the pictures. I wanted a 4x4 loader/fork lift, but it was originally a tunnel scrubber of all things. It has about 960 hours on it and hasn't been run for a long time. I'm hoping to convert it to the loader configuration after I cut off all the scrubber iron. I'll try to add some pictures. ID help is appreciated as there is not too much I can find on the net about this so far.

Thanks
 
Thanks Greg

To haul it home the front and rear sections were unbolted. They made the unit too high. The front lower section was too involved to be removed in short order so it rode home the 400 miles. The machine was quite large all together and employed large wire brooms to do the scrubbing Must have been a sight when operating. It had 3 seats so I'm guessing a possible 3 man crew. Like I said earlier there will be much iron removal, then I'm hoping I can find the bucket attachment that fits this model, which ever model it is. Appreciate the help!
 
The steering wheel, and 2 levers to the left of it remind me of a Hough 30 loader I used to operate years ago. As I recall, one lever was forward and reverse, the other was 3 speed transmission. That was
wheel rear steer, but had a 6 cylinder International gas motor.
 
I googled a couple of youtube videos and it appears to look like a michigan 55. If it is a Michigan where would the serial number be located?
 
Bret, 1st I would like to find out what model of machine it is. Then find the associated loader parts and in the mean time remove all the scrubber attachments. They are
bolted on for the most part. There is welded bracing that needs removed down by the lower loader pivots. Ideally I need a parts machine. Sometime parts show up
immediately sometimes it takes years, but I know they are out there.
 
Hi Tom, Did you look at the pictures of my machine? Is that what I have a 55a? Can you post or send me some pictures of your 55a? What repairs does yours need?

Thanks,
Greg
 
Haven't looked to see if it's a 55 or 55A, don't really know the difference. The transfer case is bad on mine, won't go into 4 wheel drive. Want to sell the whole works. Lots of parts you can use.
 
Can you send me some pictures? I too have had a hard time figuring out the differences between a 55 and a 55a. I have seen many pictures of Michigan loaders, but I don't know which models are which. The early ones had a safety issue with the loader arms pivot points being behind the operator which was corrected with the series II models. Then there were series III models that may have to do with steering. I think mine is classified as a series II, loader pivots in front of the operator with rear wheel steering. Does this site have a way to contact you privately, without posting our email addresses for the spammers? I'll see what I can find. I would be interested in buying your machine for parts.
I got a call from the prior owner today that found an operators manual and will be sending that to me. I'm hoping it will shed some light on the model of Michigan I have.

Thanks,
Greg
 
(quoted from post at 17:47:49 10/27/15) Can you send me some pictures? I too have had a hard time figuring out the differences between a 55 and a 55a. I have seen many pictures of Michigan loaders, but I don't know which models are which. The early ones had a safety issue with the loader arms pivot points being behind the operator which was corrected with the series II models. Then there were series III models that may have to do with steering. I think mine is classified as a series II, loader pivots in front of the operator with rear wheel steering. Does this site have a way to contact you privately, without posting our email addresses for the spammers? I'll see what I can find. I would be interested in buying your machine for parts.
I got a call from the prior owner today that found an operators manual and will be sending that to me. I'm hoping it will shed some light on the model of Michigan I have.

Thanks,
Greg

Heres a link to a parts manual for a 55A Series 1 free from MinnPar:

http://www.minnpar.com/partbooks/Michigan/Wheel%20Loaders/55A%20and%2055B%20%201657.PDF

Heres a link to a parts manual for a 55A Series 2 free from MinnPar:

http://www.minnpar.com/partbooks/Michigan/Wheel%20Loaders/55A%20II%20Belgium.PDF

Couldn't find anything on a straight 55.
 
I wasn't able to edit my post above to fix the link, but you can go to this website and get the parts manuals for free.

http://www.minnpar.com/

Looks like you have a 55A Series 2 from the pictures.
 
Thanks to all who posted! To all that thought this is a Michigan 55a... You are correct!. The prior owner found the owners manual. A nice copy too. Many blanks are being filled. Now that I know for
sure what it is, I can now say I'd be interested in a 55a parts machine that has all the bucket hardware that makes it a loader,

Thanks,
Greg
[email protected]
 

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