Ford 5500 backhoe oil pan/pump removal

hey all
slowly getting this beast of a machine back to 100%
It sat for 15 years and when I bought it I could see multiple stages of repairs of people trying to fix the tractor....main issue ended up being the power steering pump was aerating the hydraulic system which would overflow like mad. Ive solved all that and drove the tractor the 5 miles from my fathers metal shop to my property where Ill be building a house. I did overheat to about 215 degrees, thermostat got stuck. cooled and knocked on housing and back to 160degrees.
regrettably I had put in a conventional 20w50 in the engine before the trip. I replaced that with a straight rotella diesel 30wt. ive noticed the engine oil pressure on startup is around 50 psi. once at operating temperature the pressure gauge will be at 20 and below.
Ive also noticed that when I got the tractor someone had added an oil temp sender, I removed that and in its place is where I hooked up the mechanical pressure gauge line. Im pretty sure this is after the filter in the flow...should pressure gauge be in between pump and filter?

Im hoping that I didnt damage anything during the drive using the wrong oil with the pedal to the floor...she went about 30 mph and it was great.

So I attempted to remove the oil pan..had a jack set up loosened the front engine mount bolts and removed the pan bolts. It seems that it should come down without separating the front axle like you have to with the 5000s.
The pan didnt budge. wrapped on it with a board and sledge and nothing. I read a post where someone said they chiseled it down but i was hesitant and didnt have a chisel...then came to think that if the gauge sender location is in the wrong spot, and to save some time and headache, then the filter may be causing the low pressure. So I replaced the pan bolts and mounts. Installed a new filter and the 30 weight again and the pressure seemed higher and more responsive but when warm still went down to below 20 but would raise with the engine to around 40 psi. Tomorrow, Im going to move the gauge plug in location to one of the other ports inline with the pump flow and see if that helps....the engine does sound different when hot but I cant trust that its a bad sound.
should i just increase the weigh of oil im using?
does anyone know is there clearance to pull the pan down on top of the engine mounts on a 5500?
and second....how does it come off? pry it? yes i know its heavy
thanks
sorry for the story



top circle previous temp sender/where i hooked pressure line
bottom circle where I think I should hook pressure, looks like someone plugged it previously

According to the parts list the engine has a tem sender unit after the filter, the oil pressure is shown behind the alternator, the first oil you put in did not do any damage and could have left in, the 20psi pressure when hot is good enough, it is not a new engine, as long as it's running ok and no knocks I would leave it.
AJ

Thanks for the info AJ. I think I know where that should go then. I guess that temp sender would be for the warning light. Ill re route the pressure line so I can be sure to get a more accurate reading.

Are your oil pressure readings at idle or operating rpm
Had some oil pressure issues with one of my 4000 s a few years ago and had installed a gauge to check actual pressures
After repairs with cold oil psi was around 50 at idle and reached a max of 75 psi at 1800 rpm
After a hard workout it had 40-50 psi at 1800 and 20-25 at hot idle
This was checked while running the 15w40 diesel oil I normally use

If the oil pan hasn t been off before they are stuck tight
You have to remove the big bolts from both ends of the pan plus the normal oil pan bolts
On my 4500 there are som shims between the pan and front axle you need to keep up with

That s a later model engine that s been swapped in at some time, it doesn t appear to have been run much since it hasn t burn the paint off of the exhaust manifold

Thanks destroked. Good to get more confirmation on the
condition of the engine as I was told it had less than 100
hours. 71 hp has some bass and sounds good!

Those psi readings were at idle. Since changing the oil filter
I have more pressure. It still gets below 20 when hot not
sure im comfortable with that but Ill keep my ears open
while operating.

I looked up the BSD 444 engine schematic info and they had no
pressure line just a low pressure light.

Ive got no bolts through trans to pan. Only front mount
bolts and the 20 pan bolts. Im guessing these mounts are
different than those youve seen? doesnt seem like theres room to drop the pan with the mounts there. Ive got all the manuals but none say how to remove pan on the 5500.





top of mount engine mount/6 bolts total 2 on pan



location of my pressure gauge

front pan/mount bolts not much clearance to lower pan

Ford went to the warning light in 65
Until I had issues with the 4000SU I never knew what the oil pressure was on these tractors
As long as the warning light went out and stayed out it didn t matter
On that tractor after 350 hours on a fresh overhaul the warning light would flash on and off at hot idle, so I installed a gauge to see if it really did have low pressure or a issue with the light
Turned out it did have low pressure due to a broken crank
Machine shop ground the crank wrong
As long has you ve got at lease 10 psi at hot idle and 25+ at operating rpm it ll be fine

Rebuilt a 550 Oliver for my granddad years ago, when we got it going he asked me how much oil pressure it had,
I told him 15 psi and he said that was 2 psi more than it had when he bought it new

Thanks for that info Destroked.
So I guess I should be good then. Would anyone advise against putting a quart of engine honey in to thicken it a bit? When I originally drained the engine oil it was very thick.