655A or 655C

barty88

New User
I am in the market for a good used backhoe and the 2 I have run accross in my budget are a 1981 or 82 Ford 655A and a 655C. All options being equal I know the 655C has a bigger engine and its newer, a little cleaner, nicer, etc. but wondering about engine and tranny in both and whether
one is notoriously bad or good. Kind of like the Ford truck... the diesel engines were junk from 2011-2013... I just dont know about tractors. The 655A is in my budget, the 655C is as well but barely... is it worth $3,000 dollars extra for the 655C or is it a toss up based on use and
engine hours and the unknown oif a used tractor? Just looking for general advice as I research which route to go. I would obviously rather the 655C but it really stretches my budget.... worth it?
 
I don't think there is much to worry about on that end with either series, more important is the history of them and how well maintained they were. Torque converter shuttle transmissions, good to know the one each tractor is working properly. I've run a 655C before, definitely a good machine. I currently own a low hour 555C, so far, seems to check out to be a good machine, though my hydraulics seem to be noisy at times, had the same need for one of these, did the best I could and did pay a little more than I wanted to for one in a little better condition.
 
This won't help you much, but in my opinion they were both good machines for their era, and you would likely not go wrong with either one. Condition of course would be the deciding factor for me. Everything else being equal, I'd likely spend the extra money for the C, since it's a little more refined.
 
Not sure where you're getting those years for a 655A, but according to the New Holland parts site and other references, the 655A was made from 1985-1988, and the 655C was made from 1988-1993.

Also, according to my references, they both had the same 4 cylinder 256 ci engine with 4.4" bore x 4.2" stroke, although one reference says that the 655C had 8 more hp than the 655A. I'm not sure how they accomplished that other than by turning the pump up, or lying their advertising.

The 655A had either the 6x4 manual reversing transmission or the 4x4 torque converter auto reverser, both of which are the same basic transmission designs going back to the 4500 back in 1965. The 655C had the newer shuttle shift design, so I would give it points for that.
 

Don't know a lot about the industrials but the 555C was upgraded to a 256 engine at the same time the 655C 's hp was upgraded to the same 82 hp as the 6610 ag tractor with the 268 engine.
Makes me think the 655C may have been upgraded to the 268 engine as well.
 
(quoted from post at 07:01:37 11/03/19) I am in the market for a good used backhoe and the 2 I have run accross in my budget are a 1981 or 82 Ford 655A and a 655C. All options being equal I know the 655C has a bigger engine and its newer, a little cleaner, nicer, etc. but wondering about engine and tranny in both and whether
one is notoriously bad or good. Kind of like the Ford truck... the diesel engines were junk from 2011-2013... I just dont know about tractors. The 655A is in my budget, the 655C is as well but barely... is it worth $3,000 dollars extra for the 655C or is it a toss up based on use and
engine hours and the unknown oif a used tractor? Just looking for general advice as I research which route to go. I would obviously rather the 655C but it really stretches my budget.... worth it?

Go for the "A". The "C-s" had metalurgy problems and the booms liked to crack.
 
I've heard that and the previous owner of mine said one of his less than intelligent workers used the 555C to pound in some dock posts, explaining the caved in backhoe bucket and a few other minor things. I'd say this one was tested for some abuse, (idiot) been looking over the hoe but good, not a sign of this anywhere. Obviously, some people should never be allowed to run heavy equipment.
 
Obviously, some people should never be allowed to run heavy equipment.

So true.

I paid a local guy to dump a load of stone on my back parking pad where I park my RV so I can make it more level, and I and his helper both told him to drive up the hill past the spot and back down to dump it, but he insisted on backing up the hill from below. The main drive goes straight up and down the hill, so he had to back off of that to the side a little to get the back end where I wanted it dumped, and the hill is steeper on the lower side of the parking pad than the uphill side, and he ended up rolling the tri-axle dump truck over on its side.

mvphoto44841.jpg


Then once he got a tow truck to come and put it back on its wheels he ran over my, and my mother-in-law's mailboxes on the way out.


mvphoto44842.jpg
 
Sean, wow !!!! I drove tri-axle dump trucks and some places you just cannot dump, this is likely one of them. I've had operators try and persuade me to still attempt to place a load where it is convenient for them, but unsafe for me. Push came to shove, I'd drop is as close as was safe and that was that. One of the operators got "mouthy" about it, glad it did not go any further than that because at that age, would not have taken much for it to have escalated. I knew what was safe and what was not and the people I worked for entrusted me with this very large truck hauling upwards to 30 ton on one state road job where we were told it was ok to go over the weight limit.
 
Sean, wow !!!! I drove tri-axle dump trucks and some places you just cannot dump, this is likely one of them.

Billy,

The strange/funny/stupid thing is that he had dumped two loads by driving forward up the hill past the pad and then backing down to dump a couple of days earlier and he did that without a problem. I don't know why he decided to do it from the opposite direction this time.
 
(quoted from post at 04:27:14 11/04/19) I've heard that and the previous owner of mine said one of his less than intelligent workers used the 555C to pound in some dock posts, explaining the caved in backhoe bucket and a few other minor things. I'd say this one was tested for some abuse, (idiot) been looking over the hoe but good, not a sign of this anywhere. Obviously, some people should never be allowed to run heavy equipment.

The boom likes to separate from the steel casting that pins the boom to the swing tower. It can't hurt to keep an eye out for cracks once in a while. When you think of all the stupid $xxt people do with these things, you have to admire how tough they are.
 

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