Ford 555 brake adjustments

Reality Primate · May 19, 2022

Hi, newbe here....
I just replaced the brake actuating rod seals on my ford 555, and took it to work today, weirdly one of the brake pedals goes almost all the way to the floor, brakes worked great before seal replacement. I pulled the pins, unscrewed the yokes, replaced the seals, and put it back together. Both adjustments were using up all the threads at the yoke, so I put it back together the same way. What could have changed the brake balance between the two pedals? Scratching my head.

RodinNS · May 21, 2022

You need to go back and run the adjustment up on the brake rods themselves. The pedals would only give you the final adjustment.
Primary adjustment is on the rods. Shorten them up.

Rod

Reality Primate · May 21, 2022

(quoted from post at 12:08:30 05/21/22) You need to go back and run the adjustment up on the brake rods themselves. The pedals would only give you the final adjustment.
Primary adjustment is on the rods. Shorten them up.

Rod

thanks, I must be almost out of brakes, I double checked the adjustment at the rear end yokes, and my bad, I should have wrenched the jam nuts down all the way with a tool instead of "finger tight". All the adjustment is used up at both the rear end yolks, and under the dash rods.....did get them balanced, but it is the end game for these brakes, good thing I don't work them too hard. The hand brake was marginal, it was adjusted to its limit, I added a 3/8" shim under the cable end, and wow, I have a hand brake again.....amazing how just a couple spins on a jam nut can make so much difference at the pedal!

RodinNS · May 22, 2022

There's over an inch of adjustment travel on those rods. They do wear out eventually, but you'll probably have a lot of oil
contamination and problems before you ever run out of adjustment travel.

Rod

Reality Primate · May 22, 2022

(quoted from post at 05:26:59 05/22/22) There's over an inch of adjustment travel on those rods. They do wear out eventually, but you'll probably have a lot of oil
contamination and problems before you ever run out of adjustment travel.

Rod

I never would have realized they were out of adjustment because the brakes worked fine when I bought it years ago, never had to adjust the rods. The leaking rod oil seal was the only reason I ever worked on the brakes.
Looking at the rod ends under the dash, the yoke is threaded as far as it can go without the rod end hitting the cross-pin, I thought about cutting 1/4 inch off the threaded end to get more adjustment because the threaded section is longer than can be used.
The jam nuts and yokes at the rear end are also adjusted to the end of the threads. Brakes work well, and pedal seems OK, but there is no adjustment left.

I can see very rusted springs on the rods, and not sure what they do, or how they are put together, or how to get to them, (yet) Could there be a problem there that shows up as no adjustment left? Do the rods telescope with a spring damper of some sort? The manual does not show much besides a picture.

This post was edited by Reality Primate on 05/22/2022 at 02:05 pm.

RodinNS · May 23, 2022

If I understand you correctly, you're saying that the clevis is on the very end of the brake rod? If that's the case you should
have 2 of travel up the rod to adjust the brakes. If the clevis is all the way up the rod, then yes, you would indeed be out of
adjustment... but I can't imaging the brakes working correctly at that point.

I'm not sure what the springs are for unless it's part of the parking brake arrangement. If it has a separate hand brake
independant of the brake pedals, it's probably related to that.

Rod

Reality Primate · May 23, 2022

(quoted from post at 11:10:52 05/23/22) If I understand you correctly, you're saying that the clevis is on the very end of the brake rod? If that's the case you should
have 2 of travel up the rod to adjust the brakes. If the clevis is all the way up the rod, then yes, you would indeed be out of
adjustment... but I can't imaging the brakes working correctly at that point.

I'm not sure what the springs are for unless it's part of the parking brake arrangement. If it has a separate hand brake
independant of the brake pedals, it's probably related to that.

Rod

The rods under the dash are threaded so far into the clevis that any more they would hit the clevis cross pin....the springs are on those rods that hang down from the pedals, really hard to get to because the spring sections are after the rods go through the floor, hard to even see. On a different observation, the oil seals at the rear end are pulled out so far that the part that seals on the rod is about even with the seal flange....and the washers that are on the rods are hanging way out in the wind, but the brakes sure work good, easily lock up the rear tires. I don't use the brakes much, and hope they last a lot longer because it looks like a really big job to replace them!

This post was edited by Reality Primate on 05/23/2022 at 07:04 pm.

RodinNS · May 24, 2022

I'm not sure how hard it is to remove the axle housings on the TLB but on the ag tractors a brake job is generally not bad as long
as you can handle the housing. More work on yours with the sub frames no doubt. Tractors can be done in a day easily enough.
Probably half a day if no rops.

Rod

Ford 555 brake adjustments

Reality Primate

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RodinNS

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Reality Primate

New User

RodinNS

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Reality Primate

New User

RodinNS

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Reality Primate

New User

RodinNS

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