Man, you guys are great! My Ford 555 power reversing tra

Reality Primate · May 21, 2022

So I have an old 1988 Ford 555 backhoe, it lives in retirement, goes into the woods to dig up and push over a few Alder trees, but it has always shifted weird. I have to "throw" the lever hard to get it to shift, just took it apart far enough to see that the shift lever ball joint down under the fuel tank is sloppy, but damn, to get to it I need to remove the fuel tank......so sometimes I shift into reverse and it seems like it is delayed, other times I slam it into reverse and it goes right away. Today I was deep in the woods, nose first, and it took quite a while to get reverse.....weird thing is I know the clutches are strong, I could drag the space shuttle in reverse or foward.....is this just a linkage thing? The delay is weird, I can slam it into reverse, and after 20 seconds or so, it hits....looking at the shifter I can see that the last owned ground the slot bigger so there would be more throw on the lever......this must be a common problem?

Sean in PA · May 22, 2022

They only made the 555 up through 1983. If it is a 1988 tractor then it is either a 555B or 555C, which used different setups for the forward/reverse shifter.

Check Break · May 23, 2022

(quoted from post at 20:23:38 05/21/22) So I have an old 1988 Ford 555 backhoe. t has always shifted weird. I have to "throw" the lever hard to get it to shift, just took it apart far enough to see that the shift lever ball joint down under the fuel tank is sloppy, but damn, to get to it I need to remove the fuel tank......so sometimes I shift into reverse and it seems like it is delayed, other times I slam it into reverse and it goes right away. Today I was deep in the woods, nose first, and it took quite a while to get reverse.....weird thing is I know the clutches are strong, I could drag the space shuttle in reverse or foward.....is this just a linkage thing? The delay is weird, I can slam it into reverse, and after 20 seconds or so, it hits....looking at the shifter I can see that the last owned ground the slot bigger so there would be more throw on the lever......this must be a common problem?

If you have a 1988 555B, grinding the slot out makes sense. If you have a 1978 555, I'm drawing a blank re grinding. What you describe can be a linkage problem. The main valve in the shuttle is not traveling full stroke, hence the feeling that it's slamming into F or R when the valve engages. Begin your linkage exam inside the bellhousing at the valve. There is a tiny pin that connects the valve to a bellcrank. This pin wears and the bellcrank does not push or pull the valve through its complete range of motion. You can watch the pin's travel by removing the inspection cover under the bellhousing. It's a bit hard to change it from underneath so if you pull the fuel tank, have it from the top by pulling the cover plate off the top of the bellhousing which is under your fuel tank. Check the vertical shaft (linkage) in the bellhousing to see that it is rotating reasonably. This shaft and bearings get a little wear, but not enough to affect your shift, unless you can see the shaft wobbling around. If the roll pin that pins the bellcrank to the vertical shaft is starting to shear, this will affect the position of the bellcrank and affect your shift. It should, however, only affect one direction of travel. From the top of the vertical shaft (top/outside of bellhousing), follow the linkage back to your shift knob. Every rod end, pin and flange bearing that's worn out will affect your linkage travel. Yes the fuel tank sometimes has to come out. May as well clean it out while you're at it. The muffler isn't fun to remove either.

Man, you guys are great! My Ford 555 power reversing tra

Reality Primate

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Sean in PA

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Check Break

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