Help me help a friend

Got a call from him a while ago (didn't know he had bought across the creek from me) and in short he has a '57 Super Oliver 55 diesel that came with his acreage. Believe it or not this guy (the tractor) has been taken care of. I was impressed enough to want to help him.

I have the battery off and am charging it for him tonight. The oil is clean, has a new starting solenoid, tank is full of clean diesel, has a new exhaust pipe and looks like it will kick right off with a fresh charge.

Tomorrow we will put the battery back in and go for it..... yahoo for him.

Ok. Being I'm a blue and the other green guy I know nothing about names sake. I figured out how the shift lever works with a little help from the dash chart.

Questions:

1. What is the knob on a long rod on the left side that connects to where the starter joins the man tractor housing?

2. It has what appears to be key starting. You can rotate the key clockwise and the starter spins (not fast as the battery is almost dead). Ok?

3. To the right of the key is what looks like a starter saftey switch (on a Ford) or like what we used to use in an automobile for a bright headlight switch mounted on the dash. What does it do?

4. On top of the tranny is an access cover of about 1.5 inches in diameter. I guess this is where you add tranny fluid. On the ground under the tranny area is a lot of oil and it looks like 90 wt. I'm assuming the tranny has an input seal out or something like that.

I need to know if the trans/hyd/diff is a common sump or if not how many sumps , and where do I determine the proper full level for all sumps. Need to know the oil of choice for all sumps.

So thanks for your help in helping me help a really nice guy that just does his best at work to help you. He is what I wish I were..... well as far as that goes. I'll take my mechanical aptitude. Grin.

Mark

2.key starting is correct.

3. The switch that looks like a dimmer switch is the manifold heater switch for cold weather starting.

4. the tansmission and hydraulic units have seperate reservoirs. to check the oil level inthe transmission there is a plug just to the right of the power takeoff. remove this plug and fill tranny til fluid just begins to run out. of course tractor should be on level ground.
to check hydrualic level there is a dip stick just to the right rear of seat. it is marked with high and low marks.
As for the correct tansmission fluid, there seems to be a controversy about. I have an original 550 users manual that specifies 10w30 motor oil for both the transmission and hydraulics, but I have seen many posts on this forum that recommends 80w90 gear oil for the transmission. The oil on the ground doesn't sound too good. One source of this could be a leak around the pto clutch seals. To get to these seals you have to split the tractor. This is not extremely difficult but is time consuming. If you haven't done this before you will need a good manual.
good luck!

Mark

Remember I'm guessing some here.

Thanks,

Mark