My John Deere Story...

[855Idiot]

Continued from a previous thread.

...Enjoy your new tractor. If you don't mind me asking...what did you pay for your 855?

I purposefully avoided answering the price question until the ad where I bought it was deleted.
I didn't want anyone to feel bad.

Here is the story...

I paid $200 for my 1995 JD 855 Tractor because it was "barely running" and "not worth fixing".
I was told it was "down at least 1 cyl" and the tranny was "a ball of metal".
They used a large forklift and tractor to drag and lift the Tractor, onto the trailer, because it was dead and FEL was down.

As I'm driving home, I realized, I had no way to off-load the Tractor
because it would not drag down the trailer ramps and the FEL would damage the trailer, I borrowed!
As I'm driving home, I'm wondering what I had got myself into...
I had no way to unload it and once it was unloaded, I had no way to move it.
If you live in the country this is not a problem, I live in the city.
I towed it to a friends house with a yard that had a slight hill to meet the trailer deck.
I had to remove the front bucket then drag it off.

Expecting nothing and just for grins I tried to jump start it and see what would happen.
The cables heated up and it barely ran.
Similar to when your car won't turn off (dieseling).
Moving the throttle did nothing.
Turning off the key did nothing.
On the good side, it did "move" and the FEL did work.

My friend with the yard, just happened to be a diesel mechanic.

He observed me fooling around then walked over and said...
It would work better if you did this...

He put his finger in the dieseling motor and pushed the fuel injector solenoid.

The Tractor screamed to life!!!
No more dieseling,
The throttle worked,
The engine sounded perfect at all speeds.

And when I turned off the key....
It went back to dieseling and would not shut off.

Eventually I'll replace the solenoid, adjust it, or rubberband it.
For now, I dismount the Tractor and manually flip the solenoid forward to kill it.

But I'm smiling when I do it!
And that's my Deal of the Century Story!!

 

[texasjohn]

What a deal..... glad it worked out so easily.... happens occasionally.... people talk themselves into how bad (or good) something is and act accordingly..you won big on this one!

 

[gunmaker]

That's great...everybody oughta have such good luck once in a while! Good luck with her.

 

[Adiredneck]

That's awesome!

And the tranny? Hydro or gear? Does it need a rebuild, or were the tranny problems just part of the solenoid problem?

 

[855Idiot]

The engine works fine.
I think it was misdiagnosed and no one bothered to verify anything.
The stuck solenoid was the only thing messing up the motor.

Bad Things that caught my attention:
The tranny will sometimes make a noise when I start out.
It sounds like a brake drum groan--and I think that's what it is.
The water pump was weeping through the hole on the bottom side, so I replaced it.
It didn't come with a battery so I bought one.
The battery cables & connectors were corroded so I replaced them.
The tack cable was broken so I made one out of a universal speedo cable.
The steering wheel center cap is missing--I'd like to find one.
The idiot light icon cover is missing from the dashboard--I plan on making one.
The grill is long gone along with the right engine cover--I thinking on making a brush guard to protect that area.
There is no rust but there is a round spot on one side
where you rest your heal, the paint has worn off.
Missing the upper link.

I purchased a manual so I would know how to properly maintain it.

Good Things that caught my attention:
The cement is clean where ever I park it.
The tires are great.
The bucket is newer.
The yellow and green polished up nicely.

Ultimate Subaru Club Photo Gallery - JD 855 after 2 days of polishing - Powered by PhotoPost

At this point I'm in it a little less than $500 and a lot of wax and elbow grease.
I will never be this lucky again in my life!!!

Glenn

 

[Brimstone10x]

Nice unit ! you got a steal.

 

[EddieWalker]

I have a friend that fancies himself as a diesel expert, and it seems that whenever I have a problem, he comes over to lend a hand. He's also done this with my dump truck and even spent a few hours trying to help out. In two years, he's been wrong 100% of the time. I know another guy who used to own a big diesel truck repair shop. He would also come over and help out on my tractors when something went wrong. As of last month, I've had to redo and replace every single thing that he's helped me out with. He's retired now, and I've learned that his employess spent allot of time redoing the work that he did.

My point is that there are allot of people out there that get it wrong all the time and if you listen to them, it's real easy to get discouraged and believe them. I don't ask for help very often anymore as I've found it usually leads me down the wrong path. I will post it when I'm totally clueless, but that's always a last resort.

You got lucky on your tractor, but I'd sure love to hear the story of the guy who sold it to you and why he figured it was too much effort or expense to fix himself?

Congratulations,
Eddie

 

[Argohunter]

Wow that's quite a story. I recently test drove this 855 going for $9500.00 that was a 2 owner with 1300 hrs. That's a 60" bucket and it had a 60" JD back blade. At the time I thought it was too much but now after pricing other 855's, it may have been a good deal for my area.

 

[rtdiggr]

i not sure you got such a great deal, i tell you what i will give you $600 for all your trouble and you can start looking for "another good deal"

Shane

 

[Nuru]

Good, actually fantastic deal, are you considering fixing it up some more and trading it in on something newer?