Putting a Ford 555 hoe on a Massey Ferguson backhoe??

[jshwhite]

I'm considering purchasing a Massey Ferguson backhoe. Not sure the tractor model (it's one of the industrial series), with a 54a hoe on it. The swing motor/rotary cylinder seal has gone out, and the spline is badly worn. I can't find a seal kit, and if I could it would be over $1000. Crazy.
But the guy is selling it at a good price considering and the rest of the machine is in good shape. So I found another guy selling a Ford 555 backhoe for parts. Front end is gone but the hoe is all there. So my question is, how easily could I put the 555 hoe on the Massey?
I don't mind a bit of work, but I know absolutely nothing about these older backhoes. I don't want to get in over my head. How do they mount/disconnect? It is pretty standard across makes, or are they proprietary?
I'm hoping someone might be able to shed some light on this. I've attached a picture of each machine. Thanks View attachment 756097

 

[Rich B1]

Hopefully the purchase price of both are less than the scrap value. Sorry to be harsh, but that is reality on these old machines.

I don’t think your gonna find that this is an easy swap. The TLB’s from the bigger OEM’s were integrated machines and not add on attachments. You are gonna be doing a lot of fabricating and engineering with no guar enter it will ever work.

 

[crashz]

I don't see the Massey photo and know nothing of those TLBs, but know that the Ford is not a removable backhoe. The swing frame is a part of the tractor frame. The swing cylinders are part of it too. I'm sure it could be done, but there is a lot of heavy fabrication to do.

 

[true temper]

I think its a great idea, need to do a little fabrication and welding. Will make a good tractor. Hydraulics should be plug and play.

 

[joecdeere]

Hoe detaches pretty easy as a unit, it’s 6 or 8 bolts holding it to the tractor, we took them off all the time for repairs when I was at Ford in the 80’s and 90’s. Do realize that’s in the neighborhood of 4000 or so of very top heavy steel and every cylinder is gonna have air in it so it’s gonna try to lay over, unfold, and everything else to not help! They came of easy when the hydraulics worked. Please be careful if you tackle this as a projects. Slide under the rear of the tractor and you’ll better understand how it mounts.

 

[crashz]

I stand corrected. I never knew it bolted on so far inboard under the cab. My father had a "triple nickel" for 20 years and i never saw those mounting bolts.

 

[jshwhite]

Thanks everyone for the replies. Super helpful. joecdeere, sounds like you've had some experience with them! The issue would be, even if both hoes come off relatively easily, whether the bolt patterns are the same between them. I'm guessing no.

The other option of course is to take the Massey swing motor out and convert the hoe to the standard two-cylinder system. That might be less fabricating than trying to put the Ford hoe on the Massey.

Maybe I should just buy the Massey, take some measurements of the bolt patterns and then go measure the Ford before buying it. If it's not easy enough to put the Ford on the Massey, I'll just convert the rotary over.