Ford 555 rear end leaking oil

coppolajc10 · Nov 16, 2019

Hello everyone, my 555 is leaking oil between rear end housing and transmission. The bolts loosened up and the gasket appears damaged at bottom. NH dealership said tightening bolts may work if I am lucky. They gave me two other options: 1) split tractor and replace gasket or 2) remove bolts, split 1 inch or so, clean well, and apply an epoxy based gasket/sealant.

Option one is expensive. Option 2 is considerably less money, but no guarantee.

Anyone here try option 2 with any success, or would I be wasting my money? Machine is used around farm a few times per month. Any advice will be appreciated.

Thank you.

coppolajc10 · Nov 16, 2019

RickB, they’re saying option one is 40-50 hour job, option 2 is 10-15 hours. I know they’re not removing hoe, not sure if they plan on taking loader off for option 1. So taking bolts out and getting a 1 inch gap is not as easy as they think, is that where you’d disagree? You’d have them do option 1? Thank you.

Roadworthy · Nov 16, 2019

Okay, this is you and your budget. If I was doing it I'd try the dealer's advice first - tighten the bolts and see what happens. You may wish to clean the threads well and apply a thread locker such as blue Loctite before tightening them hoping they won't work loose again. If that didn't work I'd probably try some type of gasket sealer or gasket maker. Use it sparingly so you don't have balls of it or whatever rolling around inside. Bear in mind if you are doing this limited split you will probably have to support both halves really well so nothing is bent or broken. This isn't quite as radical as splitting the cases completely but may be coming close.

RickB · Nov 16, 2019

coppolajc10 said:
RickB, they’re saying option one is 40-50 hour job, option 2 is 10-15 hours. I know they’re not removing hoe, not sure if they plan on taking loader off for option 1. So taking bolts out and getting a 1 inch gap is not as easy as they think, is that where you’d disagree? You’d have them do option 1? Thank you.

I deleted my post after considering that removing the axle housings as for a brake job would differ from splitting the rear axle center section from the transmission in that I can’t say with certainty how much clearance there is behind the center section.
Being uncertain about that detail, I will reserve comment on the estimates you have received beyond saying more than 6 full days of labor seems like a CYA estimate, but I have given those myself. I’d rather scare someone up front than make them mad after the job is done.