The old girl is coming together....

[Mechanos]

Got it, thanks for the clarification.
Rob

No problem... I guess I should have posted a picture or two.... could have saved us both a couple thousand words. :laughing:


Got some mroe accomplished tonight.... straightened a bunch more bent and tweaked pieces, removed some tabs from the donor 855 and got them welded onto the 955's radiator support. Got the oil cooler mounted and lines hooked up. The discouraging part is... I'm afraid I'm going to have to get the radiator re-cored. The tubes are so paper thin, I made a little damp spot on one just by looking at it cross-eyed.

 

[Mechanos]

Been getting a lot done the last few days. Got the bent and twisted radiator support cut apart and reworked with some pieces from the donor 855. It's just tacked together for now... I won't finish weld it until I get the hood mounted to make sure it's all square and good to go.

Didn't get the transaxle buttoned up over the weekend like I wanted to since some of my parts didn't show up in time. Got those parts yesterday and got the PTO shaft reassembled last night. Got the shaft installed in the rear cover and the got the cover installed. Also finished buttoning up all the loose lines, gear pump etc... Reinstalled the fuel tank, fill it with hydraulic oil and it's all ready to fire up and see if will move under it's own power.

That's when it hit me... I was distracted while I was filling the tractor by a phone call from a friend who is going to give me his 5' brush hog since it "looks rediculous" behind his new-to-him Farmall 760. Anyway, I over filled the tractor by about 2 qt. of hydro oil. I had planned on hooking up an open hose to the loader ports to flush them out anyway... the oil cooler lines to the front of the tractor and oil cooler are dry... the power steering circuit is also dry enough that cylinder will not move when turning the wheel (engine off).

So, my question is... is it safe to start the tractor as it is with 2qts. too much fluid and just blow some out the loader ports? Or do I need to drain a the extra fluid from the tractor before I attempt to fire it up?

 

[hanson1999]

itll be fine....start it up and run it for a bit and check it. you might use up a lot of that oil to fill those circuits...

 

[Mechanos]

Overall, tonight was good night. After work, I headed out to the barn and put the 955 up on jackstands (so I could run the transmission and turn the front wheels easier to bleed out the steering cylinder. Set the battery in the tray, took a deep breath and hit the key. It started immediately!! I bet it didn't even turn over a half revolution before it started. While it sat there idling, I check things over for leaks.... all looks good there.

Then I proceded to cycle the steering to bleed that circuit..... all good there, steering works. Then I flushed out the SCV lines down to the loader ports with an open ended hose into a bucket. Checked the implement pump pressure.... a little over 2500 psi peak, about 2200 psi once the PRV opened.

Dropped it into gear and cycled the hydro pedals. Much to my pleasure, the swapped in donor transmission works just fine, but I do need to adjust the linkage a little to correct for some hydro creep in neutral. I could manually feather out the creep by playing with the foot pedals, so I'm confindent that I can adjust the creep out of it. Check the MFWD and the output shaft turns so that is good (I don't have the MFWD driveshaft installed yet).

That is where my luck ran out.... I don't have the seat switch installed yet either, to I manually bypassed the magnet and engaged the PTO lever. Neither the mid nor the rear PTOs would engage, so I've got a gremlin somewhere in there. Next up was the 3PH... moved the lever to the up position and much to my delight the lift arms raised. However, much to my dismay, I cannot get the rockshaft to lower.... it will go up, but will not go back down, even with significant down pressure on the lift arms. I think I'm going to start another thread on those two issues to draw more attention to those specific problems.

 

[Mechanos]

Tonight was a milestone. Got lastnights issues resolved. Took care of the hydro creep with a simple adjustment to the eccentric on the trans linkage. Took it down off the jackstands and drove it around the pasture, made a loop around the pond, ran up by the pear trees to see how many pears were blown off the tree with last night's storm and then back to the barn.

It's good feeling to know that the project I invested a bunch of money and time in finally works!

 

[Mechanos]

Although it's is still stripped of most of it's sheetmetal and body panels, the 955 was given its first task Sat. morning. I needed to move the 3-legged parts donor to a more permanent spot. I made a deal to sell it's wheels and tires, so it needed to be moved to more long-term spot since it was about to become a lot more difficult to move. Used a drawbar in the 3PH to pick up on the front end of the donor and tow it to the new spot.

Here's a pic of the "tow truck":


I got my new front tires mounted today. I must say it looks a LOT betteer with the correct size tires on it. It was too late (getting dark) to get a pic with the new tires on it.

 

[Johndeere3720]

Although it's is still stripped of most of it's sheetmetal and body panels, the 955 was given its first task Sat. morning. I needed to move the 3-legged parts donor to a more permanent spot. I made a deal to sell it's wheels and tires, so it needed to be moved to more long-term spot since it was about to become a lot more difficult to move. Used a drawbar in the 3PH to pick up on the front end of the donor and tow it to the new spot.

Here's a pic of the "tow truck":
View attachment 177368

I got my new front tires mounted today. I must say it looks a LOT betteer with the correct size tires on it. It was too late (getting dark) to get a pic with the new tires on it.

looks like fun pulling that 855 around. What really is left on that 855? i just see the frame, tranny, operator station, ROPS, and sheetmetal. Are you planning on using the sheetmetal from the 855 for the 955?

 

[Mechanos]

looks like fun pulling that 855 around. What really is left on that 855? i just see the frame, tranny, operator station, ROPS, and sheetmetal. Are you planning on using the sheetmetal from the 855 for the 955?

What's left on the 855:
complete transaxle w/ rockshaft housing and SCV's
2/3 of the front axle
frame
steering clyinder
steering column and vavle
main driveshaft
misc. sheetmetel
ROPS
misc. other parts
seat
operator's station
steering wheel
fuel tank (front mount)
pretty much all the linkage and pedals/levers for everything

I have the ROPS for the 955 and all of its sheetmetal except for a grille and the engine side covers. I plan to sell off everything I can from the 855. The ROPS that came on the 955 is the extra tall version (for use with a backhoe) but since I have a lot of trees, I will be swapping the regular height ROPS from the 855 onto the 955.

I think the 955 looks kind of neat without the fenders, but I will most likely put them back on after they are cleaned up and repainted.

Here's a pic of what they looked like when I hauled them home:

 

[Johndeere3720]

ae you gonna swap out the seats? The seat on the 855 looks a bit bigger and would IMO look better on the 955.

 

[Mechanos]

ae you gonna swap out the seats? The seat on the 855 looks a bit bigger and would IMO look better on the 955.

Yes... that's the plan for now. It's not in the greatest shape, but is in better condition than the one on the 955. I will eventually replace it witha new one.