Ford 555b starters

[KFD]

Anyone have suggestions on starter replacement for an early to mid 80s Ford 555b backhoe? I've read that some say putting in a gear reduction starter is much easier to get in (without having to remove injector pump, fuel filter, etc). If anyone has suggestions or recommendations on this I would really appreciate it. Any particular make / model #??

In addition,.... I'm having trouble starting my 555b. I'm in middle Tennessee and it's been highs of low 50s, lows in high 20s at night. . I've bled fuel lines from filter, through pump up to injectors. I've tried heating air intake with heat gun. It won't pop off. Starter is turning engine over but new and freshly charged battery doesn't last many attempted starts (10 or so) of 15-30 seconds each. Ether won't get it to start. Before I do compression tests,.... I am planning to redo battery cables (they appear original and probably significant resistance,..although I've not checked that specifically). I'm thinking that replacing the starter might be a good next step???
I believe that pump is ok as I'm getting fuel returning to the tank via return lines and when I bled lines,.... fuel amount seemed appropriate. I'm a bit surprised that it won't pop off even with Ether??? Makes me think that starter speed may not be enough for significant compression build up in cool temps??

Thoughts anyone?

Thank you for your time.
-KFD

 

[Fritz Maurer]

You don’t need to remove the injector pump and just take the element off the filter head. Soon as the starter starts to move it will drop down and miss the pump.

 

[Dieseltech]

Do you see WHITE smoke during starting attempts? If so fuel is getting past injectors, no smoke means injectors are not opening to deliver fuel into chamber. Cranking speed is critical, too slow and even a good engine may not start. Does engine have an intake Thermostart manifold heater? I'd use it instead of ether if it has one. Preheat for 15 seconds then turn key to Heat/Start position to start cold engine.

 

[KFD]

Thank you for the intel. It does puff smoke. The thermostat mechanism doesn't seem to work. I have ordered a new one; cheap and easy fix at $15-20 for the part.
Re: puffing smoke; I tried to attach a brief 12 second video but it was too large for the server. During a 12 second attempted start,... 24 puffs of smoke. Is 2 revs per second too slow for the starter??

Thanks again for your time.

 

[Fritz Maurer]

What’s the history on this thing? Has this problem been building a long time?

 

[KFD]

Never been a problem before. About 3 weeks ago,... tried to start it after it had been sitting maybe a month. Battery was weak. Charged it and next day she fired up. I moved it to a place to do some stick welding on the bucket. Shut it down. Next morning,...wouldn't start. Charged Battery,... plus added a 200amp 120v ac starter,.... nothing. Tank was on low side,... had maybe 2 gallons in it. I thought maybe it has sucked some air and created an air lock. Added another 5 gallons to the tank, bled lines as described,... still nothing. Initially wasn't getting fuel returning to tank. I opened the return lines at the thermostat and a few areas along the path back to tank,.... purged them. Fuel now returning to tank. It puffs white smoke, sounds like she wants to start but won't. Ether into air intake makes a small knock sound that I didn't like so haven't push that technique. Although,... it would Not start with Ether. At this point, I'm thinking that it's either a cold engine in combination with weak starter or a compression issue. As mentioned previously . I'm going to redo Battery cables, add two 4dlt 12v in parallel, use a magnetic block heater, replace thermostat intake heater and give her a go. If that doesn't do it,.... compression text vs new starter? Not sure which I'll do first.

I'm just a DIY guy,..self-taught on this stuff. Any input from folks more knowledgeable and/or experienced will be much appreciated.

Thanks again for your time,
-KFD

 

[Hemmjo]

Not trying to be a smart a** here as I have done this myself. Is the little red SHUTOFF KNOB pushed ALL THE WAY IN?

 

[Tom in Mo.]

Anyone have suggestions on starter replacement for an early to mid 80s Ford 555b backhoe? I've read that some say putting in a gear reduction starter is much easier to get in (without having to remove injector pump, fuel filter, etc). If anyone has suggestions or recommendations on this I would really appreciate it. Any particular make / model #??

In addition,.... I'm having trouble starting my 555b. I'm in middle Tennessee and it's been highs of low 50s, lows in high 20s at night. . I've bled fuel lines from filter, through pump up to injectors. I've tried heating air intake with heat gun. It won't pop off. Starter is turning engine over but new and freshly charged battery doesn't last many attempted starts (10 or so) of 15-30 seconds each. Ether won't get it to start. Before I do compression tests,.... I am planning to redo battery cables (they appear original and probably significant resistance,..although I've not checked that specifically). I'm thinking that replacing the starter might be a good next step???
I believe that pump is ok as I'm getting fuel returning to the tank via return lines and when I bled lines,.... fuel amount seemed appropriate. I'm a bit surprised that it won't pop off even with Ether??? Makes me think that starter speed may not be enough for significant compression build up in cool temps??

Thoughts anyone?

Thank you for your time.
-KFD

Before pulling the starter go through the cables and connections for clean and tight connections. Then use a hot battery with large jumper cables. If it starts good then, I would question the battery going bad.
Also, you said it won't pop off with ether so pull apart your intake pipe and filter housing and look for mice blockage. I had a JD crawler that would not light up and it was mice in the filter housing. People overlook good airflow.

 

[KFD]

Great thoughts. Thank you Tom in Mo.

 

[KFD]

Hemmjo,.. no offense taken. Little red button is pushed in. BUT,.... the fact that the very last thing I did when she was last running was shut her off with that,.... makes me think that the metering valve could be stuck? I have read a little about these CAV injection pumps and from my understanding,.... if that was stuck closed (even though I can see the lever move manually on top,.... no saying what lies beneath? ),... then I'd expect no fuel flow to the injectors (and no white smoke). ??

 

[Dieseltech]

Engine SHOULD still at least start on ether. No white smoke means no fuel past injectors into chamber, could be caused by air in fuel, metering valve stuck closed, cam ring/shoes/rollers worn, rotor plungers stuck inward, or worse yet, head/rotor seized/sheared off. Last three needs pump torn down for repair. The stuck metering valve can be verified by removing the stop cable from the lever, setting throttle lever wide open, then CAREFULLY moving the stop lever fully off/on. If valve is stuck off, there will be no change at all when moving the stop lever. There will be a SLIGHT change if valve is not stuck when the lever/stop bar makes valve contact to move valve toward off position.

 

[Hemmjo]

Engine SHOULD still at least start on ether. No white smoke means no fuel past injectors into chamber, could be caused by air in fuel, metering valve stuck closed, cam ring/shoes/rollers worn, rotor plungers stuck inward, or worse yet, head/rotor seized/sheared off. Last three needs pump torn down for repair. The stuck metering valve can be verified by removing the stop cable from the lever, setting throttle lever wide open, then CAREFULLY moving the stop lever fully off/on. If valve is stuck off, there will be no change at all when moving the stop lever. There will be a SLIGHT change if valve is not stuck when the lever/stop bar makes valve contact to move valve toward off position.

When I was trying to start mine, with the shutoff partially out, it did puff white smoke. But it did also bark with starting fluid.

Then when I realized the shutoff was partially out, pushed it in, started right up.

 

[KFD]

Update: I have replaced battery cables, put in a new starter, reprimed fuel lines all the way through to the injectors. Still was not starting. Decided to run a compression test of cylinder #2 (suspecting blown headgasket between #1 and #2 or between #2 and #3,......... bingo,.... cylinder #2 has compression of 100 psi. Now I'm beginning the process of tearing everything down.

My latest question relates to fuel tank removal. I've removed the 2 bolts from fire wall and the 2 bolts under the tank in the front. The last remaining bolt is under the tank closest to the cab area (open ROPS). My question is,... does anyone know how to get to this bolt? It's a very tight space and located a solid 25-30 inches from any visible area of access. Seems there should be some easier way to access that I'm not seeing?? I need to remove the tank in order to remove the bolts from firewall into the engine block.
ANY HELP that any of you can provide will be very much appreciated.
Thank you for your time,
-KFD