555c stabilizer greasing

[AlanB]

On the lower pivot points of my rear stabilizers on my 555C Ford backhoe, I cannot find a dang grease point.

Somehow they are hiding better then others, either that, or they just are not part of that joint, which I find really odd as all other joints seem to have them.

Anyone have suggestions?

 

[curtisfarmer]

I have a Ford 3400 Industrial loader, and it has no grease nipples on the lower loader arms??? Poor design I guess. I just replaced a broken (maybe yours is busted at the pin) grease nipple the other day on a Kubota with any easy out, not too difficult. Lower stabilizer arms get beatup from being in the dirt for prolonged periods of time, so hopefully there is one on the arm.

 

[FULLPULL]

Check for around they may have been broken off you may have to take a eazy out and replace the fitting . Look at the center of the arm under the lower pin .

 

[john_bud]

Look all you want, but you probably won't find any as the factor didn't put them there. Thought was that the grease would attract grit and form an abrasive paste that would eat it up quicker than leaving it dry.

I just replaced pins on my 723 there, the original from 1963 pins were about to fall in half. Still, 44 years ain't bad. 8400 hours on a broken meter.

jb

 

[VirginiaAgent]

The fittings were there on the end of the stabilizers on my 555E. Although they were both broken off when I got it. It took some time to tap the broken zerks out, but I installed new fittings and I'm now trying to get the fittings to take grease. But it's probably been so long since they were greased, they are being stubborn.

 

[AlanB]

I think John hit the answer on the nose.

I have looked and looked at my operators manual (have not been able to stomach the $150 yet for the repair book) and their little itty bitty picture with arrows all over, and I do not think, there is one pointing there.

That said, I finally thought to use Messicks website, and I do not see a Zerk there so I guess I may not be as blind as I thought.

http://www.messicks.com/nhimage.aspx?imageid=6222&DataSet=001NHNA

I had went out there a couple times and "felt" around and just did not see nor feel anything that made me think there had been one there.

Thanks for the input guys.

 

[cgraham]

I overlooked the grease fitting on the base of my stabilizer outriggers, and one of the pins froze up. As this is the low point, it easily gets wet. (I was working in a creek quite a bit.) The opposite pin was not frozen, but I pulled it, and it was rusted.

I had to make drifts to drive the pins out, and removed rust. A friend put the pins on his lathe and milled a relatively fine thread from near each end of the pin to the center to hold grease because the tolerance was very close. You only want to thread the part of the pin that is 1/8 or more within the sleeve. It took a lot of grease to fill it.

If you don't have a zerk installed, I think removing the pin and greasing it manually at intervals would be useful. Threading the pin lightly will increase the grease reserve, but don't go to the ends of the pin, because you want a close fit with the sleeve there to help exclude moisture and retain grease.

Of course, if you are going to remove the pin, you might prefer to drill and tap and install a zerk.

I have not heard of the threading trick before, so don't know if there are any negatives.