Well, in follow up to my initial post ("About to buy a Deere"), last Friday I picked up my tractor. It is a 955 with about 1410 hours, turf tires, 70A loader and a 7 Backhoe. I got it home OK, unloaded it, and went over as much as I could. I got the operators manual for the tractor with it, but thats all. The engine seems tight and strong. It starts almost before I touch the key!
However, all is not rosy. I tried out the backhoe on some light (in my opinion) digging of some yew shrub stumps. It did not seem very strong at all. The hoe would stall at anything but the lightest resistance. After about 15 minutes, the hose to the bucket burst. Later examination revealed pre-existing damage to the hose. OK, so it needs a new hose; no big deal. But now I have a few questions:
1) why would the force seem so low on the hoe? Can I adjust the hydraulic pressure? Do the relief valves go "soft" after alot of use?
2) one of the stabilizer cylinders is weeping oil, and it slowly leaked down from the vertical (stowed) position to the ground overnight. Can it be rebuilt? That side also seems weaker than the other, which can lift the tractor off the ground.
3) On the tractor, there is a knob under the seat that says open/close. I presume this is a hydraulic control of some sort. What is it for? Should it be left open, closed or in between? I can find nothing about it in the manual.
4) I was able to raised the 3 pt. lift arms, but could figure out how to lower them. Any suggestions?
I plan to take it to my local JD service shop for the above problem as well as several others, but would like to get some education before I do. I would actually like to fix it myself, but I need the machine, and do not have the time right now to tinker and learn by doing as I normally would.
Thanks for any help.
However, all is not rosy. I tried out the backhoe on some light (in my opinion) digging of some yew shrub stumps. It did not seem very strong at all. The hoe would stall at anything but the lightest resistance. After about 15 minutes, the hose to the bucket burst. Later examination revealed pre-existing damage to the hose. OK, so it needs a new hose; no big deal. But now I have a few questions:
1) why would the force seem so low on the hoe? Can I adjust the hydraulic pressure? Do the relief valves go "soft" after alot of use?
2) one of the stabilizer cylinders is weeping oil, and it slowly leaked down from the vertical (stowed) position to the ground overnight. Can it be rebuilt? That side also seems weaker than the other, which can lift the tractor off the ground.
3) On the tractor, there is a knob under the seat that says open/close. I presume this is a hydraulic control of some sort. What is it for? Should it be left open, closed or in between? I can find nothing about it in the manual.
4) I was able to raised the 3 pt. lift arms, but could figure out how to lower them. Any suggestions?
I plan to take it to my local JD service shop for the above problem as well as several others, but would like to get some education before I do. I would actually like to fix it myself, but I need the machine, and do not have the time right now to tinker and learn by doing as I normally would.
Thanks for any help.