Need tranny for 1998 455G

[crmorse]

My father recently purchased a JD 455G that had been sitting for about a year. After we had it delivered it performed well for about 2 days of pushing back brush before the transmission lights came on it and it stopped moving.

We checked the filter and found it full of clutch parts and a few pieces of bearing races. Cleaning the filter has allowed the loader to start moving again but we've since lost all of 2nd gear and 1st is now slipping a lot.

Two local dealers have quoted us in the range of $16-20K to take it in and repair the tranny. Searching around on the internet I have found at least once source that had a rebuilt transmission for $6000 + core and offered a six-month warranty with it.

We're currently building a workshop on the property that will give us a place to work on the loader and I'm pretty sure we can accomplish extracting the transmission but I'm not confident I want to go further than that. My dad and I have years of experience rebuilding cars and engines and hydraulic pumps and stuff but we've never had great luck with car transmissions.

So, my questions:
1) Thoughts and opinions from the experts here on what to do?
2) If we're good enough to get the transmission out should we go ahead and attempt the rest of the rebuild? (if so, I know where to get the parts

Thanks in advance!

[jonesrj]

Have you got a service manual for it?

Disclaimer: I'm certainly no expert on that machine or any other JD crawler for that matter as I've only recently become the new owner of a junk 555A. So take all this for what its worth.

If it was mine, I'd probably try to fix it. Mostly because I'm cheap, but also because I figure I know who to blame if something doesnt work when its done. In all seriousness though, I'd price out all the clutches, bearings, seals, etc and see what the total was. If its less than 1/2 the $6k I'd clear a spot on the bench...

Of course, if there are some hard parts in there that are broke -- then I might reconsider the rebuilt option as all those shafts, drums etc will eat into that savings real quick if you got to buy them from JD.

Good luck.

[wizner85]

There is a guy that posts to the classifieds on Pennswoods.net in middle of nowhere upstate PA that has all sorts of JD Crawler parts. He might have a 455G tranny.

http://classifieds.pennswoods.net/class ... ex=3105068

He had a set of tracks on a 455G he said he was parting out the machine. That was a year or so ago. Might have what you are looking for.

http://classifieds.pennswoods.net/class ... ex=3101939

[west25346]

I just rebuilt a 550a transmission , didn't find it too difficult and had never done one before. Looking at the parts diagram the 455g is not all that complicated. I think you will find it easier to service the jd transmission vs an automobile transmission. Reman transmissions were available for my machine as well for $5-6k , I ended up dumping about $1500 in parts, labor is free. Parts are another issue. JD is very expensive, I only bought the dealer only items, rest was aftermarket, some used. Did a quick online search and saw 6 455g parts machines so used parts are available.What would you have to loose if you tried to rebuild the transmission yourself?If it adds up to more than you want to spend put it back together and exchange it. Ps I am just a do it yourself type with no special mechanical skills, so if you can remove the transmission seems like you could rebuild it as well.

[jonesrj]

On the topic of parts from JD, I'm finding the clutches discs to be about 1/2 price from aftermarket alternatives as compared to JD. Now that may be an exception rather than rule since I'm pricing parts for the early 550/555 transmission but even so that may indicate that the clutch plates are in the $10-$15/each range rather than $38-$45 like they are from JD for the 555...

On my 555 the torque converter drive coupling is broke, and after much searching I'm having some luck with marine type distributors for Twin Disc parts. Hard parts that were not available (or outrageously expensive) from JD, I'm finding for about half price of what junkyards want for used parts.