Older diggers for farm use

Used a 550 a few times, bit gutless but would get the job done. Hydraulic pivot on backhoe wouldn't be as good as rams.

What's your budget?
 
550 or 555 would be the options.

Max budget around €3.5k.

Must be manual 'box and come with a few buckets for the back actor.

In good nick preferably.

Didn't say it was for me ;)
 
Dont know why but I've always gotten the impression from lads that would be supposed to know better than me that the 50b is the better non JCB option. not entirely sure why, I think it's just down to the lack of power in the 550.


Is there much difference between the 550 and the 555?
 
Dont know why but I've always gotten the impression from lads that would be supposed to know better than me that the 50b is the better non JCB option. not entirely sure why, I think it's just down to the lack of power in the 550.


Is there much difference between the 550 and the 555?

One of my questions too :yes:
 
Have a 655 here does our job without problem. The ford has the advantage of diff lock over the jcb. Think you may be a bit tight on that budget to get anything decent when we started looking we had budget of £4k most we seen in that price range were in need of front axles refurbed and backactor rebushed. Doubled the budget and got the 655 which came with 5 buckets its in good nick with around 7k on clock one pin on backactor pivot could do with looked at sometime and a couple of ram seals are starting to weep.
 
I think you could buy worse Nash, you are pretty familiar with Fords which is a good start.
I can understand why you are looking for a clutch version, but I'd imagine these are like hens teeth in a 550 :001_unsure:
Might be worth finding out if the torque versions in these give much trouble, and how expensive they are to repair. Clutches can go too and the torque version will be a much nicer machine to use.

I'd prefer a 550 to a 50b myself, the piano backactor levers would be a no no for me :no:
I presume the 550 engine is liable to go porous though :001_unsure:
 
I'd have thought there was more clutched fords than torque ones.

and I also thought that not all 50b's were piano levered.


If you move up the money the 655 is supposed to be great machine, it's a 7600 engine in them as opposed to 4600 in the 550 isnt it?
 
I can understand why you are looking for a clutch version, but I'd imagine these are like hens teeth in a 550 :001_unsure:
Might be worth finding out if the torque versions in these give much trouble, and how expensive they are to repair. Clutches can go too and the torque version will be a much nicer machine to use.

Well put. I'd shoot myself if I had to use a clutch and gearbox on a digger instead of a shuttle
 
I'd have thought there was more clutched fords than torque ones.

and I also thought that not all 50b's were piano levered.


If you move up the money the 655 is supposed to be great machine, it's a 7600 engine in them as opposed to 4600 in the 550 isnt it?

I think some late 50b's were 2 levers, but very hard to find I'd say.

As for the 550's, you might be right, but I've seen a few torque ones and dont think Ive ever seen a gearbox one :001_unsure:

I agree with you on the 655, a far superior machine all round and will probably be 4wd as well. A different budget too though.
 
Couple of good points raised my Mike, Larry and John and thanks slurryboy.

There seems to be a few of these on Donedeal for around that budget or less.

For what it would do a 655 is too new and anyway they have a four cylinder 10 series engine which is liable to go porous, at least with the 3 cylinder I have the fall back of an engine here.

Mike, the clutch version were actually standard on 550's (6x4 box) with the 4x4 torque convertor an option.

Some (not many) came with the piano levers :no: and the block is a 4600 block so still slightly liable to porousity.
 
550 or 555 would be the options.

Max budget around €3.5k.

Must be manual 'box and come with a few buckets for the back actor.

In good nick preferably.

Didn't say it was for me ;)

Didn't say it wasn't for you...

I used the manual box, no real problems there. Can lift silage bales on the loader too, not sure of the lift capacity but that's an indicator.
 
Didn't say it wasn't for you...

I used the manual box, no real problems there. Can lift silage bales on the loader too, not sure of the lift capacity but that's an indicator.

:thumbup:

1.2t I think - will check the brochure later.
 
Couple of good points raised my Mike, Larry and John and thanks slurryboy.

There seems to be a few of these on Donedeal for around that budget or less.

For what it would do a 655 is too new and anyway they have a four cylinder 10 series engine which is liable to go porous, at least with the 3 cylinder I have the fall back of an engine here.

Mike, the clutch version were actually standard on 550's (6x4 box) with the 4x4 torque convertor an option.

Some (not many) came with the piano levers :no: and the block is a 4600 block so still slightly liable to porousity.

For the money, the simplicity and the fact that you have a spare engine, I dont think you can go too far wrong tbh. A digger is a very useful tool around a farm.
 
:thumbup:

1.2t I think - will check the brochure later.

Good enough so :thumbup:





For the money, the simplicity and the fact that you have a spare engine, I dont think you can go too far wrong tbh. A digger is a very useful tool around a farm.

I'd agree, extremely useful. They have cons but for the jack of all trades factor it does very well.
 
torque converter is fairly bombproof our old sanderson on a 500 skid unit left here with over 30,000 hours on it and I think the torque was the original one although the reverse clutch pack was needing done .
the ford diggers are a bit lighter than massey or jcb and not quite so handy for digging hard ground but a good reliable machine to have about a farm
 
I bought a 50 hxs here last year,it has a cone and pin hitch and its proven to be very useful about the place.Well worth having on a farm especially if you can put different implements on the front.I would opt for a torque machine myself.
 
I bought a 50 hxs here last year,it has a cone and pin hitch and its proven to be very useful about the place.Well worth having on a farm especially if you can put different implements on the front.I would opt for a torque machine myself.

Have a Tanco loader here and tbh probably first thing I'd buy would be a quick attach for the digger so it could use the loader's attachments.

Must admit not a fan of MF diggers!
 
did a quick bit of looking, seems the 555 from 78 to 88 was 3 cylinder and from 88 onwards was 4 cylinder turbo.

according to the online parts book at least.
 
I put 15000 hours on a Ford 4550 and never did the clutch on it . I always liked the Ford in comparison with a 50B . Torques do not give much trouble if they are not roasted .
 
nash 20 ltrs of oil is now around 70 euro most of the old diggers i see around have pools of oil under them,just bear that in mind when considering buying as there is a lot of pipes and seals to leak on a digger
 
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