520H Hydraulic Hose Replacement

[JDEnterprises 3]

I'm new so please forgive me if anything is out of line. My father was a John Deere Service Manager for 44 years so thats always been my brand of choice. Anyway, long story short... last fall (late fall) I found a 1989 520H on CL. The guy wanted $1600 for the machine w attachments. At the time that was about $600 more than I wanted to spend not to mention the machine was about 55-60 miles away. I was able to get the guy down to $900 on the phone so needless to say it became mine.

It came as follows: The tractor shows 910 hours (meter does not work) but the machine was clean. I got a 42" front blade, the 48" deck, single stage 42" blower, weights & chains and all the original owners manuals except the one for the blower.

 

I mainly wanted/needed it for the blower since I'm a single daddy of 3 little people and have a long driveway, not to mention I have a Deere w the same size deck for mowing. Well yes, of corse I realize this is a 30 year old machine but as MY luck would have it, I cleared my driveway 1 time!  Then a hose sprung a leak and quickly pumped it dry so then it didn't move.  Because I have 3 littles (singlehandeledly) I wasn't able do do anything about it until last week when mother nature finally changed moods. I began tearing into it to find the source of the leak. One of the hoses coming from the lift valve is bad. Another hose shows the threads inside from rubbing, so I've decided to replace all 4.  I now have all 4 hoses in my possession.   I have only removed tin at this point. 

 

Question:  Prob a pretty dumb question for here but....... I have the parts breakdown for the entire machine but is there a place where I can pick up a service manual. I'm a car / light truck guy and am mechanically inclined but is there anything I need to know? I'd really prefer a walk through or a service manual. YouTube (which usually has most of my answers) shows nothing.

 

Thanks in advance!

[Ed Kennell 38,681]

 to the . The  520Hs are great tractors and you got a deal with the three attachments.

I have all hydraulic lift tractors, but I have never had to change out any hoses, so I don't have any tips for you.    I hope you did not damage the transmission by running it w/o oil.

Other 520H owners may respond with advice on the hose replacement.

[The Tuul Crib 7,337]

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[gwest_ca-(File Mod) 11,096]

Welcome to the forum.

Not aware of a service manual for this model. There are service notes throughout the illustrated parts manuals if you have that.

These few pages are called service info but lacking a lot. Click on the pictures for a file description.

Back in 1978-79 they published a service manual for all popular models at the time and much of it still applies to other years. Back then they were not using the Eaton 1100 transmission. It has it's own manual.

Garry

[WHX?? 49,172]

I have never had any of my 520's torn down enough to service the lift cylinder or valve & hoses but other 520 guys here surely have so hopefully will chime in

@cleat @WVHillbilly520H @dclake1971 come to mind. I do have a couple of leaky lift cylinders to rebuild when I get the time so will follow for the tips the guys might have.

[squonk 41,346]

One hose fitting is almost impossible to get a wrench on. It goes into the transmission pump facing the front of the tractor.. I had to replace a trans on a C-145 and I couldn't get to that hose until I unbolted the trans and moved it back some. A 520 may be different but I doubt it.

[cleat 6,357]

I had one get a hole in a hose because it was catching in the steering gears.

I just replaced that one hose and all was good.

 

Another one had a leak from the rod on the lift cylinder (a rebuild kit fixed that).

 

And a third had a small leak from the rod on the control valve. A new 'O' ring fixed that.

 

That is all the leaks I have had over the years, overall quite reliable.

 

Cleat

[cleat 6,357]

6 minutes ago, squonk said:

One hose fitting is almost impossible to get a wrench on. It goes into the transmission pump facing the front of the tractor.. I had to replace a trans on a C-145 and I couldn't get to that hose until I unbolted the trans and moved it back some. A 520 may be different but I doubt it.

I just pull off the rear wheel and can then get to the fitting.

 

The ones on the front of the control valve are the worst on a 520.

 

[lynnmor 7,354]

They did change the routing of the hoses somewhere between 1991 and 1996, I don't know if the hose replacement work got better or worse, as I haven't replaced them yet.

[WVHillbilly520H 10,374]

No issues as of yet...bought one new and it still looks mostly the part...bought a couple used the one with the least hours the looks the worst...but still no hydraulic issues yet.

[cleat 6,357]

Later models ran steel tubing from pump to valve and from valve to filter so only have the two hoses to the cylinder.

 

 

[roadapples 6,983]

@Wheel Horse Parts and More in the vendors section makes some hoses. Don't know if he can help or not.....

 

[JDEnterprises 3]

Well, here are the pics on the day I picked it up. I've started tearing into it and so far don't like it. LOL. I'm not there after about 3 hours of digging. It sure would've been a little nicer if I could either remove the lift valve easier or have easier access to the backside of it. Anyway... getting ready to download the above files and maybe back at it today. I have all new hoses, belts, filters, plugs, fresh oil and new AG tires for the rear. I' hope this ends up better than it started since so far I've got about 1 hour use out of it and between the parts and the tractor... I'm at about $1550   

 

***** Thank You, to each of you. The help is greatly appreciated. Will update.

 

- JD

[JDEnterprises 3]

16 hours ago, roadapples said:

@Wheel Horse Parts and More in the vendors section makes some hoses. Don't know if he can help or not.....

 

Yes, his name is Lowell. He's actually the guy I got the hoses from. Toro wanted almost $400 for the 4 hoses and Lowell made the hoses and shipped them for $129

[JDEnterprises 3]

On 4/12/2019 at 7:18 AM, Ed Kennell said:

 to the . The  520Hs are great tractors and you got a deal with the three attachments.

I have all hydraulic lift tractors, but I have never had to change out any hoses, so I don't have any tips for you.    I hope you did not damage the transmission by running it w/o oil.

Other 520H owners may respond with advice on the hose replacement.

Quick questions:

1. If after I get all this work done and the tractor doesn't move, is the rear/transmission separate from the pump?  Is it possible to maybe just overhaul the pump or do you think the whole transmission would need to be replaced? 

2: I saw a front end loader attachment for the 520H... Any ideas other than CL on finding 1?

[JDEnterprises 3]

On 4/12/2019 at 7:23 AM, The Tool Crib said:

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MORE PICS BELOW 

[WVHillbilly520H 10,374]

2 hours ago, JDEnterprises said:

Quick questions:

1. If after I get all this work done and the tractor doesn't move, is the rear/transmission separate from the pump?  Is it possible to maybe just overhaul the pump or do you think the whole transmission would need to be replaced? 

2: I saw a front end loader attachment for the 520H... Any ideas other than CL on finding 1?

1).The pump (finned looks a lot like a large industrial electic motor) is a separate piece that unbolts from the transaxle (much like an automatic transmission that is fluid driven gears to the final drive axles)... 2) let's get you up and moving first, but you could build your own loader many post on here from those that have, yes CL ,and posting an ad in our classifieds wanted section.