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Yes, screwing in the dipstick will give a false reading that will have you under-filling the sump.
When the tractor is shut down, you should retract all cylinder, i.e., lower the bucket to the ground and have it curled up, bring the backhoe boom in to rest with the bucket opened out, not curled as for transport (this assumes your bucket cylinders are retracted in the configuration), and the outriggers fully retracted. All the hydraulics movements should be done with the engine running so that fluid is pumped around to the other sides of the pistons.
If you have the loader raised and turn off the engine and then lower the arms, you'll push a lot of fluid back to the sump with nowhere for it to go, since the fluid from the other side of those pistons has already been pumped back to the sump. So lowering the arms with the engine off will cause the fluid to squirt out the sump breather.
These are open-center systems so you fill the sump with all the cylinders retracted properly so volumes are at equilibrium in all the cylinders.
It sounds like your clutch is either out of adjustment or worn out. Was the clutch set up properly when the tractor was sold? They do NOT come from the factory with the clutch adjusted properly – it has to be done prior to putting the tractor in service or the life will be short. Also, riding the clutch or using it to govern ground speed will wear it out in no time at all. Tractor clutches are meant to be all in or all out, no in between. Ground speed is controlled by the gears and, to some extent, the throttle.
Yes, your 354 should easily lift that brush hog. A 6' brush hog is the biggest one it will handle in heavy bush, but that is a factor of PTO horsepower. The 3-point hitch will lift over a thousand pounds so it can lift an eight foot brush hog, but you don't have the PTO power to run one that big.
The Jinma Chinese loaders will fit the 504, but I'm not sure of the specific model number for that loader. My 304 and the 354 take the ZL30 so theremay be a ZL50 for the 504.
Koyker makes a good loader to fit numerous Chinese tractors. You can give them a call and they can tell you which one would be right for you. Then there's the Coldwater loaders – Google them. Spirit loaders are made in the USA, Minnesota, I believe.
Affordable Tractor Sales, one of the advertisers and advisers here, sells the TomKat loader, made in South Korea, I think and highly rated. They should have one that would fit your 504. Or maybe I'm thinking of backhoes…call Tommy at Affordable and get his advice.
Just so you don't get confused, what Tommy said shouldn't be interpreted to mean that you can just go in and re-torque your existing head gasket and be okay – you can't. It needs to be replaced with a new one. And then you do need to do are-torque and valve lash adjustment at 50 hours.
There is no need for any gasket compound with most modern head gaskets and it is easy to gook up things with too much of the stuff so I recommend not using any. In the way old days, copper compound was good for conducting heat away form the head on flathead engines, but these days they use water jackets. (grin)
Unless your head is more than .005″ out of planar, I'd just put it back on with a new gasket.
Yes, it does. Particularly if you were maybe checking the sump level by screwing the dipstick back in – screw-in dipsticks are supposed to be read by just setting them on the hole, not screwing back in. That makes a gallon or more difference in the level. Been there, did that. Another possibility is doing it on sloped ground. If the tractor is pointed just a bit downhill it leaves the vent much clearer for fluid. If pointed uphill, it can eject fluid even with the engine running. Some owners have extended the vent up a tube along the ROPS to overcome that problem if they have steep terrain to deal with.
With the cylinders extended, when you shut off the engine, the fluid had nowhere to go except to the sump and out the vent. You need the engine turning the pump in order to circulate the fluid around to the other side of the cylinders.
Yep, that's great news. Thanks for keeping us updated on the job – I get crazy when a thread dies with no resolution posted.
Glad to hear it is all fixed up and starting well, Wills! I'd still recommend the relay in the solenoid circuit, as the OEM wiring is a bit on the small side and it can't hurt. Your call, however, since you're happy with the way it starts now.
If you have a FEL on the tractor, you should be able to lift the front wheels off the ground with the FEL and then, with the engine off and the transmission in gear and 4WD selected, try to rotate the front wheels by hand. If the whole front drive train is intact, you should find that the rear wheels being in contact with the ground prevents the front wheels from turning. If they do rotate, then either the front drive shaft has come uncoupled internally (most common) or there is a problem in the transfer case (less likely).
I think this will work – I haven't tested it, it just seems to make sense.
A starter and alternator shop would be the most likely source of brushes. Failing that, I measure the old ones and figure what they would have measured new and go searching online. Ebay, McMaster_Carr, etc. At times I've had to get brushes that were oversized and sand them down to fit or even modify the springs on them. That can get tricky but it is possible.
The commutator should be polished with crocus cloth until it is shiny and then the grooves between the commutator bars cleaned out with a small scraper or engraving tool.
