John Deere 455D and 555G crawler loaders: drives, bucket geometry and ballast

455D and 555G are bucket-equipped crawler loaders

Deere's original sheets identify both machines as loaders. Their front equipment raises and dumps a bucket, and their lifting and tipping specifications belong to that arrangement. A crawler-dozer label does not describe the equipment shown in these publications.

Keep the bucket, loader linkage and rear attachment in the comparison.

The 455D sheet distinguishes a digging bucket from a multipurpose bucket even though both share its heaped-capacity entry. The multipurpose attachment has its own width and additional moving parts. Deere also lists a winch, backhoe, ripper and log-handling equipment as choices, so a photograph of one rear attachment does not establish the equipment included in a base operating-weight entry.

The D H-L-R and G Dura-Shift drives use different range descriptions

The 455D combines selectable speed ranges with hydraulically shifted high, low and reverse within each range. Its single steering lever for each track controls the oil-cooled steering clutch and brake; pedal steering appears separately as an option. Record the selected range and which steering controls are installed when describing a no-drive complaint.

Deere's 555G sheet instead separates Dura-Shift torque-converter and direct-drive arrangements. Each has a different maximum-speed table, and the engine table also distinguishes their gross ratings while retaining the same net-power heading. A TC speed or gross-power entry should not be used to identify a DD machine.

The G publication describes an automatic parking brake that applies when the engine stops. That is different from the D sheet's pedal braking and parking-lock description. Establish the brake arrangement before interpreting whether a stationary machine's drivetrain is being restrained.

A raised hinge pin is not the dump clearance

The 455D drawing gives a full-height hinge-pin measurement, dump clearance and forward reach at dump as separate dimensions. Its ground clearance is printed in inches. Relabelling those entries as feet or interchanging their captions creates an impossible transport or loading description.

Use the drawing's actual dimension and bucket position.

The 555G drawing adds separate standard-height ROPS, low-profile ROPS and enclosed-cab heights. Its maximum operating height with the bucket raised is another measurement again. Keep the installed enclosure with the height supplied to a transporter.

555G wide-track and multipurpose-bucket columns change the load basis

Deere divides the bucket operating information by general-purpose versus multipurpose attachment and standard versus wide track. Heaped volume alone does not distinguish those columns: bucket mass, breakout force, tipping load and machine operating weight change with the chosen assembly.

The same table identifies sprocket counterweights as standard on wide-track equipment and optional on standard track. Rear counterweight or attachments have their own minimum recommendation. Check both locations when comparing a used loader with the chart; one rear-mounted weight does not describe every counterweight included in the published basis.