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We currently have four horses in the manure factory. I have found that using a spreader for fresh manure/wood shavings bedding results in the shavings building up into a thick thatch unless you have several acres to spread on. We have a Mill Creek spreader that is ground driven and works great, but we now only spread composted manure. Don't spread uncomposted manure where the horses will be grazing or you risk spreading parasites. I have found that the best thing is to let the pile sit for 6-12 months, then use it in the garden, spread it on the pasture, or spread it 6" thick on lawn areas that need improving, and till it in. You will know when the compost is ready, the wood chips turn black. Some of our best lawn areas are composed of crappy sandy fill with tilled manure compost.

If you don't pick up the manure in the turnout, you should at least scatter it with a fexible tine harrow. The commercial ones work great, but you can get by with a length of pipe and a piece of chain link fence. This reduces the parasite load and discourages flys.

Oddly enough, the compost pile has very little oder.

One of the main reasons I bought my 4100 was to handle the horse manure. I pull it into the barn aisle, and clean the stalls right into the bucket, the 61" bucket can hold the days "pickin's" from 4 stalls with only one trip to the manure pile. Using the tractor has also allowed us to put the pile a greater distance from the barn. Use the loader to turn the pile now and then will speed composting. If you live in a dry area, some water must be added to the pile, but too much is not a good thing either.
HarryW

What to do with Horse manure pile
Parts and Repair
Replies 15 Post by HarryW

This topic always generates heated discussion. At issue are the forces generated by the backhoe on the tractor and whether they exceed the design limits. First, let me say that I am an Aerospace engineer and have some experience in structural design. I have a JD4100 and have built a Cadplans model 608 for it. Conventional wisdom, oft repeated here, is that the 4100 cannot handle a backhoe. Deere does not currently make a hoe for this little tractor. However, my dealer has indicated to me that one is under development to fit the expanded 4100 models (4010, 4110, 4115). It seems Deere is loosing a lot of potential sales due to this shortcoming.

The use of a backhoe, and indeed, the use of any Non-John Deere manufactured attachment makes the operator liable to potentially run afoul of the abuse clause in the warranty. According to my dealer, the use of hoe on the 4100 does not automatically void the warranty, as long as it is sized correctly and operated in a responsible manner. I was offered a Kelly unit, frame mounted, for mine, but the cost exceeded the amount of use I expected to get out of it.

I elected to build a Cadplans model 608 (the next size smaller than the 708 that Bill constructed). I felt that this size hoe would not overtax the capabilities of the 4100 and to that end I feel I have succeeded, in fact, I think the 4100 could easily handle the 708, but I really didn�t need that much digging ability. Fun project, by the way!

I have done a rudimentary force analysis on the 3-point mounting hardware when the hoe is in use. The force analysis tends to get very complex due to the changing geometry of the boom, dipper and bucket. The toplink mount ends up being the most stressed member of an unrestrained 3-point mount, alternating tension and compression and transferring the forces to the tractor through the mount.

Unrestrained 3-point mounts are free to move upward the full travel of the 3-point hitch, relieving some of the stress on the tractor, but making them uncomfortable to use and potentially dangerous due to the proximity of the operator�s head and the roll bar.

Mounts that use a restraining link to keep the hitch from rising by attaching a link from the toplink attachment on the hoe to the drawbar of the tractor change the stress pattern considerably. The restraining link ends up transferring about half the force from the toplink to the drawbar. This results in less bending force on the top link tractor mount and distributes it to the drawbar mount. The total forces can be greater due to the 3-point hitch not being able to move in response to using downforce at the bucket. However, the downforce can now be more effectively used, and at considerable improvement in safety to the operator.

I have used my hoe equipped with a 7� bucket to dig several trenches for water and electric lines on our horse farm as well as digging out the occasional small stump and it operates as advertised. In truth, I think that I have put a higher stress on the tractor using my box scraper than using the backhoe. I am currently using the hoe and the scraper to grade 2.5 acres of new pasture that has had the trees recently bulldozed. The hoe is perfect to digging the small stumps that get broken off at ground level by the bull dozer, the ones that stop the box scraper cold (now, that's a shock load!)
HarryW

Backhoes and breaking frames
Loaders Back Hoes
Replies 48 Post by HarryW

Ooops, didn't scroll down far enough. Are the three versions still built by Yanmar?

New 4115 With 410 loader
John Deere Tractors
Replies 10 Post by HarryW

After reading the posts here about reversing the wheels, I measured the rims on my 4100 with R4 industrial tires. The book says that they are one position, non-reversable, but guess what? The rims have about 1.75" of offset. Jacked the tractor up and swapped the tires right for left because of the directional tread and gained close to 4" more width between the tires! Sure makes hooking up 3-point implements a lot easier, and the tractor feels a bit more stable at the same time.

Reversing Wheels
John Deere Tractors
Replies 3 Post by HarryW

Rick, I bought my 445 with exactly that set plus the rear PTO from Pole Tavern John Deere in Elmer, NJ. HarryW.

John Deere 445 Utilty Tractor
John Deere Tractors
Replies 4 Post by HarryW