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A friend of mine just had this exact same problem. Turns out there are two common reasons for this. (1) Fuel injection pump is leaking; (2) Hydraulic pump is leaking. Both, when leaking, can force fluid into the oil sump, which results in the symptoms you are having. Both are moderately expensive fixes ($300-800 depending on model) but both can be readily repaired without dismembering the engine. You just remove the pump and have it replaced or rebuilt as appropriate.

You definitely want to change the oil ASAP and get this problem looked at right away. I would not play around with injector cleaners and such, since the foreign fluid is effectively diluting your crankcase oil at a rapid rate (2 qts!?). This could have much worse consequences for your engine if you wait -- whereas a pump replacement might be a relatively painless fix -- assuming your engine is still OK at this point. Good luck

--- Rich

Oil discharge
Parts and Repair
Replies 27 Post by Rich Luhr

Mark, to answer your question, I heard that JD is worried that the 4100 frame can't take the ongoing stresses induced by a backhoe. Maybe so, but there are a lot of 4100s out there with hoes on them, from Kelley, etc., and so far I haven't heard of one breaking the tractor. I guess it comes down to how hard and how long you work your machine. I had a Ford 1310 a while back (similar in size and HP to the 4100) with a loader and backhoe. Every weld on the frame was cracked due to overwork by the previous owner. But who knows how many hours that took? (The hourmeter read 588 but it only had three digits -- so maybe it was 8,588?) ;-)

JD 4100 v BX series
Operating and Attachments
Replies 38 Post by Rich Luhr

Hey, George, I see that there was a similar thread about being stuck in reverse on the board which might be helpful. See http://jplan.com/cgi-bin/tractor/fullThreadnh.pl?parentnum=31033 or click the link below, or do a search on this board for "stuck". I also thought there was another discussion on this board about JD transmission problems in the 4000 series, but now I can't find it. Seems like there was some issue of out-of-warranty units being fixed for free because of manufacturing defects ... anyone remember this?

Help JD 4000 stuck in gear
John Deere Tractors
Replies 2 Post by Rich Luhr

What Hillbilly says is correct, but to specifically answer your question, YES, the bar tires will shred your lawn. Life's a compromise. Good luck

Bar tires versus Turf tires
Parts and Repair
Replies 23 Post by Rich Luhr

The thing is, with the JD 4100 or the NH TC18/21, you don't have a ton of excess horsepower. I find that 1800-2100 RPM is ideal for loader operations, but when pulling a ground-engaging implement (mower, tiller, brushhog), the little 20-hp compacts need every bit of horsepower they can eke out, especially when going uphill on my slightly sloped lot. On level ground it's not such a problem, but even my 60" 3pt mower drags down the engine when moving uphill -- consequently I pretty much have to run 2500+ when mowing and use the hydro speed control to slow down on the uphills if I want to keep the RPMs up. I would upgrade to more HP but don't really want the added weight and size of the 25+ horsepower models, so I guess I'll live with it. Hope this helps.

Operating RPM of 4100
John Deere Tractors
Replies 11 Post by Rich Luhr

Hey, Al, you put it better than I ever could have! Thanks.

source for parts via mail order
Parts and Repair
Replies 15 Post by Rich Luhr

Murf, I think you're right: nothing's perfect. I am tempted to try to work up a solution of my own someday. In the meantime, I got the replacement hub assembly and it was the wrong part! Fortunately I had also ordered parts to rebuild the broken one, so within a day I was back up and running. This may have been a freak accident anyway. The dealership was astonished that one rock could have done such damage. The blade I showed them appeared to be 2-3 years old, but it had been used just 0.5 hours ... It was The Perfect Rock .... soon to be a movie starring George Clooney. Thanks for the help.

Rock damage
Mowers Field and Finish
Replies 9 Post by Rich Luhr

This is a long shot, but have you looked for "biodiesel"? It's rare stuff, made from waste vegetable oil, usually collected from restaurants. Everything I've seen, heard, and read about it indicates that it is perfectly safe for all diesel machines, especially tractors, with the minor caveat that it *may* be incompatible with older rubber hoses. The nice part of biodiesel is that it smells like french fries coming out of the exhaust stack. You'll actually like the fumes! I've smelled it and it's amazingly pleasant, plus you get a warm'n'fuzzy feeling from having used a completely renewable product made from vegetables. The trick is finding some: there are no major national producers of the stuff and availability is basically limited to whoever you can find locally. You can also make it yourself but it involves somes nasty chemicals (lye and some explosive stuff) so you'd really want to be serious about it before you made the investment in equipment and time. The end result of the chemical process is soap and biodiesel fuel ... for more, you can get books online which tell you all about it. This sure would make the wife happy!

John Deere 4400 exhaust fumes
John Deere Tractors
Replies 7 Post by Rich Luhr

The lift capacity you're referring to applies only to the 3pt hitch. So it doesn't impact your use of a belly mower or FEL. And there's no way you'll put a post hole digger or blade (or even a brush hog) on which are heavier than 930 lbs. You'll run out of horsepower long before you run out of lifting capacity. So this really isn't a problem -- I wouldn't worry about the lower rating of the Deere 3pt hitch lift capacity.

Hydraulic pump flow, whether 7.4 or 6.75 GPM, probably won't be an issue for you either. A lot of flow is nice for attachments which use a lot of power and need quick recovery time, like a backhoe, but practically speaking I doubt you'd notice the different between the JD and NH in this respect either!

I'd call this a toss-up on the specs, and instead try to make my choice on the basis of other factors, like the price and after-sale support you expect to get from the dealer, the ease of maintenance, the cost of the FEL and belly mower ... even your favorite color (blue or green?). The TC21 and JD 4100 are pretty similar machines, but I'd bet there are other factors which could make this an easy decision for you.

You didn't mention if you were getting a hydro or gear transmission. If you are going hydro and want functional turning brakes, you'll have to go with the JD. The design of the NH doesn't allow you to use the turning brakes unless you have three legs.

When faced with this same decision, I went with NH because of my personal comfort level with the dealer, and a far superior price. But look at everything and then decide for yourself. Good luck!

TC21D or JD4100 tips
New Holland Tractors
Replies 3 Post by Rich Luhr

My NH TC18 just passed that interval recently. The dealer came out to do the 50-hour service interval "free" -- meaning that I didn't pay for the service call or hourly labor, but I did pay for the filters and fluids. I reviewed the Operators Manual ahead of time, and also watched the whole process and asked questions. The result is that the dealer has now taught me the normal service process and I feel comfortable doing it myself if I want to. I have to say, it's awfully convenient having the dealer's service tech come and do it for me, but I suspect the cost of the service call is more than I want to pay for that convenience!

Dealer Service
Kubota Tractors
Replies 4 Post by Rich Luhr

For the occasional trip across the lawn, I really doubt it. While you shouldn't have regular heavy traffic across a leach field (danger of crushed pipes), 1500 lbs spread out over four wheels is really not a tremendous amount of pressure on the field. With turf tires, it's even less. I'd only be concerned if (a) I was making regular trips across the leach field and wearing a path; (b) the leach field was failing and/or unusually wet. A leach field is generally constructed of plastic pipes and gravel, which is pretty durable against light traffic. Also consider that a leach field has to take foot traffic (stand on one foot and you'll exert a weight of roughly 400 lbs per square foot!), and be mowed regularly. Treat it like the rest of your lawn: Don't park cars on it or let the 10-ton excavator travel over it, and you'll be fine.

4100 and Septic System
John Deere Tractors
Replies 5 Post by Rich Luhr

Hi Andrew -- welcome to the board. Nice to hear from someone on your side of the pond, where they really know how to make gardens. Five hundred or so years of experience has to count for something!

Anyway, you're right that the rotovator (I'm assuming this is what we call a rototiller) would not do much in soil with 15 inch rocks. You'll have to get the backhoe (rear digger) but fair warning: that's a lot of extra money just to dig up rocks. Be sure you need it because it will be the most expensive implement you buy! Having said that, the backhoe is a great tool. For the type of work you are proposing the front loader is indispensible.

Regarding horsepower, you might want to take a task-oriented approach. Ask yourself: what the heaviest biggest stuff I need to lift in the front-end loader? What sort of 3-pt implements will I routinely use? Then pick a tractor which physically fits in the spaces you need to work with the horsepower required to run those attachments and lift those weights. For one acre, you probably don't need a lot of horsepower, which will save you money.

I'm coming over to the UK in a couple of weeks and would be happy to bring along my tractor for you to try out, but British Airways refuses to allow me to check it in as baggage. :-) Oh well, good luck!

Used compact query - UK
Kubota Tractors
Replies 7 Post by Rich Luhr

What, do I look like I'm MADE of money? ;-) ;-)
But seriously, I am thinking of buying a can of blue paint and hitting the rust with a sandblaster. Then I can tell people it's a genuine "New Holland Calibrated Long Moment Ballasting System" or something like that!

-- Rich

counterweight for tc21d
New Holland Tractors
Replies 7 Post by Rich Luhr

John Deere feels that the 4100 frame can't take backhoe stresses, however, many landscapers and manufacturers disagree. Kelley and Bush Hog both sell backhoes which will fit the 4100, and there's a separate thread here on the CTB which talks about a frame mount quick-disconnect kit you can get for the Bush Hog. Looks very nice.

I have a NH TC18 HST, which replaced my Ford 1310 (a 20-hp tractor) with backhoe, and I feel the difference in horsepower is inconsequential. So you might consider that as a way to save about $1500. But even with TC21D or JD 4100, you'll get a great machine for your size acreage and application, I think. No need to chase higher horsepower unless you plan to do a lot of work with ground-engaging implements, or have to haul loads in the front end loader heavier than 800 lbs.

TC21D or somthing else
New Holland Tractors
Replies 4 Post by Rich Luhr

I have to second what Roger Loving mentioned: it's very frustrating getting information on backhoes. Not only backhoes, but all types of 3-pt equipment. New Holland's website contains very little information about their implements. You can't even download an operator's manual from the website. Bush Hog's site is better -- you can download PDFs of the manuals, but it barely mentions the option of the frame-mount kit and provides no detail. As has been mentioned, Kelley's website has been down for weeks, which is really inexcusable -- it's not that hard to keep a website running! CT Farm's website has virtually no info on 3-pt equipment, etc. etc.

I get the general feeling that the companies involved regard the Internet as a fairly unimportant part of their sales process. This is a shame. The activity on this board alone demonstrates how Internet-savvy and reliant a lot of the customers are. I'd like to get more info on this backhoe kit and other options such as Mark described, but calling the dealer usually results in less new information than I can get online and driving around to read the brochures is not realistic given my dealers are 30-40 miles apart. The Internet is a great tool for sales and information distribution, but some industries haven't fully caught on to that yet, I guess. (Ask Carver Equipment, or Sweet Tractors about using the Internet for sales -- the dealers are catching on, but the manufacturers are still way behind.)

OK, that's my rant ... now on to the subject at hand:

Thanks to Mark for sending along the pictures of your set up. You've already told me more than any dealer ever did. I had a Ford 1310 with frame-mounted backhoe previously, and while the frame mount was the cat's meow, taking it off was a bit of a nuisance. The subtle improvements of your rig look like they'd make all the difference in the world.

I have a NH TC-18, but I checked the JD backhoe anyway. JD doesn't sell a hoe for their 4100 (the near-equivalent of the TC 18) because of concerns that it would crack the frame. But Kelley does. The Kelley dealer said, "I hope they keep saying that -- it allows us to sell a lot of hoes for 4100s!"

I personally have a bias toward the frame mount because I had one before, but the disadvantages had kept me from buying one. For one thing, my former rig required that the 3-pt hitch arms be removed -- a real time-waster. Mark's Bush Hog setup allows you to leave them on. I do wonder how much ground clearance is used up by the two frame mount pieces which are left on the tractor (near the mid-section). Is this a substantial loss of ground clearance? Otherwise, I see no reason not to go with his sort of deal -- the only question is whether other backhoes also offer such an option worth considering.

3 point vs frame mount
Loaders Back Hoes
Replies 24 Post by Rich Luhr