Burned JohnDeere 4100

[Diamondpilot]

Walk Away..

Having been a tool maker and dealing with heat treating metals, the tractors parts could be any where from soft as lead if allowed to air cool to brittle as glass if it was hit with water and quenched vary quickly.

You can tell that was a hot fire. You are not talking minor damage here.

Dan

Walk? Run seems more appropriate.

Tear it down for fun, no more. Its 3 times worse than the NH I spoke of.

Chris

 

[Diamondpilot]

so part it out? Does the FEL look like it could be fixed up and put on my Yanmar? Is the tiller salvagable?

Tiller yes. Not much to go bad there other than seals in the gear box and bearings. Tear it down and replace anything suspect.

FEL, NO! New valve, $500, new Hosese, $300, New cylinders, $800. As you can see you are close to a new one and still have to fix the issues with it, adapt it to your Yanmar, ect. You could find a good used loader for less money that is made to fit your machine.

Chris

 

[spruce Deere]

Now after see'n that picture, even top gear box on the tiller looks questionable to me. That was a HOT fire By the looks of it, Im afraid that tractor is well done in!!!

 

[bdeboer]

My father in law tried to save the loader bucket from a bobcat that burnt in a fire. The bucket bent the first time they tried to use it on the replacement bobcat.

The bucket was sticking out of the shed that burnt, and looked OK. Aluminum parts on the bobcat were melted, to give you an idea of how hot the fire was.

 

[aczlan]

so part it out? Does the FEL look like it could be fixed up and put on my Yanmar? Is the tiller salvagable?

It is possible that the loader could be used, but it would need new rams, lines and a new valve. I would be prepared for the fact that it could also bend like a wet noodle the first time you try to lift something heavy with it. It depends on how hot the metal got and how it cooled down.

Looking at the picture you posted, the tiller MAY be salvageable, if it didn't get too hot, but it will need new seals and bearings at minimum.

Overall, I wouldn't plan on selling or using anything that was in that fire for more than scrap metal if it has lost its paint.

Aaron Z

 

[Johndeere3720]

I figured the tiller would be easy to fix since i would replace seals, bearings, and the paint of course. I guess the fire got so fot that the neighbors toyota 50' away was steaming. So the first thing he did was back it down to the end of his driveway. I guess we wont know very much about the tractor until I pull it out of that mess. I figured that i would unhook the tiller, put it on my forks, and haul it home. If the tractor and FEL are not saveable, i guess I can earn some money from the scrap yard. If the loader is in fact savable though, it will be a job to remove it. I know the fire was hot though since the motor home (nolonger a motor home) had a puddle of aluminum under it. It would be just awful to loose so much stuff that you worked so hard for. Especially waking up to all the fuel tanks exploding. I know the tractor had a quarter tank of diesel left in it when i Parked it for the last time. I do think the neighbor is a little excited to get a bigger 2007 kubota though. And this one has a backhoe. I cant wait to drive it. The picture is in memory of the 4100, this was the last time it ran. I did offer my tractor to him while he didnt have one but he has been so busy at work that he hasnt needed a tractor. In the next week or two, i plan to grade his road to his house for him with my Yanmar.

 

[boxygen]

There is nothing there that would be worth saving, except maybe (big maybe) the tiller. I wouldnt even use the pins or bolts from that tractor as they are most likely weakened from the heat. If your parents are agreeable, it would be a great thing to take apart to learn from, but I wouldnt part it out. Too much risk of selling someone a peice of junk that appears to be ok but breaks the second someone bolts it to their tractor, not a good way to make friends.
The tiller could probably be rehabbed for the cost of bearings and seals, and if it still turns out to be junk, oh well, still not much money in it. You cant put a price on the kind of learning experience this will give you just taking it apart and seeing how it works. Probably still get $100-200 scrap once its taken apart.

 

[xrjohndeere]

Clean it up real good, spray some cheap green paint on it and sell it on ebay. Some idiot will buy it! The guys are right it is probably not worth fixing but if you want a good learning experience and you have the time tearing it down would be a good project. Who knows you might tear into it and find it is not as bad as you thought.

 

[mjncad]

Jacob:

I know you are an enthusiastic young man wanting to rehab this poor tractor; but from what little appears to be poking through the ashes in your picture, that 4100 isn't worth messing around with.

Just because it's free doesn't make it a good deal. There are plenty of tractors out there for you to rehab. This is not one of them.

I'm not even sure I'd mess with the tiller given the heat generated by that fire.

 

[dcyrilc]

Jacob:

I know you are an enthusiastic young man wanting to rehab this poor tractor; but from what little appears to be poking through the ashes in your picture, that 4100 isn't worth messing around with.

Just because it's free doesn't make it a good deal. There are plenty of tractors out there for you to rehab. This is not one of them.

I'm not even sure I'd mess with the tiller given the heat generated by that fire.

I have to agree that rehabing is probably not worth it, but the experiance and knowledge gained from taking it apart could be great. I would spend the time to dismantle it and learn what you can about how it functioned, then take the parts to the scrap yard.

The tiller is the only thing that I would consider trying to salvage.

 

[mjncad]

I have to agree that rehabing is probably not worth it, but the experiance and knowledge gained from taking it apart could be great. I would spend the time to dismantle it and learn what you can about how it functioned, then take the parts to the scrap yard.

The tiller is the only thing that I would consider trying to salvage.

Thanks for seconding my earlier suggestion about using the tractor as a teaching tool. I made that suggestion before I saw the picture Jacob posted.

I admire Jacob's enthusiasm for machinery and I would rather see him sink his money into his Yanmar or another tractor that is a candidate for rehabilitation.

 

[dcyrilc]

Thanks for seconding my earlier suggestion about using the tractor as a teaching tool. I made that suggestion before I saw the picture Jacob posted.

I admire Jacob's enthusiasm for machinery and I would rather see him sink his money into his Yanmar or another tractor that is a candidate for rehabilitation.

Agreed.

 

[Johndeere3720]

Well, after i take the Deere apart for experience, I know a guy who has 2 larger Simplicity tractors around the size of my Yanmar that are canidates for restoration. He is the guy i got my 9518 from. Ive been looking on craigslist lately but not much in need of work since most were purchased in the summer and are sitting in peoples shops now. I would love to fix the tiller since I do rototilling in town during the spring. This spring i know im going to borrow my grandpa's rototiller for my Yanmar but next year, I would love to use my own. That and my focus this year money wise is my invention and once that is all built and painted, I can start on saving for the tiller.

 

[Johndeere3720]

I may be getting the Deere out of that mess tomarrow. I plan to fix up the tiller for the Yanmar. Going to use my Yanmar anbd the neighbors BX24 to pull it out of there. The insurance got him the BX24. It is pretty nice. It came with a FEL and Backhoe. I plan to take pictures of the operation.

 

[Johndeere3720]

Havent got it yet, Ford is still investigating to really see if his F350 started the fire. He will call when I can get it out.

 

[sandman2234]

If you decide to use parts or even decide to give the whole tractor rebuild a shot, and you need more parts, the one I have has a lot of good parts on it. It was sitting next to the barn when the barn burnt and actually had a little bit of green paint (and yellow on the finish mower) that made it thru the fire. In my opinion, this one wasn't worth rebuilding, but it does have a lot of good usable parts.
David from jax

 

[dynasim]

Jake,

You may need to find another gearbox for the tiller(or at least watch it in use). I think they used heat treated(hardened) gears, and a slow cooling would make them soft. If you have a slip clutch, there wouldn't be much of a consequence if they failed, though.

Chris

 

[Johndeere3720]

Well, yesterday, I went down there to pull it out. I got the roofing off of it. There wasnt much of the tractor left underneith. The rototiller appears to be in good shape. At first, I planned to use my pallet forks on my Yanmar to pick up the tiller and haul it home. I tried it and the front end of the tractor went up into the air. So we used the neighbors new BX24 to pull it out. Then I tried again with the forks but came to the same result. I used the field brakes to get to the gravel parking lot and took off the forks and used a pin to hold the tiller to the top hook of my imatch. That got it home. Then we tried to get the tractor out of the barn mess. We tried the BX but it wouldnt pull it. We tried the neighbor's new side by side, that spun its tires. So we were left with my step Dad's Dodge 3500 4x4. That pulled it out. In so, the front wheels came off. So I looked over the tractor. The transmission case was gone in places, the aluminum had melted off exposing the tranny gears. The tractor was really bent up, hood had suffered from the roof falling on it, the frame was so soft that the tractor would bend in the middle with little pressure. The tractor was officially garbage at this point. It would be pointless to take apart as it is missing so many parts and the aluminum parts are in puddles. Some of the hydraulic fittings were gone as well. The next thing I wanted was the grill guard for my Yanmar. I took that off. Then I wanted the Bucket off the FEL. I figured that if it was unsellable, I could make it fit onto my dad's 3720 as a dirt bucket. I got that off. It was really anoying, one pin came out real easy, the other had to be beat out and un burried. Underneith the tractor was a puddle of aluminum, Im pretty sure that was the tranny case. I hauled that home with the BX. The neighbor wanted the 3 point off the tractor since his BX diddnt come with one, so i worked on it for a while but couldnt get them off. Last thing i wanted was the ROPS for my Simplicity. I got all but 1 bolt off and used the BX to push and pull it until it fell to the ground. Then I hauled that home. It was getting dark so I drove home on my Yanmar. This morning, I went out to see my new, burnt implements. The tiller looks to be in pretty good shape. There was 1 or 2 bolts that are compleatly melted on it so it will be a lot of fun to take that apart. The bucket looks to be in good shape although the cutting edge and the side is bent from the heat of the fire. I plan to test it out on a Johndeere 2210 with a FEL to see how strong it is. Then maybe add some welds then powder coat it in Johndeere Green paint. The ROPS seem to be in the best shape. The Lights on it were compleatly gone, just 4 bolts were left. Today, I am going to grind the rust off the grill guard and paint it. I cant wait to put it on my Yanmar.

 

[Johndeere3720]

I just came in from working on the grill guard. Got the rust off it and bent it strait. I just painted it black. It will look good on my Yanmar.

 

[Scotty370]

Not trying to be crass here, but what part of "JUNK" do you not understand?