Hello All, I have my 4100, and I just moved to a place that is 2.25 acres and it has approximately 1.25 acres of grass to cut, and a lot of very tall leafy trees. I was wondering if getting one of JD's Hydraulic Dump, Material Collection systems (expensive - $4 - 5k) is the way to go, or.....?
Materials Collection Systems?
- Thread starter Nuru
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qstott
Silver Member
The hyd dump MCS is a very nice unit. I bought one for my 445 off ebay. I think it is very similar to one for a 4100. The main difference is the mounting arrangement. I think the 4100 mounts to the 3ph. The 445 mounts to the rear of the frame. I paid about $700 for mine. The ad said the motor would not run. The only thing wrong was the fuel pump. I took it apart and unstuck the small check valves and it worked perfectly. It had sat outside and had some spots of surface rust, but a wire brush and a can of paint took care of the problem. It is not an implement that I would want to put on and take off every day. It is heavy and clumbersome to handle. An overhead hoist makes life much simpler for installing it. (An engine hoist and a floor jack works too) It will lift high enough to dump clippings into the bed of a pick up truck. On a windy day, you can easily wrap yourself up with clippings if you are downwind from the hopper. Weight shouldn't be a problem for the 4100, but I had to add 200 lbs of weights to the front of my 445. I would suspect you could cut the whole 1.25 acres without having to make more than one dump if you are cutting grass. It is really nice to be able to dump it from the seat and never have to get off and empty bags. It sucks up EVERYTHING! (except larger tree limbs) My grass looks great after mowing with it in place. The real strong point is leaf collection. I have a huge oak tree and several other poplars and some sweet gums. In the fall, if the leaves will go under the deck, the MCS will suck them up. I only have to make one trip across the leaves, and they are gone. If there are 2 or 3 inches of leaves the hopper will fill up quickly. It will grind the leaves up into small pieces. If I use gator blades they are perfect for dumping into the garden for mulch. I wouldn't use it if the leaves were wet, but it seems to do fine if they are just damp. I ran over a newspaper beside the road with my tractor and RFM. Paper clippings were everywhere. I got the 445 with MCS, and picked all the paper clippings up with just two passes. One pass would have done it, but a lot of the clippings were embedded in 3 inch high grass. When I was thinking about buying a new tractor, one of my main concerns was, could I use a MCS on it? I would not consider a tractor or mower for mowing grass that would not be able to use a MCS after owning one.
kennyd
Advertiser
Nuru,
Check out this thread from a couple weeks ago, it talks about a new Powerflow MCS that JD now has, it takes poer from the mower deck so no extra engine is required.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=77939
Check out this thread from a couple weeks ago, it talks about a new Powerflow MCS that JD now has, it takes poer from the mower deck so no extra engine is required.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=77939
I did find one on eBay, that was for a 455, and the dealer felt it was able to be modified for the 4100 (change the mountng hardware over to the hardware for the 3 point hitch, and get the hood and cowl kit for the 4100 tractor. Howefver we are stil checking, on whether or not the mounting hardware on the tractor can be changed. The dealer did not know and needed to call JDeere on Monday. Yes I have the same issue with leaves, and we have a ton of trees and I am more concerned about the leaves gettig picked up than the grass. With the 3 point hitch and a quick tach, it probably is easier to get it on and off the tractor.
qstott
Silver Member
Mine mounts on the frame of the 445. I don't think it would be that much trouble to weld on some brackets for the 3 point hitch. If you go to JDparts online and do a catalog search for catalog 2130 and section 10, you can see the difference in the mounting frame for the compact utility tractors and the garden tractors.
