Tractor rolls

[John A]

I did a foolish thing yesterday.  Now that shouldn't surprise anybody but its a cautionary tale of how I almost croaked myself.  Last Tuesday my wife insisted I go to the ER so eventually I did. No big deal, pneumonia so yesterday I felt a little better and decided to pull an arbevita tree that got blight and wasn't recovering.  I got on my itty bitty loader tractor and with a selection of choker chains proceeded to pull on the tree.  On the first pull the chocker slipped and put the bucket on the loader a little high.  Maybe because I didn't feel as well as I thought I did, I didn't stop and reset it like I knew I should.  I added some up pressure and before I could get my hand to release the pressure,  it flipped me out of the seat and I had the presence of mind to scramble out of the way.  The tractor went on its side and I was able to crawl back to it to shut it off,  I was impressed how well it ran laying on its side.  my bigger tractor was behind some stuff so I used the pickup truck and with chain pulled it upright.  Besides the fluid loss the only thing broken was a street L fitting on the bottom of the hydraulic reservoir.  Luckily I had already talked to my Mom earlier in the day so I won't be mentioning it to her,  she is still mad at me for getting killed on a tractor in '69. That time I got run over,  some friends and I were goofing off.  It kept me out of Vietnam but was hard on Ma,  she is 92 and us kids don't tell her bad things anymore....there's no pics so it didn't happen

[Sasquatch Jim]

 Getting goooshed by a tractor can ruin your day and is not as much fun as getting sanded down by your bike.

[s1120]

I had the rear end of my Case 580CK come up once...  its freaken scary BIG TIME!!  That one weighs 10k lbs... not sure I would be alive today. Ive had a slow roll over in garden tractors..  thats bad enough.

[John Ulrich]

John, Glad only your pride took a hit.  You know by now.... you use a Harley to pull bushes.

https://youtu.be/44mu5Ck8AA4

[Ncdan]

Tractors can be deadly. Over the past 50 years we have lost several folks in our farm community to farm tractor accidents.

[Lannis]

Tractors can be deadly. Over the past 50 years we have lost several folks in our farm community to farm tractor accidents.

Same here.   I can name several high-school friends that were killed in tractor accidents.

I have a new tractor, a Kubota (same price as the equivalent Mahindra and closer dealer).    It has a seat belt and a roll bar, and I use them both.  If it rolls over, at least I'm not going under it.

Lannis

[Ncdan]

Same here.   I can name several high-school friends that were killed in tractor accidents.

I have a new tractor, a Kubota (same price as the equivalent Mahindra and closer dealer).    It has a seat belt and a roll bar, and I use them both.  If it rolls over, at least I'm not going under it.
Bots
Lannis
[/quote
Lol Lannis, I have a 42 HP 4+4 Mahindra because I have a dealer near by. The mahindra is right much heavier that it’s computers of equal HP and Cheaper. The Kubota would have been my next choice.

[larrys]

Glad you didn't get hurt or worse. My cousin Johnny and I would get sent to Grandpa's farm in Middlefield for haying season when we were kids. We once rolled his Farmall Super A traversing a hill. We didn't get hurt but Grandpa whupped us pretty good for it...
Larry

[rschrum]

Put a 44 massy on her side, lucky.

[GearheadGrrrl]

ATGATT for tractors: ROPS up and seatbelt on!

[JoeB]

Have L size Kubota that I've come close more than once when using the front bucket.
Definitely gotta get some ballast in the rear wheels.
Don't know if I've had more "pucker" moments on the bike or the tractor.

[Kent in Upstate NY]

My Kubota came with seatbelt, ROPS, and weighted rear tires. My salesman also works as a local volunteer firefighter/emt and told us horror stories about folks who disable the ROPS.

[Lannis]

Have L size Kubota that I've come close more than once when using the front bucket.
Definitely gotta get some ballast in the rear wheels.
Don't know if I've had more "pucker" moments on the bike or the tractor.

Even with full ballast, the loader on the L series Kubota will get the rear end in the air, as I found out when I was using the loader bucket as a hoist to get a 6-foot bush hog onto a trailer to take to an auction...

Lannis

[twowheeladdict]

John, Glad only your pride took a hit.  You know by now.... you use a Harley to pull bushes.

https://youtu.be/44mu5Ck8AA4

Hey HOLD MY BEER and watch this.   

[tris]

ATGATT for tractors: ROPS up and seatbelt on!

I did my Fork Lift Truck training a year or so back and they said always wear you seat belt. Keeps you from trying to jump out on the low side and getting crushed by the roll over cage

The best thing is to not do what deep down you know you're not supposed to be doing.

Glad you're safe though John

[JoeB]

Even with full ballast, the loader on the L series Kubota will get the rear end in the air, as I found out when I was using the loader bucket as a hoist to get a 6-foot bush hog onto a trailer to take to an auction...

Lannis

Don't like hearing that.
What's everyone using for ballast?

[Rick in WNY]

OK, John, first rule of tractor driving... use enough tractor. You said you had a bigger one... likely you should have used that first.

What make/model tractor did you roll? Those itty-bitty loader tractors are trouble waiting to happen IMHO. They have enough power and hella-strong hydraulics on a machine that doesn't have enough weight.

But then, you're hearing this from an old farm boy who started driving the steel beasts at the ripe old age of 9. I knew how to drive them before that, but that's the age when my legs got long enough / strong enough to push the pedals down.

[Rough Edge racing]

 With the availability of compact tractors with front end loaders and so on , the availability of people without experience has also increased...I was in big construction most of my life and saw accidents with experienced personal on the proper equipment, but for the most part it was bad judgement...I can't say I never took a chance, I can't say I didn't use some equipment beyond it's normal use and was ready to bail out if it went wrong..and once I fell nearly 20 feet onto concrete ...I got away with just a badly broken leg...
   Same goes for anything including motorcycles...shit happens, and it happens more often with bad decisions...

[Lannis]

Don't like hearing that.
What's everyone using for ballast?

2/3 of the rear tire volume filled with chloride solution.   In my case, I was looking to chain the bush hog to the bucket, with over half the bush hog sticking out in front of the bucket, and just ease it up onto a low-boy trailer.   Didn't work.   Wasn't but SO unsafe, since it was a level-ground lift with a goal of getting the load about 30" off the ground to get onto the trailer bed.   

Too much "cantilever" effect.   If it had been a bucketful of dirt of the same weight, no problem.   But as soon as the rear wheels got very light, I stopped and we did it the hard way with a come-along ....

Lannis

[twowheeladdict]

With the availability of compact tractors with front end loaders and so on , the availability of people without experience has also increased...I was in big construction most of my life and saw accidents with experienced personal on the proper equipment, but for the most part it was bad judgement...I can't say I never took a chance, I can't say I didn't use some equipment beyond it's normal use and was ready to bail out if it went wrong..and once I fell nearly 20 feet onto concrete ...I got away with just a badly broken leg...
   Same goes for anything including motorcycles...shit happens, and it happens more often with bad decisions...

We have a compact tractor with front end loader and my wife is the primary operator of it.  We have a belly mower on it and a box blade rear attachment.  The box blade makes pretty good ballast because it is hanging out off the rear.  We only use the bucket for moving dirt and gravel and the occasional pulling of a fence post.  Fortunately, our property is just gently sloped (level).  We looked at properties that made me wonder how the hell they bush hogged those hills!  This tractor is not strong enough to deal with round bales except maybe to push them around.

[oldbike54]

 Just glad you are OK John .

 Dusty

[Lannis]

But then, you're hearing this from an old farm boy who started driving the steel beasts at the ripe old age of 9. I knew how to drive them before that, but that's the age when my legs got long enough / strong enough to push the pedals down.

The difference in design between the Ford/Ferguson/Massey tractor type and the International Farmall tractor type makes a BIG difference in operability by little people, like young boys or small women with not a lot of body weight.

On the Ford/Ferguson type, you have to mash DOWN on the clutch pedal, which is out in front of you a bit.   If you don't have enough arse to get the pedal down, then you're in trouble, especially if you can't get it down far enough to engage the second stage of the clutch and the implement keeps pushing you!

On the Farmall, you push the clutch FORWARD, and you can hang onto the steering wheel and brace against the seat and disengage it a lot easier.   I was running the Farmall when I was 10 - I didn't get on the Ferguson 35 until a lot later ....

Of course, the modern hydrostatic-drive tractors make it so simple that anyone can do it; just gotta make sure you have the judgment enough to be safe.

Lannis

[Ncdan]

The difference in design between the Ford/Ferguson/Massey tractor type and the International Farmall tractor type makes a BIG difference in operability by little people, like young boys or small women with not a lot of body weight.

On the Ford/Ferguson type, you have to mash DOWN on the clutch pedal, which is out in front of you a bit.   If you don't have enough arse to get the pedal down, then you're in trouble, especially if you can't get it down far enough to engage the second stage of the clutch and the implement keeps pushing you!

On the Farmall, you push the clutch FORWARD, and you can hang onto the steering wheel and brace against the seat and disengage it a lot easier.   I was running the Farmall when I was 10 - I didn't get on the Ferguson 35 until a lot later ....

Of course, the modern hydrostatic-drive tractors make it so simple that anyone can do it; just gotta make sure you have the judgment enough to be safe.

Lannis

You are exactly right, again, Lannis. We also had a Farmall when I was a kid but we never advanced to a ford or  Ferguson :(

[larrys]

Don't like hearing that.
What's everyone using for ballast?

In my travels I have seen numerous home(farm)-made counterweights that you could hang off of a three-point hitch. Your imagination is the limit...
Larry

[John A]

My bigger tractor doesn't have a loader. It's an Mitsubishi badged as an International 234,  the one with a loader is a Sears, barn find. It has an 18 horse Onan about 1964 vintage with NO safety gear. but the thing is small, Rick said to use enough tractor which is right on, I regularly need a bigger one. I have a 2' square concrete block on the three point that came on the tractor as well as lead wheel weights and a bunch of heavy stuff that I put on there. It's got a belt driven hydraulic pump that needs a new seal, hopefully today.  The best safety advise is use your brain, these things will hurt you and not care a bit.

[Rick in WNY]

John, would it be this guy?

http://www.tractordata.com/lawn-tractors/001/9/8/1989-sears-ss18-twin.html

Little other searching says the bare tractor is 700 lbs. yeah, that's kinda small for ripping trees out of the ground. I think you'd have been better off to use the bigger one, especially if it has the 3-point lift arms in the back.

Glad you're okay.

[John A]

1963-66 maybe.  In typical Sears fashion ,the small pulley driven gear pump for the loader is made of odd sized shaft and bore so that it's very hard to find common crap that fits

[Chuck in Indiana]

  Glad you're ok, John.. that said, I'm a farm boy. 700 lbs. isn't a tractor.. that's a yard farmer tool. 

[Roebling3]

John: This is a great place to confess. Good for the soul etc. Lots of empathy. And grand momma can remain proud of you.  R3~

[quota2000]

Glad you're ok, John.. that said, I'm a farm boy. 700 lbs. isn't a tractor.. that's a yard farmer tool. 

Motorized shovel!  LOL