1st tractor! any suggestions

[Steppenwolfe]

You fellows with all your safety gew gaws and doo dads make me wonder.
All those things do is lull you into Thinking you are safe and so you get complacent, even careless because of them.
I pay attention to what is going on and around my tractor because I don't have all your safety stuff on mine.
And seat belts??
I hate wearing seat belts in my car but do because of the safety Nazis made it a moving violation if I don't.
One of the reasons I love running my tractor is because I don't have to have all that stuff on it.
Free and easy, like a man should be.

More power to you, Brother ! Maybe we should all have to buy two seat tractors, one seat for us, and one for the Gub'ment man. No amount of safety restrictions will fix stupid. Newbies buying a tractor need to educate themselves on operating a tractor first. I can remember a few terrorizing times pulling a full manure spreader with an old Oliver tricycle up and down the hills of Pa. The pucker factor alone kept me very attentive, and no amount of Uncle Sam safety crap can replace that. Free and easy back at ya...

 

[Steppenwolfe]

LOL,
And you'd probably be one of those who would mandate ROPS and seat belts on ALL tractors too I'll bet.
That makes you a safety what?
Some people wake up and wonder what they're going to worry about today. And then they go around warning everyone that they should worry too.
Not me.
I don't worry. I pay attention instead.
Paying attention is how millions of farmers spent billions of hours on non nanny state tractors and stayed alive.
Old tractors are safe enough and have an excellent record for safety.
Some people die on them. Some people die of strokes from worry. Those deaths just don't make the news.
I have been around these forums for a long time and been around tractors much longer. I will continue to give advice to all comers and debunk silly myths as I see fit, even if that gets the hens to cluck.

Viewing profile - Yesterday's Tractors

Couldn't have said it better. Well put, Sir.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

In my opinion...
It is your thinking that makes cities make long range plans where everyone lives on a light rail line and lives in high density housing because it makes environmental sense to do it that way.
It the same mentality that has forced motorcyclists in most states to wear helmets.
It's the thinking that wants to abolish the 2nd amendment.
It's the mentality that makes cities pass ordinances where kids have to wear helmets on bicycles and soon everybody will have to. It what's caused our automobiles and tractors to skyrocket in price because of all the safety features they have to have and the black boxes in them now that record the vehicle's actions like the airplanes have.
It's why our military can't do it's job because someone might get hurt, why the cops in Baltimore were told to stand down for the same reason, why highways - after adjusting for inflation - cost twice as much per mile than it did in the 60s, why US industry can't compete and there are few jobs left, why everyone is shackeled with more and more restrictive EPA legislation, why the collective has become more important than individual liberty, why the US is no longer first in the world in personal freedom.
Every new law is passed because "if it will save one life..."
You can live that way if you like.
You can jump on your pulpit and quote studies and statistics if you wish.
I'm not saying you are wrong.
Not going to criticize you for using rops and stuff.
But I'm not buying in to it.
I'm not going to live that way.
I'm going to live free or die.
I'm going to be the last man in the US to go without rops. And when the second or third or tenth to the last man comes here asking questions I'm gonna tell him what I think.
Not going to go off on a long, pointless argument about it with everybody. Just going to say what I think.
I don't care if he's a newbie or an old hand.
I'm not going to agree with the collective and tell him to avoid an old tractor because it doesn't have safety features.
I'm going to tell him to buy it because it will do a lot of work for him. And I'll tell him he doesn't need rops either if he keeps his wits about him.
Like his dad or grand dad and millions of other men did.
You've said your piece, as have I.
I doubt further discussion is going to change any hearts or minds on the matter.
Let's not let this go like the cartoon you see floating around the net.
OK?

Dude, I'd vote for you, anytime. Thanks for saying it like it should be, but so often isn't.

 

[FlyRock]

Hey Everyone,

Nice posts, and helpful info, thanks.