Helping to prevent roll-overs

[bugstruck]

This roll over talk got me to thinking about something. Your gonna think I'm nuts. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif Some may not like the way I used others equipment. Come to think of it it was just plain stupid. Anyway here it is... Used to play golf may years ago and many of the golf courses had the tricycle golf carts. For perspective I was in my late teens (all grown up of course). I used to scare the snot out of my golf partners by chauffeuring them on an outside turning slope and cutting the wheels uphill to raise the uphill back wheel (inciting a roll). Once you initiated that you could straighten the wheels and it might sit back down or bounce along on the high side tire very precariously. The solution, to arrest the roll, was to turn the front wheel downhill and accelerate all at the same time. It always sat down quickly and solidly. Mind you I only did this stunt about 6 or 7 times so this isn't something tested.

Obviously a 6,000 # tractor and a 600 # golfcart on 3 wheels are worlds apart. Dropping into a hole would change the dynamics at work too. But with all this talk about roll over and the plain seriousness of that situtation, I thought I'd through it out there. I do know what I'll do if a high side wheel ever lifts on my tractor (God forbid), and I have the room to maneuver, I'm doing just what I did on that trike. Unless someone here can convince me otherwise.

Surely this will get some comments. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Sadler]

I'm a newbie and a nettering Nellie when it comes to tractoring on slopes, so I always buckle in extra tight, use 4 wheel drive, and I bought two of the TBN tiltmeters, one mounted for "roll" (left/right) angle and the other mounted for "pitch" (up/down) angle. Each has a "redline" starting at 15 degrees, so in roll, I slow to a worm-like crawl at angles approaching 10 degrees and I never exceed 15 degrees; in pitch same except at 20/25 degrees. This gives me a buffer from the above J.D. 20/30 roll/pitch max angles so if I do drop into something, I've got a safety "net". I go up/down on anything over 10 degrees if at all possible. And, I always walk the area before tractoring it and mark or memorize the areas with drop offs. And if I don't like something, I stop, think about it, and back slooooly out of it. And when slope tractoring, I try to quit long before I'm tired, so fatigue doesn't kill me. I think the moral of the story is you need to fear and respect slopes on a tractor. This photo shows I've got a wonderful double wammy: steep slopes and treacherous stream banks. Most of that brush along the stream is now mowed, but boy was it slow and white knuckle, particularly on the uphill side. Thank goodness for hydrostatic transmissions and four wheel drive.

 

[EastTexFrank]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( <font color="blue"> I'm a newbie and a nettering Nellie when it comes to tractoring on slopes </font> )</font>

Perhaps a very few may think so but not the majority. It's that kind of attitude that ensures you will "live long and prosper".

 

[nharrold]

I'm too-frequently in this situation, and my butt has been cutting washers out of my seat cushion for some time now. It was less of a problem with my old B2150 because of the added traction provided by the bi-speed turn feature on the front wheels. With the B7800, which is a bigger and taller machine, I have to be especially careful.

One suggestion which might help: when the local highway maintenance crews are cutting grass slopes on the I5 hereabouts, using a variety of tractors, they often appear to be operating at very high angles across slope, sometimes approaching 40 degrees. I've often wondered how they do that, but haven't had the time to stop and ask them. I suspect that the flail mowers and other equipment that they use are heavy enough to provide sufficient stability on those slopes. They just seem to zip right along without much concern. If you get a chance, you might want to wander down to your local highway maintenance shop and discuss the situation with them. They'd probably be only too glad to show off a little....