Tipped my BX25 FEL & BH on its side - what precautions to take before starting engine

[panchohughes]

I almost rolled my BX on the 2nd day I had it! I was blown away by this, because it was only a gentle incline. I had wrapped a chain around the mower deck in order to lift it up so i could scrape all the old dried moldy gunk from underneath before storing for the winter. I got it all cleaned up, and was transporting it out to the shed suspended from FEL/bucket. I had the deck hoisted up just a few inches off the ground, but the FEL arms & bucket were at about 45 degrees up. I was just creeping slowly in low range when i felt it start to roll. I had my hand on the joystick so quickly lowered the FEL and it recovered. Scared the crap out of me. The rear tire came off the ground! I was trembling afterwards.
To make matters worse, it would have rolled right into the side of my pickup truck. I am glad that it happened tho- as it really taught me a huge lesson. I am super paranoid/careful about this thing on any embankment now.

[Don87]

I almost rolled my BX on the 2nd day I had it! I was blown away by this, because it was only a gentle incline. I had wrapped a chain around the mower deck in order to lift it up so i could scrape all the old dried moldy gunk from underneath before storing for the winter. I got it all cleaned up, and was transporting it out to the shed suspended from FEL/bucket. I had the deck hoisted up just a few inches off the ground, but the FEL arms & bucket were at about 45 degrees up. I was just creeping slowly in low range when i felt it start to roll. I had my hand on the joystick so quickly lowered the FEL and it recovered. Scared the crap out of me. The rear tire came off the ground! I was trembling afterwards.
To make matters worse, it would have rolled right into the side of my pickup truck. I am glad that it happened tho- as it really taught me a huge lesson. I am super paranoid/careful about this thing on any embankment now.

I've had tires off the ground more than once. I don't want to roll it, but I won't let the fear of rolling keep me from doing what needs done. I generally just choose a 'different angle of attack' if I get squimish.

EDIT: Although I keep forgetting that the Kubota is narrower than mine............I could see myself getting even more squimish with a 44 inch width.

[kw22614]

Glad YOU and the tractor are ok WHEW!!

[wawajake]

Rear Wheel spacers on my BX2660 took a lot of the pucker factor out of my driving slopes or heavy loads hanging from bucket.

[vtsnowedin]

Rear Wheel spacers on my BX2660 took a lot of the pucker factor out of my driving slopes or heavy loads hanging from bucket.

Have you done the math? At what cross slope will your tractor now reach the point of no return and what angle or cross slope was it in the stock as delivered machine? There ought to be a spread sheet or calculator program around the web somewhere that will crank that out for us. After all if they can compute the bullet drop and drift of any bullet weight and shape leaving the muzzle at any velocity out to any range then they ought to be able to compute the tip over point of any tractor with any attachments moving at any speed over any slope.

[xring100]

Have you done the math? At what cross slope will your tractor now reach the point of no return and what angle or cross slope was it in the stock as delivered machine? There ought to be a spread sheet or calculator program around the web somewhere that will crank that out for us. After all if they can compute the bullet drop and drift of any bullet weight and shape leaving the muzzle at any velocity out to any range then they ought to be able to compute the tip over point of any tractor with any attachments moving at any speed over any slope.

You would need to know the weight and center of gravity height for you tractor loader and the implements. also changes with loader height which is why you should always carry the load as close to the ground as possible. But on An incline as soon as the position of the cg position is outside of the the contact foot print your going over. Tire ballast helps to Significantly lower the cg height of a tractor. At least when the added weight is a significant portion of the overall weight. 3 point ballast boxes shift the cg rear ward and help transfer weight off the front wheels but most of the time it wont lower the cg height significantly in fact on smaller tractors it provably certainly raises it. The backhoe on the back as the weight raises the cg height of most if not all tractors especially SCUTS since most of the weight looks to be above the axle and center of mass of the motor.
With tire ballast the cg height of the added weight is bellow the center line of the wheel thus lowering the cg height. As mentioned a wider track width definitely helps. Just have to be careful if widening the front as this cause excess load on the wheel bearings if combined with a loader. Don't want to exceed the manufactures recommendation on width

Dave

[panchohughes]

Rear Wheel spacers on my BX2660 took a lot of the pucker factor out of my driving slopes or heavy loads hanging from bucket.

Would you happen to have any pictures of your tractor with the spacers installed?

[RaydaKub]

You would need to know the weight and center of gravity height for you tractor loader and the implements. also changes with loader height which is why you should always carry the load as close to the ground as possible. But on An incline as soon as the position of the cg position is outside of the the contact foot print your going over. Tire ballast helps to Significantly lower the cg height of a tractor. At least when the added weight is a significant portion of the overall weight. 3 point ballast boxes shift the cg rear ward and help transfer weight off the front wheels but most of the time it wont lower the cg height significantly in fact on smaller tractors it provably certainly raises it. The backhoe on the back as the weight raises the cg height of most if not all tractors especially SCUTS since most of the weight looks to be above the axle and center of mass of the motor.
With tire ballast the cg height of the added weight is bellow the center line of the wheel thus lowering the cg height. As mentioned a wider track width definitely helps. Just have to be careful if widening the front as this cause excess load on the wheel bearings if combined with a loader. Don't want to exceed the manufactures recommendation on width

Dave

Widening the front isn't going to help at all because it still pivots in the center. If the tractor has tipped far enough to hit the stops on the axle pivot, you're already gonna need the ROPS and seatbelt (and new shorts).

[vtsnowedin]

Widening the front isn't going to help at all because it still pivots in the center. If the tractor has tipped far enough to hit the stops on the axle pivot, you're already gonna need the ROPS and seatbelt (and new shorts).

That is incorrect. Sorry.
http://www.nstmop.psu.edu/tasksheets...0Stability.pdf

[vtsnowedin]

Would you happen to have any pictures of your tractor with the spacers installed?

Not a BX2660 but well spaced out.