Well that was pretty dumb!

[oosik]

I have a rather steep valley in my mile long gravel driveway and meltwater from a large field always runs out and down one side of the driveway. It freezes and makes a perfect skating rink out of the driveway - except its on a pretty steep pitch and not necessarily straight down the driveway. I fight this every year and ditch & ditch, etc etc. This icy stretch can easily be sanded and going up/down would be relatively safe. I've made many trips down this section, in 4WD, all tires sliding, heading for the ditch and then going the 30 feet to the bottom. I've always managed to save everything and not rocket into the bottom but you talk about biting holes in the seat, the knocking knees and the cold sweats. And I always tell myself - I'll make it this time and sand it tomorrow.

I've got a good ditch on this section of the driveway but the meltwater eventually fills the ditch with ice and will be running across/down this section.

 

[FTG-05]

Thermal expansion, all liquids, solids and gases. Fuel tanks are not meant to be filled 100%, you always leave a little bit of dead space for this very reason.

I was thinking of the old "harpoon" mod popular on diesel pickup trucks while reading this thread.

Seems the truck manufacturers use gas tanks for their diesel vehicles, including but not limited to the fuel inlet tube. On the gas engine, this extends pretty far down into the tank - to exactly prevent the overflow situation you and gnawbone discussed. The "harpoon" mod is a popular mod on diesel trucks to remove the tank and among other modes, snip the length of the inlet tube so you could fill the diesel tank fuller and quicker. Apparently, the idea being that overflow with diesel wasn't nearly a big a problem as with gas.

In any event, no more overfilling - especially after I run it out on a steep hill!

Back to more dumb stories!

 

[NewfieDan]

A few weeks ago I was moving some gravel to build a base for a greenhouse project using the FEL on the 2360. I didn't have the counterweight on. I had done this type of thing before with no issue. This time we had just had a decent rain so the gravel was wet. As I backed the tractor up to make the three point turn into where the gravel had to go I came close to flipping. Had to use myself as counterweight on the uphill side to keep it from going over. Lowered the bucket as low as possible since I was in the middle of the garden. VERY slowly inched forward to a place where I could dump the gravel.

Next move was to put on the counterweight and fill it with bricks.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Neighbor asked me to do her a favor by filling in a trash hole that one of her horses had gotten into. I was moving the piled up dirt that was around the hole to fill it in and got a little close with the front wheel (cab was a bit fogged up). When the one front wheel ran into the hole, it lifted the rear wheel off the ground and unfortunately that was the brake I hit so it just rolled in till the FEL hit the ground. It wasn't too bad for me as I knew what was happening and the narrow ditch was only about 2-3 feet deep. Scared my neighbor a bit though. I just dumped the load of dirt, used the FEL to lift the tractor level and then just backed it out. I put it in 4WD after that.

 

[k0ua]

Alright, I guess it is my turn, I hate to admit this, but here is something stupid I did about 2 1/2 years ago.

I was on the Kubota L3400hst with loaded tire and my ballast barrel on the back. On the front was a set of forks. The wife and I were building a stone wall. I pried up a very large rock, that took several minutes to get this rock up on the forks as it was at the extreme limits of my FEL's lift ability.
I only had the rock up about a foot or so off of the ground and the wife was moving some rocks already on the wall by hand to make a space for this new rock. She wanted me to get down off of the tractor and help her move some of these other rocks by hand.

I shut the tractor off but left the FEL holding my 1000+ pound rock still about 1 foot off of the ground. I had so much trouble getting the rock up I wanted to keep it off of the ground..I know, I know.. not good thinking. And to make matters worse I lowered my 3pt ballast barrel to the ground.. I know, I know what an idiot. So I get off of the tractor which is parked sideways on a very slight slope.

As I unseat my considerable bulk from the seat and start down the foot rung, the tractor starts a slow roll toward me. I stopped the roll by pushing back the tractor to keep it from rolling over. I screamed at the wife to go around to the other side of the tractor and push the FEL stick forward and drop the rock to the ground. Whew! disaster averted. I had lowered the ballast as a force of habit, you know, shut off the tractor, lower the 3pt, right.. yeah, and lower your front loads too.:confused2:

My weight in the seat was enough to keep the tractor rear wheels on the ground after I dropped the ballast to the ground, but when I got off the rears came up and the tractor rolled over towards me as the front axle is on a pivot pin.

Moral of story, I know all of these things, but I still did a stupid thing.

 

[FTG-05]

Scary! I don't think there is anything worse than feeling one of the rear tires start to lift up!

 

[paine]

This topic is a good read, and should help people think twice while running equipment!
I have not had my tractor very long but I did have a stupid already.

I am having some work done to my house after a big oak fell and did some damage. The aluminum facia above the garage was just replace along with the roof, gutter not installed yet. My garage is a classic two car with not very might height.
Tractor was outside and it started to rain (just the other day) so I jumped on and backed it in slow, the loader was up just high enough for the level indicator to hit the bran new facia that was just replaced! Plus side is I think the gutters will cover it!

 

[RoyJackson]

I had my old 790 mostly out of the garage and rigged the ballast box to the 3PH...then I was going to mount the loader.
As soon as I pulled the rockshaft lever...well, the 3PH with that 600-700 lb ballast box didn't raise a bit...the front end of the tractor sure did though!!
Lesson learned...mount the loader first, then the ballast box!
As I'm typing this....I dismount my loader for the mowing season (with the 790 and now with the 4400)...never had much trouble raising the 72" Woods mower with no front ballast and it weighs in the neighborhood of 700 lbs or a bit more. I guess that sand filled ballast box must go over 800 lbs.

Now, the reason I dismount the loader is due to all those minor hits when navigating in close quarters...the house, fence...once, one of my previous pickups.

So, two (or more when I add up those minor hits) dumb stunts in one post...

BTW, I use suitcase weights now when the loader is dismounted...found a nice set (4 weights) on the local Craigslist last year...

 

[RoyJackson]

I had my old 790 mostly out of the garage and rigged the ballast box to the 3PH...then I was going to mount the loader.
As soon as I pulled the rockshaft lever...well, the 3PH with that 600-700 lb ballast box didn't raise a bit...the front end of the tractor sure did though!!
Lesson learned...mount the loader first, then the ballast box!
As I'm typing this....I dismount my loader for the mowing season (with the 790 and now with the 4400)...never had much trouble raising the 72" Woods mower with no front ballast and it weighs in the neighborhood of 700 lbs or a bit more. I guess that sand filled ballast box must go over 800 lbs.

Now, the reason I dismount the loader is due to all those minor hits when navigating in close quarters...the house, fence...once, one of my previous pickups.

So, two (or more when I add up those minor hits) dumb stunts in one post...

BTW, I use suitcase weights now when the loader is dismounted...found a nice set (4 weights) on the local Craigslist last year...

 

[pat32rf]

Couple of years back I had buddies ATV die out on the ice and so I offered to tow it back to our walkout basement door, which is down by the lake. Since it was such a short distance we just hooked it to the FEL and I backed over to the shore. When I got to the pile of snow along the shoreline I lifted the FEL to reduce the drag of the ATV and gave it a touch of gas, just as the front wheels caught traction on the sandy shore. Being in 4wd I still had traction even after the rear wheels became AIRBOURNE, Times like that I am thankful that I just had to lift my toe, and instead of trying to find a clutch pedal.