safety switches...

   / safety switches... #1  

BeeferMan

Gold Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2008
Messages
408
Location
North Central MA
Tractor
Case 1194, Ford 641, NH TT75A
Ok, go ahead and blast me, but I'm sick and tried of safety switches.

I picked up a TT75A recently, mainly some extra HP for haying. I haven't used it yet and it's already about to drive me crazy. It's got more freakin' safety switches on it... Seat, PTO, tranny, aux tranny, brake... And if you get off it without setting the brake - even with the tractor turned off - it emits this periodic beeping that'll raise the dead. And of course the pawl on the brakes is worn enough that it'll occasionally release on it's own. I keep the tractor far enough away from my house that I can't hear it, but some of the neighbors can - need I say more? So I've shorted out the seat switch already.

Then, last weekend I decided to get my Wheel Horse lawn tractor going. I got another one, so I never ever fired this one up last year. Battery was dead, so I put a new one in it, set the brake, climbed on - no starter. About an hour later I had it running - after having to defeat every single safety switch on the tractor. They were all bad! One on the seat, one on the brake, two on the PTO lever. I'll probably end up replacing most of those, but....

Ok, rant over....
 
   / safety switches... #2  
Got to say there has been many times I thought about defeating the safety switches on my tractors then I remember that my wife likes to use them at times. Enough SAID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:laughing:
 
   / safety switches...
  • Thread Starter
#3  
I don't think I'd ever want to NOT have a neutral safety switch - but how many do you need? I think one is enough. And the ear splitting beeper? It's handy to know that your tractor won't start (or has just shut itself off) due to a safety switch being opened, but a red light on the dash would serve the same purpose and be a lot less annoying...
 
   / safety switches... #4  
a little clip of a set of side cutters might also be in order for the piezo speaker, God I hate those things
 
   / safety switches... #5  
a little clip of a set of side cutters might also be in order for the piezo speaker, God I hate those things

Or maybe stuff some cotton over the speaker and then wrap it up good with some electrical tape.

Speaking of safety switches.....
My ex father-in-law defeated the seat switch on his Exmark ZTR mower. Got it stuck one day in the drainage ditch in front of his house and tried unsticking it by the mower deck WITH THE BLADES SPINNING. He now has five fingers (3 on on hand, 2 on the other) that are a little bit shorter than they used to be. This man is a degree'ed electrical engineer too. :confused:
 
   / safety switches... #6  
.......
My ex father-in-law defeated the seat switch on his Exmark ZTR mower. Got it stuck one day in the drainage ditch in front of his house and tried unsticking it by the mower deck WITH THE BLADES SPINNING. He now has five fingers (3 on on hand, 2 on the other) that are a little bit shorter than they used to be. This man is a degree'ed electrical engineer too. :confused:

Kebo,
Bet *he* didn't try to sue the mowers manufacturer either. All these fine devices are thanks to our societal trend to sue folks for our own poor judgments. And the legal system's/ambulance chasers/jury awards that make doing so so easily rewarding.

Got to agree that most of those switches are a PITA, but, they will keep one out of injurious trouble, other than hearing loss. They don't seem to have come up with a switch for overly loud exhaust noise on lawn mowers or motorcycles.

Regards,
Dennis
 
   / safety switches... #7  
I could not live any longer with the kill switch connected to the seat! Every time I so much as stood up, the engine died. So that went away early on.

The neutral switches on the gear and range are still there, and might be a good idea. But, one day out in the brush, they got pulled apart by some branches and I had to figure it out.
 
   / safety switches... #8  
Safety switches and mechanisms are a good idea up to the point where they begin to hinder safety.

If it takes three hands, and holding your tongue just right to engage the safety switches in the proper sequence for an operation; then there are too many nanny switches.

I remember the original Saturday Night Live cast did a spoof on digital watches after they first came out. They showed about five hands being needed to operate the silly watch.

I defeated the RIO switch on L-130 lawn tractor, and added a selectable PTO safety bypass switch on my 4200 so I can run the PTO and jump off my tractor to operate my sprayer's handgun without having to remember the sequence Deere prescribes to run the PTO when the operator is off the seat.
 
   / safety switches... #9  
The switch on my skid steer seat has recently become faulty.
There must be a loose connection but when travelling on rough ground the skidsteer will all of a sudden lock up, disabling all loader and wheel movement. If your travelling at high speed or with a load this could really hurt..I have experienced travelling at top speed and it suddenly stopping..I am thinking of disabling this as there is a frame to hold you in. I know this is to prevent u moving the machine without anyone in the seat but it has become such a nuisance now and god knows what a new switch from komatsu would cost...
 
   / safety switches...
  • Thread Starter
#10  
The NH TT75A that started this thread was delivered to me at 9:00 on a Saturday night, on the side of the road, in the dark, in the rain, by a trucker who knew nothing about tractors. Being confident, I said "No problem...", got on the tractor to start it and drive it off - and spent the next 40 minutes trying to figure out how to get the &$@# thing started. I never did get it started that night, had to roll it off the trailer and get my wife to tow me to the barn with another tractor, all the time with the NH "beep, beep, beepin'" at me. The next morning I pretty quickly found that the "Operator Presence" switch for the seat had vibrated loose during transport. But that didn't make me feel any less a fool the night before, or make me any drier, or less aggravated. The topper was when my wife asked me why I paid so much money sight-unseen for a tractor that didn't run. :mur:
 
 
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