How to kill yourself without knowing

[Redneck in training]

I learned the weight distribution right after I bought my first tractor. The tractor had seeping sight glass on the transmission. The dealer gave new improved one and told me to park the tractor nose down on a slope so there will not be oil visible in the sight poke it out press new one in.
So I unhitched my box blade to get better access to it and drove to the near slope. Once the rear wheels reached the edge of the slope the tractor gained speed and I was on the bottom of the slope in big hurry, made a half doughnut, balanced on two wheels for a second and fortunately settled on all four.
The rear wheels had no traction and were just sliding down and I had front wheel drive disengaged. Now I made it a rule when the FEL is on BB is on too and front wheel drive engaged. I will add more weight to the BB in near future to make it engage ground more agressively and put more weight on rear wheel to lessen stress on the front drive.

 

[Danno1]

I wonder if DU would be cheaper than tungsten, since it (DU) is almost 99% the density of tungsten? Plus, you'd be helping the nuclear power industry get rid of bothersome waste (and, if you got the really fresh stuff, you wouldn't need backup lights on your tractor!).


BOB

You would think so, but no (at least not to civilions). I'd checked into that too some years back when researching tungsten for weights (as an alternative to lead).


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[RoyJackson]

When you lift the rear wheels off the ground the tractor will turn sideways only to the stop restricting front axle motion.

Not necessarily, especially if you're on uneven ground or a slight slope. Better safe (rear ballast) then sorry...

 

[The Haymaker]

Not necessarily, especially if you're on uneven ground or a slight slope. Better safe (rear ballast) then sorry...

Actually did this tonight. Wouldn't intend on doing it often but was moving an old C-band satellite dish, post, and concrete base I had just ripped from the ground. Wasn't super heavy, but the full length of the dish at the end of the mast was straight out from the front of the tractor. I placed the forks slightly less than the diameter of the base apart and forced them around it, then rocked and pulled. Once out I just kept driving forward to its final resting place.

Anyway, one part of the route involved a slight downslope which finally moved the CG far enough forward to lift the rear up and over, canting the tractor against the axle stop. Once on flat ground again everything leveled out again.

Again, not a normal practice and my hand definitely never left the joystick.

What surprised me is my reflexes were fast enough to out pace the F-22 jet fighter characteristics that overloaded tractors have. Maybe I should enlist with the Air Force?

Did I ever mention how much I love my forks?

 

[stefanie]

My friend you are preaching to the choir. I've posted many times about the dangers of FEL/slopes but many here just scoff. As they say "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink".

I always thought it was: Horticulture, You can lead a ***** to culture, but you can't make her think.:laughing:

As I said earlier I am a devote chicken. So I come to those who know and ask questions. My mom once told me my first words were "why and how" mama and dada came next.

 

[JRobyn]

Welcome to TBN!

Ten Mile? Really? I used to live there (on the lake). Is the Mr. Twister still there?

 

[greasemonkeyok]

I see the problem as cushioned/spring seats which let you get beyond the power curve before you know it. The danger signal is obscured by the suspension (and old age in some circumstances).

When the old metal seat bolted to the case started to move, your butt told you immediately that things were going badly.

 

[spursjingles]

There is data, but it won't support his numbers. He's making them up I suspect. The typically accepted number is right around 1/2 second. That's how they set the timing for drag racing lights.

When you are waiting for it you are focused of course you react quicker. When you are driving equipment you are not anticipating a disaster so 5 seconds is a good time to analize and react. We are all experts when it comes down to it. If you are waiting on a green light at a race track and they forgo the yellow your brain would have to think hey i was waiting for the yellow now its green, I better take off. That would take you longer to process than if it went thru the entire tree.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using TractorByNet mobile app

 

[spursjingles]

I used to buy into the legal departments argument that due to too many factors that the manufacturers can't do this or that. We studied those back in our basic Mech Ag classes in the 70's and we were also punching cards for computers. That was true up to about the 1990's but that isn't true today.

What a computer can calculate today with sensors on the front and back of hydraulic lifts is a lot. Tilt angles and weight loads and implement heights are simply fed into a CHEAP computer and Calculations that are simply burned into memory make split calculations and results come in milliseconds...faster than you or I can make a decision. An input to a kill switch would save lots of Dads and Sons.These computers are cheap today...very cheap. This is being done on all sorts of equipment today. Only the audience can demand that it be changed.

Turning uphill or downhill on a slope is bad news for any kind of equipment and that's what all your movies on tractor safety show. Very basic.

Moving a FEL or three point with a heavy load on a slope is also an invitation for Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein to sit in your bucket and lecture you about moving heavy loads with your FEL. For example...

If you parked your tractor pointed downhill and stepped back and imagined a stick hanging from your fingers running through the center of your tractor that was plumb/exactly perpendicular with level ground...this will give you the angle that the *** end of your tractor would be OFF THE GROUND if it was on level ground. Visualize how many FEET this off the ground if it were on level ground...then move your FEL or three point. You will find that you only have to move your FEL a few inches or less than a foot without any kind of load to move the FEL where it's max weight on the chart is. Put a load on it and you become a physics major within milliseconds. The Kubota I just bought has these charts with the FEL.
If you're so inclined to be extremely stupid and work your tractor sideways or parallel to the hill while moving your attachments...step back, park your tractor...imagine this stick hanging from your fingers running through the center of your tractor and see how many inches or feet the upwheel tires would be off the ground if you were on level ground. It only takes a few moments to do and will save your keyster and pride.

Everyone is very cautious when they have a load in the FEL and they start putting any kind of height on it but according to the charts provided on various pieces of equipment...the moment arm or force really shoots up when you first lift or lower your fel when your bucket is within the first few feet of the ground. The weight that is exerted onto the arms moves closer to the tractor body and center of gravity the higher it goes so long as it is on level ground. Moving or changing the angle or slope of the ground just a few degrees off moves the moment arm away from the tractor a huge amount depending on the weight in your FEL or three point and that's where I saw the pearly gates for a millisecond operating an old ford. I thought I was moving the bucket slowly but I have never seen a machine want to leap off the ground so fast in my life.

It takes the average human being 5 seconds to see, process (think) and then react. I saw this time and time again as an accident investigator. We are terribly human and very few human beings can process information faster than this. Moral of the story...it's over before you can react.

I saw an old farmer take his framing square and eyeball a hill once. He then showed me in the manual where they had highly recommended the max slope the machine should be operated on.

I will continue to dig for the information that we can put into some common English but even moving the FEL or three point hitch at what we think is a slow rate means absolutely nothing when the weight/moment arm exceeds the weight of your tractor and they snap faster than you can say...ahhh...

I totally agree with this.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using TractorByNet mobile app

 

[DarkBlack]

Looks like generalized science to me. We had a more scientific debate of this roll center topic some years ago.