Lowering attachments to the ground

[mcfarmall]

Yeah, I've seen wads of equipment and tools hung high up on a crane hook. My favorite is the oxy-acetylene torch cart.

I lower stuff to the ground and tilt the bucket or forks down so the cutting edge and tips touch the ground for foot/leg/ankle safety.

 

[fidowanttobe]

Was told by my Pa that if a cylinder is all the way extended there is no room for thermal expansion and plays havoc on the seals. Dunno who told him or if true but my stuff is always on the ground with levers jiggled after engine is off.
I drive by a Farmall M with a F11 that sits for months with the loader as high as it can go. I never could understand why. Not in a confined space either.

 

[PJSprog]

I lower stuff to the ground and tilt the bucket or forks down so the cutting edge and tips touch the ground for foot/leg/ankle safety.

Same here. Basic equipment safety goes a long way towards keeping all of your fingers and toes intact.

 

[CobyRupert]

Went to the county fair last summer. Many equipment dealers there and kids CONSTANTLY climbing on the tractors, pretending to drive and moving levers. The dealers are very "patient", it's been this way for decades. For some kids climbing on the tractors is probably better than the rides. Adjacent to the equipment is the horse arena, and just outside that is where the volunteer parks the tractor and with a chisel plow that they use to maintain the arena.
Yep, you guessed it. The #&%$ leaves the chisel plow 3 feet in the air. Just waiting for a kid to come along. I walked over to it and slammed it to the ground hoping to make the biggest ruckus I could. I looked around to see who I could give a dirty look to, but alias, no one was monitoring the situation.

 

[mcfarmall]

Was told by my Pa that if a cylinder is all the way extended there is no room for thermal expansion and plays havoc on the seals. Dunno who told him or if true but my stuff is always on the ground with levers jiggled after engine is off.
I drive by a Farmall M with a F11 that sits for months with the loader as high as it can go. I never could understand why. Not in a confined space either.

I wouldn't think that typical thermal expansion pressures in a cylinder would exceed the operating pressure which in many cases could be 2,000 psi. Pa's theory would be the same if the cylinder was all the way retracted too. Maybe he meant that a cylinder should be stored somewhere mid stroke to avoid issues but I still contend that hydraulic pressure due to normal atmospheric temperature changes would not exceed the operating pressure rating of the cylinder.

At any rate, it's cheaper to fix a leaky seal than a crushed or impaled body part.

 

[rd_macgregor]

I'm pretty good about lowering everything to the ground when I park the tractor. However, sometimes I forget to raise everything back up before I drive off next time I use the tractor.

 

[tjkubota93]

I'm pretty good about lowering everything to the ground when I park the tractor. However, sometimes I forget to raise everything back up before I drive off next time I use the tractor.

Haha I thought I was the only one. Box blade is noisey!

 

[Industrial Toys]

As a kid, I just loved construction sites after hours. Big bonus when stuff was left raised. I'd lower it a little at a time to stretch out the experience. I guess, it's when I got hooked on hydraulic equipment.

Leaving stuff raised can tell you if you have a leaky,worn or poor quality system. Unless of course some kid has been around.

 

[FatTire]

I'm pretty good about lowering everything to the ground when I park the tractor. However, sometimes I forget to raise everything back up before I drive off next time I use the tractor.

Same. I went out to finish plowing the other day, pulled out with the ballast box sitting on the snow. It did not make enough noise for me to hear it, I must have gone 20 ft before I looked back, a VERY FLAT stripe the ground. Ooops.

 

[Oldoak]

As a kid, I just loved construction sites after hours. Big bonus when stuff was left raised. I'd lower it a little at a time to stretch out the experience. I guess, it's when I got hooked on hydraulic equipment.

Leaving stuff raised can tell you if you have a leaky,worn or poor quality system. Unless of course some kid has been around.

The big problem is when unsupervised kids are around. One or more kids can be climbing over, under, or around a raised implement while another is on the seat or in the cab playing with the controls. That can end in a disaster for someone's family and a nightmare for equipment owner faced with a lawsuit.