PT425 ROPS Spares Fool\'s Life
NOTE: This is posted in the PT Forum, but thought it might also be of interest here in Safety. Hope duplication is OK.
Over the weekend, my wife and I were at our new property in the foothills north of Colorado Springs.
Most of the property is a 2.5:1 or so slope, and we have a long driveway that was cut in parallel to the slope by a professional using a huge excavator.
I'm in the process of cutting in a PT425 width zig-zag path down and along some slopes for access to remove dead trees, and to be able to use a part of the property that is 1,000 long, but only about 225 feet wide.
While backing my PT 425 down one of these roads I cut, I got near the downhill edge, which is only about 18" of fill (same as uphill side cut), and stopped, realizing I was too close.
Without thinking, I turn uphill, attempted to move ahead, not realizing that I had moved the center of gravity downhill.
It was interesting to watch the scenery do a three second counter-clockwise rotation until feeling a moderate jolt as the ROPS hit the pine needles. Being usually cool-headed in a crisis, I actually shut off the ignition while tipping & wondered if my wife knew where the cellphone was.
So--there I was, securely belted in the PT (having kept my hands in to avoid losing one!) lying on its side with the canopy on the DOWNHILL side of a 2:1 slope and the wheels at the base of the fill slope of my road.
My wife was a bit excited about this, but I was totally unscathed (physically) and only got a little dirty when I release the seatbelt at this ridiculous angle.
Anyway, I feel that I have been blessed to have been spared to be able to write about this.
The really amazing thing is that with a come-along and logging chains, it took less than an hour (including thinking time, which should have been done FIRST to prevent this) to put the PT back on its wheels, check the oil & pull it up the small berm, start it, and drive it away. There was a little oil smoke for 30 seconds as upside down IC engines tend to temporarily get a bit more oil than is really needed under the valve covers.
There was essentially NO damage to the tractor. The trim on the ROPS was pulled off a bit; pushing it back on was the only repair needed that I know of. I put a few scratches on the ROPS upright where the chain was attached. The ROPS was not deformed at all. I'll be checking everything out Tuesday when I'm next up there, and less stressed & more rational.
The engine cover was partly open, since there are no latches, but it was undamaged as the only points of contact with the ground were the tires and the side of the ROPS.
It was remarkably easy to do all this (the recovery, not the rollover!).
I'm very thankful for the extremely strong construction of the PT. Had I bought the Jinma and lived through this experience, I'm sure that I'd be shopping for parts. Not knocking the Jinma, but all steel plate construction is really sturdy!
Instead, I only have to operate a dirty, oiler tractor until I have a way to clean it up a bit at this remote site.
Probably lost about two quarts of hydraulic oil through the vented cap.
Sorry this is so long, but I would like to caution everyone about the obvious hazard of less than 5 seconds of inattention.
I would have pictures, but the camera was at home, and I thought it best to not ask my wife to run home to get it under the circumstances. Even though it's only a 1.5 hour round trip
She is considering hiring my older retired brother to keep an eye on me while I'm up there alone!
Mark H.
NOTE: This is posted in the PT Forum, but thought it might also be of interest here in Safety. Hope duplication is OK.
Over the weekend, my wife and I were at our new property in the foothills north of Colorado Springs.
Most of the property is a 2.5:1 or so slope, and we have a long driveway that was cut in parallel to the slope by a professional using a huge excavator.
I'm in the process of cutting in a PT425 width zig-zag path down and along some slopes for access to remove dead trees, and to be able to use a part of the property that is 1,000 long, but only about 225 feet wide.
While backing my PT 425 down one of these roads I cut, I got near the downhill edge, which is only about 18" of fill (same as uphill side cut), and stopped, realizing I was too close.
Without thinking, I turn uphill, attempted to move ahead, not realizing that I had moved the center of gravity downhill.
It was interesting to watch the scenery do a three second counter-clockwise rotation until feeling a moderate jolt as the ROPS hit the pine needles. Being usually cool-headed in a crisis, I actually shut off the ignition while tipping & wondered if my wife knew where the cellphone was.
So--there I was, securely belted in the PT (having kept my hands in to avoid losing one!) lying on its side with the canopy on the DOWNHILL side of a 2:1 slope and the wheels at the base of the fill slope of my road.
My wife was a bit excited about this, but I was totally unscathed (physically) and only got a little dirty when I release the seatbelt at this ridiculous angle.
Anyway, I feel that I have been blessed to have been spared to be able to write about this.
The really amazing thing is that with a come-along and logging chains, it took less than an hour (including thinking time, which should have been done FIRST to prevent this) to put the PT back on its wheels, check the oil & pull it up the small berm, start it, and drive it away. There was a little oil smoke for 30 seconds as upside down IC engines tend to temporarily get a bit more oil than is really needed under the valve covers.
There was essentially NO damage to the tractor. The trim on the ROPS was pulled off a bit; pushing it back on was the only repair needed that I know of. I put a few scratches on the ROPS upright where the chain was attached. The ROPS was not deformed at all. I'll be checking everything out Tuesday when I'm next up there, and less stressed & more rational.
The engine cover was partly open, since there are no latches, but it was undamaged as the only points of contact with the ground were the tires and the side of the ROPS.
It was remarkably easy to do all this (the recovery, not the rollover!).
I'm very thankful for the extremely strong construction of the PT. Had I bought the Jinma and lived through this experience, I'm sure that I'd be shopping for parts. Not knocking the Jinma, but all steel plate construction is really sturdy!
Instead, I only have to operate a dirty, oiler tractor until I have a way to clean it up a bit at this remote site.
Probably lost about two quarts of hydraulic oil through the vented cap.
Sorry this is so long, but I would like to caution everyone about the obvious hazard of less than 5 seconds of inattention.
I would have pictures, but the camera was at home, and I thought it best to not ask my wife to run home to get it under the circumstances. Even though it's only a 1.5 hour round trip
She is considering hiring my older retired brother to keep an eye on me while I'm up there alone!
Mark H.
