My disaster

[relaqbr]

I don't know if the pin would have sheared or not. I'm thinking if it didn't, and that speed, even with the bucket 1.5' off the ground, it maybe have launched you off the back like a catapault.

Or..., launched you, then broke... Don't even want to think about that..., but you have too.

Yep I agree. It was moving faster than I could walk and it weighs 2k lb. I do not think that hitting the parking brake is the correct emergency move. I think that you are right - it would launch my scrawny little butt. I just am not sure that on a smooth slick asphalt drive that just dropping the bucket would help stop it either.

I will have to do some less panicked experiments. But that is why I should (and we all should) think more in advance what we might do in an emergency. I sometime say to myself while driving "what would I do if that car lost a tire .... or a load off the back ... or that oncoming car came over the divider. Be a defensive driver, at home, and on the road. That said, I am very lucky. Though, I am not a total idiot, just a partial one. I HAD to lift it up to at least level to pull it over. Jacking seemed the only way without trying to erect something overhead. Yet, I was NOT under the machine while I was working the jack and stands. I kept saying to myself if it slips or shifts where will it go. I also did not want it to slip and do more damage to the unit. I was uphill on the end of the jack handle. One of the reasons it took a long time. The last two pictures are very close to the end when most of the weight was no longer on the jack and stands.

But I appreciate beenthere telling me that I am an idiot. And that I should have had the brake, or hydraulics, or transmission? engaged going down hill and that I should always yell Toro.

Kubota 2350 The short answer is no. The parking brake is difficult to engage and as discussed may not be the best thing to hit in a panic. The only other braking is the hydraulics there is a bar system that if pushed forward - you go forward, pull back and - you got it. If you let go - it stops (most times) . And the hydraulics are what I really want to know more about. Could it have been a pressure relief situation and not cavitation?

Bob

 

[woodlandfarms]

If the tranny cavitated (the pump) i would be very concerned about its health. Pumps have about a 10 second life span from what I have been told if left without oil.

 

[2manyrocks]

Maybe a call to the mfg is in order to ask them why their machine did or almost did this to you.

 

[Raw Dodge]

First off Im glad you got off the machine and didnt get hurt...With that said Im goingto go out on a limb here and say that given your explanation of what happened,my educated guess is that the machine may be slightly low on hydraulic oil,low enough that running down the steep hill caused the hydraulic oil pickup to become exposed,sucking air for a second,in turn you lost control due to lack of hydraulic pressure .If the machine was cold,the problem is exaggerated as the oil level is lower until the machine warms up..... I had this happen to me on my Steiner,that thing is a mountain goat,same exact scene,went down a real steep hill,caught air,and away I went,it wasnt pretty.You lose steering,everything on a steiner.I needed new underwear that day.....

 

[stevem5215]

The Steiner has a emergency mechanical brake. You just have to remember it's there when in a emergency.

Steve

 

[Raw Dodge]

The Steiner has a emergency mechanical brake. You just have to remember it's there when in a emergency.

Steve

It does you no good when you have a 450 lb mower deck up front,are headed down a 25 degree hill,and the brake is on the rear axle only.....

 

[J_J]

relaqbr


After reading your post about a run away machine using hydraulics drive, I thought of the following things. If the machine is using a hydrostatic driven transmission, about the only thing I can think of is that the lever controlling the camplate came loose, or was jammed, forcing the camplate to maximum and increasing speed. The camplate in the hydro has a spring that keeps it in neutral until you push or pull the lever to go fwd or rev. The cable controlling that camplate could have jammed, and the accident caused it to become unstuck. .
You might never know what caused it if things are working correctly.

There is probably an emergency stop, which is used to kill the engine.

After the accident, did the machine operate normally?

I had a similar situation with a stuck control cable, controlling a hydrostatic transmission. It caused max speed with no control.

I have a new cable on order now.

 

[beckmurph]

Is that little Toro kin to this guy File:R2d2lala.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I'm glad your safe.

 

[mjncad]

To quote Jeremy Clarkson from an episode of 'Top Gear', "I have soiled myself!"

Glad you're OK as that could have turned real ugly for you. I've never used a Dingo; but it sounds like something is defective in the machine.

 

[Mace Canute]

Toro Dingo 420TX I am pretty happy with it so far. OK so I am really happy with it so far. I wanted an HSD and looked at a Kubota b7800 and a Montana something 38 HP or so. And this little Dingo at only 20HP is SO much more functional, and maneuverable it is amazing. You can push down on a PHD and it is in front of you you don't have to visit a chiropractor after using it all day. With our "soil" Pushing it a little is a requirement. It has tracks and has 10X better traction than the others. I do not have to even think about filling the tires with gunk. I do not have to buy/find/make a weight for the rear. OK, OK, so I am happy.

I don't usually take it up "the driveway" which goes up higher and then around to the house. Probably 500ft long. Instead I use the dirt road that comes up and ends under the house. Maybe 350ft and just about as steep. However, I was working on the top part of the yard and had driven the tractor up the driveway several days before. I had gotten a delivery of some driveway patch to the top and decided to put three bags in the FEL along with some other equipment and patch a hole about halfway down. I headed down the driveway and as I got to the hole that I wanted to patch -- right at the steepest section of the drive, I decreased speed. I had it in high throttle (as is recommended) and I had the tract control forward all the way and as I got to the hole I eased back on the tract control. It started to decrease in speed but then lurched forward and started traveling faster and faster down the driveway and actually accelerated down the driveway and I couldn't steer it, and it was going off to the left which, since I was going down hill, was into the rocks instead of the 20ft ravine to the right, and there was a great big rock in front of me.

I was afraid that this thing would hit the rock and throw me forward onto the hood (and maybe on over) so I jumped/stepped/scrambled off the back. The tractor kept going and ran up onto a smaller rock just before (really about 3 inches) the bucket hit the big rock and ... WHAMMMMMMMMM, CRASSHHHHHHH, BOOOOMMMMMMMM, Went over on its side. Motor still running, starts coughing and blowing white smoke up in the air, and I run over and turn it off.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Knees shaking like crazy. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. OMG, OMG, OMG .

Deep breaths. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Knees shaking like crazy. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG .

Deep breaths.

How am I going to get this back up. It is actually laying downhill from its tracks. Gas is dripping out AGGGGGGGGGGGGG

Went up and got ratchet strap, come-along, cable, and pulled on it. It just started sliding on the driveway as it is laying downhill. So went back up and got the floor jack and put it under the loader arm and thought more and went back up and got jack stands and put them in place to brace as I got it up a little higher with the floor jack. Put the parking brake on. Finally got it tipped up enough with the combination jack, stands, straps, and come-along to push it onto its tracks.

Pant, pant, pant. 2hours and knees still shaking.
Starts up and is smoking a lot but I figure that is just oil from the PCV system -- GAS engine! I know, I know, I thought about a diesel. I don't want to foul up the plugs so I turn it back off for half an hour. In half an hour it fires up and not much smoke at all. Take the brake off but it will not move. It tries but something sounds like it is holding it back just like the parking brake. Finally figure it out. When it crashed on its side it shifted the adjustment plate for the brake so that it wouldn't actually disengage.

Wheewwww. Got the brake off -- it moves! Loaded up the stuff that flew/slid down the road when it crashed and drove it CAREFULLY down the drive and kept slowing it down and it would make a funny gurgling/rattling noise. Got to the bottom about three hours after I stated and just then Carol got home and she never knew a thing .



So my belief is the hydraulic fluid cavitated in the drive pumps and it was just sucking vacuum and I had no steering because steering is one drive moving faster and they were both in free fall! The fact that when I jumped off it continued for 3-4 feet (and would have gone further if not for the rock) after I had released the drive handle I believe supports this. It is not supposed to move at all without pushing or pulling on the drive handle.
The driveway at this point is over 35deg. So I have several questions:
1 What should I now be worried about having turned it over?
2 What does everyone think of my hypothesis?
3 Has anyone else had anything similar happen?
4 Anyone have a solution, either for the tractor's hydraulics or operationally for going down in the future. I have thought about trying to go real slow and activating the parking brake if it starts to get away or down backward, but backward is generally not the way one would do it.
5 What else should I be doing/asking?

Bob

This guy did.... LiveLeak.com - Idiot Tries To Navigate Tractor Down Stairs
(not my title by the way....)