Backhoe Scary BX23S tractor moment - back tires chest height!

[realpdm]

This was scary to me and thought I would share. I'm just learning to use my tractor (I have about 20 hours on it so far). I was using the back hoe to dig out some smaller stumps and having to reposition the tractor a good bit. I was off the tractor having just moved it and trying to return the seat to the reversed position for backhoe use. When I lifted the seat up into position to rotate it, the back of the seat bumped into the control levers for the backhoe and it directed it to extend. This lifted the tractor rear off the ground and it took me a moment to realize what was happening. By the time I had killed the ignition the rear tires were at about chest height, the tractor barely balancing on the backhoe bucket and the FEL on the ground, entire tractor leaning a bit towards me a bit.

I ran around to the other side and tried to be a counter weight holding onto it while I figured out what to do. The seat was still pressed into the control knobs so I managed to get it moved a bit to relieve them and then started tractor from the ground and raised the backhoe (thus lowering the tractor).

I'm still trying to figure out all the lessons I learned here. One I guess is to always put the pins in place that keep the backhoe from moving before getting off the tractor.

I am no fan of this reversible seat design. I'd rather it was just a little more bulky and had its own seat.

--
Phillip

 

[Jchonline]

Maybe they need a seat safety switch that also controls pump flow to the backhoe, or at a minimum have enough clearance that the seat can never reach the levers no matter the position. The BX23S is so compact there really isnt much room for error. Lots more room on the M62, I havent had an issue though there is a pump switch I can use to divert flow from the BH if I want. It is used to cool the hydraulics if BH is not in use, but it would work for safety as well.

Ultimately, thanks for sharing your story and glad you made it out ok. If my M62 did that it would be 12ft off the ground before it tipped over and squashed me like a bug.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I really dont understand how the seat hit a backhoe lever. My Kubota seat rotates but there is no way it could hit a lever since you have to have room from the seat to put your legs so the seat should be a big distance from the control levers.
Need a photo of how this TLB is laid out so that rotating the seat moved the backhoe lever.

 

[RickB]

I’ve often wondered why more people aren’t injured or killed using tractors.

 

[diesel85]

I've had some less than entertaining moments with my BX2200 and even more being a farm hand... mostly the latter of the two.

Now that I am much older, I realize these dangers and proceed with caution.

A lot of it has to do with slowing down and thinking for a moment.

Not to say I'm a safety nazi, but you realize how fast you can become a three finger Joe or worse, like that twisted up person warning on a driveshaft.

As the OP noticed, accidents happen fast.

 

[valkyrie9901]

I idle mine down or shut it off when I turn the seat around just to be safe...

 

[bunyip]

I used to work for a transport accident authority picking up the pieces after an accident, I saw a lot of farm accidents and one of the most common was reaching across while standing in front of the back wheel to activate something or reaching across to start the engine to raise the 3PL while it was still in gear.
Simple lesson is turn it off or do the adjustment from the deck/cab.
Previous poster said this but it won't hurt to reiterate.
Fortunately you got away with it, this time.
Did I say turn it off?
The few seconds you save can result in months in hospital or a permanent time spent on the wrong side of the grass.
Turn it off.

 

[Diggin It]

Thought I'd like the swivel seat but changed my mind on that right quick. Simple enough to do I guess, but also complicated at the same time having to release, lift and rotate all at once. Ended up up fabricating a simple jump seat behind the main seat. Now I just lift the main seat towards the steering wheel and sit on the new one in back.

 

[oosik]

I use to reach in and start the M6040 while standing in front of the rear tire. In this situation - if in gear the tractor is NOT supposed to start. After reading previous threads/posts - I now take the time to get up, sit on the seat, start the tractor. It's just not worth the tiny amount of time saved.

 

[realpdm]

Thank you all for the suggestions. That is why I posted, so I can learn from other's experience and share a scary story to hopefully save someone else the risk.

I tried to replicate the problem (with the tractor off) today and I figured out why it happened now. I'm tall, so I had the seat in the furthest back position. When it is in this further back position, when the seat is lifted to initiate the swivel motion, it just touches the controls of the backhoe. There is a detent in for the seat slider to go into for the rotation process, but it is fairly easy to push it past this by accident. It didn't have to go much further to activate the backhoe control. So now when I rotate I move seat into forward position first.

Many lessons here, thanks all for the feedback! I went out digging more stumps today and didn't almost die at all!