Tractor Safety

[Anonymous Poster]

As a newbe tractor owner and growing up in the city I don't have much farm experience. Thought I would post a heads up for others like me. While draging some brush around the brush pile a 15 ft 3" dia. limb caught the inside of the front tire above the axle passing by the engine making it all the way to the steering wheel before I could get on the brakes. Gave me the heebe jeebies just thinking about what would have happened if I had been watching the load. Never really thought about getting speared that way. I'm now a lot more attentive around the brush pile and when riding through the woods. I would be interested in any other safety tips from the vast experience of this board. I don't know if they have tractors in heaven but would rather ride mine a little longer down here.

 

[TomG]

Yes, this is a subject that should be mentioned along with the 'trail-blazing' discussion. Anyway, you're not alone. Comments here and other boards report tearing off hoses, spearing radiators etc. while bushing tractors. A regular here reported almost being speared through the chest.

 

[MarkV]

Reg,

Many of us have done close to the same thing as you. Sure gets your attention. Some of the guys that use their tractors in the woods have added extra safety items like brush guards, skid plates and cabs. I am sure they will add more infor. One thing to watch is dead limbs on trees you may hit. I understand the loggers call them widow makers. If you ever have a limb fall next to you, you will understand why.

This forum has produced a great deal of information on tractor safety. Do a search for safety issues and spend a couple of hours reading. Sure is better than learning the hard way.

 

[Bird]

I haven't been speared yet, but I've sure had some limbs whip back and hit me in the face hard enough to get my attention, and I had some brush rip the valve stem right out of one front tire. And when I had the B7100, a couple of times I was pushing into brush or trees when the tractor just died. Scared me the first time until I realized a limb had whipped back and knocked the throttle lever all the way back to the "kill" position.

Bird

 

[Harv]

Thanks for the heads up on pushing limbs. I'm also a newbie and I'm about to do a lot of that sort of thing.

Just yesterday I had a related experience. Having logged a full 12 hours on the meter (I think that puts me up there with Mark Chalkley, doesn't it? /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif), I was starting to get that adolecent cocky feeling. I was staying in the high gears for my back and forth maneuvering, just whipping it around like I've seen old pros do on construction sites. I was abruptly slapped back to reality when I did a quick back-up and turn move. Since I had already done this about a dozen times in the same place I didn't feel the need to twist around and watch my rear. Apparently I was a couple feet further over than I was on previous passes 'cuz the next thing I knew a limb from a nearby tree came straight through the ROPS and almost took off my ear.

In a previous post I think I made some comments about my common sense protecting me from harm where others have had accidents. I may need to enroll in common sense school myself. /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif

Also, as I was walking the path where I plan to "blaze a trail", I started to push a dead branch out of my way when I happened to glance up to see how big it was and how hard it was going to be to remove it. It was one of those damned widow-makers, and I was about to make my wife a widow. I repostioned myself, gave it a light tug and about 50 pounds of branch came down from about 15 feet up. Holy crap!!! Walking in the woods is more dangerous than this computer geek ever imagined.

After that I started looking up a lot more and, sure enough, besides other smaller widow-maker branches I noticed a good-sized leaner (maybe a 14-inch trunk) was actually a fallen tree which never reached the ground 'cuz it was supported by the limbs of another tree about 20 or 30 feet up. Not sure the best way to bring that puppy down. Any suggestions?

I feel I've gained some sobering experience the hard way and I was very lucky to do so without harm. Thank god there is TractorByNet to allow us to share these stories and hopefully save somebody some grief.

 

[Bird]

Harv, to take down a "leaner", if it's actually loose at the bottom, I usually just tie onto it at the bottom with a chain and pull; away from the direction it's leaning, of course. When you walk through any heavily wooded area, you'll usually see lots of big limbs on the ground, downed trees, etc., but I suspect most of us don't think about what it was like at the time they came down; scarey, ain't it?

Bird

 

[Harv]

Bird -

I can't tell if the leaner is completely separated at the base, and I hesitate to take a chain saw to such a precarious beast. I actually have a fair amount of experience felling trees, but they were usually standing up so I could tell what I was dealing with and could predict where it would fall (exactly where I was aiming, of course /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif).

I suppose I could give it a tug as you suggested. Worst that happens is that it doesn't budge.

 

[AndyH]

Harv:

Two thoughts on your "leaner" and tree work in general. First, I always wear a hardhat when doing tree cutting to help protect myself from "widow-makers." (The friend who taught me to use a chainsaw back in college insisted I put one on before he started up the saw. A good thing; although we checked carefully for "widow-makers" before cutting, it wasn't twenty minutes into the lesson before an unseen small branch dropped end-first onto my head. Had I not been wearing the hard-hat, my first chainsaw experience would have been my last.) Last year, I picked up one of the orange logger's helmets with integral hearing protectors and mesh facemask; it works better than the separate hard-hat and headphones I'd been using, and is more comfortable.

Second, I've found a length of heavy rope (along with a "throwing line") and a pole saw helpful when you can't get your tractor close enough to follow Bird's advice about pulling the "leaner's" trunk with a chain. About two weeks ago, I used the rope and pole saw to finally get down a nasty 30" diameter maple in my woods. The maple's trunk had split in a storm; half the tree had then snapped over about 20-25 feet up from the ground. The crown had then wedged itself 20 feet in the air on a half-rotten neighboring tree. I ended up using a long pole saw to cut away the suspended crown a branch at a time, and was eventually able to topple the suspended maple, using the heavy rope. The rope also helped direct the fall of the final portion of trunk, when I was able to safely chainsaw through the base of the large maple. (Overall, it's not a job I want to repeat any time soon.)

You might also think about a "come-along" to help pull the leaners if you can't get your tractor in close enough.

Andy

 

[Bird]

Harv, you may have as much experience as I do, and I know there are a lot of others on the forum with more experience, but if it won't pull from the bottom, then I take the chain saw to it, cutting UP from the bottom side, slowly, carefully, and ready to get out of the way the instant it starts cracking. If there's a better way, maybe some of these other guys will educate both of us.

Bird

 

[MJB]

I thought I would relate an experience I had last year when clearing brush. I used to have a small John Deere 440 dozer that I was using to clear a brush covered area of my property. To start out I just put the blade up and drove through a big clump of brush just to knock it all down so I could see what the terrain was like. When I backed out again I discovered that the brush had sprung back up slightly so that the ends were pointing right at my back. The first thing that caught my attention was when a long stick passed through the area just below the seat and above the final drive housing and stuck me in the back of my left leg. The stick pinned my leg so I couldn't lift it to push in the clutch./w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif Lucily I had my hand on the reverser lever so I popped it into neutral just in time to avoid a broken leg. No real damage done except for a big bruise on my left leg. Of course I looked around real quick to see if anyone was watching./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Lesson learned: look out for pointy sticks when backing through brush piles. MJB