What causes flip overs?

[SensibleNick]

I've finally found the rather relevant video that I'd been looking for.

Here you go... With No ROPS either :confused2: Oh well... he seems happy.

YouTube - albanian mad tractor rider

 

[jimmysisson]

Using the weight of the falling tractor to jump the sled - I've done that! Don't recommend it to others of course, and it's hard on the clutch, I'm sure. Yes, he's having fun.
Jim

 

[Redneck in training]

This needs another factor: weight transfer. If you hook the chain above the centerline of the rear axle, you are creating leverage to pull the front axle up, which gives more grip, enough to backflip without spinning the tires.
In general, if you hook the chain at or below the centerline of the rear axle, backflip on flat ground is impossible.

The fact is that, unless you hook up at ground contact level, back flip is possible. The point of rotation of the tractor is at ground contact. Needless to say that the lower you hook up the harder it is to flip. So your statement that the flip is impossible should say flip is unlikely but not impossible. Flip is possible such as in the tire frozen to the ground scenario.

Another thing to consider is how far behind of the rear axle you connect the load (Considering rigid tow bar.) As the tractor starts lifting front the attachment point goes lower decreasing possibility of back flip.

 

[Don87]

I've finally found the rather relevant video that I'd been looking for.

Here you go... With No ROPS either :confused2: Oh well... he seems happy.

YouTube - albanian mad tractor rider

That was a perfect example of what people on here are saying.

At the end of the video, you can see that the logs are attached to the 3pt.

 

[SPYDERLK]

The frame mounted drawbar is almost completely safe if its end extends outside the circle made by the rear tires. As the tractor rears up the end of the drawbar will come down to the ground reducing tip leverage to zero.
larry

FYI mine does not.

Are you sure? What tractor is that? I cant imagine it on an L Kubota. Even the one on the BX1500 does. Note that I did not mean that it extends back behind a line drawn across at axle level. ... But rather, a perpendicular measurement from the axle rearward and downward to the drawbar pull point should be greater than tire radius.
larry

 

[SPYDERLK]

The fact is that, unless you hook up at ground contact level, back flip is possible. The point of rotation of the tractor is at ground contact. Needless to say that the lower you hook up the harder it is to flip. So your statement that the flip is impossible should say flip is unlikely but not impossible. Flip is possible such as in the tire frozen to the ground scenario.

Another thing to consider is how far behind of the rear axle you connect the load (Considering rigid tow bar.) As the tractor starts lifting front the attachment point goes lower decreasing possibility of back flip.

Yaay! :thumbsup: The frozen tire thing is a bit different tho, as in that case the tire cannot move and the tractor just rotates around it. However, if a pullchain were attached to the rigid towbar in that case it would still stop backtip in just the way you describe - by going to ground. It occurs to me that the drawbar motion is forward and down relative to the axle and the axle serving a frozen tire is fixed. So the chain trys to force the tractor to move backward as it tips. This leads me to posit that, with just the right initial chain slack, and the tire remaining glued, you could end up with a tractor rared up beyond its balance point and sitting there stably.
larry

 

[kjung17]

The "cause" in 99% of flips is operator error. You've got to be doing something messed up to flip a tractor. Use your head. Know the limitations of your machine and yourself. Safety first.

 

[Don87]

The "cause" in 99% of flips is operator error. You've got to be doing something messed up to flip a tractor. Use your head. Know the limitations of your machine and yourself. Safety first.

Not trying to be snotty here, but it is 100% of the time 'operator error'

Tractors don't tend to flip themselves, just like 'guns don't kill people':thumbsup:

 

[kjung17]

I allowed 1% for crazy mechanical failure. Lol.

 

[RoyJackson]

Never thought about that but can see how it can happen. Good mucky mud frozen is like concrete.

First rear rollover I ever read about (TBN, about 10 years ago, I'd guess) was a farmer who left his machine out in a field...tires froze to the ground. IIRC, this was in Nebraska.
Ever since then, I've always used reverse first, if the tractor (all mine have been geared transmissions) was left outside.