tricycle front end and safety

[grnspot110]

weak argument. I can find one-of examples of just about -ANY- object killing a person.. incluting plastic cutlery and toothpics.

as with anything... be safe.. and engage brain before doing anything else.

it's the single biggest/best piece of safety equipment we have to use... and it's built in and free.

soundguy

Very true! Common sense goes a long way!

Wonder how many of the "antis" have ever actually used a narrow front?

I grew up on them, literally, sold my last one (1958 JD 520) last Spring. ~~ grnspot110

 

[Soundguy]

it's all i'm collecting now.. NF rowcrops that is.. I like them. good elevation, ground clearance.. can see what you are doing, and they turn on a dime..

soundguy

 

[D7E]

Not a completeley outdated theory though ..!

 

[Thomas]

Spent hours an hours on NF when a tadpole..one learns quick what they can and cannot do each season/weather condition when in doubt go w/your gut feeling.

 

[slowzuki]

Those reports are a bit simplistic but yes tricycle tractors are much less stable than a wide front end. Loader is a really bad idea on them too. Put a load on the loader about grill height, back up with the wheel cut tight then straighten it quickly, boom over they go. Add some tippy or slippy ground and its even easier. Lots of folks killed on them around here over the years.

 

[sweettractors]

On many occasions, I have found myself on the side of a hill on a trike tractor. I become aware that the hill slope is a little more than I feel comfortable with. I hit the down hill side brake hard and turn the steering wheel hard down hill and get out of a bad situation on a dime. Wides won't do that because of the longer turning radius. With that said, I had rather have wides on my farm because it lays rolling. Ken Sweet

 

[Soundguy]

one thing to think about. many trikes are higher / higher COG than an ag/utility or industrial frame model.

soundguy

 

[Dick L]

Actually when you are on a steep side hill or road bank and the high side wheel starts to lift the tractor will be way past stopping before the front could stop it from tipping over. Wide fronts give some a false sense of security that can get them into problems. Anyone that works on side hills need to know the tipping point of the tractor they are operating and stay well away from that point.

 

[willfick]

While we're at it, and since the OP said he's going to use it mostly with trailers & wagons, I'll say that if you've used a narrow front tractor for backing a trailer you'll be spoiled for anything else.
Wm
YouTube - willfick's Channel

 

[Soundguy]

yep.. they turn on a dime. I like em for mowing in tight places..

 

[grnspot110]

Just wonder, how many people that are against them have ever actually used one? ~~ grnspot110

 

[tessiers]

Just wonder, how many people that are against them have ever actually used one? ~~ grnspot110

I wondered the same thing? I like my Farmall so well for haying if someone came out with one on the market today I would buy it.

 

[Dick L]

This picture of the farm I was raised on shows the type of hills of this area. Some steeper but not by a lot. Dad and us boys farmed it with the tricycle front tractors for many years. Dad bought the first wide front tractor when Us boys were gone from the farm and Mom started to fit ground. He bought the wide front because of it was easier to drive on fresh plowed ground not because of tipping. I am now 72 years old and started fitting ground with an Allis Chalmers narrow front C when I was eight years old. I do not ever remember even a neighbor tipping a narrow front tractor over sideways in all these years and we sure never did. A coupla Fords over backwards from hitching to high and using the three point drawbar without the braces. The man that owned the farm I now own was killed when he drove over the edge of a steep road bank. This had nothing to do with it being a narrow front. Same place where a County worker rolled a mowing tractor which was a wide front a coupla years ago. The County worker was not hurt.

I am quite sure that a lot of the people that swear that a narrow tractor is unsafe have never spent enough time on one to actually know. One of the first things i did when I bought a wide front Oliver 88 was to change it to a narrow front. The wide front is out back.

 

[MH49]

One BIG advantage to narrow front tractors is that you can get more of them in the shed.

 

[Hoosier Hay Man]

While we're at it, and since the OP said he's going to use it mostly with trailers & wagons, I'll say that if you've used a narrow front tractor for backing a trailer you'll be spoiled for anything else.
Wm
YouTube - willfick's Channel

We have a hitch on the front of most of our narrow front tractors to back hay wagons with. You can put a 4-wheel wagon anywhere you want using a narrow front tractor with front hitch.:thumbsup: Advantages are you are looking at your wagon , not bending around backwards and you can swing the tongue on a dime by cranking the wheel and holding a brake. I wouldn't be without one!

 

[slowzuki]

Actually no, the higher pivot point in the front increases the roll resistance of a wide front end. On a narrow, the pivot point for the front in on the ground, and the engine is quite a bit higher. Once you start driving on a side hill, the engine leans over past the pivot point quite a bit only countered by the rear end.

On a wfe, the engine and pivot are very close. Quite often a wfe tractor will slide sideways down a hill before it will roll. A tricycle will rarely slide before rolling. Add a loader and the things are even worse.

Actually when you are on a steep side hill or road bank and the high side wheel starts to lift the tractor will be way past stopping before the front could stop it from tipping over. Wide fronts give some a false sense of security that can get them into problems. Anyone that works on side hills need to know the tipping point of the tractor they are operating and stay well away from that point.

 

[SPYDERLK]

Actually when you are on a steep side hill or road bank and the high side wheel starts to lift the tractor will be way past stopping before the front could stop it from tipping over. Wide fronts give some a false sense of security that can get them into problems. Anyone that works on side hills need to know the tipping point of the tractor they are operating and stay well away from that point.

Actually no, the higher pivot point in the front increases the roll resistance of a wide front end. On a narrow, the pivot point for the front in on the ground, and the engine is quite a bit higher. Once you start driving on a side hill, the engine leans over past the pivot point quite a bit only countered by the rear end.

On a wfe, the engine and pivot are very close. Quite often a wfe tractor will slide sideways down a hill before it will roll. A tricycle will rarely slide before rolling. Add a loader and the things are even worse.

Actually yes. Youre both right but are speaking oranges and tangerines.
larry

 

[Soundguy]

One BIG advantage to narrow front tractors is that you can get more of them in the shed.

or on a trailer.. just back the firs one on then slant her nose out to a side.. then driv ethe other one up and slanted to the opposite with engines slightly overlapping.

soundguy

 

[slowzuki]

Sort of, but a wfe will operate on a steeper slope before rolling. It is also generally easier to steer into a roll on a wfe on soft ground, but if you're used to a narrow front you know soft ground on a hillside isn't where they are supposed to be.

We have rolling terrain here, and a lot more people were killed on nfe's than wfe's. Our secretarys father was killed in the late 80's on a nfe, he had be using it for 40 years without incident but it went over on him on a hill and pinned him.

Actually yes. Youre both right but are speaking oranges and tangerines.
larry

 

[tessiers]

All I know for sure is I have rolled 3 tractors, all 3 were wide front, 4x4 tractors. I have more hours on narrows than wides, so I agree with the false sence of security. All three times I had the bucket low and slow. First was bucketing snow and a tire caught a snow bank, over she went fast as can be, kind of quartering like, front up and to right. Second was hauling logs, twitch slid on side hill and rear went with twitch, caught root cluster and momentum carried me over, I was tied in and I didn't like that one much, my father pulled me out. Third my brother was trying to fill in sinkhole, he got it right on the edge and left it for me, even with 1 ton hooked to it over she went, expected it and that was no big deal. Point is I don't do that crap with my narrows, but they do have a place and pourpose. Just like dogs, use them right and you got a friend for life.