SAFETY!!! Couldn't turn tractor Off! Anyone experience this?

[jgheck]

Not really a lot to take appart.

all you got to do is pop the hood and you can kill the engine with the lever. I was just advising to pull the panels off to help him find the injector pump, and thus the lever. Once he knows where it is, he can reach it with just the hood popped.

And IMO, An engine that will not shut down is NOT considered an emergency. Just an incovience. In the event of an emergency situation, you would use the key-switch. But a failed cut-off relay all by itself IMO doesnt constitute an "emergency".

And it it was indeed an emergency and the key didnt work, dumping the clutch in H range does wonders:thumbsup:

:thumbsup:LD1Found it! I took the side panel off and sure enough there it is. It is a spring loaded lever. I turned the tractor on and moved the lever over and Walla! The tractor shut down immediately. Now that I know where it is, it will be easy to reach under there and turn it off. I may put a small extension on it and paint it redso It is easy to see and locate. Just in case I have to tell someone else how to shut it down in an emergency that may be using my tractor.

Thanks for helping me out.

I also did call Kubota at the Northern branch in Ohio. I am happy to report that the assistant manager of service, Dave, called back and was very knowledgeable and helpful regarding this whole situation. He did reaffirm that the HST switch is not put in the tractors in the USA, but use the same wiring harness and suspects that there is a short somewhere in that wire. I am now going to go out to try and find that. Thanks again for all the help on this forum. This is very valuable.

 

[RaydaKub]

Is this it, or is there a lever that pulls on this? It's identified in the parts manual as the Stop Solenoid.

 

[California]

...Use common sense and dont ever put yourself in a situation that needs you to kill the tractor immediatally.

Disagree! At least for the little Kubotas, they are marketed to the 'weekend warrior' type homeowner, not the traditional tractor buyer who learned to operate one on Daddy's knee. This site was founded to target just such an audience, new owners of small Kubotas who wanted to compare notes.

This target customer is different than the agribusiness farmer. I think it is reasonable to build to that user's needs - and his lack of 'what everyone knows'. In my opinion there should be some sort of emergency shutdown that nobody could overlook or misunderstand.

Now, a personal example. I went to look at that antique in my avatar. I hadn't driven a tractor since the late 50's, and those were well maintained. This Yanmar was obviously cheap because it screamed Neglect. The seller hadn't had it long, he gave up after botching several things. He started it for me and went back inside to finish his lunch. I tried it in all the gears, medium rpm, no problem. In top gear I decided his field was too rough for the speed I was going, stepped on the clutch and both brakes -- and zigged to the side as the left brake instantly locked solid.

But standing still, the engine was screaming, now somehow running flat out. I later discovered the right brake engaged so low that I was pushing the foot throttle as I held that brake down, but with my inexperience and unfamiliarity I simply thought I was going to blow up the engine and didn't know why. Turning off the key did nothing. I thought a second, reviewing what I could recall about diesels, recognized it had enough torque at that rpm to overcome the flaky brakes so I couldn't stall it, so I pulled the compression release.

Crisis solved. I got it shut down without blowing it up. Later I noticed the pump-calibration lead seal had been cut so it wasn't limited to the intended maximum rpm limit. (After fixing all the goofy but simple problems, I've run this thing now for eight troublefree years.)

Long story short, I'm glad there was an idiotproof emergency shutdown obvious and available to this very green operator.

 

[aczlan]

This target customer is different than the agribusiness farmer. I think it is reasonable to build to that user's needs - and his lack of 'what everyone knows'. In my opinion there should be some sort of emergency shutdown that nobody could overlook or misunderstand.

Well, having watched quite a few "greenhorns" try to drive our B7500 (has a key and a pull out stop knob) and our BX2660 (key on/off) VERY FEW non-tractor people think to look for a stop lever to shut the tractor off.
They turn off the key and look surprised when the tractor keeps running.

Aaron Z

 

[LD1]

:thumbsup:LD1Found it! I took the side panel off and sure enough there it is. It is a spring loaded lever. I turned the tractor on and moved the lever over and Walla! The tractor shut down immediately. Now that I know where it is, it will be easy to reach under there and turn it off. I may put a small extension on it and paint it redso It is easy to see and locate. Just in case I have to tell someone else how to shut it down in an emergency that may be using my tractor.

Thanks for helping me out.

I also did call Kubota at the Northern branch in Ohio. I am happy to report that the assistant manager of service, Dave, called back and was very knowledgeable and helpful regarding this whole situation. He did reaffirm that the HST switch is not put in the tractors in the USA, but use the same wiring harness and suspects that there is a short somewhere in that wire. I am now going to go out to try and find that. Thanks again for all the help on this forum. This is very valuable.

Congrats on finding it.

California: My point is that things fail. EVEN safetys. Try as we may, we cannot make tractors idiot proof. No matter how hard we try, there will always be a "what if".

His tractor is perfectally safe. Something failed that could have made it unsafe, but that is debatable. What if there WAS an emergency shutdown and that failed too?? And what if there was a B/U for the emergency shutdown and that also failed??

Your example about the "screaming" engine needing an emergeny shutdown is a direct result of someone tampering with the design of the tractor to begin with. And if people do things like that, it is impossible to engineer safety into the equation.

On the OP's tractor, with the saftey "system" design, there should never be a need for an emergency shutdown. He has a seatbelt, ROPS, PTO safety switch, seat saftey switch, "in-gear" switch, and countless other safteys. If these are all operational and the OP belted in and rops up, there should never be a need for an emergency shutdown.

But perhaps to appease some, maybe we should have one of those "kids ATV" safety straps on our tractors. The ones with the cord around your wrist tethered to a kill switch:confused2:

 

[Ken45101]

It is extremely rare but possible, I'm not saying to put safety switches everywhere but there should be at least a button to press to kill the engine by starving it of air on all tractors.

A BUTTON to press implies an electrically operated circuit. Guess what? A blown fuse or other lack of power and the button won't work any better than the ignition switch. We are right back where we started, aren't we?

Study Murphy's Laws a bit. Everything electrical or mechanical can fail in one way or another. Put too many safety interlocks and then the thing won't run and people will be complaining. My dad's lawn tractor had an "operator present" switch on the seat. Every time he hit a bump, the tractor died It didn't take him long to bypass the switch.

I'll bet you could mount a small CO2 extinguisher on the ROPS. Personally, I'm not worrying about it though.

Ken

 

[EE_Bota]

A BUTTON to press implies an electrically operated circuit. Guess what? A blown fuse or other lack of power and the button won't work any better than the ignition switch. We are right back where we started, aren't we?

Study Murphy's Laws a bit. Everything electrical or mechanical can fail in one way or another. Put too many safety interlocks and then the thing won't run and people will be complaining. My dad's lawn tractor had an "operator present" switch on the seat. Every time he hit a bump, the tractor died It didn't take him long to bypass the switch.

I'll bet you could mount a small CO2 extinguisher on the ROPS. Personally, I'm not worrying about it though.

Ken

I had a similar thought....dumping a huge battery across an electrical short due to lack of fusing is also considered a design flaw.

I'm betting the OP is now a happy camper, and once he finds the short, he will be a far happier camper. That's the main thing, so here's to him, and I wish him luck.

 

[chucko]

What good is a kill switch under the seat if a blow key fuse keeps it form working

the key should hold the fuel "on" any loss of power to the fuel kill should kill the motor. IMO Kubota was thinking backwards when they did this system

 

[RaydaKub]

What good is a kill switch under the seat if a blow key fuse keeps it form working

the key should hold the fuel "on" any loss of power to the fuel kill should kill the motor. IMO Kubota was thinking backwards when they did this system

OK, I'm not alone here then. :thumbsup:
The point is that it should require all systems working in harmony to keep the tractor alive. Missing any of those systems, the default should be that it is all dead, and in this case that solenoid should default to shutting off the pump, not keeping it running.

I'm glad I know about it now and hope I never have to use it. But the default is backwards.

 

[keyman1808]

OK, I'm not alone here then. :thumbsup:
The point is that it should require all systems working in harmony to keep the tractor alive. Missing any of those systems, the default should be that it is all dead, and in this case that solenoid should default to shutting off the pump, not keeping it running.

I'm glad I know about it now and hope I never have to use it. But the default is backwards.

I agree.