Nearly killed myself

[scesnick]

This is a good reminder that rural living can be VERY dangerous, Especially when working with machinery. I hear stories all the time of people being killed in hay balers, rolling tractors over, etc.. Be careful fellas !!!!

 

[TripleR]

Thanks for posting, as mentioned it's a good reminder to us all, new or experienced.

 

[CobyRupert]

It takes only a millisecond for things to go wrong- so slow down. Time is all we have anyway, so I try to make best use of it alongside being safe and not always rushed.

Well said.

 

[steverino101]

thanks for posting. glad you're ok.

 

[Daver1963]

On a similar note. More than once my ROPS has been a branch/limb trimmer. This one was half eaten out by ants and broke. End result was a scratch on my back about 3-4 inches long and one about the same size on the hood of the tractor.







Glad you ducked!

 

[dmccarty]

Years ago, I was moving some timber slash off a trail which was no big deal at all. Nothing heavy or large and just SLOWLY moving the wood with the 4n1 bucket in its bull dozer configuration to have a bit more protection for the front of the tractor. I was only pushing a branch or two at a time not big piles of wood or material...

But I ran into the ankle bone is connected to the shin bone, shin bone is connected to the thigh bone, situation...

I was slowly, in first gear and low range, moving a branch. What I did not notice was the branch was moving another log beside me which was in turn moving a large branch leaning against a tree...

The leaning branch was about 3-4 inches in diameter and I noticed it as it went from leaning to falling towards me and the tractor. :shocked: I was wearing some heavy, padded gloves and I was able to deflect the branch a bit but it still hit the side of the tractor and my hand stung. If the branch had been a bit longer and I had not seen it falling it surely would have rung my bell.

I was going slow, slow and slow when I was moving the slash. I was watching what I was doing and not in a hurry but I did not see until the last moment how all of the "bones" were connected and I was about to get smacked. Not FUN!

Sometimes I wear the chainsaw helmet when working in the woods but I can't remember if I was wearing the helmet that day.

Later,
Dan

 

[woodlandfarms]

The ROPS on my tractor are located on the front... I was cleaning up under my apple trees and a branch pushed past the ROPS and I was looking to the side and turned just in time to take the 3" branch right in the cheekbone. I saw stars, bad stars, and if wasn't for the seatbelt i would have been off the tractor.

Stunned, worried, I made my way back to the house. small cut on the cheek and it is clearly going to swell a bit.

Now flash forward to the 2nd day and I wake up and I can't open either of my eyes very much. I figure now is the time to look in the mirror and much to my horror my whole face is swollen. Off to the ER.

I have to say I don't remember the words the doctor used, but antibiotics and some other things were on the menu. It turns out I had a reaction to the tree, maybe mold spores, or just something inherint in applewood. The doc said in the logging community where we live it isn't uncommon. A few days later the eyes were open up and things got better.

 

[RSKY]

WOW, kinda glad to see that no one has been hurt seriously by a limb like that.

My dad (died in 1982) came to the house one time looking like he had been in a fight with a grizzly. Seems there was a dead tree he tried to push over with our Ford 641. It wouldn't go over so he backed up some and rammed it again. The entire top fell on him. It knocked him off the tractor under the drive wheels but he managed to roll out of the way because the tractor was still straining against the tree. He hit the throttle and it died.

Took four men to get the treetop off the tractor.

He never used a tractor as a battering ram again.

Hadn't thought of that incident in years.

RSKY

 

[Dr_Zinj]

Was on the CK20HST moving around the edges of a field last week. I had been using the bucket to tear limbs off some trees in a fence row. For some reason I left the bucket up about head high. First mistake!

I mowed up to a rather large tree in the fence row that had a bunch of small limbs hanging down nearly to the ground and slowly moved thru them. The tractor started slowing and moving slightly to the right away from the tree. It kept going forward but was straining and I pushed the pedal harder while turning more to the left and looking at the ground to see what was slowing me down. The tractor jerked more to the right and I saw a large limb slipping past the edge of the bucket. I ducked just as the end of the limb broke off and the four to six inch diameter stub slammed into the roll bar. It hit hard enough to jar the little tractor.

Looked like it was about ten feet long and snapped back between six and eight feet.

Brushed the top of my hat.

Scared the shucks out of me.

Don't know what kind of tree it was but limbs that diameter usually do not bend that far, or if they do they splinter. This one came back like a rubber band. It would have hit me about nose high.

That would have hurt greatly.

Or worse.

Be careful and watch what you are doing. When the machine starts acting strange, stop, reverse, and see what the problem is.

RSKY

God said that was your one freebie, and you're welcome.

That's one reason why I'm very leery of using the FEL to push over small trees. You never know if the tops are weak and likely to fall back on you. I prefer a logging chain longer than the tree is tall.

 

[MotorSeven]

WOW, kinda glad to see that no one has been hurt seriously by a limb like that.

My dad (died in 1982) came to the house one time looking like he had been in a fight with a grizzly. Seems there was a dead tree he tried to push over with our Ford 641. It wouldn't go over so he backed up some and rammed it again. The entire top fell on him. It knocked him off the tractor under the drive wheels but he managed to roll out of the way because the tractor was still straining against the tree. He hit the throttle and it died.

Took four men to get the treetop off the tractor.

He never used a tractor as a battering ram again.

Hadn't thought of that incident in years.

RSKY

I did the same thing with a Case 350 dozer. I was pushing against a standing dead thinking it would just fall over, nope, the top broke out and came down right in front of the roof hitting the 3/16ths steel hood. It left a cereal bowl dent in it and scared the crap outta me. I did a lot of reading about standing dead and learned they are unpredictable and have killed many of men.

Cutting in a blow down is also dangerous since trunks and branches can be hidden under huge tension while laying in the pile. I cut the "right" one one day and had a 3" branch go by my head so close the air wave almost knocked me over. Some days we are lucky...others not so much. RSKY, glad you were lucky this time and thanks for posting, we all need to pay more attention.