Can all tractors flip over easy?

[CobyRupert]

I didn’t think “flip” and “roll” were directional terms. Why can’t something be flipped on its side, or rolled over backwards?

OP, if you’re inexperienced, get a tractor with a roll bar (ROPS) and WEAR THE SEATBELT. A ROPS without using the seatbelt is just as dangerous as having no ROPS.

As far as flipping / rolling the tractor over backwards, always be aware of where you’re pulling from. Anything connected to the rear of tractor (or 3 point hitch) above the height of the rear axle will want to “flip” the front end up when you pull.

 

[rScotty]

I thought about buying an older tractor like an 8N, but then I started reading about them flipping over. I'm sure you can use common sense be pretty safe, but I got to thinking that maybe all tractors could flip? Was looking for advice on safety. I was thinking I probably need a sub compact now because they look safer, but I could be fooling myself.

It for plowing new ground with stumps and roots, mostly the leftover roots.

Edit: I have no experience with tractors, if you couldn't tell.

No, they don't flip over very easy. It's more that people who use them tend to put them in positions where they get unbalanced.
A lot of times it has to do with trying to do things beyond common limits. Flipping is so rare there aren't many rules. Common sense covers most of things as problems have as much to do with the person as the tractor... more so, if anything.

Pull down low and it won't flip. If you use the tractor on extreme slopes or pull on things at odd angles or from high on the tractor then you bet you can turn one over. Otherwise you'll never come close to turning one over.

If you tend to fall over on your motorcycle, off ladders, roll cars, and never could get the hang of skiing or skating - or are a "hold my beer and watch this" kind of person..... then better avoid tractors too.
rScotty

 

[oldpilot]

Well, I have a vivid memory of climbing a hill in a 1952 Allis Chalmers tractor (wide-track, not the narrow gait of the pre-War models). I must have stopped midway for some reason, and when I started up again I apparently engaged the clutch too quickly. The front wheels rose off the ground for what seemed like a foot. My heart nearly stopped. But all was well.

My more recent tractors, a Japan-built Allis and an India-built Mahindra, have no such problem, or perhaps I'm a bit smarter than I was 45 years ago. (And Mahindra Baba of course has no clutch as such. I suspect HST is a great safety feature.)

 

[EddinKY]

If you lack experience on the tractor, first get used to the controls, how it works, what you need to do, where your feet rest, how to kill the throttle, repeat it to learn muscle memory. In an emergency situation you don't have time to look for the brake or clutch pedal....it must happen by instinct. Practice, practice, practice...before you tackle challenges.

 

[nybirdman]

We have owned 8N and 9N's,easy to get hurt on one;gear drive and have to push in clutch.Got rid of them and went to HST tractors which are much safer,IMHO and have roll bars.
We had a neighbor killed on one trying to pull out a stuck pick-up loaded with wood.Flipped over backwards and pinned her with the steering wheel.It can happen very fast.

 

[Gord Baker]

...and NEVER chain a log to a drive wheel to get Unstuck....

 

[LouNY]

Older tractors with tripod wheel configuration are easier to flip and roll.

No they are not.

 

[MossRoad]

I didn’t think “flip” and “roll” were directional terms. Why can’t something be flipped on its side, or rolled over backwards?

OP, if you’re inexperienced, get a tractor with a roll bar (ROPS) and WEAR THE SEATBELT. A ROPS without using the seatbelt is just as dangerous as having no ROPS.

As far as flipping / rolling the tractor over backwards, always be aware of where you’re pulling from. Anything connected to the rear of tractor (or 3 point hitch) above the height of the rear axle will want to “flip” the front end up when you pull.

Have you ever heard of someone having a job called a burger roller?

 

[MossRoad]

No they are not.

Yes they are. It’s a lot easier to tip a triangle on it’s side VS a rectangle due to the center of gravity being closer to an edge of the connecting lines. It’s been discussed and proven many times here on TBN over the decades.

 

[MossRoad]

NASD - Tractor Overturn Hazards

No other farm machine is so identified with the hazards of production agriculture as the tractor. The rubber-wheeled, row-crop tricycle tractor of the 1930's revolutionized production agriculture. The tractor had the speed, power, flexibility, adaptability, and handling ease that helped move farmin

nasdonline.org

 

[LouNY]

Yes they are. It’s a lot easier to tip a triangle on it’s side VS a rectangle due to the center of gravity being closer to an edge of the connecting lines. It’s been discussed and proven many times here on TBN over the decades.

Bull; and I have said so many times, it has been discussed many times it has NOT been proven.
There are so many old wives tails being presented as facts that you can't find the grain for all the chaff flying around.

added as an edit;
And your diagram is an example, were is the front axle pivot point???????

 

[MossRoad]

 

[MossRoad]

Bull; and I have said so many times, it has been discussed many times it has NOT been proven.
There are so many old wives tails being presented as facts that you can't find the grain for all the chaff flying around.

added as an edit;
And your diagram is an example, were is the front axle pivot point???????

I know from your tone that there’s no way to convince you, so I won’t try, other than to point this out, yet again. If the CG travels past any of the baselines, the tractor tips over. The baseline is closer to the original CG on a tricycle tractor. If the CG moves along the red lines I’ve drawn, as soon as it crosses the baseline, over the machine goes.

The CG can cross the baseline sooner on the tricycles than the quads.

 

[LouNY]

Very nice sketches just one problem, redraw your red lines using the pivot point of the front axle on a tractor.
The front axle is not rigid it pivots at the center so there is almost no difference if your sketches are drawn correctly.

 

[4570Man]

Very nice sketches just one problem, redraw your red lines using the pivot point of the front axle on a tractor.
The front axle is not rigid it pivots at the center so there is almost no difference if your sketches are drawn correctly.

A pivoting axel will stop before a rollover is reached making it act more like a square vs a triangle. Overall a 4 wheeled tractor is a lot more stable than a 3 wheeler. Maybe if you were working on steep ground without a loader and the tractor is rolling because the rear tire dropped in a hole the front axle type wouldn’t make much difference. But that’s probably the rarest kind of rollover. In s much more common scenario working on mostly flat ground with a loader the pivoting axel helps a lot.

 

[LouNY]

Revise your sketch to use the front axle pivot and then look at your drawings again.

 

[LouNY]

A pivoting axel will stop before a rollover is reached making it act more like a square vs a triangle. Overall a 4 wheeled tractor is a lot more stable than a 3 wheeler.

Not if you are traversing a sidehill, your entire tractor is tilted sideways but the axle has not started to tilt and will not untill the rear uphill tire starts to lift, by the time you get to your front axle pivoting stops they will do you NO GOOD you are going over.

 

[4570Man]

Not if you are traversing a sidehill, your entire tractor is tilted sideways but the axle has not started to tilt and will not untill the rear uphill tire starts to lift, by the time you get to your front axle pivoting stops they will do you NO GOOD you are going over.

I edited my first post but there’s lots of pictures of tractors driving with an uneven load in the loader with one back wheel off the ground and the front axle on the stops. Such a task would be impossible if it was truly no different than a triangle. It takes a lot of hill to roll a tractor based on gravity alone. I would guess rolling them on a lesser hill due to the loader being high is way more common.

 

[MossRoad]

Like I said, there’ll be no convincing you on this topic. Most will agree with what I posted.

 

[TerryR]

Like I said, there’ll be no convincing you on this topic. Most will agree with what I posted.

No convincing because your drawings don't align with reality. I have not clue how many agree, but that doesn't matter; what matters is the physics of the situation, some drawing.

Here's what it really acts like: