Snow removal accident

[LD48750]

Me. 99.9% of the time. The rest of the time I'm an idiot.

Guess I'm just lucky.
76 years & I have NO IDEA how many thousands of hours on a tractor & I have never once even tried one on.
Cut the roll bar off the one I have now too & pitched the guard from the PTO.

75 year old 2N never had any of that stuff & it hasn't killed anyone in all these working years.

 

[ArlyA]

That will get you one with 7000 hard hours.

A new one runs $100-200k, depending on size and options.

I think you are low there Finn. The Pisten Bully 100 is there smallest machine a bit over 100,000 new. Kinda depends on the various options you need but could run you 150,000 with this and that. Here's what they look like.

 

[Jstpssng]

I use the belt while using the tractor.

When i was a youngster, there weren't any belts on tractors. I figured you just jumped off away from the thing, eazy peazy.........

There were no roll bars, either. If it went over, the last place that you wanted to be is strapped into the seat.

 

[ning]

Who here wears their seatbelt while operating there compact tractor?

Always... when even slightly sideways on a hill or carrying more than a few hundred pounds in the bucket, or going up or down steep hills.
Almost never doing most of what I use the tractor for on flat ground.

 

[etpm]

Guess I'm just lucky.
76 years & I have NO IDEA how many thousands of hours on a tractor & I have never once even tried one on.
Cut the roll bar off the one I have now too & pitched the guard from the PTO.

75 year old 2N never had any of that stuff & it hasn't killed anyone in all these working years.

NASA used you logic when it came to o rings used in Space Shuttle engines in cold temperatures. And it worked too. Until it didn't. When their luck ran out.
Good Luck,
Eric

 

[LD48750]

NASA used you logic when it came to o rings used in Space Shuttle engines in cold temperatures. And it worked too. Until it didn't. When their luck ran out.
Good Luck,
Eric

I even ride around on my tractor OUTSIDE & never have been hit by lightning.

Hard to believe I'm not Irish.

 

[5030]

On reality, all it takes is a second of inattention and bam, an accident happens.

 

[Threepoint]

Yep. And sometimes it's not even a matter of inattention. A buddy of mine has a line at the end of his posts in a woodworking forum: "Remember, in a moment's time, everything can change!"

I think of that fairly often when I'm pushing a piece of wood through a tablesaw, or over a jointer. Or making some quick cuts with a chainsaw in a tangle of deadfall without bothering to put on my chaps. Or working a tractor on a side slope or at the edge of a drop off.

 

[/pine]

And it's not always the case where lucky ducks are lined up...like when Capt. Sully...landed that plane on the Hudson...!

 

[GeneV]

The guy was just unlucky, fate.

 

[ning]

My guess is that he was off of it helping hook up a tow strap, the cat started moving, he tried to mount it and slipped on the tracks, falling hard onto his face & chest, and possibly was carried forward on the track and had it go over him (one or both legs).

Reminding myself to set the damn brake every time (aw cmon the tractor barely moves)
SET THE BRAKE!

 

[cqaigy2]

My guess is that he was off of it helping hook up a tow strap, the cat started moving, he tried to mount it and slipped on the tracks, falling hard onto his face & chest, and possibly was carried forward on the track and had it go over him (one or both legs).

Reminding myself to set the damn brake every time (aw cmon the tractor barely moves)
SET THE BRAKE!

That's what i was thinking, after seeing what one looked like.

 

[kevin37b]

Why is this BREAKING NEWS ? If you , FU with machinery you will get bit . Kevin

 

[Morning Wood]

I’ve never known anyone to use a snowcat to clear roads. I would think they would damage them as that isn’t what they are intended for. Anyway, hope he recovers fully. I think he is quite involved with private forest fire equipment acquisition and supplies.

 

[ruko]

Me. 99.9% of the time. The rest of the time I'm an idiot.

Me too.

 

[LouNY]

To each his own;
The seat belts in my tractors that have one is the most unused piece.

 

[Jstpssng]

To each his own;
The seat belts in my tractors that have one is the most unused piece.

At any rate, it wouldn’t have helped in the situation being discussed.

 

[LD48750]

At any rate, it wouldn’t have helped in the situation being discussed.

Well.... If he had his seatbelt on & buckled, he wouldn't have been able to get run over.

 

[MossRoad]

Well.... If he had his seatbelt on & buckled, he wouldn't have been able to get run over.

Got a point there.

I always use my seat belt, and always set the parking brake and test it before I get off of my machine. The brakes are spring loaded pins into steel sprockets on the front wheel spindles. When they engage, the machine cannot move. So flip the lever, step on the directional pedals, hear snap-snap and both are engaged.

Unless I'm using the machine for a crane, I also always lower the implement. All of my implements are on the FEL arms out front, but when I had a conventional tractor with loader and 3pt hitch, I'd do the same and lower everything, always.

It's just a pretty easy thing to do, doesn't take but an extra 2-3 seconds, and I've made it a habit so it's almost automatic. Once in a great while, I'll still catch myself starting to get off without doing it. You have to practice safety to keep it automatic. Just like car seat belts always, and using your turn signal at all turns, even in your driveway or a parking lot.

 

[Jims1025R]

I'd do the same and lower everything, always.

It's just a pretty easy thing to do, doesn't take but an extra 2-3 seconds, and I've made it a habit so it's almost automatic.

Yes, this! Let alone the benefits in preventing the machine from accidentally moving, it saves strain on the hydraulics, and most importantly, prevents accidents with an unattended machine.

I once drove past a construction site after hours, noticing that the parked backhoe still had the hoe in the air. Zero prevention from kids (or me!) getting at it . I took one of my kid's old shirts from the trunk, and placed it carefully where the tooth of the hoe bucket was about to be when I lowered it. I gently let the hoe down, and relieved all the pressure, pinching the shirt to the ground in the process. Hopefully, the operator got the idea the next morning....

To my delight, my new JD1025R has a lock on the front end loader controls, so the lever can be prevented from being moved. For the very, very few times I need to get off the tractor with the loader off the ground (like to hand shovel a load out of it), I lock it in position, and apply the parking brake. Let alone my grandkids playing around the tractor, doing so prevents me bumping the lever as I get on or off the tractor.

I feel badly for Piston Bulley actor fellow, and I've had a crushing leg injury, so I get it, but people have to learn one way or the other, that the machine does not care about you, and physics will always prevail if you don't allow gravity to over come it first, or lock it out!