One inch from death

[mllud]

A life with old tractors without brakes or poor brakes or you just develop those bad habits. I'm not as quick as I was so I take more care in those situations.
Shut it off and put it in gear.
I once had a wood block tied to a rope to lower in front of the tire. Half azz but helped.

I have chased few tractors and had close calls. Thanks for posting his mishap, Sorry to hear.
Our rib cage is pretty tough but tractors rolling over you is too much.

I hope he don't have permanent pain to live with.
I can't lecture because I'm guilty myself, but Mr. S is sending us a helpful reminder.

Get well!!

My lowest left rib is not connected. The doctor asks how that happen, and you say you don't know, they think your full of S.
I don't know when that happen.
Sometimes you get slammed.

Mr. S just cheated the reaper. Not good

 

[bcp]

When Mr. S gets back to that field, he should buy one of these and stay in the seat.

Bruce

 

[NUTTERDW]

I watched a guy run after a brand new crewcab FORD diesel dually to save it from sure death. He somehow managed to throw the door open and dive headfirst onto the brake pedal skidding to a stop just inches from the cliff edge!
Crazy

My 23 hp Kubota tractor coasted over a road bank a few years ago. My dog had come up to see what I was doing and I jumped off to catch him. Looked back and there went the tractor. Thought about running after it but better judgement kicked in. It started over the road bank at an angle but at the last minute it turned and went straight over the bank, Coasted to a stop due to the Hydro transmission being engaged. No damage.

 

[Jstpssng]

Years ago I was in the back of a company F250 crew cab with a cap when it started rolling downhill toward the lake. Did I mention that it was full of herbicides?
I jumped out over the tailgate, ran to the passenger side front door... then remembered that the key didn't work on that side. Not wanting to get in front of a moving truck I ran around the back, down to the driver's door, unlocked it, jumped in and got the truck stopped before it went into the lake.

That was 40 years ago. Today I would have been spent after jumping over the tailgate, and would have been laying on the ground watching as the truck rolled into the lake.

 

[etpm]

This is the story of my friend MR. S. in his words:

On the pleasant afternoon of April 2, I was out doing spring cleanup chores. I had a load of lilac trimmings loaded, and it was the last project of the day, put away the tractor and it would be Miller Time!

My farmer has mushroom soil delivered for the corn fields and spread over the cold months of the year. The mushroom workers are ethnic characters who dispose of their empty soda, beer, chocolate milk, water containers into the mess and it gets distributed throughout the fields and does not deteriorate, therefore, unless Mr. S. cleans it up, it does not get cleaned up! So I was traveling parallel along the ridge line behind the barn, when I spotted one of the culprits. I jumped off the 8N and it was still just barely drifting along, no sweat, I have done this a thousand times, only this time, the front wheels decided to turn downhill to the right and the 8N became a runaway!

Quickly assessing the situation, it was headed for the large double rear barn doors or my Ford Explorer which was parked just to the left side. I decided if I could grab the steering wheel and make it jack knife it would save a lot of grief. Poor move, Michael !!! A new truck would have been cheaper !!!

Amazing how much momentum the tractor gained in those 8- 10 feet and it proceeded to knock me over and race downhill, crashing into the rear of the adjoining building where old construction equipment is stacked.

I was in a world of hurt, but here's the kicker. For an instant I flicked my eyes and it was the blackest black you can imagine and I knew that was the wrong path! Open my eyes and prevent myself from falling into shock and suck it in, it saved me. Never close the Eyes !!!

My neighbor, Bruce, came out of his garage about now, and did not have his glasses on, but wondered why I was sitting in the middle of the cornfield? He called to me, and this eventually led to an ambulance ride to the Reading Hospital Emergency where a quick assessment showed it was worse than imagined, frankly, they said I might not make it.

********! Those folks did not know did not know who they were dealing with!

I don't mean to sound cavalier, and somethings are beyond your control. I was and continue to suffer, but no white flags here!

It has been a series of 100 % pain, soiling myself front and rear, catheters, IV's, hundreds of skin pricks and injections, puffing up from swelling and gaining 14 pounds, screaming at nurses and lying on my back like I was staked out, which basically I was!

Here is the grand total:

10 broken ribs on the left side, 2 of which are offset and probably will never mend together again

2 broken ribs on the right

Cracked collar bone

1 cracked vertebra

Cracked tailbone

Punctured lung

Perforated spleen and subsequent internal bleeding

Next will be follow up appointments, visiting nurses, more pain medicine and continuing sleepless nights, a long road to continue

And so Patient #11, after a 11 day stay, has returned home Saturday afternoon and can finally accept visitors if they are passing by............

I'm happy that Mr S is on the road to recovery, I know what it is like to break a bunch of stuff all at once and almost die. I don't understand though why he mentioned "ethnic workers" leaving trash around. It seems to me that American born workers are just as sloppy as "ethnic" workers. Just sayin"
Eric

 

[kenmac]

I'm always jumping off my Kubota.. It's HST and stops in it's tracks when you let off the go pedal .

You are one lucky person. It only takes a split second to get seriously injured, or killed. Saw a woman over the weekend get thrown off a horse she has ridden many times. For some reason, the horse didn't want her on him that day and threw her off.
Now she's in the hospital with several broken ribs, and getting two vertebrae fused.

 

[WinterDeere]

Damn. One heck of a story.

With my last two HST tractors, both smaller machines, I'd set the cruise control to crawl speed and walk along-side the tractor picking up sticks to toss into a trailer or loader bucket. With transmission engaged, there was really no way for it to run away, although I guess I could've run overmyself if I ever fell in front of a wheel.

The trouble with all such moves, as they're all good until you do something stupid like having a stroke or heart-attack, in front of a slowly-oncoming machine.

 

[zzvyb6]

Wow !. Ruined my dreams tonight. OK, so run the play backwards and describe what and when would have been the simplest & easiest change in the play to have had it come out better? I don't mean "Shudda stayed in bed." Just where did this opera go bad ?

 

[jyoutz]

I can't get off my tractor without it being in neutral and the parking brake set.

It will shut off

It’s also a good idea to lower the loader bucket with front edge facing down on the ground or lower a heavy implement on the 3ph when dismounting from a tractor.

 

[ponytug]

That's quite the story of Mr. S. I wish him a speedy and hopefully full recovery.

Having grown up around old machinery, and lost several neighbors to tractor accidents, I have an appreciation for at least some of the risks. I try to make a habit of FEL as low as possible in motion, and on the ground if stopped, PTO OFF when stopped, and yes to parking brake on before leaving the seat, always. I don't do the "moving tractor without an operator thing. Here the terrain is too steep pretty much everywhere not to always be setting the parking brake. One of the attractive features to me of our Power-Trac 1445 tractor was that the brakes are on by default, so if the motor dies, the brakes go on.

All the best,

Peter