Ballast almost flipped the tractor, really need some help!

[Phil48]

You've gotten a lot of good advice. I wont add to it other then to say the views are awesome. Lovely place. Looks like a river n the valley?
I'm sure you weren't enjoying them from the elevated position of the tractor seat tho.

X2:laughing:

Phil

 

[Mark Page]

Why not just lower the bucket which should right the machine. I've done it hundreds of times with a skid loader.

 

[vtsnowedin]

Why not just lower the bucket which should right the machine. I've done it hundreds of times with a skid loader.

Hundreds of times???:shocked: Even with a skid steer I'd learn how not to need to do that on a regular basis.

 

[daugen]

I appreciate the OP starting this thread, which I'm just reading, and wondering how he felt sitting up in the air like in a stuck ferris wheel. Don't ever want to do that again, so my guess is that he will load up that tractor with all the weights talked about here, and do some more load testing with that bucket on something other than a steep slope.

Nice tractor, beautiful property, glad the OP didn't get hurt. And he was a good guy for sharing this with us.

Meaningful to me as I'm going to be getting my first FEL next year and boy that could be me me hanging up in the air too. Course I like weights, and those suitcase ones, though ridiculously priced for green or red iron, do keep the profile of the tractor slimmer up front, and there are lots of reasonably priced ballast boxes out there for three point hitches. And having read this thread, I think if the FEL is on, so must be the ballast box. You can't get around certain laws of nature, I like the reference to teeter totter a ways back, so it gets down to knowing your limitations. The OP found out the hard way, but since he didn't get hurt, this is a happy ending story.
I bet more than one of us will be adding some more weights on.
Easier than taking weight off, huh?

 

[AGGIE00]

Hundreds of times???:shocked: Even with a skid steer I'd learn how not to need to do that on a regular basis.

As a weekend warrior you would think that, but in an industrial environment doing real work where production means profit it happens quite often on a skid loader. Maybe not to this extreme every time, but dropping the load in a hurry does happen quite a bit. You'll also see it with articulating loaders working on uneven ground.

 

[vtsnowedin]

As a weekend warrior you would think that, but in an industrial environment doing real work where production means profit it happens quite often on a skid loader. Maybe not to this extreme every time, but dropping the load in a hurry does happen quite a bit. You'll also see it with articulating loaders working on uneven ground.

I've done highway construction for thirty six years and seen a lot of loader and skid steer work. Daylight unintendedly under more then one tire is vary rare thing and cowboys flogging around beyond their ability get pulled off the machine. They are much faster then a weekend warrior but they "know their limitations".

 

[wcampbell47]

Well your 4105 is only 2 inches longer than my B3200. Seems like a short wheelbase for a larger tractor. That being said - I would rethink on the reasons you need such a heavy bucket. Change to a lighter bucket. Fluid in the rear tires would help. Acquire lots of ballast. Run in the lowest gear traversing the slope.

I recently visited a tractor junkyard where I found numerous tractor ballast pieces. I selected two flat pieces that I U bolted onto my rear tool bar which is similar to your ripper. They were inexpensive and bolted right on. I could opt for more ballast just by using longer U bolts.

 

[NICKB304]

Get some weight on that back and keep that bucket low. There is no reason to have it more than a foot off the ground when traveling. I use mine with a full bucket of dirt to drive up and down the jumps on my motocross track to pack them down, they look to be steeper than what you are dealing with. Loaders should have down pressure also. You could slide down the hill on your bucket with the front tires off the ground if you wanted to.

 

[FastPauly]

Yikes....glad to hear there were no injuries as a result of this.:thumbsup:

In that short amount of time that the tractor switched states...dynamic to static....brings up an interesting engineering challenge. Not considering the strap that is attached.....If left alone in the static state as the picture shows, which way will she go as the FEL hydraulic pressure leak-bye occurs? Don't jump to a conclusion too quickly here...there are always the not so obvious factors to think about.

Do I have the definate answer.....heck No.

 

[JWR]

Well your 4105 is only 2 inches longer than my B3200. Seems like a short wheelbase for a larger tractor. That being said - I would rethink on the reasons you need such a heavy bucket. Change to a lighter bucket. Fluid in the rear tires would help. Acquire lots of ballast. Run in the lowest gear traversing the slope.

I recently visited a tractor junkyard where I found numerous tractor ballast pieces. I selected two flat pieces that I U bolted onto my rear tool bar which is similar to your ripper. They were inexpensive and bolted right on. I could opt for more ballast just by using longer U bolts.

Good points. I would add that it is torque and the moment arm that matter. The ripper is not as good a place to attach extra weight because it so close to the tractor. A better effect would be had by something that sticks out further (such as a good heavy bush hog.) Anyway, every pound of ballast is twice as effective on a moment arm twice as long, BUT the pivot point in your case is the front axle, so the ripper is still on a long moment arm from the front axle.