Brenham, Texas man dies in tractor accident

[txdon]

Another tragedy in Texas as reported in the Giddings, Texas, Times & News this week.

"A Brenham man died last Wednesday, Jan. 22 in a tractor accident at his rural farm.
Rdgar Lentz, 84, was found pinned underneath his tractor at his farm.....at about 6 p. m.
The Washington County Sheriff's Department reported that he left his residence in Brenham about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday to work at his farm doing some pasture shredding.
His wife expected him home around 4 p.m. but when he didn't arrive. she went to check on him.
She found Mr. Lentz inside the barn, pinned under the tractor and rushed to a neighbor's house to call for help.
.....Mr. Lentz was trapped under the tractor unresponsive when checked by .....paramedics....
It was reported that Mr. Lentz was standing next to the tractor and turned the ignition key to start it. But the tractor was in gear and lurched forward, pulling him underneath the rear wheel and trapping him beneath the tractor.
The tractor came to a stop after hitting a support pole inside the barn."

 

[Megado]

Wow...this one hits close to home (literally). Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family. Thanks for sharing Don.

Jim

 

[Kfbeal]

That is a sad accident to have happen, so unfortunate.

This reminds me of a time my neighbor had an old Allis-Chalmers 200 that he used to spray ether in and use a screw-driver to start the tractor on the starter. He forgot he had it in gear and it started, and took off. My father was behind him and jumped up and pushed the clutch after it started climbing up the cement steps to his home. He was lucky he fell away, and lucky my father was there.

 

[F.L. Jennings]

I dang near had the same thing happen to me with an old Massey-Ferguson I used to own. I thought it was in neutral after jiggling the gear shift, then hit the key to start it while standing in front of the right rear wheel. It hit a couple of times and bruised my thigh as it lunged forward. Made a believer out of me! That didn't happen again.

I like the safety of neutral only starts for my Kubota.

 

[CCWKen]

That's a hard way to learn a lesson but I haven't seen a book, manual, sticker or decal yet that didn't have the warning to start the tractor from the seat. Neutral switch or not. My prayers for the family.

 

[F.L. Jennings]

A remote start switch would be good to install if you need to be on the ground.

 

[txdon]

He was 84 and most likely the jumping on and off the tractor to line up the 3 point hitch was probably taking it's toll. It might have just have needed a little bump to line it up, who knows..... Sometimes you have to know when to call it quits before it is too late. Was age a factor? How old it too old to farm? How far will each of us push it before we shut off the tractor for the last time....

 

[Kfbeal]

I just wonder how long after the accident that his wife found him. Hopefully that didn't happen first thing in the morning and he was pinned there all day.

Either way, it's a sad thing to happen to anyone. I hate working around the farm by myself for that exact reason. You just never know when something you do everyday could turn dangerous.

 

[MikeD74T]

A now deceased farmer I knew reached up to shut off his tractor, bumped the shifter into gear & was eviserated by the rear tire. Unfortunately he "lived" in ICU for 4 months in exterme pain before dying. MikeD74T

 

[dmccarty]

But people will still argue that these safety devices are not needed.

A guy here at work was lucky he did not get killed or hurt when he started his old Farm All and it was in gear. He was able to get out of the way before it ran him over. Luck would have it that the Farm All started climbing his new JD lawn tractor. That seems to have given him time to get out of the way.

My JD PowerReverser has three levers that must be engaged for the tractor to move, a range selector, gear selector and a forward/backward lever. If the foward/backward lever is not in neutral and you come out of the seat the engine turns off. Its a PITA in the winter when my coat can hit the lever. But all I have to do is sit down real quick and the engine spins right back up.

When I park the tractor I always put the lever and gear selector in neutral.

Later,
Dan

 

[Kfbeal]

When I was growing up we treated all tractors as if the clutch had to be pressed in order for them to start.

But, I couldn't tell you the amount of times we had to shoot ether and start it from the started. I always double-checked to make sure it was in neutral on those that it mattered.

I had a newer JD that has Park, and whenever I dis-mount I always put it in Park. Even if I'm doing something while just sitting there I normally put it in Park.

In the past with our big tractors we rarely used park unless it was on an incline because they wouldn't start unless they were in neutral anyway.

The safety features are indeed a PITA, but may have prevented this accident. I question how many times they have saved my life and I'm sure there's many.