DISCOVERYS OF UNSAFE TRACTORING PRACTICES

[Mith]

Have you ever gotten any of the others stuck LB?

It does get pretty deep sometimes doesnt it?

 

[AB4D]

He shouldn't have gotten in,always stay well away from such places!

Sometimes you just can't tell if an area is too soft. I once drove my old BX-23 across an area several times without any problems, but for some reason I got stuck on the last trip, next thing I knew the tractor was stuck in the mud up to the floor. I ended up having to call my BIL who is a heavy equipment operator (40+ years) who showed my how to "walk" the tractor out of the mud like a crab using the FEL, Hoe, and stabilizers.

 

[KEG]

Speaking of too soft .... the top 12" was pretty solid and came off just fine. But when I scraped beyond the top 12" I found the bottom 48" was a mucky mess. It took three tractors and a lot of digging to get this one out.

KEG

 

[Jstpssng]

Speaking of too soft .... the top 12" was pretty solid and came off just fine. But when I scraped beyond the top 12" I found the bottom 48" was a mucky mess. It took three tractors and a lot of digging to get this one out.

KEG

OOPS, that looks like quite a mess.

 

[BTDT]

I pulled up under some grapevines growing up into an oak tree that I wanted to trim so mowing would be easier. Several lessons here. I locked brakes and climbed up on front of H Farmall (mistake #1). Left engine running (mistake #2) because I wasn't going to be up there but just a minute. I reached as high as I could with loppers and cut vine (mistake #3). The bottom of vine had tension on it and when I cut it loose, it knocked me off of the tractor. I tried to stop my fall (mistake #4 & #5), by grabbing whatever I could (hot exhaust, I still have the scar). Be careful and always expect the unexpected.

 

[mjarrels]

OK guys... I'm guilty and I'm not an old timer yet. I have put the old ford in first gear low range with a hay wagon behind it, jumped off and loaded the hay wagon while the tractor just creeped along. Would have to jump on the tractor every now and then to correct the steering but in granny gear I could move much faster than the tractor.

mark

 

[Cliff_Johns]

. . . but in granny gear I could move much faster than the tractor.

That would be true right up till you fell in front of the back wheel as you climbed on the tractor.

And yes, we did it on the farm when I was a kid too. Usually they had me steer (I was the youngest). I was steering the creeping tractor by the time I was 7 or so. When they needed to stop I would stand on the clutch and the tractor and hay wagon would roll promptly to a stop.

One day we were on a slight upgrade when they called to me to stop. When the tractor started to drift back, they yelled some more, so I hopped off the clutch. We lost about half the load off the back of the wagon, but no one was hurt.

Cliff

 

[AlanB]

My wife at a very young age was driving the tractor while the family was picking up hay. She could not get the gear in, and her brother came up on the step and shifted for her, in the process of getting down, got hung on the rear wheel and run over about 3/4 of his body, breaking his leg, pelvis, and smashing up some of his stomach.

She still remembers that one.

 

[MikeD74T]

Speaking of too soft .... the top 12" was pretty solid and came off just fine. But when I scraped beyond the top 12" I found the bottom 48" was a mucky mess. It took three tractors and a lot of digging to get this one out. KEG

KEG & Eddie, Next time, and you know there will be a next time, put an 8"+ diameter log cross wise in front of or behind the tracks & hook it to the pads with a short chain or cable. You'll drive right up onto it, a few more logs 2' apart will pave the road to solid ground. My cable D7 has been unstuck this way several times. Just make sure the log is thick enough not to break. You have the added advantage of blade downpressure to lift the front. I'd have driven KEG's dozer out in 1/2 hour easy, Eddie's would take a little digging to position the log. I keep two 1/2" chains with homemade grab hooks at each end on my dozer all the time. The hooks have a throat deep enough to slip over the end of the pads. The chain will pull the log under the track rather than the grousers slipping. When on top of the log just remember to stop & unhook the hooks. If you're buried deep remember that the drawbar may extend beyond the tracks & the log will hang up on it when backing. You can guess how I found that out, D7's have pretty good torque & will break a 10" oak!!!! MikeD74T

 

[MikeD74T]

Another mud situation with a solution that may have been unsafe but worked was with a Farmall H & 1/2 mile of clay mud road. After a full day of fixing fence through the woods we came to a woods road & expected an easy ride home only to find 1/2 mile of very deep & slippery clay mud. The man I was working for cut two poles about 2' longer than the rear tire diameter, laid them on the axles, & we wired the ends to the tire & rim with barbed wire ('cause it's all we had). In low gear the tires would spin until the log ends were in the front & the tractor would lift up and over like a pogo stick & move forward a couple of feet. Not a smooth or particularly sane ride but it worked. MikeD74T