Do you wear your seat belt on your tractor?

[JD3520]

<font color="blue"> </font> "I do agree that all children however, should wear a helmet and seatbelt, as they do not have enough common sense, to drive safely and defensively".

SORRY JINMA224XR, I COULD NOT RESIST RESPONDING TO THIS!!!

PLEASE DON'T TAKE OFFENSE.

I HOPE CHILDREN ARE NOT DRIVING AT ALL!!!

 

[JINMA224XR]

<font color="blue">SORRY JINMA224XR, I COULD NOT RESIST RESPONDING TO THIS!!!

PLEASE DON'T TAKE OFFENSE.

I HOPE CHILDREN ARE NOT DRIVING AT ALL!!! </font>

Hey JD3520,

No offense taken. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

But my Father believed, in starting us out young on the farm, and had me driving a tractor, before I was in 2nd Grade, when school was out, for the summer.

I remember it well, that Allis Chalmer WD45. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I don't recall even seeing seatbelts on our tractors, and wouldn't have known, what they were for, if I had. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif I do remember that those days were very tough, no canopy on any of our tractors and we had several on the farm. Always breathing dust and bugs. Dreamed of it raining us out and going to town on Saturday Night, getting a haircut and buying a 25cent rubberBand wind up propeller, balsa wood airplane. And the pretty girl, that worked in the 5 & 10cent store. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

It's a miracle, that I am still alive to talk about those days, still.

And I do remember that when I was driving back then, that I did not have enough common sense to drive safely or defensively. It wasn't until, I was in my 20's, that I started to take driving more seriously. Maybe that is because, I had to start taking responsibility for the repairs on my own vehicles. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Get your tractors running &
Have a nice day,
Joe /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[GerardC]

<font color="blue">Do you drive with or without your seatbelt?</font>

Always with.

 

[HomeBrew2]

OH MAN, when I first replied to this I thread I was thinking "personal safety", not "productivity". I've read every post. I finally got to thinking, I'll try wearing the the belt. OK, very good. Tonight I thought .... let's do some side-hill with the landscape rake. Worked great!!!!!! My setup was: get set in the seat; put the belt on; hop up and down till the belt chokes your lap (no breakfast or lunch, BTW); grab the uphill-side grab bar; swing both legs to the uphill side of the tractor; Lean, as far as you can, with the circulation cut off in your lower extremities, to the uphill side ... never thought Baby would stay upright. But she did. Thanks for the tips everyone !!!

 

[BGL990]

I guess I belong to the "foolish" camp /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif The only time I've worn my seat belt is to try it out when I first got the tractor. There are a few reasons that I don't wear it. Almost everything I do with my tractor involves getting on and off a lot. Seems I'm not in the seat for more than a few minutes at a time and dealing with the belt all the time would be a pain. The "hazards" that many others seem to have, like trees to catch the ROPS, or very uneven ground with holes, etc aren't a factor for me in the places I go and things I do with the tractor. When I carry anything with the loader, it's always kept low when moving and I NEVER get myself sideways on any hill.

I'm sure that different people have different inherent comfort levels with operating machinery, making some more inclined to be "****" about safety than others (and I'm not saying that's a bad thing), but I wonder if the size of your tractor makes a difference as well? It seems that a large percentage of people on this board have what I would call very small tractors - BX23 sort of size. Could it be that those type of machines are more prone to having near-rollover incidents due to uneven ground, etc.?? I think in an earlier post in this thread someone mentioned a 2" hole or something causing some concern for him. I think I would barely notice a 2" drop of one tire on my 990, much less on a "real" AG tractor. Another example is in my own front yard. There is a significant drop from the house/driveway area down into the front yard. about a 5 or 6 foot difference with a slope anywhere between maybe 25 degrees up to almost 45 degrees depending on what part of the hill you take. I won't go across the hill, but I do mow it facing uphill in my Sears garden tractor. The front end gets pretty light on the steepest part and it's on the edge of what I'm willing to do. I dumped some fresh dirt on that hill last year to fill some holes and get the grass growing better I used my 990 to pack the dirt by driving on it. I kept it facing uphill and kept driving up and backing down. Even on the steepest part I never felt anywhere close to flipping backwards and the tracks left by the front tires indicated that there was still a lot of weight on them. So, do smaller tractors feel more scary than larger ones? For me, with my two machines at opposite ends of the scale, yes in many cases.


Anyway, enough rambling. Is wearing the belt safer? Absolutely. Is not wearing it worth the risk? For many it isn't. For me, the way I use the tractor and with my level of comfort, the risk is minimal and not worth the hassle and discomfort of the belt. My official recommendation? Wear the belt. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[RedDog]

When I first bought the tractor, I tried it and ever since then it has been behind the seat.

RedDog

 

[LBrown59]

<font color="blue">I wonder if the size of your tractor makes a difference as well? It seems that a large percentage of people on this board have what I would call very small tractors - BX23 sort of size.
1* Could it be that those type of machines are more prone to having near-rollover incidents due to uneven ground, etc.?
2*I won't go across the hill, but I do mow it facing uphill in my Sears garden tractor. The front end gets pretty light on the steepest part
3*So do smaller tractors feel more scary than larger ones? For me, with my two machines at opposite ends of the scale, yes in many cases. </font>
<font color="red"> XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX </font>
1*I will not mow the rear slope of my land with the BX23 a much larger tractor than my MTD PowerCraft.I can go up down crossways even do circles and figure eighths on this slope with my MTD or either of my Bolens tractors with no qualms about stability.
I found that smaller feels more stable in this type situation.
2*Never had this problem with my MTD or Bolens.
3* Larger is scary than smaller in my case.
<font color="red"> > </font> <font color="#666666">Side note: </font>
Any tractor can be upset. At that time size won't matter but the seat belt will.
P S
I was going to get a B 2410 when I bought the BX23.
One of the reason I chose the BX23 over the B2410 was better Stability.

 

[JimR]

No and don't plan on it either. I do wear them in the car and truck. I rolled my previous 8N years ago. Had I been wearing a seat belt, I more than likely would have smashed my head open when it rolled. I bailed off and barely scratched myself. The only thing really hurt was my pride.

 

[TomPenny]

My opinion....

If you were to tell me that you wear your seat belt 100% of the time then following the same line of logic, you should also wear a helmet.

There is a certain amount of danger operating a tractor. Use your head. If you are in a situation where you might cause it to tip or roll, ROP and belt. If your in a situation where there is no realistic reason for it to tip WTF?

By the way, Speed is a good way to tip a tractor.

 

[jinman]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Same as MikePA.
Rops down seatbelt off
Rops up seatbelt on. )</font>

I suspect both you and MikePA have read their Owner's Manuals. My New Holland Owner's Manual says exactly that. It recommends ROPS up and seatbelt on, but it says if you must operate with the ROPS down, don't wear the seatbelt.

Has everyone responding to this thread read their OMs? Probably not. I think sometimes it's easy to make assumptions about safety that are not necessarily true.

Here's an additional question? What does your OM say about using the ROPS, removing the ROPS, or folding the ROPS?

Am I as safe as I should be at all times? Heck no! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif But, I HAVE read my manual. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif