Dumbest Thing you have done with your tractor

[horsebroke]

When I lived near Austin, Texas, I was bush-hogging a pasture for my neigbor in mid-July. (temp was near 100) I have Hypglycemia (kinda like Diabetes - but opposite - Low blood sugar versus high). Anyway, the field was appx 18 acres - and was trying to get it all done before taking a lunch break...

Started feeling not well at all. Fortunately, I got the tractor stopped and out of gear before I passed out. Woke up on the ground under the tractor. Bush Hog blades were still spinning - appx 3 feet from me. Not hurt - except my pride. Made it into the house and ate something.

I know better! I did the same time back in mid 70's driving down the freeway in San Diego. Felt the symptoms coming on - pulled over to the side of the highway - stopped, took the car outa gear, and promptly passed out for a while.

You'd think I would have learned!!

 

[North Dakota]

I haven't had my tractor long enough to do any thing dumb with it yet but

I did have parachute pants and a mullet in high school

That wass pretty dumb.

 

[ctjstr]

Ironic I'd read this thread today....about 3 hours after I was moving a drill press with the loader and it tipped back into the light cover and grill of my NH, breaking both. The good news was that I didn't break any toes when I got off, saw what I'd done, and kicked the tire pretty hard.

 

[texasjohn]

I used to have an old Case tricycle running gear tractor. I had sold it and the fellow came to pick it up... big flatbed over the wheels trailer with no ramps. Well, I hunted down a terrace where he could drop rear wheels down and get the trailer bed closer to the ground. Then, I hunted around for something to make ramps out of... I just had enough boards and stuff to make two ramps, not three....

So, I made a ramp for the front wheels and ran it up so the front wheels were on the trailer bed. Now, am faced with making two ramps at quite an acute angle, one for each rear wheel. I did that and got all ready to "get 'er done!" Because I'm using "found materials" one ramp is OK, the other has a board that is really too long... one end sticks under the rear tire while the other extends about 1 ft (maybe further, been a while and who was measuring at the time) beyond the edge of the trailer and because of the angle is sticking quite a way up in the air.

You need to know that this tractor does not have a SLOW gear... it's a clutch tractor... with a hand lever clutch... and only one rear brake works so it stops in a circle. Further, it's not running so well... missing really kinda bad... also, has to be pull started since 6 Volt system/generator isn't operative.

So, I'm going to have to lurch the tractor from a dead stop, up the ramps without killing it, then hit the clutch/brake and swing the steering to stop everything before it hits the front of the trailer or falls off of it. Also, have to keep RPM's up so it doesn't die on the way up.

Knowing about visualization, I sit there for a while, eyes closed, visualizing all that will happen, the sequence, timing, etc of it all and what levers and pedals I'll have to let out, push in, pull and the squence and timeing involved.

Ready, I get all tensed up, pull the throtle down and let it get running as best it will do, then pull the clutch and start driving what seems like straight up...everything is in motion and I'm trying to watch it all happen, can't see the trailer very well because nose of tractor is sticking up so far above the horizon....I check out the left rear wheel...it's half way up the ramp, all OK... check out the right wheel.. OH BOY... it's now 80% of the way up the ramp and the rear edge of the trailer has turned into a fulcrum for the ramp... which as I watch the ramp begins to slip to the rear even as the tire climbs toward the end of the trailer.

It's a race... will I run out of ramp before the right rear tire finds the end of the trailer... ??? Or will I be grabbing Big Air when I don't want to??

It was a tie... the right ramp dropped off the rear of the trailer and shot 20 feet to the rear just as the center of the rear wheel dropped onto the end of the trailer bed.

Instantenously, all was a flurry of hands and feet.. clutch, brake, steering wheel and I watched the front tricycle wheels stop just short of falling off the right edge of the trailer. I backed it up just enough to get the front wheels sufficiently on the trailer bed, shut down the engine, set the brake and turned the whole thing over to the new owner to chain down and get that thing out of there!

And, for you safety fellows..I had NO ROPS, NO SEAT BELT, NO BRAINS!!

 

[ToadHill]

When I got my first tractor with a FEL I backed out of the barn and turned too sharp and took off the corner post of the sliding door with the extra length of the FEL That wasn't bad enough, last winter I rigged a plow off the front of the FEL, now I'm used to the length with the FEL on the tractor,soooo this time I back up and swing the wheel, forgetting that the length of the tractor is now X+3ft. I'm watching behind me and hear a crash, this time I'm out one left front fender and a grill on my truck.

 

[Kendrick]

I am glad this thread was revived. its almost needed for the newbie to read through of what not to do

So far on my 9 hours of seat time the worst I have done is scalp and dent the lawn. it appears the lawn was never compated and there is a hole or 3 in it.

I did have some more fun scalping the lawn tonight as we got 8 or so " of snow and Im still attempting to resize the pto shaft for the snow blower. my first good use of the fel was today lots o snow got moved after i got home tonight.

I would have to say on a side note. dumbest thing to eat for lunch if having to spend 2 hours clearing snow in your tractor is bean related... even with the plastic wrap still on the seat i dont think it will ever be the same.

 

[Runner]

...well, there's at least one advantage to having a cabless tractor...

My dumbest thing so far is denting the metal trim on the barn door frame while moving a pallet. Couldn't see the end of it, but knew I should have backed up and realigned before I tried to drive in. Just got in a hurry.

 

[Harry c]

Ok, it could be along list but we'll start with one. I was working for a pipeline construction company some 35 years ago. We were doing a water job in an area on "Jellico Mountain" It's a mountainous area approximately on the Tenn / Kentucky line close to I-75. The road we were working on this particular day was a typical mountain road. One and a half lanes wide, cut into the side of the ridge and winding back and forth to the top. We had dug up the hill and completely blocked the road. We needed to get the backhoe back down the hill for some compelling reason that now escapes me. I decided I could take the hoe over the side down to the next switchback. It's probably 150 feet and it's nearly straight down. My plan is to put the front bucket down and push a sizeable pile of dirt in front of me and just go straight over, down the side of the mountain using the pile of dirt and the front bucket as a brake. The machine, by the way was an old Dynahoe 160 if I remember. It was a big 2WD rig about the size of a Case 780. Anyway, as I started over, all was going well until the tractor broke over into the near vertical position. Then all H... broke loose! The thing went into free-fall! The loader bucket didn't slow things down a bit! Right over the pile of dirt, straight down the hill, HANG ON AND TRY TO STEER! Finally into a deep ditch at the bottom of the bank and an absolute immediate stop as the bucket hit the other side. The tractor is now hanging about 10 feet above the bottom of the gully, the cast iron oil pan is in a dozen pcs and the loader bucket is at a remarkably strange angle. No seat belt, no ROPS and enough adrenalin to possibly lift that 25,000 lb machine. As it turned out, the bucket had been replaced sometime in the past. The dump cylinder connections had been poorly welded. When we went over the bank the load on the bucket was enough to pull the welds loose and let the bucket turn completey under. Needless to say the Dynahoe had never made that kind of speed before! The boss wasn't happy either. He said something along the lines of "I thought you said you could take the thing down there! Fortunately, as stupid as I had just been, I was not quite stupid enough to reply "Well, it's down here!" although the urge was certainly there.

 

[Colin Giersberg]

Harry, I think you have won this contest.

Regards, Colin

 

[Rowdius]

Not my machine, but I once had a trackhoe (Seems like it was a cat 335) in the bottom of a creek, tearing down the head wall of a bridge we were replacing. The water was just below the floor of the cab, it was hot, had the windshield open, the door locked back. I tore off a huge chunk of concrete, more than the counterweight would probably hold, but figured I might be able to swing it around in time. The machine started tipping too fast, so I had to dump the huge chunk of concrete... right into the creek. The tidal wave soaked me completely I would have drowned had the mud not choked me. Water drained from the cab for a LONG time! Later found mud splattered about 35 feet up the bank from me.