Dumbest Thing you have done with your tractor

[chrisdvorak]

when i was changing the oil on my jd x500 i was looking for something to catch the oil in and found a small bucket, and after i unscrewed the plug and the oil was draining out i noticed that my right nee felt warm and wet as i was neeling beside the tractor, so when i looked to see what it was i saw oil all over the ground and it turns out the bucket i picked to dump the oil in had very small drill holes in it and was leaking all the oil out of the bucket and onto the driveway

 

[eddieb1965]

Tried to shift my Ventrac into low range while on a hill,I thought it would pop right in,but it didnt.After reaching a speed double what it should run,I grabbed the brake .Glad it has a hand brake in easy reach,I was headed for a 6-8 ft drop and stopped about 2ft. from the edge.Scared me so bad I was actually calling myself dumbass and asking why I would try something like that.Im usually a little smarter than that. Eddie

 

[StrangeRanger]

Glad to see this thread revived. I have to say I'm sitting at work literally laughing out loud w/ co-workers looking at me reading some of these.
I'm so glad to see that I'm far from alone in my stupidity.
Here's a couple of my woopsiedaisies. Not all tractor related, but I'm picking up some of those now too.
- Clearing snow w/ a Bobcat. My first time driving a Bobcat. Try to lift too much snow, eek the controls wrong and plant the Bobcat on its face
- In a hurry to get the back yard mowed, just pissed I gotta do it. When I'm about 3/4 of the way done the 2.5 acres I realize I forgot to put the mower deck down.
- Sooo happy to get my new blower for the L3400. First snow of the year I quickly learn I had forgotten to put the lawn hose away. Amazing how fast 75' of garden hose can be sucked up and shredded.
- Dip squat delivering new phone books leaves it leaning against the mailbox post, during a major snow storm. Yup, no match for the blower. Pretty cool confetti parade for myself though
- My "drive way" is about 2,200' long so when blowing I carry tools and shear bolts in my pockets to change them as needed w/out going back to the garage. Well, I blew a bolt, it's like 11:00pm, freezing cold and I just want to get it done. Shut the tractor down, change out the bolt and fire it all back up. I never checked the blower. So I engage the PTO and BAM! immediately break another bolt. Oh man did that one piss me off.
I'm sure I'll have more to come...

 

[zzvyb6]

Put my 24' wobbly ladder in the raised front bucket to get to the top of my flagploe to thread a new rope. Lost my nerve 99% of the way up. That flag pole bent over about 2 feet at the top !

 

[patrick_g]

- In a hurry to get the back yard mowed, just pissed I gotta do it. When I'm about 3/4 of the way done the 2.5 acres I realize I forgot to put the mower deck down.

At least I lowered my brush hog down even if I didn't engage the PTO so I knocked the tops off a few tall weeds!

Pat

 

[jimmyj]

I've done lots of stupid things, more than I would like to admit. The worst with the little Allis Chalmers tractor was when I was wanting to pull a very heavy trailer full of soil (4x8foot and the soil was 2 foot deep so it was heavy). I was "lazy" (aka stupid) and decided I would not bother to remove the drawbar from the 3ph arms (the trailer ball was on the true "drawbar" attached at the back of the tractor). I figured I would just lean really far back in the seat and reach down and guide the hitch over the ball while I was backing the tractor. So, envision me guiding the hitch under the drawbar and then hoping to get it up over the ball. Well, the tractor lurched and my hand got squeezed between the drawbar and the trailer hitch. I pulled and was lucky to leave my leather drovers glove behind and get my hand out. Nary a scratch on my hand but my glove was literally torn in two. Scared the dickens out of me.

Then there was the time I ran the push mower over my foot....

 

[patrick_g]

I could tell you tales of my STRANGE OCCURRENCES that would shrivel your spine and make your brain implode. I only refrain for fear of lawsuit from your heirs in these litigious times.

Pat

 

[MrBobcat230]

I've only had my Bobcat for a short time so I only did a couple of dumb things so far. Yup did the garage door thing, 7' door 8' high ROPS. Amazing how fast the front wheels lifted off of the ground. The second one the first time I cut grass with the big ol'e finish mower I cut a corner too short and bumped my retaining wall rolling a cement block under the mower. One heck of a racket. Pretty amazed how the mower chopped that block into little pieces. Luckily I didn't damage the mower but had to resharpen the blades.

 

[fishpick]

There's several to choose from - so I'll go with the "being cheap" category:
Time for tractor oil change, figure I'll just pull right around into the garage and save some money by doing it myself... left ROPS up.
Most expensive oil change in history after fixing the garage too.

 

[dawzie]

Some great stories being told here.

One of mine was I rented a Bobcat skidsteer about 20 years ago. Never ran one before. Had about 3-4 clock hours on machine, open cab. Working on a very steep hill back filling against new building, pond at bottom of hill. Not use to foot controls, I was moving the first full bucket load of bank run up to the building. Now this hill is steep, the machine is spinning going up to building. I am carrying the bucket about two feet off the ground. As I get near the building the bucket starts to raise, what the ????. The harder I step on the brake the higher it goes !! Now the dirt and rocks are dumping on my head.

Everthing happened really quick, it was very dusty, I remember going over backwards. Rocks, dirt, PANIC.

Next thing I remember was the homeowner asking if I was OK, screaming at me, am I OK. I'm face down, still in the cab, seat belt on.

Now mind you I am 20' off the county road, 5 miles from my house. Everyone knows I'm doing this job. Well the whole fire dept shows up, rescue squad, 4 town cop cars and a whole lotta people.

About the time they show up I figured out how to unlatch the seat belt and crawled out. After they got done checking me out and the bumbs on my head from the rocks and refusing to go to the hospital I look at the skidsteer about a foot away from the pond.

I hear this voice, oh oh, Bobcat dealer owner!! Now, I am scared. He called his guys in to upright the machine and got it on a flatbed, left me another machine!!

WOW -what an experince. !!