Dumbest tractor uses?

[Iplayfarmer]

I love this forum. Hearing everyone's experiences really helps personalize the otherwise "dry" safety advice in all the manuals, etc.

So...

What's the dumbest thing you've done or seen someone do on/with a tractor? I'll bet there are some lessons to be learned from all the experiences out there.

 

[Bird]

I'm sure the dumbest thing I ever did was to pull down a big dead oak tree that was a lot taller than my chain was long when I was about 13. It fell right down by my left wheels; a foot or two to the right and there would have been nothing left of me or the tractor.

 

[BigAl]

When I was about 10 ,I tried to compression start a old 8n Ford by rolling backwards . Problem was it was in 1st gear when I popped the clutch . That tractor came straight up off the front end and I just held on for dear life .That day God smile down on me .
allen

 

[Mith]

Well im sure if youve been reading this forum and possibly some others then you will know about some of my mishaps.

Hitting an apple tree with the top of the bush cage and sending the front of the tractor skywards has to be the scariest, really happened quickly.

The time I rolled it on its side trying to see how far it would tilt by driving one side up on some pallets has go to be the was probably the stupidest.

Just recently I fialed to set the park brake and lost my tractor, now that has got to be the funniest......

But the dumbest you ask, well that has got to be a few years ago when I was mowing someones lawn, coming up to round a huge tree, like 2' across, hard to miss right, I knew it was coming up when i started the line. I fancied a listen to Bob Marley so bent down to change the minidisk and just as I was closing up the player, GOOSSHH, stright into the tree, im sure I spied the owner of the hoise laugh and disappear into the house, well you could have yelled at me you fool! A quick few click and I have the bonnet back out again but my ego was never the same again.......

Or how about the other time, again a few years ago when I parked up one of my mowers on a nice dry looking spot, covered it with the tarp, cained it up and went off. Next time I came back it was about 1/2 way up the wheels in mud and now way was that sucker coming out in a hurry, it had clearly just been a nice wet spot waiting to get a tractor stuck in it. I dont park the tractor there no more....

Well the last for today, within a few weeks of having got my new B6000, after the time when the coolant froze, it was frosty on the ground, real hard frost, I decided now would be a good time to get get my first seat time and get some logs. Nice hard ground to drive down on. The logs are at the bottom of the garden, not a bad slope really. Anyway, drove down without a hitch, went up and got the hitch, drove back down and connected up to the trailer. Got the axe out and chopped the logs and filled the trailer. Took me about an hour to do. Jumped on the tractor, fired her up and away we go, for about 3 feet. The sun had come out, melted the frost, lots of mud /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif We arent going anywhere. Got it up in the end witout the trailer, the picture shows about 10 feet of movement, the lawn was similar looking at the end /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[Egon]

Mith:

Out here in the frozen north we sometimes plan on the morning frost to be able to drive in and out. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Egon

 

[btolle]

Hooking a chain to the one side of the top of the box blade to try to pull a tree stump. It wouldn't give so I kept running at it trying to jerk it out.

First, I was very fortunate I didn't flip the tractor backwards.

Secondly, when I finally gave up I noticed that the side of the BB I had been pulling with was about 3" lower than the other side. The shaft that lifts the 3PH arms is called a "rock shaft" and costs about $300 to replace when you twist it. The service manager said that was the first time he had ever seen a twisted rock shaft.

Bill Tolle

 

[GaryE]

I think the dumbest thing I have done (so far) was just a few weeks ago...

I was putting in some raised beds and just got through loading in a load of peat from the back of my truck. I had just dug up another load of top soil from the other end of the field with the tractor and dumped it into the bed. I put the GST's shuttle shift in neutral, but left the transmission in 2nd and the tractor running. I set the parking break and got off the tractor to rake out he load. About 15 seconds later I looked and saw the tractor heading for the truck......

I made a mad dash for the tractor and jumped on..... I almost missed.... Grabbed the gear shift and pushed it in Neutral.

After my heart stopped pounding I new it was a dumb thing to do.

First I NEVER should have left the trans in gear. Still not sure why the Shuttle shift engaged, but it must have not been all the way in "N"

Second, I could have missed jumping on and ended up UNDER the rear wheel.

Third, the Truck and the tractor are insured..... Just lucky I got lucky.......


Gary

 

[BubbaJr]

Before we built our house I was clearing out trees for a driveway through the woods. The bigger trees I just cut down and dug out the stumps. But the little trees I used my FEL to pop them out of the ground. I had one maple that was being real stubborn and wouldn't pop out. It was about 1-1/2" in diameter and I had cut it off about 4' above the ground. I had my box blade on the back of my tractor, and a log chain attached to my drawbar with a twisted clevis and ran the chain under the box blade. I then wrapped the other end of the chain around the tree, and secured it so that it wouldn't slip on the bark. Then I climbed on the tractor, put it in low gear, 4WD, and locked the differential, gave it plenty of throttle,and took off. There was a little resistance, then I felt it give way. At that point I turned around just in time to see the end of the chain (with the hook) coming towards my face at about 100 MPH (give or take). The only thing that saved my hide was the box blade. The chain had to go all the way around it so that the chain stopped about 6 inches in front of my face before falling harmlessly on top of the box blade. It took a little while before my legs stopped shaking enough that I could check out my skivvies. In the interest of those with weak stomachs, I won't go into any more detail. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif After looking at the tree, I found that the bark had just slid up and off the tree (I skinned it) and the chain followed suit.

A couple of years ago on a hog farm a few miles away, they were doing something to their manure pit. For some reason a guy drove the tractor (with a full cab), into the pit. I don't know if it was deeper than he thought, or what happened, but the tractor went all the way under surface, and the guy drowned in hog poop. I can't think of a worse way to die. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[BB_TX]

Dumbest thing I ever did was several years ago to get on my newly purchased used tractor and start mowing my ditch with no experience and no instruction. There is a creek that crosses the road and enters under a bridge into one side of my property. The ditch has quite a slope near the bridge. At the time I did not have a ROPS. Mowing down the slope very near the end of the bridge, the left front wheel (nearest the creek) dropped several inches into a hole and I found myself teetering on the edge of going over the side of a drop of about 10 feet into the creek. I wasn't moving very fast and I immediately stopped. I was frozen, not sure what to do. Trying to back up did not seem like a good idea as it would tend to throw the weight forward and toward the drop off. I was near the bottom of the slope. I eased the tractor forward and the wheel eased up out of the hole and I made it to the bottom of the ditch OK but it scared the h#ll out of me. I still shiver when I think how close I came. Many have been killed due to lots of experience and overlooking potential dangers. This was a case of inexperience and not fully understanding the dangers. I immediately ordered a ROPS for my tractor and am far more careful of what I do.

 

[johnday]

7 or 8 years ago, I was mowing my yard at my old house. There was a ditch about 4' deep in the front. It sloped very gently, so I would just take my little LS25 down into the ditch and back up the other side. Well, someone had placed a new Nieghborhood Watch sign up and I wasn't paying much attention, since I'd done this for years. The right front tire on the LS just climbed right on up the signpost, flipping the tractor and myself backwards. I managed to jump clear of the tractor and mowerdeck. All I could think about was to get away from it. I escaped without a scratch, I was VERY lucky. Never hurt the bloody signpost at all either. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif The sign and post somehow disappeared that night. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif