FACTORY 4210 4310 4410 MANUAL IS FUNNY...NOT

[del]

gsganzer:

I agree totally with your take on the lawsuit problem.

Regarding the blanket loader use not approved issue, I'd like to feel I am protected if Deere knowingly hired drunks to do the welding. (an outrageous example), but accept the
fact that if I am not careful (slopes, load height, fast travel,
ballast) I may put the tractor on it's side.

I still think it's weird though that these tractors sit on
a hundred dealer lots with loaders installed by the dealer
at less than the 59" "allowed tread width" with no comment
about the lack of approval. Such a warning would undoubtedly
impact sales but with Deere's risk adverse philosophy it is
surprising they don't post the warning anyway. If it is
their policy to not approve these tractors, why not at least
offer a wider rear axle option, or if the narrow axle is
strong enough some extreme dish wheels, or wheel spacers (again,
if axle is strong enough)?

del

 

[del]

Perry

I'm surprised the operators would take the risk unless
they were either green or were bullied into doing it
by loss of job threats.

Of course many of the operators I have met and/or watched
have ice in their veins and a sealed cap over their fear
gland.

I see dozer operators hanging on to their ROPS bars to stay
on their seat on some slopes! And me with my quickening
pulse when my tractor gets 2% off level!

And professional track hoe operators, geez you tell most of
them to go prepare a building site down in some god awful
hole of a piece of property and they DO IT. You look at the
weight of the boom and the angle of the machine and you
wonder how any portion of the tracks are still on the ground!

I always get a kick out of watching professionals, all of us
can knock over trees and throw some dirt around but watching
a good dozer operator do a grading job is also wild.

Tell them you need it 1" down over there or sloped at a .00001
degree angle and they do it with the blade and you can't
see how they even can see what the blade is doing from
their seat, let alone know that such a tiny amount of
dirt is being moved.

del

ps your comment on the brakes reminded me of something a
friend who maintains equipment told me. He was working
for a big gravel company and he wanted to replace the
shows on a big Hough loader. Huge bucket 10, 20 yds?

Company wouldn't spring for the money. The guy ended up
coming down a slope and couldn't stop, was approaching
the parking lot so he put the bucket to stop, took up a huge
amount of asphalt like taking icing off a birthday cake!

Finally stopped though.

Company relented and granted the expenditure for the shoes.

 

[art]

Perry, I'd like to have a buck everytime for the things I've seen that I shouldn't have!

 

[yellowsocks93]

Holy cow that's fast. Must be hard to maintain control with something that heavy and being articulated.

 

[Soundguy]

Yikes.. I've driven a few scraper pans.. a 613c and a 623b.. neither of them were what I would consider an ideal 'joy ride ' vehicle. If it were me.. about the time I hit 50'.. I'de already be prayin'.

Soundguy

 

[Tractors4u]

I have to agree with Roy's comments on the yuppies. I don't think he meant that if you have 5-6 acres you are a yuppie. Use to be the only people that had tractors were people that actually farmed or had estates so large that a tractor was needed. I think a lot of people buy tractors today as big toys that they can actually get work done with. They didn't grow up around heavy equipment, they know nothing about tractors and sooner or later one of them gets hurt and then wonder how it happened. I'm 34 years old but started driving a C Farmall when I was about 10. Later we had a compact tractor when compact tractors weren't yet the "In" thing. So operating a tractor is second nature to me. For some people it isn't. If I went out and bought a motorcycle today, I would be just like the yuppies Roy talks about. I like them, but have very limited experience with one.

A friend of mine was over today and he imports and sells Yanmars. He used the term yuppie to describe some of his customers. We were talking about all the warning stickers and the owners manual and one comment he made was. "The yuppies will usually sit down and read the manual from cover to cover and read each and every warning label on the tractor." It was at that point that I confessed that after owning my new Deere for a month, I still had not opened the manual. Maybe I need to be a little more yuppized I guess.

 

[adegiulio]

Your last point is an excellent one. For people who have grown up around tractors, they may think they already know everything and not bother with safety. The "yuppie" will, in my opinion, read and respect the safety warnings. My point was that "yuppies" aren't a bunch of stupid, clueless people. Quite the opposite.

One interesting side note on this subject. If you want to know who is more safety conscious, just look in the "Safety" forum. Read about all the farmers getting killed by tipping their tractors or trying to free a jammed combine with their leg. Sad stories for sure, but they illustrate an important point. When you operate a tractor for 50 years, you may grow a certain comfort about using it. That comfort is dangerous. These machines need respect. I'll give a dollar to the person who can find me a story about a "yuppie" crushing himself under a tractor....

 

[Tractors4u]

The story isn't in print anywhere but the same friend that was talking about yuppies also has a lawsuit filed against him because some moron that bought one of his tractors stood beside the tractor and tried starting it in gear. The tractor ran over his leg and now it is someone elses fault.

 

[Tractors4u]

You got that right about the comfort zone. People tend to get over confident with anything and that is when they get into trouble.

 

[cowboydoc]

Have you called your dealer or john deere to see if there is a misinterpretation on your part or a misprint in the book?