Fell of tractor, run over by the mower.

   / Fell of tractor, run over by the mower. #21  
300UGUY said:
I knew this family, this happened a couple miles from my home. It was a 1958 or 59 International 240 tractor. No ROPS, no seat belt, no seat switch. I don't think many tractors of that age have ROPS or seatbelts, etc.

That's where the line gets blurry. If you have older tractors do you retro fit them? That can be pricey, and in many cases probably isn't possible.

I drive my B-I-L's tractors from time to time. Everything from a good sized 100 hp JD, to his old Case-O-Matics to his little 30hp JD. None of them have ROPS, seat belts or anything else. He uses them every day.

I don't have the answer.
 
   / Fell of tractor, run over by the mower. #22  
There is another post about whether or not to buy a tractor with a cab. I was just thinking that this post really helps with that decision. It is rather difficult to fall off your tractor and get run over by the mower if you are surrounded by a cab.

Tractors with seat switches I honestly did not know they had them. My montana is only a couple of years old and it does not have one
 
   / Fell of tractor, run over by the mower. #23  
N80 said:
That's where the line gets blurry. If you have older tractors do you retro fit them? That can be pricey, and in many cases probably isn't possible.

I drive my B-I-L's tractors from time to time. Everything from a good sized 100 hp JD, to his old Case-O-Matics to his little 30hp JD. None of them have ROPS, seat belts or anything else. He uses them every day.

I don't have the answer.

After my roll over with the 49 Farmall, we retro-fitted with a custom made ROPS and installed a seat belt.

Unfortunately, my SO never got that comfort level back when she saw me on it. We sold it shortly afterwards.

Had I been educated and learned in tractoring dynamics, I probably would not have purchased an older model tractor. Safety was not a consideration - I just did not know. I was interested in simplicity, ease of use, and the maintenance history of the unit.

ROPS and safety systems comes from knowledge gained. Sometimes that knowing comes at a significant cost.
 
   / Fell of tractor, run over by the mower. #24  
bjcsc said:
That's a shame. I'm disappointed that they're suing. I don't like blaming people when it comes to accidents, but if I had to make a list for this one the parents would be higher up on it than the operator...

Sad as this story is I agree with you. You would never find a 3yo playing outside unattended at our house. And our reason was the crazy abductors our there.

But sometimes you have to sue the insurance company to cover the medical. But the ladys comment was she was angry that nothing is going to be done criminally. WTH? How about child endangerment by letting a 3yo play outside unattended in what sounds like a none fenced in backyard, or worse the front yard.

No one wants to take responsibility these days, except the lady in the first accident did.
 
   / Fell of tractor, run over by the mower. #25  
I have noticed that many of the fatal car accidents of late are due to lack of seat belts. The dead had been ejected from the car. In quite a few of these accidents other people in the vehicle lived simply because they buckled up.

You might find a one off accident were a seat belt caused someone to die but that is going to be like being hit by lightning. Taint gonna happen often.

We had a real bad multivehicle accident that close down I40 in both directions last year. Mulitple cars, a pickup and a semi. The PU went under the semi trailer. The semi's fuel tank ruptured and then the fuel caught on fire. The semi driver was badly burned escaping the cab. The PU driver died. It was never said if the crash killed him or the fire did. Not sure they could tell. But he was not getting out of the PU under the trailer whether he had on a belt or not. A car also hit the trailer but the mother and child were rescued before the fire took out the car.

Put on the dang seat belt.

Later,
Dan
 
   / Fell of tractor, run over by the mower. #26  
It's the law down here. They will ticket the driver AND/OR the passenger.
 
   / Fell of tractor, run over by the mower. #27  
gemini5362 said:
Tractors with seat switches I honestly did not know they had them. My montana is only a couple of years old and it does not have one

The seat switches I am familiar with prevent starting the tractor unless you are in the seat BUT do not kill the engine if you leave the seat after starting it. With my Hydrostat I don't think it makes any difference whether or not you have a seat switch. With gear tractors it sure could.

Pat
 
   / Fell of tractor, run over by the mower. #28  
I've got a gear tractor and I really like my seat switch set up. The only time its a problem is when I want to stand up for a better view it kills the engine. But the truth is, i'm probably better off not standing up anyway but you can take the tractor out of gear and the switch won't kill it. Somebody mentioned a DIY override switch that you had to hold down to maintain the override. I think that would be a decent idea.

My tractor safety switchs work this way:

You do not have to be in the seat to start the tractor but the following two apply:
The tractor will not start if in gear.
The tractor will not start with PTO engaged.

The engine stops if the tractor is in gear and no weight is in the seat.
The engine stops if the PTO is engaged and no weight is in the seat excpet:

If the tractor is not in gear and the seat is leaned forward PTO will continue to run.

This allows me to do everything I want to do and do it safely. I can start the tractor from the ground without risk. I can also run something like a pump, a chipper or a log splitter without having to be in the seat.

The only thing it keeps me from doing is standing up while driving, which I mentioned above. I cannot think of any other way that it limits me.

My only fear is that one day I'm going to be working on an old tractor without all these safeguards and I'm going to do something dumb like cranking it from the ground......
 
   / Fell of tractor, run over by the mower. #29  
George, Thanks for the data dump. Sounds like the logic for your safety switches is well done. The only seat switch I was familiar with was one older lawn mower. Sounds like your set up is pretty much optimum.

I'm not sure how you would get out of the seat to lean the seat forward to allow the tractor to run with the seat unoccupied but I suppose in most cases killing and restarting are not a big deal.

Now if they would just put a switch on my tractor that would keep me from backing down a slope that is increasingly steep and ultimately can not be climbed (requiring a come along or truck with winch) I would be safer. Today I backed the brush hog into a pond (underwater) but didn't get the rear tires wet. Winched out just fine though. Last week I did it with a come along.

Maybe a tilt switch with a klaxon horn!

Pat
 
   / Fell of tractor, run over by the mower. #30  
patrick_g said:
Sounds like your set up is pretty much optimum.

Yep, that was what I was trying to show. Sometimes safety features can be very poorly done but I think they got it right on mine.

I'm not sure how you would get out of the seat to lean the seat forward to allow the tractor to run with the seat unoccupied but I suppose in most cases killing and restarting are not a big deal.

I don't remember the process since its not something I use but I think it goes like this:

Take it out of gear. Put break on. Stand up. Lean seat forward. Engage PTO. Alternately, you could get down with the tractor still running and engage PTO from the ground, which is good since that's what you need to do with a log splitter or chipper anyway.

And yes, a few more well implemented idiot switches could probably keep me out of all sorts of other trouble as well.:D
 

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