had a close one last night!

[Soundguy]

Got home from work early yesterday and it was raining a bit, but needed to mow the pasture as weeds were knee high and outgrowing the grass. Ate dinner while waiting for the rain to stop.. went to fire up the NH 7610s and the batwing when i forgot i had pulle dthe battery out to charge it. not feeling like working on it, I instead fierd up the old ford 5000 w/ 10' mower and proceded down the road to the pasture. ( It's about a 4 mile trip each way. ) I get about hald way there and notice the steering a little sluggish.. when i suddenly figure out that there is NO steering! I was on a 4 lane, and had a good panic there for a second.. looked over both shoulders, thankfully no traffic around me as i was sneaking over intot he other lane.. I dumpe dthe throttle, and then reached down real quick and groped for the R/L brake pedal couple, try to get it free before I went intot he median and the ditch.. got it free, and used the left brake to get me back into my lane... a turnoff road was coming up real quick.. and i needed to get off theat road, but had to wait till the turn because there was a large curb ( but non onthe median side.. go figure! ) .. it was a small residential community.. low traffic i figured..... I kept the throttle low, and again.. use dthe left brake to swing me into the turn, and onto a grassy area near a power pole.

Found my problem.. a fitting on the pow steer pump was loos and running fluid out. I had checked all my oil and coolant before i had left.. but this sucker musta started bleeding when i uppe dthe rpms and got out onthe 4-lane.

Tried calling the wife.. but phone was busy.. i later learned the line was out from the storm!.. Called everybody I knew that lived inthe area.. no go. finally had to abandon the tractor there and walk to a jiffy store to buy some pow steer fluid.. Took me over an hour between the walk, and tightening the line... luckilly i keep an adjustable wrench and pair of pliers in the tool box. Got er oiled up and then ran the wheels lock to lock till it quit squealing, and then topped the pump off again, and then i went to mowing.

Had 2 more little surprises that evening.. 1, the neighbor was burning apile of weed debri and it musta had ivy or something else in it.. My eyes stung and itched and i broke out in a good hive all over my neck.. on the way home, I guy passed me on the 4 lane, I was in the right lane.. fully occupying it like I should be.. rear blinker, headlamps, and 3 smv plaques.. one high up on the tractor, and one at each edge of the mower.. was still light out.. but starting to head toward dark... guy passed between me and the car next to me.. literally ran us both near off the road... What gives?!?!

Mowing was fine.. but I got drenched onthe way home.. rain started back up good again...

Happy ending to the story.. but there for a second ont he 4-lane i almost had a brown alert type moment! Thank goodness there was no traffic around me.

soundguy

 

[Bird]

That sounds like more excitement than I would enjoy. Glad it turned out OK.

 

[patrick_g]

Soundguy, Thank goodness you are not super allergic to poison ivy/oak. You could have been incapacitated or killed!

Like a good friend back in SOCAL used to say, "All's well that ends."

Pat

 

[johnnylight]

Quick thinking and exp save you.
Can't beleve you still went out and mowed.
Glad it work out.

 

[Soundguy]

Soundguy, Thank goodness you are not super allergic to poison ivy/oak. You could have been incapacitated or killed!

Like a good friend back in SOCAL used to say, "All's well that ends."

Pat

I usually don't have a reaction to ivy/sumac. I have handled it inthe past when weeding.. I usually washmy hands.. but sometimes know I have touched it without being aware. Usually the most I get is a small rash that goes away after some soap / water and a benadril tablet, mayee some cream, and a night sleep. much like this one did. Probably what he was burning. i had no idea the smoke would cause the same reaction. There was a deffinate heavy haze of smoke drifting across my property in the back near the trees. When i first saw it i almos thought my smoke stak had thrown a spark of hot carbon and i had started a fire.. there was that much smoke.. huged the ground pretty good too.

soundguy

 

[Soundguy]

Quick thinking and exp save you.
Can't beleve you still went out and mowed.
Glad it work out.

No use in wasteing the trip after i had swam up hill all that way.

soundguy

 

[texasjohn]

glad all is Ok.... thanks for the story...and how you recovered... good thinking and knowing your tractor saved the day....

 

[kennyd]

Glad you where able to post this Chris...I would be lonely here without you

 

[Rara Avis]

I usually don't have a reaction to ivy/sumac. I have handled it inthe past when weeding.. I usually washmy hands.. but sometimes know I have touched it without being aware. Usually the most I get is a small rash that goes away after some soap / water and a benadril tablet, mayee some cream, and a night sleep. much like this one did. Probably what he was burning. i had no idea the smoke would cause the same reaction. There was a deffinate heavy haze of smoke drifting across my property in the back near the trees. When i first saw it i almos thought my smoke stak had thrown a spark of hot carbon and i had started a fire.. there was that much smoke.. huged the ground pretty good too.

soundguy

NOW there is an argument for an AIR CONDITIONED CAB!!!...

 

[RedDirt]

Thanks for the post. Glad you are fine. Good thinking and reaction timing with the breaks. Cheap thrills!

I've always considered the brake system to be the most important system on any vehicle. Bad if you can't go...but terrible if you can't stop.

Right behind the breaks is the steering system in importance.

I once broke the drag link on the Power Wagon, fully loaded, went off the hillside on a back road and came to rest gently about ten feet off the road. Zero damage, could have been catastrophic if it happened on a highway. But then the wrecker snagged my wheel well with his hook and chain and left a sizable beauty mark on my nice Dodge. Guess that's why they call em wreckers!

 

[Soundguy]

Yep... could been worse.. turned out not so bad after all.. and yep.. wreckers are wreckers.

soundguy

 

[flusher]

Got home from work early yesterday and it was raining a bit, but needed to mow the pasture as weeds were knee high and outgrowing the grass. Ate dinner while waiting for the rain to stop.. went to fire up the NH 7610s and the batwing when i forgot i had pulle dthe battery out to charge it. not feeling like working on it, I instead fierd up the old ford 5000 w/ 10' mower and proceded down the road to the pasture. ( It's about a 4 mile trip each way. ) I get about hald way there and notice the steering a little sluggish.. when i suddenly figure out that there is NO steering! I was on a 4 lane, and had a good panic there for a second.. looked over both shoulders, thankfully no traffic around me as i was sneaking over intot he other lane.. I dumpe dthe throttle, and then reached down real quick and groped for the R/L brake pedal couple, try to get it free before I went intot he median and the ditch.. got it free, and used the left brake to get me back into my lane... a turnoff road was coming up real quick.. and i needed to get off theat road, but had to wait till the turn because there was a large curb ( but non onthe median side.. go figure! ) .. it was a small residential community.. low traffic i figured..... I kept the throttle low, and again.. use dthe left brake to swing me into the turn, and onto a grassy area near a power pole.

Found my problem.. a fitting on the pow steer pump was loos and running fluid out. I had checked all my oil and coolant before i had left.. but this sucker musta started bleeding when i uppe dthe rpms and got out onthe 4-lane.

Tried calling the wife.. but phone was busy.. i later learned the line was out from the storm!.. Called everybody I knew that lived inthe area.. no go. finally had to abandon the tractor there and walk to a jiffy store to buy some pow steer fluid.. Took me over an hour between the walk, and tightening the line... luckilly i keep an adjustable wrench and pair of pliers in the tool box. Got er oiled up and then ran the wheels lock to lock till it quit squealing, and then topped the pump off again, and then i went to mowing.

Had 2 more little surprises that evening.. 1, the neighbor was burning apile of weed debri and it musta had ivy or something else in it.. My eyes stung and itched and i broke out in a good hive all over my neck.. on the way home, I guy passed me on the 4 lane, I was in the right lane.. fully occupying it like I should be.. rear blinker, headlamps, and 3 smv plaques.. one high up on the tractor, and one at each edge of the mower.. was still light out.. but starting to head toward dark... guy passed between me and the car next to me.. literally ran us both near off the road... What gives?!?!

Mowing was fine.. but I got drenched onthe way home.. rain started back up good again...

Happy ending to the story.. but there for a second ont he 4-lane i almost had a brown alert type moment! Thank goodness there was no traffic around me.

soundguy

Scary stuff. Glad you're OK. Right now my tractors are almost exclusively confined to work on my 10-acre place. However, I do mow a neighbor's field occasionally and one neighbor wants me to mow and bale the pasture grass on his place about 1/4 mile away. I'll remember your harrowing experience and learn from it (check fluids and hoses before taking a road trip, take the big tool box along).

 

[vansimplement]

That sounds like way more excitement than I would need on any given evening!
Your nearly-run-off-the-road story reminded me of one I had. I drive a '93 civic and once on the Interstate came upon a large Ford truck hauling an enclosed trailer. There was little traffic, and I'd been catching up to the guy for quite a ways. Problem was, he was in the left lane (again.... almost no traffic so why he was there, I don't know). I figured no problem, I'll just stay in the right lane and move on by. Well as my car was RIGHT NEXT to the truck he decided to merge into the right lane. I wasn't too worried with the shoulder plenty big (and completely paved) for my car to slide past on. So I just gave it a bit more gas and moved onto the shoulder until I could pop out in front of him. Sure enough he merged me completely off onto the shoulder and never once saw me until I got in front of him.
So... with his oversized tires his truck sat so high that he couldn't look out the passenger window and see my car, his side mirror had to be mis-adjusted so that he could see nothing next to him, and he apparently wasn't paying enough attention to see me closing the gap on him for the previous couple miles. It's amazing how poorly some people operate on public roadways.

 

[patrick_g]

Always assume you are not seen and be ready to take evasive action. If you are wrong, no problem. If you are right you are ready to react and have a pre thought out course of action.

If you wait until suddenly you are in a position of extremis you may not have a way out and will just have to be a victim.

Pat

 

[Soundguy]

Yep.. I try to help the situation by having a smv plaque at each corener of my mower, plus one in the center.. plus one high up on the tractor.. plus the rear blinker lamps.. etc.

the more visible you make yourself.. the better. ( don't hurt anyway.. )

soundguy

 

[Donman]

Sounds like you could really use a tandem trailer with ramps to haul your tractor!

 

[patrick_g]

Yep.. I try to help the situation by having a smv plaque at each corener of my mower, plus one in the center.. plus one high up on the tractor.. plus the rear blinker lamps.. etc.

the more visible you make yourself.. the better. ( don't hurt anyway.. )

soundguy

HF has some inexpensive flashing (rotating?) amber lights that would be good for roading a tractor. Not in place of anything you do already, but in addition to. Or drop a bundle and get the expensive ones.

Pat

 

[riptides]

I like the pre-flight check up. When mowing, I always turn it down after a lap, jump off, and get visuals. I started that a few years ago after I picked up some twine with the rotary.

Glad you were OK. Nice job steering.

 

[Soundguy]

Sounds like you could really use a tandem trailer with ramps to haul your tractor!

It'd have to be an awfully big trailer to handle a 2+ ton 10' wide mower and that 4+ ton tractor... And If I did get a trailer to handle it.. I'd want it to be able to handle my larger, heavier Nh 7610s, AND the JD 1517 batwing...

Soundguy

 

[TomOfTarsus]

Soundguy:

Glad to hear it ended well! What a mess. No doubt your experience was the difference between disaster and a safe shutodwn. I'll remember it.

As you found out, though, poison ivy/sumac is, if anything, WORSE when it is burned.

A former partner here "durn near died" when he was a kid, his dad burned it and the smoke got all in his lungs... He was hospitalized for quiet a while, and almost didn't make it.

Just thought I'd mention that as a PSA.