nebraskasparks
Silver Member
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2010
- Messages
- 242
- Location
- Northern Illiniois
- Tractor
- 2010 Kubota L5740 HST and JD X734
I used to buy into the legal departments argument that due to too many factors that the manufacturers can't do this or that. We studied those back in our basic Mech Ag classes in the 70's and we were also punching cards for computers. That was true up to about the 1990's but that isn't true today.
What a computer can calculate today with sensors on the front and back of hydraulic lifts is a lot. Tilt angles and weight loads and implement heights are simply fed into a CHEAP computer and Calculations that are simply burned into memory make split calculations and results come in milliseconds...faster than you or I can make a decision. An input to a kill switch would save lots of Dads and Sons.These computers are cheap today...very cheap. This is being done on all sorts of equipment today. Only the audience can demand that it be changed.
Turning uphill or downhill on a slope is bad news for any kind of equipment and that's what all your movies on tractor safety show. Very basic.
Moving a FEL or three point with a heavy load on a slope is also an invitation for Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein to sit in your bucket and lecture you about moving heavy loads with your FEL. For example...
If you parked your tractor pointed downhill and stepped back and imagined a stick hanging from your fingers running through the center of your tractor that was plumb/exactly perpendicular with level ground...this will give you the angle that the *** end of your tractor would be OFF THE GROUND if it was on level ground. Visualize how many FEET this off the ground if it were on level ground...then move your FEL or three point. You will find that you only have to move your FEL a few inches or less than a foot without any kind of load to move the FEL where it's max weight on the chart is. Put a load on it and you become a physics major within milliseconds. The Kubota I just bought has these charts with the FEL.
If you're so inclined to be extremely stupid and work your tractor sideways or parallel to the hill while moving your attachments...step back, park your tractor...imagine this stick hanging from your fingers running through the center of your tractor and see how many inches or feet the upwheel tires would be off the ground if you were on level ground. It only takes a few moments to do and will save your keyster and pride.
Everyone is very cautious when they have a load in the FEL and they start putting any kind of height on it but according to the charts provided on various pieces of equipment...the moment arm or force really shoots up when you first lift or lower your fel when your bucket is within the first few feet of the ground. The weight that is exerted onto the arms moves closer to the tractor body and center of gravity the higher it goes so long as it is on level ground. Moving or changing the angle or slope of the ground just a few degrees off moves the moment arm away from the tractor a huge amount depending on the weight in your FEL or three point and that's where I saw the pearly gates for a millisecond operating an old ford. I thought I was moving the bucket slowly but I have never seen a machine want to leap off the ground so fast in my life.
It takes the average human being 5 seconds to see, process (think) and then react. I saw this time and time again as an accident investigator. We are terribly human and very few human beings can process information faster than this. Moral of the story...it's over before you can react.
I saw an old farmer take his framing square and eyeball a hill once. He then showed me in the manual where they had highly recommended the max slope the machine should be operated on.
I will continue to dig for the information that we can put into some common English but even moving the FEL or three point hitch at what we think is a slow rate means absolutely nothing when the weight/moment arm exceeds the weight of your tractor and they snap faster than you can say...ahhh...
What a computer can calculate today with sensors on the front and back of hydraulic lifts is a lot. Tilt angles and weight loads and implement heights are simply fed into a CHEAP computer and Calculations that are simply burned into memory make split calculations and results come in milliseconds...faster than you or I can make a decision. An input to a kill switch would save lots of Dads and Sons.These computers are cheap today...very cheap. This is being done on all sorts of equipment today. Only the audience can demand that it be changed.
Turning uphill or downhill on a slope is bad news for any kind of equipment and that's what all your movies on tractor safety show. Very basic.
Moving a FEL or three point with a heavy load on a slope is also an invitation for Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein to sit in your bucket and lecture you about moving heavy loads with your FEL. For example...
If you parked your tractor pointed downhill and stepped back and imagined a stick hanging from your fingers running through the center of your tractor that was plumb/exactly perpendicular with level ground...this will give you the angle that the *** end of your tractor would be OFF THE GROUND if it was on level ground. Visualize how many FEET this off the ground if it were on level ground...then move your FEL or three point. You will find that you only have to move your FEL a few inches or less than a foot without any kind of load to move the FEL where it's max weight on the chart is. Put a load on it and you become a physics major within milliseconds. The Kubota I just bought has these charts with the FEL.
If you're so inclined to be extremely stupid and work your tractor sideways or parallel to the hill while moving your attachments...step back, park your tractor...imagine this stick hanging from your fingers running through the center of your tractor and see how many inches or feet the upwheel tires would be off the ground if you were on level ground. It only takes a few moments to do and will save your keyster and pride.
Everyone is very cautious when they have a load in the FEL and they start putting any kind of height on it but according to the charts provided on various pieces of equipment...the moment arm or force really shoots up when you first lift or lower your fel when your bucket is within the first few feet of the ground. The weight that is exerted onto the arms moves closer to the tractor body and center of gravity the higher it goes so long as it is on level ground. Moving or changing the angle or slope of the ground just a few degrees off moves the moment arm away from the tractor a huge amount depending on the weight in your FEL or three point and that's where I saw the pearly gates for a millisecond operating an old ford. I thought I was moving the bucket slowly but I have never seen a machine want to leap off the ground so fast in my life.
It takes the average human being 5 seconds to see, process (think) and then react. I saw this time and time again as an accident investigator. We are terribly human and very few human beings can process information faster than this. Moral of the story...it's over before you can react.
I saw an old farmer take his framing square and eyeball a hill once. He then showed me in the manual where they had highly recommended the max slope the machine should be operated on.
I will continue to dig for the information that we can put into some common English but even moving the FEL or three point hitch at what we think is a slow rate means absolutely nothing when the weight/moment arm exceeds the weight of your tractor and they snap faster than you can say...ahhh...
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