How to kill yourself without knowing

[nebraskasparks]

I've learned a lot from this thread myself texasjohn. Thanks to everybody for finding sites that are packed with good information. I've printed them up and when I teach Farm Mechanics to the scouts...they will be exposed to what you fellas dug up.

The title...How to kill yourself without knowing comes from the fact that these tractors which move slow and methodically ... can in fact snap and flip just as fast as a fighter aircraft and we will not know why the tractor ended up on top of us. Dead without knowing. It was a common comment that I heard during safety briefs involving fatalities in the USAF..."He probably didn't know what hit him".
It also implies that if we don't read some of these articles and study center of gravity diagrams and how it moves with slope, acceleration and FEL movement then we're just dumb pokes waiting our turn to do something really stupid...without knowing.

Why did I start the thread?

I was loading fire wood onto a hay wagon with my little ford jubilee and when I raised the FEL (on a gentle slope) and just as it got above the hood I thought I had bought a ride on the meanest bull that the PBR circuit had to offer. It leaped off the ground so fast that it was pure instinct to dive away. I might have performed this dive in less than two tenths of a second or maybe it took up to five seconds...but I wasn't exactly trying to time myself.

After I spit the grass out of my mouth and looked back...the ford was swaying back and forth on the two down slope wheels. No joke. Balanced on two wheels with the FEL raised. My heart was pounding so hard I could hear my pulse. My very good neighbor was still frozen in place on the hay wagon with his mouth hanging wide open. He couldn't believe how fast this lumbering old paper weight had just "jumped" off the ground.

We both made the comment that we needed to do cpr to each other and wondered just how we were going to pull that off. I was able to creep over to the side of the ford and lowered the FEL very slowly. My hands were still shaking and I went home feeling like I had truly left my brains in my pants.
I grew up on tractors and was always careful but there was nothing on the back of the Ford to counteract the weight up front. :confused2: It was a true Forest Gump moment...Stupid is as.....

If we can keep this from happening to guys that are getting back onto tractors after being away from them for a while...or they get a newer tractor which means...new center of gravity and we keep them honest. We've done what the manufacturers should have been doing all along.

Having a ROPS and a seat belt that's fastened is peace of mind. If you're still trying to debate on TBN whether you get any protection with the rops folded down or you don't want to wear that seat belt...go get more insurance so you're family won't have to beg for a living.

 

[texasjohn]

Amen!

 

[EE_Bota]

The title...How to kill yourself without knowing comes from the fact that these tractors which move slow and methodically ... can in fact snap and flip just as fast as a fighter aircraft and we will not know why the tractor ended up on top of us. Dead without knowing. It was a common comment that I heard during safety briefs involving fatalities in the USAF..."He probably didn't know what hit him".

Thanks for mentioning where you got the idea for the name of the thread. I think rather freely sometimes, and when I read it, I thought a good long while about different fictional accounts I have seen of dead folks not knowing they are dead.

I spend a lot of my spare thinking about "what do folks really know, and HOW do they know it." My interest stems from having operators train me on how to operate machines that (unbeknownst to them) I designed and programmed. It started there, and blossomed into a keen interest in why people think most anything.

I am very glad the event you described above did not hurt anyone. I would have loved to see a picture of the setup before the event to see if I would have suspected trouble ahead. You didn't, and you seem to know your physics well, so I doubt I would have either.

One question about the event:
NOW, do you see that it should have been obvious, but you missed it, OR, was it fairly obscure and tricky, where most of us would have missed it?

 

[Redneck in training]

Thanks for mentioning where you got the idea for the name of the thread. I think rather freely sometimes, and when I read it, I thought a good long while about different fictional accounts I have seen of dead folks not knowing they are dead.

It is easy to tell. If you are over fifty and you wake up in the morning not feeling any pain you are certainly dead. No tractor required.

 

[SpringHollow]

Maybe I already mentioned it here (this is a long thread) but someone posted on TBN about going up a hill and being careful. The tractor rolled over backwards. By the time he realized there was a problem, the clutch pedal of his tractor was staring him in the face. I appreciated his post and keep that image in mind when i am thinking if i am careful, i can get away with something.

Ken

 

[texasjohn]

EE_Bota....well, I never:confused2:.

Really, you, a programmer

Never would have guessed it from the event log you gave of error routines, parallel processing, interrupt processes and supervisory uninterruptable balance threads.:thumbsup:

And, on top of that, you admit to wondering what people know and how did they figure that out!

Must be fascinating to recieve instruction on a device you designed and programmed.... inquiring minds want to know if you learned anything new about the device's capabilities in the process

Ah, yes, the wonderful things one learns when following a tractor track

 

[nebraskasparks]

Thanks for mentioning where you got the idea for the name of the thread. I think rather freely sometimes, and when I read it, I thought a good long while about different fictional accounts I have seen of dead folks not knowing they are dead.

I spend a lot of my spare thinking about "what do folks really know, and HOW do they know it." My interest stems from having operators train me on how to operate machines that (unbeknownst to them) I designed and programmed. It started there, and blossomed into a keen interest in why people think most anything.

I am very glad the event you described above did not hurt anyone. I would have loved to see a picture of the setup before the event to see if I would have suspected trouble ahead. You didn't, and you seem to know your physics well, so I doubt I would have either.

One question about the event:
NOW, do you see that it should have been obvious, but you missed it, OR, was it fairly obscure and tricky, where most of us would have missed it?

I knew I was on a slope and it wasn't steep at all... but lifting an FEL above the hood while the tractor was pointed across the slope is as stupid as I could get. I missed it all together and I wasn't thinking about where the CG was at. I was thinking about finishing up quick and calling it a day. I did in fact quit loading firewood that very moment and went home.

 

[EE_Bota]

I knew I was on a slope and it wasn't steep at all... but lifting an FEL above the hood while the tractor was pointed across the slope is as stupid as I could get. I missed it all together and I wasn't thinking about where the CG was at. I was thinking about finishing up quick and calling it a day. I did in fact quit loading firewood that very moment and went home.

It could happen to anybody, and now, perhaps, it will not happen to someone because they read this tread.

What I bolded above is what I think about most when I am working with the tractor. Getting in a rush, or being too tired leads to most of my mishaps.

 

[EE_Bota]

It is easy to tell. If you are over fifty and you wake up in the morning not feeling any pain you are certainly dead. No tractor required.

Not only is that funny, and true, but it solves the actual dilemma as well.

Mental note to myself: On the day I wake up without a single trifling pain, remember not to be disappointed if people start ignoring my posts.

 

[EE_Bota]

EE_Bota....well, I never:confused2:.

Really, you, a programmer

Never would have guessed it from the event log you gave of error routines, parallel processing, interrupt processes and supervisory uninterruptable balance threads.:thumbsup:

And, on top of that, you admit to wondering what people know and how did they figure that out!

Must be fascinating to recieve instruction on a device you designed and programmed.... inquiring minds want to know if you learned anything new about the device's capabilities in the process

Ah, yes, the wonderful things one learns when following a tractor track

I've learned that it was designed by an idiot, and programmed by a sadist. But the fellow the operators are training seems nice enough, but they can tell by the look on his face that he doesn't always understand what they are telling him about some of he more obscure aspects of running the machine. He acts like he is afraid to press the buttons, so he always lets it run in "auto."