Human error. Lets help others deal with the pain of their mistakes by listing our.

[PHPaul]

Bush-hogging with my 750 with the loader on the front.

You DO know that you can get closer into the corners if you have the bucket up in the air, right?

Making the corner between the fence and the feed shed, watching the mower instead of the bucket. Done this hundreds of times, what could possibly go wrong?

Missed it by this much and the cutting edge of the bucket tore the rake board, the drip edge and a half dozen shingles off the end of the feed shed.

The monologue which followed wouldn't have passed muster at Sunday School...

 

[tractchores]

There are too many to list... Usually done when trying to save time, money or effort. Recently there have been a few:

Had a ladder going to my roof to clear snow, it got burried to about 6 feet up in snow. To make freeing easier i snowblower the pile with my 3pt blower. I misjudged the edge of the ladder and hit it with the snowblower. The blower ripped through a side rail before I could stop. Now I need a new ladder.

I was doing work close to the garage with the FEL. I looked away for a second and put the FEL into the wall creating a 12" hole.

I was clearing snow from my mailbox and caught the bottom of the box on a tire chain, ripped the mailbox right off!

Broke my finger with a wrench when a nut rounded on my trailer as I was trying to get it loose with a breaker bar.

Let's hope there are fewer in the next couple of months!

 

[Looking4new]

I needed a flat bed trailer in a hurry, so I dropped my 16' boat off the trailer and went with it minus the rollers to do the job. Came back and reinstalled the rollers and dropped the trailer. The next day I wanted the boat back on the trailer and totally forgetting to hook the trailer to the Jeep I started winching the boat onto the trailer.....All went more or less well, that is until my helper told me that I was bending the frame on the trailer. So I was going to wind the winch backwards to set the boat back on the ground, didn't have the clicker thing engaged and the winch handle got away from me and that fast it came around twice and busted my little finger.
Moral of the story; don't drop the boat off the trailer unless it is going into the water.

 

[Garandman]

My car gas been sitting so wanted to charge the battery using a smart charger from Clore. Come back hours later, charge is still 55%. That's when I realized I should probably hit the ON button....

 

[MoKelly]

So in upstate NY we have had an unusual amount of snow this year. Before it however a lot of MUD.. I put down some OSB boards in the fall to facilitate getting into the back of my daughters house with a car so she could get in her house as she broke her leg and could not do stairs.. Well winter came and so did snow.. Dummy forgot to remove OSB boards.. using blower the other day I turned the snow blower on my boomer into a chipper.. well kinda.. a couple a shear pins later I was able to use it again.. Note to ya'll don't try this at home.. As my dear dad used to say use the right tool for right job LOL

Wow. Yea, 99% of the time when the event begins with "hold my beer and watch this" something not so good will occur.

MoKelly

 

[xzcVAbc5]

My car gas been sitting so wanted to charge the battery using a smart charger from Clore. Come back hours later, charge is still 55%. That's when I realized I should probably hit the ON button....

I have a Clore charger designed for three different battery types, different charging rates, and 6/12V. It defaults to something other than lead acid every time I plug it in. At least it defaults to 12V.

 

[forestcreature1]

For more motorcycle related "stupid", google for squid purity test [those of you with a DOD# are laughing now].

 

[Mace Canute]

One time I forgot I was running low on fuel and failed to switch to the full tank which resulted in this:
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...well-pretty-dumb-post3991251.html#post3991251

Another time at work we were paralleling two three phase lines with 4/0 copper jumpers, two of us up the pole with a hotstick on each end of the jumper to control it. The first two jumpers went on well and when I went to put the last one on ( the other guy had attached his end first as per plan) someone on the ground hadn't opened up the hotline clamp and it was closed. I made the mistake of not checking it since the other five clamps were all opened. I had already made contact with the conductor before I noticed that little detail and the jumper was carrying what was supposed to be 9.5 amps according to our engineer. I figured what the heck, I've lifted risers off with almost as high a load and successfully broken the arc and this was an outside phase and I had the room to maneuver so why would this be different? Well, it turned out the engineer was off on his load shift calculation by a bit...he missed a decimal point so instead of 9.5 amps it was 95 amps.

Did I mention the difference of potential between the two lines was a few thousand volts?

I drew one of the most impressive arcs ever seen on the end of an 8 foot hot stick as I swung it away and that's no exaggeration. Fortunately I didn't hesitate when I saw the arc failing to break when it should have and kept going until it finally did. To this day my fellow journeyman who was up the pole with me shakes his head in disbelief that I managed to break that arc. Lesson learned though...I always checked my hotline clamps after that!

 

[xzcVAbc5]

Here's one I thought about starting a thread on the Kubota owning/operating forum, but it's stupid and my fault so I might as well post here.

This weekend I looked through the manual on doing an oil change and lube job on my Kubota BX25D. I opened the "glovebox" on the back of the tractor and pulled the manual out. I read through the manual and then decided to move the tractor to a good spot to do the job. I started the tractor without setting on it. I let the engine idle for a bit and then jumped on and raised the FEL to drive out of the garage. I happened to turn around and noticed my backhoe raising, but no one was at the controls. I grabbed the sticks and pulled them back and it stopped, but I let go and it started raising again. I shifted my weight on the seat and the tractor died due to the safety switch. What I realized is that the "glovebox" cover fits perfectly between the seat and the backhoe controls. When I sat down it pushed the sticks just enough to raise the backhoe. Fortunately, I didn't hit anything or knock anything over. Had this been backed up to the side of a building it could have been expensive.

 

[Green Acres Homestead]

Here's one I thought about starting a thread on the Kubota owning/operating forum, but it's stupid and my fault so I might as well post here.

This weekend I looked through the manual on doing an oil change and lube job on my Kubota BX25D. I opened the "glovebox" on the back of the tractor and pulled the manual out. I read through the manual and then decided to move the tractor to a good spot to do the job. I started the tractor without setting on it. I let the engine idle for a bit and then jumped on and raised the FEL to drive out of the garage. I happened to turn around and noticed my backhoe raising, but no one was at the controls. I grabbed the sticks and pulled them back and it stopped, but I let go and it started raising again. I shifted my weight on the seat and the tractor died due to the safety switch. What I realized is that the "glovebox" cover fits perfectly between the seat and the backhoe controls. When I sat down it pushed the sticks just enough to raise the backhoe. Fortunately, I didn't hit anything or knock anything over. Had this been backed up to the side of a building it could have been expensive.

You did good to catch that. My father always said it's incredible all the freak things that can happen to a person. Some of these things can kill you.

 

[powerscol]

Was running my brush hog near my new wire fence. Made a turn and after a minute it felt like it was going slow. Looked at all the gauges and levers while still moving forwarder. The wife started yelling and pointing behind me. Looked back and I had snagged the fence with the dolly wheel on the mower. Had to re do over 100 feet of fence and replace three posts - not fun . Lesson is when you have something out back, watch as you turn.

 

[blacklion66]

Learning how to operate equipment without mistakes will never be found in a manual.
Only hours (lots) in the seat

To be honest years instead of hours is what I really think☺

 

[JLH4]

^^^^ Garandman posted ""Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."
Will Rogers. Your wiser for the experience if you survive the bad judgement.

 

[falfrenzy]

If you own a chainsaw but dont own cut resistant chaps, you need to pull your head out of your butt before you have to pull your wallet out at the Emergency Room. The price will be many magnitudes different

 

[Green Acres Homestead]

Yep. Chainsaws are the worlds most dangerous tool and logging is the worlds most dangerous profession.

 

[Green Acres Homestead]

Was running my brush hog near my new wire fence. Made a turn and after a minute it felt like it was going slow. Looked at all the gauges and levers while still moving forwarder. The wife started yelling and pointing behind me. Looked back and I had snagged the fence with the dolly wheel on the mower. Had to re do over 100 feet of fence and replace three posts - not fun . Lesson is when you have something out back, watch as you turn.

Man that sucked. I guy beats himself pretty bad for thing as such but we all do them. I may be making a mistake. I hired a guy to do some snow blowing for me because I don't always want to be here. That may not work out in my best interest. ]\

 

[oosik]

Garandman - there is a good reason Harley owners have leather saddle bags. When their Harley lays on its side to "sleep" the saddle bags may get scratched or mud but no dings. A damp shop rag and some leather oil will fix that.

I thin/chip my stands of small Ponderosa pines every spring. Until three years ago I used my Stihl 270 with a 20" bar. After a couple hours of thinning - quit for the day, tired. One day I pressed on. When I quit and in the house changing clothes I noticed the big gash on the toe of my left work boot. No blood but the boot was removed with some fear. All the toes were still in place. Now I use a Stihl 190 with 12" bar and I QUIT when tired.

 

[blacklion66]

I started on the little end of a Mall saw when I was 12, I was taught by experts long before all the safety gear was invented for newbies. I expect at the age of 83 I have as much saw time as anyone in this forum. Safety glasses, leather gloves plus a hard hat and common sense. Never had to use so much as a band aid! :laughing:

 

[Oaktree]

Bush-hogging with my 750 with the loader on the front.

You DO know that you can get closer into the corners if you have the bucket up in the air, right?

Making the corner between the fence and the feed shed, watching the mower instead of the bucket. Done this hundreds of times, what could possibly go wrong?

Missed it by this much and the cutting edge of the bucket tore the rake board, the drip edge and a half dozen shingles off the end of the feed shed.

Oops! Never did that, but I have caught the edge of the bucket on small trees when trying to mow trails thru the woods, or just around trees at the edge of a field. A couple close calls, now the loader comes off when I bush hog.

Another time I felt really stupid involved a pickup and a trailer. I suck at backing using mirrors, so I'll usually drop the tailgate down to better see where the trailer's going. There's about 6" of clearance between the end of the tailgate and the jack on the trailer...no problem with relatively shallow turns, but a sharp turn, not so much. Put a nice big gouge in the top of the tailgate. :duh: Lesson learned, now I remove it when I use that trailer!

 

[Oldpath05]

My right hand little finger is still messed up, it still bends but has a glitch in the joint. While cutting up firewood two months ago I was standing on the ground, sat the saw down, reached in with my left hand to the FEL lever, for the first time in 11 years I placed my right hand on my roll cage post, watched the bucket go up then felt the loader arm pinching my little finger, normal thinking person would've just backed off without thinking, so in an instant without thinking I went the same way with the lever and nearly crushed my little finger. For some reason I cannot operate the loader lever the right way if I'm not sitting on the seat, so for a warning for the next time, I wrapped a piece of foam with pink tape so if I ever put my hand there again it will push my hand against the foam.

When I made the roll cage I raise FEL all way up then started to add square tubing, I didn't factor in the pinch point, should've put more room between loader arm and roll cage post.