Idiot award for the week

[orezok]

Years ago I was restoring an old Austin Healy 3000. The thing was rode hard and put up wet one too many times. To get the thing started you had to crank and crank and it would eventually start.

I was going to paint it and backed it into the garage and started masking it. After I got it all masked, I realized that it was a couple of inches short of closing the garage door.

I couldn’t open the door and get in due to the masking but I was able to squeeze in, put in in reverse and figured I would just tap the starter and move it an inch or two. Yup, it must have caught on the first cylinder that came up and it crushed my wife’s dryer.

Couch wasn’t very comfortable that night.

 

[Greenfield Dave]

I had a culvert put in across my yard and was grading it out. I have mowed around the gas main for 20+ years and promptly backed into it with the grader box. amazing how fast you can run when you think you may die!!

 

[PhysAssist]

Here's another stupid I did, actually amazed me. Weeks ago I was using an Danuser auger I just put new teeth and tip on, I was drilling in hard clay not far from some big trees. It was slow going, but I usually go a foot then pull up, back in. It was getting dark so I put pressure on it by lowering loader bucket. Still slow going...so I way looking forward, when I looked back it was put of sight! It took me 2-3 hours, a lot of tools to get it out, unhooked pto, wrenching it backwards, jacks, etc.

So- do you think it was caught on a tree root? or on rocks?

Also please explain highlighted area above- how does bucket pressure affect [presumed] 3-pt hitch mounted auger?

We rented a 1-man, 2-wheeled hydraulic auger from our local 'Bota dealer specifically because it had reverse, rather than rent the 3-pt PTO-driven version both because of the reversibility of it, and because the tight clearances between trees and rocks we needed to run the fence through would've made getting even our little tractor in there really difficult- if not impossible...

Even so, it was an ordeal and several times, we thought we'd have to unhook it to back the auger out- reversing it didn't seem to have the same torque available as going forward...

 

[lakeside]

Nothing really dumb, yet but I'm sure it's coming. Well I did forget to raise the outriggers on more than one occasion, boy they sure do leave a nice trench.

I installed a 1" x 4" from the ceiling that would touch the top of the ROPS when I'd driven far enough in to let the garage door down One day I drove too far in and backed up. The 1 X 4 caught on the ROPS and was driven into my garage door opener spearing the mother board. I now have a piece of rope and an empty bottle hanging from the ceiling instead of the 1 x 4.

I did forget to lower the B/H one day and tried to drive into the garage. I managed to bang the top of the door frame but a bit a aluminium and white paint and you can hardly see a thing. I wimped out and told SWMBO before she found. Took it pretty good, asked if I was hurt then when I said no, called me dumb and walked away.

 

[Fuddy1952]

It most likely was caught on tree roots. What amazed me was slow going then all at once drilling in like that. The loader bucket lowering was since I was on a grade I thought it would put extra pressure on auger. I know what you're saying about hitch mounted auger, but raising front is bound to put more down pressure even if it's not much.

 

[Fallon]

It most likely was caught on tree roots. What amazed me was slow going then all at once drilling in like that. The loader bucket lowering was since I was on a grade I thought it would put extra pressure on auger. I know what you're saying about hitch mounted auger, but raising front is bound to put more down pressure even if it's not much.

Not really. The 3pt hitch can't provide downpressure. If you rotate the machine backwards, the 3pt will just lift. If there are side load pressures on it & it can't lift, you are possibly going to break things.

To make a PHD work better you need to make sure you have the right teeth on the auger & they aren't worn out. Adding weight (not a person) to the end of the boom will help too.

I rebuilt my former 3pt PHD to fit on a Quick Hitch. You need a hydraulic toplink to make that work, but as a side benefit, you get downpressure for the first 1-2' of the hole. Unfortunately you generally need the extra downpressure at the bottom of the hole, not the top.

You can get some hydraulic downpressure kits for some 3pt PHDs. They only provide a few hundred lbs of downpressure though. They push down on the boom levering off the lift arms.

 

[Fuddy1952]

Yes I have new teeth and tip I put on afterwards. I hardly use it...just maybe 1-2/month. Thanks!

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

I got so tired of driving arround with the parking break set I wired in relay and LED flasher on my dash. That little tiny red warning light now has a obnoxious big brother that I never miss. :drink:

 

[Deleted member 314313]

Cut 3 miles of trails with a brand new bush hog after backing into a massive oak tree crunching it, cut fields with the parking brake on all the while wondering where the power went, drove into the barn hay stall with the ROPS up, pushed dead trees over on to equipment, got stuck in the mud knowing it was to darn deep in the first place, backed over some devil privet hedges which promptly poked a hole in the fuel tank. Could go on, however my ignorance is apparent enough.

 

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

Stupidest thing SO FAR.....I wanted to level the surface of my fallow garden with my new Piranha Bar and move the dirt/compost to the compost pile. Was a very uneven surface, with lots of random piles of compost. First few feet looked okay, then suddenly the right wheels sunk into a soft spot, tilted the whole rig to the right, causing the FEL to gouge out a big hole on the right, which the right front wheel promptly fell into.

Might have been a first; tipping a tractor by dropping into a hole you just dug yourself. :laughing:

Thank God for filled tires (and 4WD to get out). Decided it was Happy Hour.