JD 4400 tipped over...............................

Anonymous Poster · Mar 27, 2003

Thanks for the honest posting. I almost tipped my 4310 last week on level ground!! Had a full bucket of dirt raised up to dump when one rear wheel went up the side of a pile of dirt I was moving. Quicker than I could pucker up it tipped over to the balance point and teetered on two wheels. Luckily for me it paused long enough to let me hit the joystick and drop the bucket down. I have to admit it took me a second to gather my wits before I hit the joystick, even though I have always told myself to make that my first response (my first thought was whether I could jump off the low side without the tractor falling on top of me). I had the ROPS up but wasn't wearing my seat belt (level ground). It happens so fast it is down right scary. I was really lucky and will pay a lot more attention to a raised bucket in the future. I am really glad your episode turned out as well as it did!

Anonymous Poster · Mar 28, 2003

What got me was,
I was traveling horizontally on a very slight grade,I had just finished tilling it with my JD 660 roto tiller which is a very effective counter balance for my loader/bucket.I had taken the tiller off and put my King Kutter "middle buster"potato plow on to cut my furrows.Well I am having trouble tracking in the loose dirt because the tractor wants to go down hill,in other words on part of the garden it was hard to follow the furrows evenly,I had some success with the steering brakes but not enough,with out the tiller on the back the loader/bucket was taking a lot of weight off of the rear wheels,so I raise the loader just a couple of feet maybe 3 ft up to help distribute the weight to the rear wheels(ie: offset the lack of counter weight the tiller would have supplied) I realize traveling with the loader up is risky,I think I may have ran over a rock in the soil,this terrain had never been plowed before.Well to make a long story longer,it happened rather slowly at first,but after it got to a certain point the speed of the tip over increased dramatically.I rember the seat belt tightening around my mid section significantly.I always wear the seat belt....it does not feel right to me not to have it on.If I drive down a steep incline it keeps me from sliding forward,it just makes all around operation more comfortable to me.

brad_oatley · Mar 28, 2003

John Miller's post on backing down an incline is a new one on me. I had a 2 wheel drive tractor with a loader. I was heading straight down a long field grass slope with the bucket full and low to the ground. The ground appeared to be dry and footing was good but all of a sudden the rear wheels locked and that tractor accellerated incredibly quickly straight away. I went 100 ft in no time flat before i got the loader dropped. The parrallel skid marks revealed that the ground was wet at the root level. I've read a lot of tractor books but I can't ever recall seeing anything about backing down a grade but it's common sensical too. Thanks John

Rick Jay · Mar 28, 2003

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I had the ROPS up but wasn't wearing my seat belt (level ground). )</font>

And do you wear it now?

The prevailing wisdom for seatbelts and ROPS is:

ROPS up - seatbelt on.
ROPS down - seatbelt off.

Unless the ROPS is in danger of hitting an overhead object, it should be up, therefore, the seatbelt should also be on.

Glad to hear you're O.K., but how many bullets do you want to dodge? /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

~Rick

JDGREEN4ME · Mar 29, 2003

I make it a habit to use the seat belt when I have the ROPPS up. Stories like this help us all to remember how important safety is... and how it can all change in the wink of an eye...

Anonymous Poster · Mar 30, 2003

I have a neighbor who has a ferguson and you see him driving around with the ROP folded down and no seat belt.He is not the brightest light around...but then again I could right a book about this guy...one time he put his tv antenna up on the electrical pole and his son went out to turn the antenna and knocked the power out to 2 houses....lucky his boy never got electocuted.I get nervous everytime I see him go out the road with his post hole digger on the tractor,I automatically start checking my phone lines to make sure I have a dial tone.He always manages to find the underground cable,you would think after 40 years he would learn.

Phred · Mar 30, 2003

Good info.

The picture is missing a key element; counter weight.

I always leave my bucket on but I never use it to lift anything heavy, like a bucket full of dirt, without at least ~1000 lbs of counter weight. And this is for a ~7000 lbs tractor!
Don't even think about using that loader without a counter weight.

I am glad to hear you are ok. Its a wonder that when it went over you did not hit your head, or your arm caught and crushed by the rops, etc..

I have considered a hard hat while on steep slopes, since my cab tractor would probably do a good job of protecting my limbs. But my head would likely end up against one of the pilers or a window. Lying out cold in the tipped over tractor with a bleeding head for untold amount of time is not attractive.
/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Fred

Anonymous Poster · Mar 31, 2003

Thanks for the concern and kind words everyone.

Inspector507 · Mar 31, 2003

Just glad that YOU were ok

markct · Apr 1, 2003

phred,
you say that picture is missing counterweight,well first off it probably has loaded tires which ya wouldnt be able to tell in the picture,and secondly it appears to be a fairly large tractor so it isnt always neccesary to have extra weight unless the loader is very large or used to lift very heavy things. alot of fullsize tractors are plenty stable with just a loader and no extra counterweight,the times most people get in trouble is with these little compact tractors which generaly have comparatively large loaders for there size and weight