Missed it by that much

[widefat]

...in a good way.
I have learned ( I thought) to be very careful when doing any time of brush and tree work with my tractor. But, sometimes things still escape my attention.
I was pushing some brush around saturday. I had seemingly policed the area and thought I has a good grasp of my surroundings.
I started to back up, and heard an awful grinding(?) scraping(?) sound that immediately reminded me of stripping gears.
I immediately shutdown and climbed down and checked the left side - no fluids running our or dripping.
I walk to the right side, and see a one inch stick jammed up the side BETWEEN the fuel filter and engine case, all the way up against the radiator fan. The fan edge was making the noise.
The stick was wedged tight, I had to cut it to get it out.
The end result, no damage other than a little bit of grindage to the outer edge of the fan blades.
Talk about lucky - I could have broken the fuel filter off, pierced the radiator, any number of things.

 

[D2Cat]

Yep, sometimes the bear gets you and sometimes you get the bear! A little stick in the wrong place can get expensive!

 

[EddieWalker]

Smart to stop so quickly. I've never been so lucky. I've had the oil sensor on the engine block broken off by a twig that worked it's way into the engine bay and I only knew it happened by seeing the oil shooting out through the seams in the engine cover. Not a huge expense to repair, but very messy and time consuming to get a new sensor and get the broken out threads out of the block.

 

[jeff9366]

It pretty cheap to have underside of tractor armored with expanded steel.

To armor my L3560 only four fender washers and two fabricated tabs with holes and two bolts/nuts were required; in addition to the expanded steel.

It is worth shopping for heavy gauge expanded steel.

LINK: STEEL EXPANDED 3/4" #9 FLAT 36" x 48" PERFECT FOR B.B.Q | eBay

 

[MH8675309]

I knew it!! The old stick against the radiator fan blade trick!!

 

[widefat]

I knew it!! The old stick against the radiator fan blade trick!!

:applause: :applause:

 

[widefat]

It pretty cheap to have underside of tractor armored with expanded steel.

To armor my L3560 only four fender washers and two fabricated tabs with holes and two bolts/nuts were required; in addition to the expanded steel.

It is worth shopping for heavy gauge expanded steel.

LINK: STEEL EXPANDED 3/4" #9 FLAT 36" x 48" PERFECT FOR B.B.Q | eBay

I have thought about this many times. Time to get off my keister and do it.

 

[JLH4]

^^^^^ and radiator grille.

 

[Jstpssng]

Yep, sometimes the bear gets you and sometimes you get the bear! A little stick in the wrong place can get expensive!

I could go someplace with that but I won't.

I had a similar experience as the OP on my L275. Not quite the same though, as I smashed the sediment bowl and was paunched for the weekend. The only good part was that my neighbors were cutting wood across the road, and towed me back home. Of course I heard for months about getting towed by a John Deere.

 

[ovrszd]

Before I could reach the key I sheared all the blades off my Kubota fan......