My tilt-meter just paid for itself (and more).....

garchib · Jul 17, 2005

I have a tilt-meter on my JD 4100 that I installed over the last holiday season. I have owned this tractor for 4 years and the house and property for four years. Well, while mowing the "not so steep" side of my leaching field, which typically runs around 15 degrees, I was mowing along slowly and suddenly the tilt meter pegged at 25 degrees and the tractor just did not feel right /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif I slowly eased backwards and sure enough the tiltmeter hit 15 degrees again, so I pointed downhill and drove off. I thought to myself "this is weird I just mowed this last week". So I thought I would try a slow careful approach from the other direction and the same thing happened. The moral of the story is without the tilt-meter I could have been mowing along and hit that one spot and rolled over before I knew what was happening. These things are worth the money, don't let anyone tell you otherwise !!

johnday · Jul 17, 2005

This past Wednesday I was doing some grading for a guy building a new house. I was backing along an area I'd just dumped some backfill and hit the 25 mark too. I knew the tractor felt funny and stopped and dropped the bucket at the same time. Then I looked at the meter! Whoa, thats a feeling I don't want to repeat either. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

garchib · Jul 17, 2005

.....glad to hear your story has a happy ending as well /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

beenthere · Jul 17, 2005

I don't quite understand. Do you watch the meter all the time?

Or do you look at it when it 'feels funny'?

I can't imagine myself 'looking' at anything other than the terrain and sensing the 'feeling' of the tractor. I don't take my eyes off the terrain with respect to the position of the tractor.

As I said, I don't quite understand the tilt-meter usage.

garchib · Jul 18, 2005

....you watch the tilt-meter when a situation seems "if'y". The tilt-meter is a good second source of information to compliment common-sense and your feel for the terrain.

SkyPup · Jul 18, 2005

I certainly DO NOT wish to ever be at 25 degrees, 15 degrees and I'm outa there...... /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

thcri · Jul 18, 2005

Tilt meters are nice but they can't guarantee you won't roll over. In other words if you are already on a 15 deg slope and your tractor hits a hole, your going over. Your meter even if you watch it constantly won't show you the danger fast enough. Nice to have but you still have to be ready for the unknown.

murph

Phred · Jul 19, 2005

I have two. One mounted for side to side and one for front to back.

The front to back is not reallly needed. I just like it because I can use it to gauge a slope without having to be on it sideways. I rarely look at this one since it is on the side cab door. Usually this one is used when I am stopped or I glance at it for a second at very low speed.

The side to side one is mounted on the windsheild of my cab toward the bottom. This way I can glance at it and never take my eyes of the ground.

I find the feel is tuff when new to a machine. Finding the safe limits takes lots of hours of seat time IMHO. The tilt meter is more quantitative.
Also bigger tractors feel more tippy since you are sitting up higher.

Fred

garchib · Jul 26, 2005

I agree there is no guarantee that any piece of gear will prevent a roll-over, but I think having as much information as possible is a good thing, not a bad thing. There are a lot of "old salts" on this board that must have been attacked by somone weilding a tilt-meter, due to the vehemance of their "anti-tilt-meter" stance /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

MicroPilot · Aug 3, 2005

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I certainly DO NOT wish to ever be at 25 degrees, 15 degrees and I'm outa there...... /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif )</font>

I wish I had terrain that allowed me to be below 15 degress most of the time. Heck, I'll go past 15 mowing the lawn, which is the "flat" part of my property!

/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif