One hand operation of tractor ?

[wawajake]

I may have surgery this winter on my right arm and be in a sling during the winter plowing season. And my wife refuses to learn the tractor.

Has anyone rigged up any sort of way to operate the FEL joystick with left hand , or other tips?
(safety police please ignore)
I hate to postpone the operation till winter is over and even a few weeks in my remote snowy Canadian location, can mean we risk being snowed in and can't get to work.

its times like these you wish you had a son besides the two daughters !

jake

 

[CinderSchnauzer]

its times like these you wish you had a son besides the two daughters !

jake

Are the daughters old enough to run the tractor? Safety police notwithstanding, lots of farm kids 10 years + or - drive tractors.

With the FEL mounted joystick - how difficult would it be to remount on the left side? Don't have a Kubota B so don't know, but on my Honda it wouldn't be that difficult.

 

[pat32rf]

I have a JD4300HST and a buddy with a VERY restricted right arm and hand. He loves driving "Johnie" for skidding and piling logs, and often sits on the drivers seat to move the unit while I am on the hoe seat building trails etc. He can't move/flex anything below his bicept since his arm got caught in a conveyor but with his shoulder muscles he can shove his whole arm forwards or back. He can't unbend his fingers but can hook the joystick and pull it with his shoulder somehow.
He will sometimes reach accross and use his left arm to move the joystick but he isn't as smooth doing this, it just gives him more options.
Its like he was in a cast from the bicept down to his knuckles.

 

[jimmer2880]

Are the daughters old enough to run the tractor? Safety police notwithstanding, lots of farm kids 10 years + or - drive tractors.
.....

I agree. By the time my oldest daughter (now 6) turns 10, she should be good enough to plow snow with my BX1830 while being supervised. With today's tractors, it's not like physical strength is a limitation.

 

[whistlepig]

I would have a bracket made up for holding the FEL control and mount it on the left loader mast. Then I would have a hose maker make me some short hydraulic extension hoses. This wouldn't all that hard and expensive to do.

 

[beenthere]

Not sure 'bout your Bota, but in a pinch, I could operate my deere 4300 HST joystick with the left hand, enough to lower, raise, and dump. Might have to do either/or steering or FEL, but think it wouldn't be an impossible task.

Some linkage rigged to your left foot would be most desirable, but thinking you might heal before getting it figured out.

I think you will adapt to the left hand steering and joystick pretty quick.

 

[deepNdirt]

get you a steering Knob, some dont like to use them, But I had one on my last tractor got really used to useing it and now that I dont have one on my current tractor it just seems like I'm mission something
I guess that would be the ability to steer withy only 1 hand as for using the remotes, I hav'nt a clue!

 

[PILOON]

Most joysticks control the valves via a pair of push/pull cables that in turn push/pull the actual valve bodies that are located elsewheres.
They use them as 2 cables are much easier (and nicer) to route than a gaggle of hoses and fittings.

If that is the case on your tractor, then a longer pair of cables would allow you ro reposition the joystick at a convienient location to the left and be easy to return to the factory location at a later date.
Routing might not be all that pretty, but it is only a temporary need.

I'd like to avoid the steering knob as they are wrist breakers if ever you jamb a front wheel against a solid object. In fact I believe they are banned at OEM levels.

 

[whistlepig]

I don't know about others but I'm always "feathering" the FEL while steering the tractor. One hand on the wheel and the other on the FEL control. For me to sit in the house and watch someone push my snow with my tractor would be way too much for me to handle. They can't be playing in my snow with my tractor. That's not fair. I would relocate my FEL control in a heartbeat.

 

[deepNdirt]

I'd like to avoid the steering knob as they are wrist breakers if ever you jamb a front wheel against a solid object. In fact I believe they are banned at OEM levels.

this figures! I guess he wouldn't need 2 bad arms, just trying to make suggestions to help, afterall it would only be "temporary"

 

[zzvyb6]

You'd be surprized at how easy it is to operate a load stick with your arm in a sling. I've had shoulder surgery and a broken arm (elbow), and a few sprained wrists (I'm a hockey player). If it hurts don't do it. If you can grab it with your fingers, then you are in control. If its a hard cast, have the doc add a metal hook to the cast so you can push, pull, left and right shove the stick. Heck, I put hay up with my arm in a cast. Just don't hammer anything. That can be painful. In fact, you can practice what it will take by sticking your arm in a piece of pvc and taping it up to simulate the cast. Even a shoulder injury is not gonna slow you down. Best that the loader is on the tractor before you start all this, though. Also fueled and ready to go...

 

[beenthere]

.................

I'd like to avoid the steering knob as they are wrist breakers if ever you jamb a front wheel against a solid object. In fact I believe they are banned at OEM levels.

In the old days before power steering, yes they were wrist breakers. But don't see that as a problem with power steering. But even so, I don't have one.

 

[brin]

Here is a thought..instead of modifying your tractor, consider having your doctor modify your cast which you will no doubt have on your right arm...so why not take good photos of your FEL joystick and take some measurements ..then design a piece of metal or better yet hard plastic that could be incorporated into your cast when they put it on and you could get creative and even have a disconect on it so when you needed it you snap it on to the cast to the receiver part the doc has cemented into the cast and then when you are finished plowing just un snap it...Make lemonaide out of a lemon so to speak...

 

[Max2310]

Or maybe it's a good time/excuse to get a rear snow blower

Good luck with your surgery.

 

[MossRoad]

I may have surgery this winter on my right arm and be in a sling during the winter plowing season. And my wife refuses to learn the tractor.

Has anyone rigged up any sort of way to operate the FEL joystick with left hand , or other tips?
(safety police please ignore)
I hate to postpone the operation till winter is over and even a few weeks in my remote snowy Canadian location, can mean we risk being snowed in and can't get to work.

its times like these you wish you had a son besides the two daughters !

jake

You could attempt to rig up a simple rod and lever linkage that operates the stick from the left side without moving the valve. The Power Trac owners have a small auxiliary PTO lever down by their right knees. It operates the quick attach mechanism, but also is used to operate power implements like the power angle on a snow plow or the grapple on a grapple bucket. For those operations, it is very inconvenient. Several of them have hooked up rod and lever linkage to move control to the left hand. Here are some pictures of a few of them. Just something to think about.

First one is the lever on the right knee.

Second one is of the linkage installed to the left hand.

Third one is of a different model with a similar modification.

 

[wawajake]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I see a few options:
I already installed a steering knob , and depending on whether a cast is involved , I never thought of modifying the cast ....So I can see myself doing the RedGreen duct tape or whatever rigging.
I also like the knee lever I could see something possible there too !

thanks all

As for teaching daughters............well I would if they still lived at home , but they are out of the nest. And not enough time (or energy ) to make a son

jake

 

[D7E]

One of my old bosses cut his arm off at the elbow in a forager and converted all his tractors to be able to do everything with one hand or with his feet all modified by himself...Amazing what he did with linkages/switches and such...and continued as a custom operator putting thousands of hours a year on a tractor...!

 

[Dead Horse]

this figures! I guess he wouldn't need 2 bad arms, just trying to make suggestions to help, afterall it would only be "temporary"

Both of my tractors are outfitted with "suicide knobs"........ They are perhaps the singularly BEST modification I have ever made to any of my orchard hardware........

Spare me from the safety police, 99% of whom wouldn't Know a PTO from the PTA.

 

[ovrszd]

I'd like to avoid the steering knob as they are wrist breakers if ever you jamb a front wheel against a solid object. In fact I believe they are banned at OEM levels.

Now you are showing your age!!! Back in the old mechanical gear driven steering days your concern was valid. As was the philosophy to always keep your thumbs outside the steering wheel.

On a modern hydraulic cylinder driven steering system that's not a concern. I can't imagine running a modern tractor without a knob. It's the first thing I buy for a tractor, color coordinated of course.

 

[Soundguy]

I'd like to avoid the steering knob as they are wrist breakers if ever you jamb a front wheel against a solid object. In fact I believe they are banned at OEM levels.

only dangerous if you don't know how to use them... open palm setup works FINE.. just like a hand crank on a tractor.. if you try to get hurt.. you can break an arm.. if you do it right.. it's difficult to get hurt.

kinda like cleaning a loaded gun...

soundguy