Rollover paranoia

[notaz3]

The problem with trying to come up with a warning alarm is that; the center of gravity, and thereby the tipping point, changes depending on implements installed, load in bucket, height of bucket, etc.

 

[dougtrr2]

I am finding that as I get older, my sense of balance is changing. It is a little frustrating to know that a few years ago I would mow some side slopes with not problem and now I am very leery of those same slopes. In one case it was a slope down to a low retaining wall. I recontoured the area to provide a flat space next to the wall and then slope up from there. The slope is basically the same but now I feel more comfortable doing it.

The point is, listen to what your mind and body is telling you. You don't hear of anyone getting hurt mowing too shallow of a slope. Sure your tractor might take a much steeper slope, but that doesn't help when the pucker factor is getting to you.

Doug in SW IA

 

[redman135]

Hello Stephen D, No you are not being paranoid. Once bitten twice shy.
Experience is a blunt teacher, AND you only had a bad fright and NO injury. Fortunatly a relatively low cost learning experience.

You ALWAYS have several things coming togather to cause an accident.
In this case, in a hurry, not looking,ran over a heap of dirt, NARROW track(width).

This combination WILL arise in the future so you need to break the incident chain.
Practically, this means increasing the track(width) of the tractor so an abrupt shift of the centre-of-gravity does not tip the tractor over.To do this with your existing rims you have 2 options
1) get wheel spacers, steel or aluminium. These are low cost and you will be surprised how a small increase in track has a large increase in stable "feel". Other members will tell you what they use and where to find them.
2) Dual wheels, massive difference in stable "feel" a much larger width (can you fit every where you currrently go?) Generally you will slide of the hillside instead of roll off the hillside. In your case backing over a heap of dirt,you better have your seat belt on as you are likely to be tossed into the door instead off rolling the tractor.

NOTE :
1)Your stability comes from the back axle. Making it wider gains stability. The front axle is on a pivot and by the time it hits the travel stop you are past the point of no return.

2) In your photo you have the loader down low. EXCELLENT, that is where it should be(curl bucket right back so if you hit the ground it slides instead of digging in). And when you are loading a trailer etc, keep the loader low UNTIL you are approaching the trailer to tip into it. A common mistake is to lift up high WHILE MANUVERING. This is a classic roll over senario.

3) Ballast: Are your rear tyre filled (partly) with liquid?
You will find a 3ph couterweight to be a good safty invest ment. Ask other members how they made/setup theirs to see what would work best for you.

4)Is there a company that does tractor saftey near you? Possibly state Ag saftey? Some formal trainig may be the best way for you to grow your confidence back.


Some food for thought.
Good Luck.

 

[groundcover]

As others have said make sure rear tires are loaded and keep your bucket low. If rear tires can be spread that would help but may prevent getting into tight spaces. I like the bucket to be at least as wide as the machine, kind of like a cat and his whiskers thing . I laid a skid steer on its side years ago, makes you gun shy for a while !

 

[LD1]

Quite simply if you have nothing but 11-12 degree slopes on your property, any type of alarm or tilt meter would be useless. Because 11-12 degrees is quite safe to traverse with the tractor.

The issue is dynamics. Speed, sudden direction change, and/or raising the COG by having an elevated load or not having proper balance. And it will happen so suddenly that any type of warning you install wont leave you with time to react.

In other words....you can easily roll a tractor on perfectly flat ground. Either turning sharp while in road gear....or having a heavy load up front with no ballast, raised too high, and make a sudden turn. Being on flat ground....a tilt meter will read ZERO's until its too late

 

[EddieWalker]

When I worked as a driver for UPS, they put everyone through a driver safety class that was designed to prevent us from having accidents. According to my instructor, and he said this over and over again, almost all accidents happened while backing up. Again, this was for a UPS delivery driver.

I always take extra precaution when backing up. I still mess up from time to time and I have the damaged tailgate on my truck to prove it!!! With your example, I think the rollover was because you where going too fast, while going backwards, and not able to react fast enough to the change in terrain. Keep the loader low to the ground, and go slower when backing up, and you should be fine.

But even when going forwards, a bad decision can still get you into trouble. I was mowing around my pond and I wanted to get the batwing as close as I could to a ditch coming out of my culvert. It's several feet deep, and it has steep sides. The grass was tall and I got too close to the edge and my back tire slid into the ditch. It happened kind of slowly, so while I was sliding, I tried turning away from the ditch, and engaging my locker for more traction. This just dug me in deeper and when I saw my front tire come off the ground, and the tractor started rocking back and forth, I shut it down. I'm not sure how close I was to rolling, but it sure scared me pretty good!!! I crawled out the door on the high side and just held onto the tractor for a little bit in case it was going to roll over when I climbed off of it. It didn't move, so I was probably OK.

I used my backhoe to pull it out and there wasn't any damage, it was just a strong reminder to be more careful and stop taking chance getting too close to the edge of ditches!!!!

 

[Rustyiron]

Yeah Eddie, that one (pic) is a solid 9, maybe a 10 in the "pucker" factor.

 

[Eagle1]

Always that "I can get another inch over" that gets me in trouble.... That and the rock you hit with a rear tire upsetting the world when you got a serious load in front.
SO far it's been close calls but no tip overs.....have slid into places more often than I care to admit, both with tractors or Zturns.

 

[NUTTERDW]

This post is not to criticize the safety minded out there amongst you. Far from it, as I'm a lucky guy that rolled his tractor and survived it four years ago. My issue is wondering whether the "respect" that the incident instilled in me is proportional to the actual risk. My Kubota B3030 was the first and only tractor I've bought. Total noob guy. I was backing while moving dirt, hit an unexpected mound of dirt and rolled. The built in ROP of the cab protected me, and the door glass contained me and prevented entrapment or limb loss. My first thought laying there in the shattered glass was turning the motor off (fire), then getting out. Once I was standing outside looking at the dead tractor carcass, I wondered whether any of my neighbors were out and had seen me due to the potential embarrassment. I was all alone. Then it dawned on me that I had no cell phone, my wife was away, and had I been trapped it would have been about a 5 hour wait for her to find me. Then the fear set in. Totally preventable. I think the root causes were ignorance of both proper technique and the risks, rushing, and overconfidence. I happened to have an excavator on site, so I just chained the Kubota and flipped it upright. To my surprise there was absolutely zero damage besides the shattered door glass.
To my point- now I'm so nervous on most of my almost exclusively non-flat property that I'm hesitant to use the tractor for many things. I think remember the spec on it saying ok up to 12 or 15 degrees, but the worst slope anywhere I'd encounter is 11-12 degrees and even that gets me really anxious. I think the spec is for a bare tractor, not one with a FEL, belly mower, etc. so it doesn't help me feel any more confident. I tried leaving the belly mower installed to lower the CG but it was interfering enough that I opted to take it off. Not looking for a how-to or strategies for transiting hills, counterweighting, FEL tactics, etc. (Now) I've watched all those videos, which is why I admitted my ignorance as a factor in my accident.
Did I buy the wrong tractor? (kind of a narrow front axle) Am I unreasonably cautious? Is there such a thing? I considered getting an alarm/inclinometer to at least let me know when I'm reaching the nominal limits, kind of as a training aid to better know when nervousness is called for. It's almost like a fear of flying scenario situation. so, alarm or therapy? That's the Mrs., not me.

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[NUTTERDW]

I"m almost 80 years young and have operated tractors since I was 10 and I still have a healthy respect for them. People tell me I still take a tractor places others wouldn't think about but it comes from experience and knowing the tractor. I have a 53 hp Case IH 4 wheel drive that does not like going around a steep hill but it will go up and down with no problem.So that is the way I work it. I grew up on a Farmall tricycle front end and it was better on a side hill than my Case IH. I still feel safer using it than I do the newer tractor. I've never had a rear wheel off the ground on one of the tricycle front end tractors, but sure have on the Case IH. Granted it was while using the loader but the pucker factor was real.