Runaway tractor

[BillK]

An experienced tractor mechanic (who shall remain anonymous) was testing a Kubota tractor for intermittant engine operation. It kept cutting out without warning, like it was out of fuel.

It stopped on the road. He tried to restart it by standing next to it while starting ,holding the clutch down by hand. It started unexpectedly,just as his hand slipped off the clutch pedal. Of course he had it in top gear and throttle on full. The tractor took off, knocking him over in the process. It mounted the gutter ,bounced back on the road, narrowly missed several cars, whilst the mechanic was madly running after it down the road at about 13 km/h.

Luck was with him on the day. He caught the tractor and managed to pull the stoplever,whilst running next to the tractor.
His only injury was a bruised side where the tractor pushed him over.

Our nameless mechanic was born on a farm, very experienced with farm machinery, yet still got himself into trouble.

This story is true, and even funny ,if you imaging an older, not so fit gentleman running after a runaway tractor at full speed,out of control in a suburban area.

Just good luck saved him and the tractor from further injury on the day. Please be careful, and never start a tractor unless you are in the seat first.The original fault was later traced to dirt in the fuel tank .

BillK

 

[RoyJackson]

Well, I guess the image of him running after the tractor was funny.
But it could have been so easy for him to have been ran over at the initial start.

This must have been a gear tranny...

But shouldn't the safety interlocks prevented the machine from starting in gear, regardless of the clutch being depressed? My machine won't even crank if the tranny is in gear, even if I'm on the seat and clutch depressed.
It will start (if I'm on the ground along side) if the transmission is in neutral though.

<font color=red>Update:</font color=red>
BillK, I see (by your profile) that you're in the Land of Oz. Also, you deal in grey market tractors...I suppose those machines don't have any of the safety interlocks we have in the USA...

I'm gonna help y'all out....we're going to export 250,000 lawyers to Oz. That'll take care of the situation.

 

[looch]

Roy,

My B7500 will start in gear, just not with the PTO engaged.

 

[RoyJackson]

My B7500 will start in gear, just not with the PTO engaged.

But you do have to be setting on the seat, right?

As mentioned, my Deere won't...won't even crank, if in gear. But this depends on the underseat interlock position. One can adjust the switch to allow starting (still, not in gear though), so one can run stationary implements (post hole digger comes to mind...saw or log splitters too) while off the tractor.

It's actually a bit more complicated then that...but you got the jist.

 

[looch]

I've never started it while not being in the seat. But I know I can get off with it in gear and it won't quit on me. I don't think there's any kind of underseat interlock on it - at least I don't remember any mention of one in the manual.

 

[Jeff396]

The B7500 does not have any kind of seat kill switch. The HSD model will start in gear if the clutch is depressed. It' won't start in gear with the clutch depressed if the HSD pedal is in any other position but neutral so a runaway would be impossible unless you really worked at it. I wonder if the gear tractors have this same feature though.

Jeff

 

[TBone]

My M4900 will start without using the clutch and not in the seat if 1)The tranny is in neutral and 2)The PTO is disengaged.

TBone

 

[Soundguy]

My new holland 1920 won't even start unless the gear selector in in the neutral setting...

Soundguy

 

[Soundguy]

Forgot to add to my previous post, that my NH 1920 has to be in neutral, and clutch depressed to start.. no seat kill switch. But an interesting thing .. I have a gas powered 4 ' finish mower ( before I had the tractor, I towed it behind my lawn mower.. ) And it has an attached seat cushion w/ kill switch so that it will shut off if you get out of the seat... the cushion was not long enough to make it back from the tractor to the mower so I decided what it too k to bypass it.. not much I found out.. merely unplugging the cushion from the wiring harness bypassed the switch.. nice 'safety' feature. So remember if you have one of these style mowers.. and fall out of the seat.... hope the cushion doesn't come unplugged.. or the mower will still get ya...

Soundguy

"My M4900 will start without using the clutch and not in the seat if 1)The tranny is in neutral and 2)The PTO is disengaged."

 

[ByuBill]

My Kioti LK 3054, has a clutch safety switch. I guess that if you wanted to get run over, you could bypass it.
My Long 2360, has a neutral saftey switch. Only starts in neutral. My MF 220, has an ' S ' position on gear slector. /w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif not sure if it will start in any other position or not. Have always started it in 'S'.