Scariest Tractor Moment

[EastTexFrank]

About 10 or 12 years ago I was mowing at the farm with the MF 275 and a heavy duty, 7' pull mower. The Massey had a cab but no A/C (not working) or seat belt. I had finished mowing except for a strip on a steep terrace. It looked really bad being the only uncut piece on the property so I decided to make one run across it. I was about half way along it when the mower started to slide down the slope. It broke the brackets that held the PTO shaft aligned with the tongue and started to drag the rear end of the tractor downhill with it. I got the tractor stopped but the Massey went up on two wheels and seemed to hang there for ages while it decided if it was going to go over or not. Eventually it crashed back down on all four wheels. It was kinda strange and scary just sitting there, almost as a spectator, waiting for it all to play out. As the back end was now at 45 degrees to the slope, I backed on down and went to the house. Man, I tore up some stuff that day and what made it worse, my wife was looking out the kitchen window and saw and heard the whole thing. I never felt comfortable on that tractor/mower combination ever again. I was so glad when we finally got rid of it.

 

[LBrown59]

Another confession for me- none of our experienced family wears a seat belt (me, Pop, Grandpop, and Uncle).

Great chance of increasing the likely hood of a victim here.

 

[farmboy12]

Thanks, LB!

 

[Renze]

I never felt comfortable on that tractor/mower combination ever again. I was so glad when we finally got rid of it.

When a similar thing happened to me, i was not only glad that things went not that bad after all, but also that i knew exactly what the limitations of my equipment are.... It makes you feel safer in a lot of other situations, when you know when things get risky...

 

[reddog176]

Another confession for me- none of our experienced family wears a seat belt (me, Pop, Grandpop, and Uncle).

Amateur. Only one out of our 6 tractors even HAS a seatbelt, or seat switch, or really any other modern safety feature. They run on common sense. Been fine for 40+ years, 15 or so of which i've operated them.

 

[jake98]

Way to Jinx yourself Reddog. I remember right before my 20th hs reunion I was thinking about how I was just as smart as my doctor lawyer friends, thought about it about 45 seconds before the tree I was cutting took the edge shingles off my shop.

Jake

 

[farmboy12]

Only 3 of our 11 have seatbelts. We ain't too far behind you. 4 of our's are 1967 and before. Only 2 are post-1999. But, like most all TBN members, we are experts and know the limits. We do encourage others to wear seatbelts though.



Kyle

 

[EddieWalker]

A few scary moments.

I hit an underground bee hive while clearing some land with the dozer. I got lucky and they focused on the front blade. I stoped the dozer where it was and ran away.

I was pushing over a dead pine tree and it snapped off about half way up. It came down like a bullet and landed to my right, then fell over away from me. That was too close, too fast!!!!

I was bushhogging one of my trails and moving along at a pretty good pace since it's pretty smooth. I saw a low bush off to the side that I decided to take out on a spur of the moment thought. My front tire hit something and I was way up on an angle. It was almost instant, and it took everything that I had to hold onto the wheel and stop it at the same time. I had hit a stump that I didn't know about. It was over a foot tall and totally hidden in that small bush.

One of my worse was digging out some mud with the backhoe and sliding into the hole. Luckily the hoe stick was down and I was able to support the rear tire with it. Otherwise, it would have been a quick drop and there's no telling what would have happened if it tipped over into the mud with me in the ROPS.

Eddie

 

[EastTexFrank]

I hit an underground bee hive while clearing some land with the dozer. I got lucky and they focused on the front blade. I stoped the dozer where it was and ran away.

Eddie

I've done that too, Eddie and I KNEW they were there. I could see them hanging around above the grass and I left a little square where they were alone. When I had finished mowing, that little square in the middle of the cut pasture looked so stupid that I couldn't leave well enough alone. I got the tractor and mower lined up and took off in high ... run right over the top of the nest and kept on going. It's just as well because they came boiling out of the ground. It was like something out of a Wily Coyote cartoon. They formed a huge ball about 3' off the ground, looked around and took off after the tractor. By that time I was in high/high and rattling and bouncing all over that pasture on the way back to the house. Those little boogers must have chased me for well over 50 yards but I never got stung once. It was definitely more luck than good judgment.

 

[reddog176]

A few scary moments.

I hit an underground bee hive while clearing some land with the dozer. I got lucky and they focused on the front blade. I stoped the dozer where it was and ran away.

Eddie

Just this year we got our first tractor with cab... You don't realize how helpful a cab is in that situation, until you hit a nest and watch the bees repeatedly ram into the windows.

I've been stung by quite a few hornets when brush hogging through their nests.