Backhoe Scary BX23S tractor moment - back tires chest height!

[Bosifus]

I had this exact thing happen to me this week while repositioning the tractor when working on digging up a stump. Somehow while swiveling it back around to the forward position the seat lodged onto the rear locking position and jammed the controls for the boom forward. Don't know how I managed to do it but I did. By the time I killed the engine the rear tires were chest height with me standing next to them. In retrospect I made a couple of mistakes but the biggest issue and one I won't ever make again was not idling down the tractor before swiveling the seat back around. I have gotten in the habit of leaving it idled up and swiveling the seat around pretty quickly to reposition it. I should have slid the seat forward to swivel it but I found I could just sneak it past the ROP and so that's what I've been in the habit of doing. I could have also pinned the BH and not had it been an issue as well. I don't think these are as critical because idled down the machine wouldn't be making enough pressure to lift it off the ground.

So, you aren't alone. It's easy to start taking shortcuts and then something goes sideways and all you know what breaks loose. Lesson learned.

 

[mikester]

Was the tractor at low idle at the time?

 

[Smokeydog]

Thanks for sharing and caring for safety. My opinion compact backhoes and two seat add on units are more dangerous compared to larger equipment.

 

[robertm]

When I started to let my son mow the yard on my BX, I told him to never get off the tractor to pick up dog toys in the grass unless the tractor was silent - meaning not running. He asked why. I told him a tractor should only be running if you are on it. He was a kid. I told him the horrors of mower decks running and missing toes and feet. To this day, at almost 19, he shuts it off when dismounting the tractor. Sometimes I think he took it seriously when I said that guys who make that mistake buy expensive “one for two” shoes... they only wear one, but still still have to buy the pair.
The only other lesson every tractor owner should heed is to wear good leather gloves when mounting/dismounting equipment and attachments. Weighted implements move on their own, and even the hardest, most-calloused skin peels off like a banana peel when caught or jammed between two pieces of cold unforgiving steel.