I am surprised by the number of folks here that mention jumping. If your tractor has a ROPS, as per every piece of information you read from manufactures, OSHA, agriculture departments, etc. etc. etc. say to wear your seat belt. I have done a lot of reading on rolling because I live in West Virginia and all of my property is on the side of a hill. My dad used to tell me stories of when he lived with his family on a farm years ago of tractors rolling down the hill until they got to the bottom.
There are few times that the tractor is going to roll slow enough to jump from it. If you have a ROPS, you should ALWAYS have your seat belt on. There have been a few times I have gotten in a bad situation and gotten close to rolling and my instinct was to jump off because the fear drives your brain to doing dumb things. The seat belt kept me physically from doing that and getting hurt. The few times this has happened I was able to stop the movement of the tractor, drop the FEL and 3-point, and assess the situation and resolve the situation without rolling.
My last tractor was a Long 390HST which was a larger CUT (about 33/39 HP) and was HST. I felt the HST, when I was at a slow speed, reduced the risk of roll over because I was able to quickly remove my foot from the pedal and stop the motion. It also allowed me to change directions slowly and gracefully to maneuver out of some bad situations I got myself into.
My current tractor, which I have had only about a month now, is a NH WorkMaster 55, which is a synchro-shuttle transmission. This is the first ag tractor with a clutch I have operated. I have been staying in the middle of my fields while I relearn what is safe, how to quickly stop motion, reverse direction, etc. Little by little I introduce areas of steeper grade and obstacles as I get more familiar with the tractor. This tractor is much wider than the last tractor I had, and I expect the COG is lower as well, so once I get more familiar with it, I expect I will learn to trust it more on the slopes.
The worst near roll overs are the ones involving faster ground speeds. All of the close ones (a back tire off the ground) were almost at a standstill, primarily when using the FEL with extremely heavy loads, with the HST tractor. Those scared me, but I always managed to get myself out of those situations by stopping, thinking, and then using the FEL, 3-point, and motion to resolve the situation. The times I know I would be out of luck are those times cutting the fields when my ground speed is much faster and I hit some sort of depression in the ground (gopher hole, ditch, large branch, whatever). When you are on a hill and hit something like that at a fast speed, there isn't going to be time to react. The other thing with slopes is slick grass. After it rains, or in the early morning or late evening hours with the dew is heavy, the front tires start to lose traction. I have found this allows the tractor to slide sideways down hill, you start to compensate by turning slightly up hill, and this points the tractor at a greater chance of tipping over. Hence, I would encourage you to reduce your ground speed when cutting across a slope to give yourself more time to react should you encounter something that could cause an issue.
Also, I should mention about the slick grass on the slopes, I have had some good rides on the yard tractor before I put chains on it. I agree with others that turning into the slide seems to prevent an overturn, but wow what a ride when your back wheels are stopped and the tractor keeps going down the hill! I only had that happen about twice before I just left the "winter" chains on it all the time.
Anyhow, that's my 2 cents for what it's worth. I would strongly encourage you to always wear your seat belt with a ROPS. If you don't have a ROPS then don't wear a seat belt, but it probably doesn't have one anyway. There are numerous safety videos on YouTube and other places on the net that teach tractor safety and I would encourage reviewing them and forming your own opinion.
One more thing... All the people I know that have rolled their ag tractors have had ROPS and were wearing their seat belts. I don't know anyone that has rolled a tractor without a ROPS, but every year there is at least one incident on the news here of where it happens and someone loses their life. Stay safe.
There are few times that the tractor is going to roll slow enough to jump from it. If you have a ROPS, you should ALWAYS have your seat belt on. There have been a few times I have gotten in a bad situation and gotten close to rolling and my instinct was to jump off because the fear drives your brain to doing dumb things. The seat belt kept me physically from doing that and getting hurt. The few times this has happened I was able to stop the movement of the tractor, drop the FEL and 3-point, and assess the situation and resolve the situation without rolling.
My last tractor was a Long 390HST which was a larger CUT (about 33/39 HP) and was HST. I felt the HST, when I was at a slow speed, reduced the risk of roll over because I was able to quickly remove my foot from the pedal and stop the motion. It also allowed me to change directions slowly and gracefully to maneuver out of some bad situations I got myself into.
My current tractor, which I have had only about a month now, is a NH WorkMaster 55, which is a synchro-shuttle transmission. This is the first ag tractor with a clutch I have operated. I have been staying in the middle of my fields while I relearn what is safe, how to quickly stop motion, reverse direction, etc. Little by little I introduce areas of steeper grade and obstacles as I get more familiar with the tractor. This tractor is much wider than the last tractor I had, and I expect the COG is lower as well, so once I get more familiar with it, I expect I will learn to trust it more on the slopes.
The worst near roll overs are the ones involving faster ground speeds. All of the close ones (a back tire off the ground) were almost at a standstill, primarily when using the FEL with extremely heavy loads, with the HST tractor. Those scared me, but I always managed to get myself out of those situations by stopping, thinking, and then using the FEL, 3-point, and motion to resolve the situation. The times I know I would be out of luck are those times cutting the fields when my ground speed is much faster and I hit some sort of depression in the ground (gopher hole, ditch, large branch, whatever). When you are on a hill and hit something like that at a fast speed, there isn't going to be time to react. The other thing with slopes is slick grass. After it rains, or in the early morning or late evening hours with the dew is heavy, the front tires start to lose traction. I have found this allows the tractor to slide sideways down hill, you start to compensate by turning slightly up hill, and this points the tractor at a greater chance of tipping over. Hence, I would encourage you to reduce your ground speed when cutting across a slope to give yourself more time to react should you encounter something that could cause an issue.
Also, I should mention about the slick grass on the slopes, I have had some good rides on the yard tractor before I put chains on it. I agree with others that turning into the slide seems to prevent an overturn, but wow what a ride when your back wheels are stopped and the tractor keeps going down the hill! I only had that happen about twice before I just left the "winter" chains on it all the time.
Anyhow, that's my 2 cents for what it's worth. I would strongly encourage you to always wear your seat belt with a ROPS. If you don't have a ROPS then don't wear a seat belt, but it probably doesn't have one anyway. There are numerous safety videos on YouTube and other places on the net that teach tractor safety and I would encourage reviewing them and forming your own opinion.
One more thing... All the people I know that have rolled their ag tractors have had ROPS and were wearing their seat belts. I don't know anyone that has rolled a tractor without a ROPS, but every year there is at least one incident on the news here of where it happens and someone loses their life. Stay safe.
