Stupid New Owner Tricks or What Not to Do with Your New Tractor

[Beltzington]

I was thinking back on mistakes I made as a new tractor owner and was curious if there are common mistakes maybe new owners could benefit from hearing. Do your best to list your first three mistakes in ascending order that could have resulted in serious injury or equipment damage. Here are mine:

1 - Towed my tractor home with an overloaded rental trailer and SUV, almost ended up in the ditch or worse.

2 - Picked up a heavy load with my FEL with no ballast, tractor almost rolled on it's side.

3 - Drove under an old shed with the ROPs still up and almost brought the roof down on top of me.

Please share your learning curve.

 

[Doofy]

Tried pulling some willow stumps with the fel and a chain...lifted both rear wheels off the ground about 2 feet.

 

[Citydude]

As a novice, I did pretty good. Not really anything to report. When I got 500 hours under my belt, not so good. Brand new pole barn corner, munched with FEL, garage door side rail munched with FEL, bottom of garage door bent with canopy. This is all within 4 months. I'm getting to be an excellent pole barn repair technician. Tractor operator, not so much...

 

[Doofy]

As a novice, I did pretty good. Not really anything to report. When I got 500 hours under my belt, not so good. Brand new pole barn corner, munched with FEL, garage door side rail munched with FEL, bottom of garage door bent with canopy. This is all within 4 months. I'm getting to be an excellent pole barn repair technician. Tractor operator, not so much...

Hey, you are supposed to improve with age and hours!

 

[/pine]

If the loader and or the 3PH quit working...check to make sure a control lever has not been inadvertently been bumped into a detent position...

 

[Citydude]

Hey, you are supposed to improve with age and hours!

You would be correct! I tell myself that when I turn the key on and back out of the barn now. It's like this barn has a death wish....

 

[RayfromTX]

Don't overload the fel by grappling trees and lifting and driving at the same time in a manner that loads up one side of the grapple and tweaks the loader. Don't overgrease sealed bearings if you want them to stay sealed.

 

[BleedingOrange]

Don,t forget to increase front tire pressure from 7 lbs to 20 lbs before trying to lift heavy objects with front end loader.

 

[4570Man]

I think the fronts on my tractor called for 35 psi. In either case I’d run max rated pressure for FEL work.

 

[Inspector507]

Remember that the FEL REALLY sticks out in front. And then add a toothbar to the bucket.

I really wanted new railing on the deck anyway.