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

[TheFarmerInAdell]

Just because you can LIFT it doesn't mean you can CARRY it.

It's heavier than you think when the ground is soft.

It's bigger/more powerful than you think when you don't want it to be or you're not paying attention.

 

[rbtjr]

I like Stihl chain saws. I ran over my first Stihl twice with our M5400 and the chain saw survived. One of those run-overs was while I was mowing. I didn't run over the chain saw with the mower but it was close. So later when I was sawing and stopped to mow in the same area, to be sure I wouldn't run over the chain saw with the mower I put the chain saw up on a bank about 1' higher than but on the edge of the area I was mowing. The chain saw was maybe 1' from the edge of the bank. What I had failed to anticipate is that the vibration of the ground caused by the tractor and the mower caused the chain saw to move over to and fall off the edge of the bank, into the area I was mowing, without me knowing it. I ended up running over the chain saw with the mower, and that was the end of the chain saw. Even Stihl chain saws won't survive a heavy duty rotary mower.

 

[scaredychicken]

mud mess one day, shear ice the next - the driveway to the barn has a slight inward slope to the left.
tenants car on low side with about 3 feet between driveway and parking spot
clearance, slope, and ice ... it looked a little sketchy
when I asked, they moved the car forward into parking area, allowing more clearance
tractor slid sideways about 5 feet, tread marks landed where the vehicle had been minutes earlier

 

[aczlan]

mud mess one day, shear ice the next - the driveway to the barn has a slight inward slope to the left.
tenants car on low side with about 3 feet between driveway and parking spot
clearance, slope, and ice ... it looked a little sketchy
when I asked, they moved the car forward into parking area, allowing more clearance
tractor slid sideways about 5 feet, tread marks landed where the vehicle had been minutes earlier

I did something similar with the L3830 the other week. I set a box of firewood down with the 3 point forks and when I went to pull forward, the wheel ended up on a small piece of wood and the tractor slid over 2' and just touched my car. No harm done, but I was less than thrilled...

Aaron Z

 

[s219]

I like Stihl chain saws. I ran over my first Stihl twice with our M5400 and the chain saw survived. One of those run-overs was while I was mowing. I didn't run over the chain saw with the mower but it was close. So later when I was sawing and stopped to mow in the same area, to be sure I wouldn't run over the chain saw with the mower I put the chain saw up on a bank about 1' higher than but on the edge of the area I was mowing. The chain saw was maybe 1' from the edge of the bank. What I had failed to anticipate is that the vibration of the ground caused by the tractor and the mower caused the chain saw to move over to and fall off the edge of the bank, into the area I was mowing, without me knowing it. I ended up running over the chain saw with the mower, and that was the end of the chain saw. Even Stihl chain saws won't survive a heavy duty rotary mower.

Don't know if it's been mentioned yet, but one time I had a chainsaw and woodcutting gear in my front bucket and decided to scoop up a load of dirt. Didn't remember the saw and gear until I dumped the load and saw them spill out too. What an idiot. :duh:

 

[Gary Fowler]

Here's a couple things to not to do... the one at an angle isn't that bad, was just mowing a ditch but felt kinda goofy... The one with the tractor stuck on the other hand I don't recommend... I think I was discing in January about 4 years ago, worked fine until I got down to that spot... I've since added several yards of dirt to that spot and leveled it out, drains better (you can see the ditch from the mowing picture about 50' past where I'm stuck). Since my disc is way too big for the tractor I think it's 8' wide and just a pull type so can't lift or disengage, was kinda a pain to get unstuck and stayed there for a few months, tractor was an easy extraction with the F350...

If you had a 4 WD tractor, you could have gotten further into the mud before getting really stuck!!!

 

[Gary Fowler]

Don't know if it's been mentioned yet, but one time I had a chainsaw and woodcutting gear in my front bucket and decided to scoop up a load of dirt. Didn't remember the saw and gear until I dumped the load and saw them spill out too. What an idiot. :duh:

I try never to put anything in the FEL bucket. Invariable if I do, I forget and load up the bucket with some dirt and forget about what is in it. SO FAR, nothing lost or damaged.

 

[YanmarFever]

I put my stihl saw in the feed chute end of my chipper because I was done working. The next day I started the chipper and chipped the front of the bar off along with the chain.
Needless to say I felt like an idiot, but learned a good lesson. New bar and chain and I was back in business, the chipper - well not a scratch!

 

[kswind]

Read or if it has been awhile, reread the safety section in the front of the operators manuals. It usually embarrassingly tells you not to do what you did to mess up.

 

[JasperFrank]

Most of my mistakes are uncoupling equipment in areas that are not entirely flat or hard surfaced. And then trying to re-attach them later at that location. Ended up almost always having to move the Bush-hog, Scrapper, Frontend loader... etc to some other a place that was flat and had a hard base to line up the mounting points.