Tilt Meter

[TomOfTarsus]

Great Scott, Iron horse, as many cranes as i've seen and you had to remind me of the pointer and nail thing! Thanks!

Boy there are some stories here... 35-40 degree banks lengthways?!?! That may have my worst spots topped!

Whoops! DW is going to bed. She has some sense. I shall follow.

G'night & thanks to all!

 

[CurlyDave]

I bought one of the R&B Tilt Meters which can be found somewhere on the Home Page of TBN.

I am very satisfied with it, and the response is rapid.

I am debating getting a second one for fore/aft tilt, but don't even know what a critical angle would be for that.

Anyway, it was money well spent.

 

[TomOfTarsus]

Well, I don't think fore/aft rollover would be a problem in itself. But as the man from R & B pointed out, it could be useful for grading as well. I'm going to be checking his offerings again, I'd like a good side-to-side range.

I'm too tied up doing other things to work on what effect (if any) the measured fore/aft tilt would have on side-to side tipping. Anyway, that would just be a static analysis and such issues so often involve dymanic or transient factors (rock, log, ditch, etc.). Kinda geeky, but that's me!

 

[TCBoomer]

I bought one of the R&B Tilt Meters which can be found somewhere on the Home Page of TBN.

I am very satisfied with it, and the response is rapid.

I am debating getting a second one for fore/aft tilt, but don't even know what a critical angle would be for that.

Anyway, it was money well spent.

I bought one of the combo units from R&B and the only complaint I have is with the fore and aft gauge. It vibrates like a jack hammer and is difficult to get an acurrate reading. Believe it or not...I can hear the rattle from it over the MMM running at 540 pto. I imagine if it was fluid filled like the side to side gauge, that would eliminate the problem.

 

[mjfox6]

Has anyone tried this one from Harbor Freight?
Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

 

[hsvhobbit]

Last year I put a tilt meter on my 'bota and it's somewhat useful. It's allowed me to calibrate my 'rear tilt indicator' and I know that at 15 deg I call it quits on a side slope. It's not a substitute for good sense but it's a nice visual indicator.

I'm careful not to get so wrapped up in watching it that I ignore the land I'm approaching, it'd be easy to run into a hole or hit a high rock while looking at the meter and suddenly be in a whole lotta trouble.

I got the dual axis indicator and like others have said, the up/down meter's pretty much worthless.

 

[TomOfTarsus]

Wow, the Harbor Freight tools is claiming a lot of accuracy - is tha two decimal places I'm seeing? Anybody have any idea how small 1/100th of a degree is? Still, if it worked... but you could have a hard time reading it in direct sunlight, and you'd have to put a 45 degree reversing mirror arragement to use one for fore & aft.

And thanks for the warning on the fore/aft from R & B. I guess there's a suggestion for his inbox!

 

[BigE_]

The harbor freight model will not work as a tilt meter -- too much bouncing around. I have the original version that they copied (Wixey digital angle gauge) that I use in my woodworking. If you set it down on a stationary blade, it takes a few seconds for the numbers to stop moving around. I can't imagine how bad it would be on a tractor without some sort of dampener.

My seat pucker factor must not be very good, as I started to tip and didn't even realize it. My dad yelled at me that my back tire was up in the air. Of course, I did have the loader above the axle line (huge log strapped to it). Front right tire went into a dip. Hit the gas and lowered the bucket a bit, and that got me out of it. (Hitting the brake would've caused the front end to go lower, so doing the opposite seemed the sensible thing to do. That, coupled with momentarily forgetting the gas is on the left, brake on the right on the tractor -- nah, I wouldn't do that! )

Most of my property has at least a 10 degree slope. I mow with my lawn tractor sideways on up to a 25 degree slope, but haven't quite got up the courage to go over that same area sideways on the TC33D. Maybe my pucker factor works a little....

Regards,
-Steve

 

[SpringHollow]

I like also having a fore and aft tilt meter because you can check a suspect slope forward and see what it reads before trying sideways. I have it more for curiosity because I can not imagine even trying the 45ｰ slopes my tractor is rated for.

 

[mjncad]

I bought one of the combo units from R&B and the only complaint I have is with the fore and aft gauge. It vibrates like a jack hammer and is difficult to get an acurrate reading. Believe it or not...I can hear the rattle from it over the MMM running at 540 pto. I imagine if it was fluid filled like the side to side gauge, that would eliminate the problem.

I have the dual axis R & B unit too, and the fore to aft unit is essentially worthless because it's not liquid filled.