Tractor Overturn Hazards Article

[jonyyuma]

Triple, talking about spinning and pivoting on the lawn. I have Titan turfs which are pretty wide so they don't cut too bad. The center of gravity is lower than ag tires too. I hope this means that the rolling angle from the front is less likely. My head is still spinning trying to see "the triangle" they speak of?I thought I might put a slope meter on the front frame, but" by the time I could look then I would be down"??

 

[TripleR]

Triple, talking about spinning and pivoting on the lawn. I have Titan turfs which are pretty wide so they don't cut too bad. The center of gravity is lower than ag tires too. I hope this means that the rolling angle from the front is less likely. My head is still spinning trying to see "the triangle" they speak of?I thought I might put a slope meter on the front frame, but" by the time I could look then I would be down"??

We don't have anything with Turf tires, but have had and they are much easier on the grass.

I have a better understanding of the dynamic of roll over, pivot point etc., but to say I understand it would be wrong. I have been mowing and moving material on slopes the past couple of weeks and kind of studying the tractor and load to relate to what I have read here, but the light bulb has not yet gone off.

I will probably get a tilt meter and put it on my Rhino as I put wider tire/wheel combinations on it and it is extremely stable and use it to measure my slopes with my wife close by to tip me back over if needed so I will have a better idea of the angles on which I am working.

I would probably wind up seeing sky, ground, sky ground, sky, ground too if I tried operating and watching the meter.

 

[xtn]

The part where you said "...by the time one is in danger of rolling one's tractor the pivot point will have run out of travel..."

There are plenty of situations where you're in danger of rolling the tractor when your front axle is perfectly centered on the pivot between the stops.

I think we agree on all of the triangle/rectangle stuff, and maybe this is just a different interpretation of "in danger."

Yeah okay, I guess I did leave room for that. Should have worded my thoughts with less ambiguity.

 

[Baby Grand]

Yep, good article...except that I don't understand the "mud hole" inclusion in the following:

" This reverse rotation results in the
front-end of the tractor lifting off the ground until the tractor's CG passes the rear stability baseline. At this point the tractor will continue rearward from its own weight until it crashes into the ground or other obstacle. The most common examples of this happening are when the rear tractor tires are frozen to the ground, are stuck in a mud hole, or are blocked from rotating by the operator."​

In my (not so limited) experience with mud holes, rear tires keep rotating--spinning and spitting--so the nose never rises.

Nonetheless, a must-read

I think he's describing a situation where the rears dig down into the mud, but the fronts don't, causing the tractor to pitch up from the horizontal - shifting the CG aft toward or over the rear stabilityline - similar to the hill climbing effect.


Agree that it's a very good article. Stays within the realm of science and experience while avoiding opinions and pride.
Pride comes before a fall - based on my own experience.

 

[North Country]

I think he's describing a situation where the rears dig down into the mud, but the fronts don't, causing the tractor to pitch up from the horizontal - shifting the CG aft toward or over the rear stabilityline - similar to the hill climbing effect.

That's one possibility - the other is getting it stuck in the mud one day and coming back the next after the rears have begun to set up - you could flip it that way, I guess (haven't done it or heard if it.)