Tractor Roll Over Accident Safety

SkyPup · Apr 22, 2005

Adding wheel weights and/or water filled tires will help keep the center of gravity as low as is possible, so yes it will add to increased stability on slopes.

newcountry · Apr 24, 2005

SkyPup, thank you for all the safety info you post. I've not looked at this forum until the last couple days. As a relatively new tractor guy, I plan on reading all the links you've posted.

SkyPup · Apr 25, 2005

It always a good bet to learn from others mistakes first and thereby avoid going there yourself!

NevadaSmith · Jul 12, 2005

My Uncle was recently killed on his tractor in a manner described in these articles. He was pulling a partially downed tree from the stump using a chain connected in such a way as to place the pulling force above the axil. My cousin who was standing next to the tractor stated that it flipped so fast my uncle never knew what hit him. He died instantly.

The tractor was on old Ford with no ROPS.

Wattsfurniture · Jul 19, 2005

This is an older thread so I don't know if many will see it.
I just bought a tractor/FEL and use it on some hilly areas.
I don't know much about operating it...so I read this with
interest.

Some questions:

What if there was a black box on the tractor that actually
calculated c.g. position and centripedal acceleration to
determine safe operating area even with different loadings.
bucket height, etc. ?

I did some calculations and I think a small microcontroller
could do this.

It still would not warn of things like a sudden hole or
something. Not in time anyway.

But let's say you are on a slope tilted in both roll and pitch
and picking up something heavy with the bucket. Such a device might give a warning BEFORE things got too far.

Such a device is possible. It might be too expensive or
too subject to liability issues to be a practical product.

I just thought about this because I don't like not knowing
when I am in the seat....and because I design such systems for a living.

Any merit, or is a simple tilt meter enough?

shoppintractors · Jul 19, 2005

Les,

I can't speak to the microcontroller idea however, I have come up with a simple addition to the tiltmeter that tells somewhat of a story in real time........see attached picture>

Don

Soundguy · Jul 19, 2005

( I did some calculations and I think a small microcontroller
could do this.But let's say you are on a slope tilted in both roll and pitch
and picking up something heavy with the bucket. Such a device might give a warning BEFORE things got too far.
)

All tractors are already equiped with these. It sets up on top of your shoulders and sometimes has a hat and sunglasses on it. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

No buzzer or blinking lamp is gonna protect a person better than plain common sense and a good idea of your souroundings.. etc. It will be just one more safety device that people may try to bypass.. or another gauge that will be largely neglected.

Soundguy

Wattsfurniture · Jul 19, 2005

Don, I like that tiltmeter!

I think the tiltmeter is a good step, because it responds to
both tilting and centripedal acceleration forces. If you
go around a curve too fast it slings the ball over
showing the vector sum.

Soundguy, you might be right. It might be ignored.

But here is how I figure it: Here I have a shiny new FEL.
I know it is a potentially dangerous so I read up as much
as I can on proper operation.

But when I am in the seat I just have no idea. I never owned
such a thing. 10 degrees might be perfectly fine in one instance and a guaranteed flip over in another. I am tending to be super cautious because I just don't know.

It kind of reminds me of when I went to flight school. Learning
by experience just does not work in airplanes. You can only do things that an instructor has done before. And later flying
alone or with passengers you just don't do things intentionally
that you haven't done before.

I kinda feel that way on the tractor too, especially with the FEL. I use common sense, but I really don't know where
that c.g. is, and I sure don't want to find out by having
air under the wheels. I don't want to stick to dead flat
areas and never raise the bucket more than a foot
either.

But yeah, people may just not care. My uncle has a new bota
3400 with FEL and has had it tip twice. I don't want to learn
that way!

I'll get or make a tiltmeter for starters. But actually knowing
the dynamic c.g. .... a little x moving around in a box showing safe operating area....I would like to have that! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

rswyan · Jul 19, 2005

( But when I am in the seat I just have no idea. I never owned
such a thing. 10 degrees might be perfectly fine in one instance and a guaranteed flip over in another. I am tending to be super cautious because I just don't know. )

In the year or so that I have owned our B2910 I have found that almost all of the scary situations/potential flip-overs have come when I was operating the FEL or had the FEL attached, loaded, and raised to some extent. I tend to avoid potential problematic areas and slope conditions that could cause a flipover .... I just find a another route.

I have had at least one tire off the ground on numerous occassions, and both rears off the ground a quite a few times.

It's been said before and it's great advice .... Keep it low and slow. It will allow you to possibly prevent a tip-over that would be impossible to stop if you are moving slightly faster or have the bucket just a few inches higher.

I been working moving sheep manure from the neighbors down to my garden using a dump cart. I have take the cart to neighbors, unhook it from my tractor, load it, rehook, haul it the garden, and dump. This prevents me from easily having something on the 3PH for ballast .... and my tires aren't loaded. Still, I have managed to load the cart to heaping 23 times (90,000 lbs worth) without an incident (knock on wood) ... simply by taking smaller bites with the bucket, keeping very low to the ground while moving, raising it very slowly, and limiting my moving of the tractor as much as possible while the bucket is raised.

At some point you will develop a "feel" for it .... and if you are moving slow enough it won't be a problem.

BTW, I wouldn't recommend operating without ballast to anyone .... it is dangerous.

Wattsfurniture · Jul 19, 2005

Randall,

That sounds like good advice.

It's kind of a big issue for me because I typically have the tractor out in the sticks alone...far away from anyone. That's just the way it is here.

Of course I will get a feel for it. I already am.

I searched back on this forum to check for scenarios that caused rollovers or tipping.

Found plenty of good information but heres the rub:

People seem to gain that feel and experience by taking things to the edge and having air under the wheels!

BTW WTH is going on with line wrap on these forum posts?