Tractor Rollover Demo Pictures and Videos

[Skipholiday]

Thanks for the video..

 

[luscsmith]

Nice video but I noticed everytime the tractor flipped they were turning the wheels up hill. Thats definatly going to cause an unstable condition. I suspect the tractor would have traversed the slope had they not turned the wheels up hill. Don't get me wrong I am not bashing the video just making an observation.

....and the left front tire looks low.

 

[Double Orange]

There you go.....I will never buy a blue tractor! They are dangerous!!!

 

[wkpoor]

I would like to know if tricycle tractors are really more prone to rollover or if it depends on the situation. Seems many of the older narrow front end ones where wider stance in the back as compared to their height. I know some people are really afraid of narrow FE tractors but some old farmers say its hogwash about the greater rollover potential.

 

[MotorSeven]

Interesting videos. I have mowed some pretty steep stuff....don't like doing it. The worst part is getting into position at the bottom of the hill to mow straight up, then i back down, up, down. I have to be carefull not to end up on a steeper hill than i started on, or i would have to repeat all the up & down just to get back to level ground.

Has anyone tried putting on some outriggers, bolted to the frame under the center of the tractor? Seems like it would be some added insurance for rolos.

RD

 

[SPYDERLK]

I would like to know if tricycle tractors are really more prone to rollover or if it depends on the situation. Seems many of the older narrow front end ones where wider stance in the back as compared to their height. I know some people are really afraid of narrow FE tractors but some old farmers say its hogwash about the greater rollover potential.

All non articulated tractors are built such that they stand as a tripod since that is the only stance that is stable regardless of surface shape. Four wheel tractors must center pivot the front axle to allow this. With a given CG and wheelbase each are comparable at the point that you get rear wheel lift. With a roll started purely by sideslope it is possible the 4wheeler front would stop it - but not likely. With a roll started by one rear falling into a hole the 4w would offer a true benefit due to the limit of center pivot travel on the fronts [not affected by the hole].
larry

 

[MossRoad]

I would like to know if tricycle tractors are really more prone to rollover or if it depends on the situation. Seems many of the older narrow front end ones where wider stance in the back as compared to their height. I know some people are really afraid of narrow FE tractors but some old farmers say its hogwash about the greater rollover potential.

Of course a three wheeler is more unstable than a four wheeler if everything else is the same.

 

[wkpoor]

Of course a three wheeler is more unstable than a four wheeler if everything else is the same.

Thats just it, nothing is ever the same. Take a Farmall BN for instance. I would think those are more stable than my 5400. Lower center of gravity and real wide in the back. In the video I'll bet a 3 wheeler on the same hill would not have rolled. That small knoll gave a lift to the wide front end where the narrow would have just rolled over it.

 

[orangebluegreen]

Most here are talking about mowing on hills yet the video shows no mower. If you are using a mid mount mower it's going to act as training wheels in effect making the stance effectively wider. One would have to take up the slack of any distance the deck had to travel before it became solid on its mounts and then overcome the "stick out" of the deck itself to roll over. So to me it would appear it's harder to roll a tractor with a MMM than one without. Not sure what a rear mower might do, would add more complication to the subject.

 

[Technoid]

For those with front end loaders like my self, always keep the load close as possible to the ground when traveling. Never lift a load while the machine is at a pitch. Watch out for holes, even the shallow ones can cuase a sudden tip with a full loader on level ground. Never leave the machine with the loader raised. Install a roll bar if it does not have one.

 

[Lone Oak Landscaping]

Good video but the way they tip the tractor is not the way an expierenced operator would be running it .
Turning the wheels up hill ? come on ? even a beginner probably would not do that, I mow steeper than that with a similar tractor a few times a week , I like the concept of the video but the test is pretty poor IMO .

 

[MossRoad]

When people panic, they tend to run away from trouble. If the tractor seems to be tipping to the left, instinct tells them to get away from that, and they turn right up the hill. Same thing happens in boats getting pinned on things in a current, say on a bridge abutment. Instinct tells you to lean away from the bridge. All that does is tip the upstream side of the boat down into the current and flips it over.

 

[mffarmall]

Be careful, some in the Safety Patrol have determined that even backing up a hill in 4WD could be potentially lethal as well, and soon they will be releasing a video showing how dangerous it is to back up a hill with the tractor in 4WD... and how easy it is to flip one over forward! Production has begun on the video, but they're having difficulty finding a way to securely hook a chain to the hood ornament... they keep pulling it out and having to replace the hood. Because of this, the cost of producing this video has gotten prohibitative, but research is continuing, and as soon as the special effects issues are worked out, production will continue and the video will be distributed to all safety conscious tractor operators across the world. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, remember that the best thing to do is to never ever leave level ground, and never ever operate your tractor with the ROPS folded down, no matter how slowly you are operating, even just sitting on it with the engine off... because as you know, rollovers can happen in the blink on an eye. Should you inadvertently find yourself in a situation where you have strayed from level ground, no matter how slight the slope, immediately stop the tractor, set the parking brake, stop the engine, assess your situation, and if possible, dismount the tractor on the uphill side to avoid tipping over. Call for assistance if you have cell phone coverage... A Safety Patrol member here on TBN is always on the line, ready to help.

Remember that backing up a hill in 4WD could be potentially lethal as well if the conditions are just right, so until further research is done, be sure to have the tractor in 2WD if backing up a hill. If you are not confident that you can recover your tractor from this situation or are just not confident in your own judgement, it may be advisable to aquire the services of a tow truck to winch it back up the slope, or if you are in a very remote location, a helicopter extraction may be the only viable option in this case. Always remember to think about what you're doing and where you're going before you leave the relative safety of the shed.

Remember, a Safety Patrol member is always here on duty 24/7 to assist you. Don't heisitate to call.

Safety First!

I'm going to have to clean my shorts back to white, I have not had such a good laugh. But there is a video of a kid rolling a tractor and jumping off. That is the worst think that you can do.

 

[patrick_g]

Happy New Year to everyone and especially to all those who scoff at safety and believe themselves to be immune to mishap and yet have been so lucky as to have lived to see yet another new year for they form the basis of endless humor for the rest of us. What an incredible public service they render by setting up a climate of derision of all things prudent and thoughtful. You see by doing so they lead the unwary toward actions more likely to garner them (and their proselytes) a Darwin award and thereby help cleanse the gene pool which always seems to need just a little more chlorine anyway.

Keep up the good work!

Pat

 

[jimmysisson]

A tractor is traveling across a slope, narrow front end. Rear tires control the machine's attitude relative to the horizon line. Draw a line between the tire contact patch of the low-side rear and the trike front, that's the "hinge" of the tipping. Now extend that line vertically into a plane. Low-side rear goes into a hole, moves the center of gravity downhill. When the c/g passes through that plane, the tractor can tip.
On a wide-front machine, you have to draw the line between the low-side rear and the front axle pivot extended vertically to the ground (ignoring axle stops). Passing through that plane happens later, since the c/g is further uphill of it to start with. (This would be easier with a drawing.)
That seems logical, and I've always thought of trikes as tippier. Aren't they? What am I missing here?
Jim

 

[patrick_g]

What am I missing here?
Jim

A dynamic analysis befitting a dynamic situation is what is missing.

I certainly agree with the basics of your hinge analogy.

Additionally, if the movement of the tractor toward the Point of No Return has momentum such that the point will be exceeded then is all over but the waiting. As in your "wheel hits hole" case, any applied force that accelerates the tractor's mass such that the CG will surpass the limits of stability (crosses the plane of your hinge) and you are not in a stable situation and will overturn.

If you turn too fast on a slope such as the typical newbie maneuver where the tractor is being driven parallel to a slope and the driver has to turn a little up hill to make up for the slope, something happens like a bump or hole, the tractor gets tippy toward the downhill side and out of misguided reaction the driver turns the wheel sharply up hill such that the centrifugal force on the CG acting through the lever arm of its height above the wheels tries to roll the tractor over and down the hill, just the opposite the newbie intends.

Of course the RIGHT move is to turn the wheel sharply down slope but this is not the knee jerk reaction of the typical newbie. Even better would be to drive a bit slower so holes and bumps were not so violent events as to push your stability over the edge.

Stability: 1. Absolute, 2. conditional A tractor on it's side has absolute stability and will not change position. A tractor on its wheels has only conditional stability and if the conditions are exceeded it will increase its stability to absolute. Systems ultimately move toward a more stable state. See also, entropy.

Pat

 

[JMynes]

Good video but the way they tip the tractor is not the way an expierenced operator would be running it .
Turning the wheels up hill ? come on ? even a beginner probably would not do that, I mow steeper than that with a similar tractor a few times a week , I like the concept of the video but the test is pretty poor IMO .

Hmmmm.....
I think they were trying to roll the tractor over on purpose.

 

[neucam]

This was a very bad demo, yes they tried to tip it, anyone with sense would have turned the front wheels down before it turned over.
Also any modern compact tractor 5 ft wide or less would tip over sooner than the old farm tractors of 6 or 7 ft wide. I mowed slopes like that all the time as a kid with these old wide tractors and they could handle much higher slopes without worry. Tricycle versus wide front does not make much difference, it is all about the rear wheel width and center of gravity. Our old Furguson set at 72inch rear tread was just about impossible to tip, it may slide a little but that was about it.

 

[JMynes]

This was not a how-to-drive video.
It's a how-your-ROPS-and-seatbelt-protect-you video.

 

[roadhawk]

You would certainly want to turn down instead of up in that situation if it were "real". Like turning into the skid I suppose. But hit a hole as you turn, even if it's down, and you still have something to worry about.

I've heard that zero-turn mowers are hard to drive in a straight line across a hill by their design of just having castors on the front, but I could see how this same thing might happen there too. You're going across, the front wants to go downhill, and you adjust to that by making a constant but continually adjusted turn uphill. Same as the tractor turning uphill pretty much.