Tractor Rollover

[RayIN]

Actually, I think this speaks to a useful instrument tractor makers could include. It'd be a meter that takes into account both static gravitational effects and dynamic inertial effects. In fact, it could even take loader height into account, and even the load itself, perhaps by watching hydraulic pressure when the loader is going up.

This is a complicated thing. For one thing it would have to be done with thorough understanding of the tractor's weight distribution. It's not something we could practically do ourselves. But if there are lawsuits out there, this might make huge economic sense for a manufacturer.

About 45 years ago I worked with some guys who designed systems with microprocessors in them. Microprocessors are common and cheap these days -- for example, they are the reason I can't understand the user interface on our goddam toaster. But back then, this was rare. These guys were working on a project to monitor the movement and forces on cranes, to prevent them tipping over. One situation they were working on concerns having the boom nearly vertical, lifting a load near the crane body, and then starting to lower the boom. It's very tricky, because stopping the boom will add tipping force from its inertia. An operator can start lowering the boom and put the crane in a condition where there is no way to avoid tipping a few seconds into the future, even though it is stable when the operator does this. If they could solve that problem back then, imagine what a manufacturer could do today.

I have never tipped. But I don't know if my worst near miss was 10% of the way to tipping, or 90%. Sure wish I knew.

What you say can be done, at a cost of several thousand dollars to the purchaser. Look what has happened to passenger cars.
Bring back common sense!

 

[WinterDeere]

What you say can be done, at a cost of several thousand dollars to the purchaser. Look what has happened to passenger cars.
Bring back common sense!

Development cost is likely close to $1M, amortized over the entire product line, plus $200k per year ongoing costs for development and maintenance of the product line. Actual hardware cost is going to be on the order of $10.

Over how many machines might that $1M initial + $200k per year be spread? If done by a third party and sold to several major manufacturers, the numbers might be sufficient to bring total added cost to the user down to something reasonable.