Tractors and kids

[Mosey]

My 6 1/2 year old twins love to play on the tractor (when it's not running of course!). I played on tractors all the time growing up. Do others here have kids that play on tractors? Has any of your kids ever got hurt? After I park the tractor, I take the key out and make sure the 3pt is down all the way so one can't get under whatever is hooked up while the other pushes the lever and lowers it. I also leave the pins in the folding ROPS, so one can't get a finger in a hole while the other pivots the upper section (that would take a finger right off!). Any other concerns I might be missing? Has anyone had a kid damage anything on the tractor?

 

[thcri]

Danny,

That is a pretty good topic for discussion. As a kid I remember playing on dad's tractors all the time. The ford 8n and 861 etc. I remember pushing in on the starter and the tractor would move. Scared the crap out of me. Today's tractors won't move or start as easy but there still is concern of trouble. Yes putting all impletments down helps. But even just climbing around on the tractor exposes trouble.

Someone here on TBN made a rule with his kids, I wish I could find it but basically he told his kids that they could not come within 50 ft of the tractor unless he waved two fingers in the air. Once he did that then they could come over to the tractor. This way he knew where they were. I as a little kid loved being on the tractor and one time when my uncle was stopping to back a mower in the shed I ran up behind the tractor thinking my uncle was stopping for me. He didn't know I was there. Old John Deere A and lucky as he backed up he saw me at the last second. I was about ready to go under the axle. Lucky not the wheel.

murph

 

[ejb]

I let my kids play on both my tractors when its not running and the loader and 3-pt are down...I think the biggeest risk is they fall off and get hurt, but they can fall off just about anything (trees, rocks, snowbanks-you can't protect them from everything...).

I also let my kids ride with me on the tractor, even though its not recommended, but rarely when I am doing any real "work" that requires my attention, or on unknown conditions...


I classmate of my first-grader (a boy) that lives just 5 miles or so from here was riding with his dad and got off and walked into the still-spinning pto just about 6 weeks ago...wrap himself pretty awful around that shaft...poor kid is still in a wheelchair with big metal bars protruding out of his legs...prognosis is that he will walk again, but not sure about permanent damage.

My guess is that this was an old tractor, with a non-shielded pto-shaft...but I don't know that for sure.

Makes my hair stand up on the back of my neck every time I think about it....picutre your child wrapped around a moving pto-shaft...wrapped his leg up around and around and busted it up in many, many places...lucky it didn't get ripped right off of him...

(I had mentioned this once before on another thread and reported that he had been crushed by the wheels, but we didn't find out the whole story until he had returned to school)

 

[Mosey]

I'm talking about a non-running parked tractor. I agree that it's a whole different matter when the tractor is running!

 

[cowboydoc]

My daughter runs the tractors. During haying she does all the raking. When we're picking up bales she drives either the tractor or the pickup.

 

[Mosey]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( My daughter runs the tractors. During haying she does all the raking. When we're picking up bales she drives either the tractor or the pickup.)</font>

How old is she? When I was a teen I was working for a neighbor baling hay (square bales hand stacked on a wagon). My brother and I were on the wagon and the farmer's daughter was driving the JD 4020. She was about 14 or 15 I think, I can't remember for sure. Anyway, she came to a sudden stop just as I was standing behind the chute waiting for a bale! I hit the baler chute with my leg and then bounced back against the wagon. It didn't knock me out, but it knocked the wind out of me and we spent 10 minutes looking for the hay hook that flung out of my hand. It turned out that she came to a corner and the tractor didn't turn. She tried to get fancy and do like she'd seen us and her dad at times and tried to do a brake turn. But, the brakes were locked together, so the tractor stopped. We figured out later that the reason she couldn't turn was because she accidentally hit the diff lock. I still have the scar on my leg where it got gouged from the baler chute. I do remember she devoted a fair amount of attention to the angle of the sun on her body to make sure she was getting an even tan!

I'm not saying you shouldn't let kids drive, I was driving a tractor by age 10 and plan to teach my kids at a young age, and I'm sure you are conscientious. I'm just not sure at what age it's safe. Both kids have driven the Craftsman riding mower with me walking along right next to them and my hand a foot away from the hydrostat control. We also have to be careful not to give them too much to handle. A baler with 2 guys on the wagon is a fair amount of responsibility. Maybe we should start a new thread on this "What is a safe age to let kids drive?"

By the way, why are they called "square bales" when they are rectangles?

 

[Egon]

Back when I was young as soon as you could reach the clutch and change gears you were ready for things like raking hay and harrowing. On some of the older bigger tractors with a hand clutch you had to be bigger and also stronger to be able to steer.

Egon

 

[beenthere]

I could drive one with a hand clutch much sooner than I could reach the foot clutch models. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[njrqs]

Yeah I let my boy play on the tractor but they keys are always kept out of reach.

He wiggles the wheel a lot and I wonder what damage that does, as well as the 3pl lever. I have now tried to wire that in position as I figured that would not help.

When I start it I have to check EVERYTHING as most levers etc. have been moved !!

The worst that happens to him is when he climbs off he catches his pants on the PTO lever and he dangles in mid air until I come and release him /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Whenever I need to move the tractor or mower or anything motorised he knows to stand well back and now each time I go to start something he bolts away to his special place.

I know where he is and he only comes back once I shut it off.

Pretty good.

Cheers

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Today at lunch a friend came by the job. She had her grandson with her. He's nine I'd guess. While she was visiting with the adults I invited the kid to ride with me on the Cat 416C loader backhoe. I had him steer while I operated the loader and we tore some trees out of the windrow we're replacing with some fence.

The soon to be eighty eight year old lady who lives on the property told me she didn't think even time could get the grin off that boy's face.

I'm a firm believe in kids and tractors. They are dangerous and it must be done with care. But sometimes for them to develop the necessary respect for equipment they need to be exposed to it.

That boy's eyes were the size of saucers when we went through some ten inch trees they said. That's a memory. When we're gone that's all they're gonna have left. I don't believe there's a much better gift.