What is the dumbest thing you have done with your equipment ?

[JWR]

Same 1954 MH Pacer. Same teenager behind the wheel. Went after the old bull on top of a hill above a woods. Saving my walking of course which seemed paramount at the time... On the return trip I was going sideways around an increasing steepness hillside when I lost traction and began to slide sideways. That put a tree between the front and the rear wheels on the left side of the tractor. Any and every move lost me space to clear the tree. Finally realized (short of walking a half mile to the farm house to get a saw and we did not own a chainsaw in those days) that I could get "out" only by backing up while turning the wheels sharply up hill to clear the tree and then jerk the steering back to straight ahead. That worked but when I straightened up the steering, the front wheels just bounced/slid down the hill, pointing the tractor into a dense woods. Now what ? I was point down hill, brakes were worthless and only produced a faster slide on wet leaves and mud. At that point I knew I was going to the bottom of the woods with little or no control other than steering. I squatted on the seat prepared to jump if it hit a larger tree and steered with life or death fear. The idea was "miss the big ones." I took the bark off of one large tree with the edge of a rear tire but did not hit anything large head-on. No tractor damage. No injury. No sense.

 

[SmallChange]

I had a total transmission failure on my Kubota. Tractor would not move at all. I tried a bunch of things -- nothing. So I had the dealer trailer it away for repair.

The range shifter was in neutral.

 

[JWR]

Same hay wagon, same 1954 MH Pacer. Half a load of hay bales on the wagon. Jumped off the tractor to move a bale (leaving it running in neutral and not moving, seemingly stable.) Too stupid to put it in gear and shut off the motor. I was quick. You guessed the next part. The whole assembly began to move and headed down hill. I made a run to jump on and stop it but another family member body blocked me claiming I would get hurt.

Result: Tractor and wagon went a couple hundred feet or so down the hill and through the fence like it wasn't there and crashed frame-to-rail directly against the B&0 railroad steel rails. Broke the cast iron tractor frame in half. Broke motor mounts, radiator and other minor stuff. Bent the tongue and steering parts of the hay wagon. Family trucked the tractor to a repair shop that knew nothing of MH tractors. It was 6 months or more getting a new frame (made in Canada) and a distant mechanic to reassemble the tractor. Being a teenager I did not know the $ cost of repairs. Friends got the hay picked up for us and did the rest of the haying for that season. I drove the tractor home using cow pasture tracks and mud roads which took quite a while and was fun to do.

So many more to tell but I won't do any more for the moment... don't monopolize the media !

 

[JRH02]

I have had some dumb/dangerous experiences but one silly one I'll NEVER forget:

Was peering into the fuel tank of my 560 - I can't recall why. I was adjusting the Mini Mag light for the best beam to illuminate the bottom of the tank and the front of it fell off into the tank. Oh darn. Got a piece of wire and another flashlight and fished it out in, eh, 10 minutes. But the little plastic lens was still in the tank. No big deal, huh?

For the next 10 years at the absolute most terrible times that little lens would find its way to cover the fuel outlet and fully or partially cut off the fuel flow. Sometimes I could even see it on the bottom of the tank as it didn't float like it would in water. After many, many attempts I finally got it out with a mini scoop with a wire at a right angle. So many, many hours wasted. I wasted a few more hours celebrating the victory with a few beverages in the shop.

 

[tmajor]

My contribution, consists of rotary mowing a field, with trees in it.
I mowed up to a small crab apple tree and went under a limb. However, the "folded ROPS", caught the limb and pulled it down, between me and the ROPS. The further forward I drove, the further it engulfed me. Thinking, all along, I could drive out of the mess. By the time I was clear of the limb, I had numerous, cuts in my right forearm, with blood running from all! Maybe, backing out of it would have been better. ?? That limb is now gone!! .. and I'm a bit more careful.

 

[joeyd]

I built sides for my equipment trailer so I could use it to haul slash/debris etc. to the local dump. When loading some slash using my QA forks I realized I forgot to lock them when they slipped off while dumping and smashed my fender. A little hammer work and almost as good as new, at least functional.

 

[tractorblue]

Forgot to hitch 20 ft trailer to the ball of my Excursion. Drove my TC35D up the trailer ramp which caused the whole trailer to launch into the back of the Excursion. Fortunatley just minor scratchs on the vehicles' paint. Worst was the embarasment of my pastor watching.

 

[Budweiser John]

This incident did not happen to me but happened to a lawyer friend of mine.
My friend recently purchased a new Kubota 26 HP tractor with all the bells and whistles. My friend is also a boating nut and his boating collection includes a fair sized sail boat.
last spring, he decided to use his new tractor to pull the sail boat out of his new pole barn. Everything worked as advertised except he did not dog down the boat trailer hitch to the trailer ball on the tractor Nor did he block the trailer wheels.
There is an upward grade from the barn door opening On the driveway.
My buddy is a portly guy and deciding he wanted to go aboard while the boat was still on the trailer so using a stepladder boarded the trailered boat and upon moving to the aft end and thus changing the weight distribution of the trailer. The unsecured hitch slipped off the tractor and the boat rolled backward into the 16 X 14’ overhead door not only wiping out the door but filling a clean pair of boxer shorts.
it took him all summer to get the door replaced thus putting the kibosh on the summer boating season. I think he is still looking for a way to file suit against himself for utter stupaddy .

B. John

 

[RichtersDad]

Every year I mow along the local roads and a couple of the neighbors' fields. There's a lot of overhanging trees, and one of the fields is an old orchard with lots of low branches.

Dumb thing (first year): trying to mow as close as possible to the trees, looking down, instead of looking up, and knocked the canopy askew.

Dumber thing (the next year): doing the same darn thing, except knocking off one of the work lights.

Dumbest thing (every year for the next 8 years): doing the same darn thing every freaking year, so now all that remains of the work lights are some dangling wires, and the canopy and frame are sitting in the shed as a future rainy day welding project.

At least I don't have to worry about the canopy again until this drought ends and we actually get some rainy days....

 

[Bentrim]

Just yesterday I broke off the hydraulic filter CHARGE FILTER | MF 1525 | MF 1525 | MF 1500 | Compacts | Tractors | Massey Ferguson | Shop AGCO Parts from the transmission on my hydro-static MF GC2400. That means NOTHING but the motor works anymore. It is now sitting front wheels perched upon 2 stumps, FEL down in a hard to reach location. The filter nipple mount is cast on the aluminum front transmission case, and broken off too short to fit a new filter.

My plan is to come-along the FEL up off the ground. Move the truck to the front of the tractor and pull it to a more open spot tor remove the attached FEl and tiller. Then load it onto the trailer and haul it the 40,miles to my dealer. Then I wait. Repair cost estimate is ~$1.5 -2K.

The dumb part is that I knew it was weakness of the tractor design, and didn't buy a skid platehttps://bro-tek.com/products/view.php?&eid=60160851 to protect it. I had planned on doing so a couple of years ago when I was negotiating on a wooded piece of property, but chose not to when the deal collapsed and my nearly all open lot was my primary use.

Another costly dumb lesson learned.

(Updated to show link to actual GC2400 skid plate)

Replaced the cover on some that the operator removed the mid mount mower and left the rear half of the PTO shaft on. Yep you guessed it they turned on the PTO that hit and removed the filter. Usually they only did it once.