Working on tractor with loader up...do you?

[Renze]

I am an idiot too, having absolutely no problem working under raised loaders as long as there's no one in the cab, kids e.g. who like to pull levers.

The logic that there's just that .59$ O ring.... sounds like crap to me.
There is a similar .59ct o ring that's in the master brake cylinder of your family car, or a 1 dollar light switch on the reading lamp above your bed, that separates your finger from you and a lethal voltage...

 

[johnk]

Whats the danger then if you raise the loader and work under it? What else could make it crush your head?? I say O-Ring... I wouldn't lay under my Box blade with the rippers down either to work on it on the 3 PT. Maybe I'm just scared og O-Rings.

 

[gemini5362]

I am an idiot too, having absolutely no problem working under raised loaders as long as there's no one in the cab, kids e.g. who like to pull levers.

The logic that there's just that .59$ O ring.... sounds like crap to me.
There is a similar .59ct o ring that's in the master brake cylinder of your family car, or a 1 dollar light switch on the reading lamp above your bed, that separates your finger from you and a lethal voltage...

While it is true that the master cylinder has o rings that is not really an apt comparison. If the master cylinder fails then all cars that I have seen have an emergency brake. If it is a standard you can downshift to slow down. Depending on circumstances your brakes could fail and if you did not have to come to an emergency stop you can just coast to a stop possibly.

If the hydraulics fail on your tractor and the bucket comes down on top of you that is going to be very serious or more than likely a terminal injury.

 

[Soundguy]

Yes.. I agree.. you are an idiot.

Your argument about the brakes having an oring IS NOT the same comparison. At least in your car, you are strapped in to a padded cheair, with good restraints, and possibly an air bag, and have a metal shell enclosing you that has been engineered with crumple zones to help absorb the energy of an impact... plus you might have an emergency brake, or be able to downshift.

now.. if you are standing under you laoder bucket, and it drops.. you got what? some air between your head and the bucket.. maybee an inch of fluffy hair? I'll take the car with no brakes ANY day vs letting a pile of scrap metal come crashing down on my head.

Soundguy

I am an idiot too, having absolutely no problem working under raised loaders as long as there's no one in the cab, kids e.g. who like to pull levers.

The logic that there's just that .59$ O ring.... sounds like crap to me.
There is a similar .59ct o ring that's in the master brake cylinder of your family car, or a 1 dollar light switch on the reading lamp above your bed, that separates your finger from you and a lethal voltage...

 

[Z-Michigan]

Even dumber yet, about 10 feet in front of the tractor, just out of the frame of the picture below, was a yard swing made of 6x6 posts. All I had to do was drive it a few more feet and set the bucket on the beam of the swing.

Just gave me an idea - I think my new pole barn is going to have a wood frame inside at an appropriate height (guessing 7' or so) that I can lower the loader bucket onto to while doing simple work like an oil change or air filter change. Probably cost me less than $50 if I do it while we're building everything else.

My other thought was to chain the bucket to a strong rafter - but that sounds more difficult than lowering the bucket onto a purpose made beam.

 

[johnk]

Thanks Soundguy,

All I was saying is think of the mechanical and material elements keeping you safe. They could fail at any time causing death, If you want to live on the edge put your loader up and work on it with no other saftey blanket. Maybe your wife will sell your tractor to me cheap and maybe at what you told her you paid for it!! Just trying to remind everyone to be safe. It's not paranoia just common sense.

 

[Renze]

True, if the car brakes fail, you can downshift, have the car roll untill it stops, etcetera. All kinds of excuses can be found to think you'll survive a brake failure that you'll notice right on the moment you needed them.

I guess it's easier that when you are alarmed by the hissing sound of oil, lean back and miss the loader arms that are going to take 5 seconds to drop before they reach the ground, than to make it around the corner at 100 km/h instead of 50 like you'd do when the brakes DID work.

Statistically the chance that the loader arms of a loader with no load on it, will drop due to hydraulic failure, is smaller than winning the lottery and getting killed by a flower pot that falls off the balcony, all on the same day.
If the hose was to blow, it would have done when breaking loose a bucket of muck from the pile, not when there's no load at all on it.

Sure i know that you guys all read your operator manuals carefully and saw that you're not supposed to work under raised loader arms, but manufacturers try to do everything to keep ahead of any inventive creatures filing charges against manufacturers to get rich from the event of breaking a fingernail.

I dont want to bend this into a "idiots vs. paranoids" battle of wits, but if you live worried, you'll die in fear.

At least i'm a HAPPY idiot

 

[RoyJackson]

Simple answer....NO!

Most I'll do is move and curl/dump the bucket for access to the zerk fittings.

 

[Defective]

If the hose was to blow, it would have done when breaking loose a bucket of muck from the pile, not when there's no load at all on it.

Tell that to the front end of my old Mustang. I parked it under the raised loader to make room in the garage. Made a mess when the loader sat on it in the middle of the night.

if you live worried, you'll die in fear.

At least i'm a HAPPY idiot

Me too...

 

[gemini5362]

I have only had a loader for a year now so I can not say what will happen if there is a hydraulic failure other than when I have had a couple of hoses break and that was an immediate failure.

I have however been driving for more than 40 years and I have had breaks fail on me several times. 1 time when they failed I hit the emergency brake and stopped. Another time I downshifted to 2nd and then 1st. Actually I think i have done the download thing 2 or three times. I will admit only once have I ever let the car coast to a stop. That was because it happened to an automatic and no way to downshift. It was not my car and when I hit the emergency brake it did not work. Before the comment is made about why I have had brake problems. A couple of times it was from overloading the heck out of my trailer and actually having so much weight on there that when I hit the brakes it blew out my master cylinder. 1 time was from a hose that broke. 1 time was from a new rotor that I had put on that evidently had a crack that I missed I hit the brakes and the rotor broke which let the pads go all the way out and the wheel cylinder piston blew out leaving me with no brakes. That was pretty scary because I was in chicago at the time in some pretty serioud traffic going about 70. That was a downshift and hit the emergency brake as soon as i got over on the shoulder.