you can't be too careful

[accordionman]

you can\'t be too careful

HELLO TO ALL,
i was working on my L3000DT, and had it in my shed. i opened the door,
started it up, and drove it outside. i got off, and closed the door, and jumped
back on. when threw my right leg across the center of the transmission, my
pant leg caught the shift lever, and forced it into 6th gear, (without the clutch)
it sure suprised me, because the tractor started moving. i will be more careful
in the future when i get on the machine with it running.
work safe!
accordionman
william l. brown

 

[Harv]

Re: you can\'t be too careful

Thanks for the heads up, William!

I have an L2500DT, which has pretty much the same cockpit arrangement as yours. Although I am aware that you have to watch your feet when you climb on and off, I haven't snagged the gearshift. Yet. /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

I guess you'd call me over-cautious, the way I fasten my seat belt every time my keister hits the seat, but for me it's a matter of habits. My property is quite hilly, so I figured that was a habit I had to develop. Yes, I feel silly when I pull my tractor out of the shop, start to hop off as you did, and realize I'm strapped in already, but at the same time I'm pleased I did it subconsciously. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Likewise because of the hills, I never jump off without setting the parking brake (very good holding power, I might add), so I guess this is a long-winded way of asking if you had your brake set. On my machine, there's no way it's going to take off on its own with the brakes on.

 

[Thomas]

Re: you can\'t be too careful

Mine would be the joy stick /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif
Like having a bucket full of top soil and tilt the bucket forward just little for her,than climbing off and have the shirt get caught on the joy stick..yep she got enough dirt and I got the look /w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif

Glad no harm or damage happen to you.

Thomas..NH /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[mdbarb]

Re: you can\'t be too careful

I''ll second the brake. a coupla time I have jumped up and in but stepped on the forward or reverse pedal. It would groan but thankfully didn't go anywhere.

 

[accordionman]

Re: you can\'t be too careful

no i did not set the parking brake, because the driveway was level. i will in the future
put the HI-LO transmission in "N", this will prevent this from happening again.
if anybody has any stories like this, i would like to hear them, as i am sure others
would too.
accordionman
william l. brown

 

[MarkV]

Re: you can\'t be too careful

Here is my warning for those with a HST tractor. Our place is nothing but hills and I spend a fair amount of time grading the community road, which is about a mile. Most of the time I do my grading in mid range on my B21. At the end of the gravel road there is a paved hill that leads to a neighbors and I thought I would stop in and say Hi. As I started up the hill, I felt the need to drop the transmission into low so I stopped, applied the brakes and started shifting gears. As soon as I hit neutral I started rolling down hill backwards. Fortunately I was not very far up the hill, there was a good straight run with a lesser incline behind me and I brought the tractor to a stop by lowering the loader.

After changing my britches/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gifI made a vow that I would never change ranges on the transmission again without lowering the loader and what ever implement was on the back.

MarkV

 

[skent]

Re: you can\'t be too careful

One of my next modifications will be a detachable joystick. Either thread the sucker or make a colar with a set screw so I can remove the joystick when it's not needed!

Steve

 

[Thomas]

Re: you can\'t be too careful

Sounds like a couple of good ideas you have Steve,but for me just slowing down and useing commom sence should work. /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Thomas..NH /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[looch]

Re: you can\'t be too careful

We had just moved in to our new place in the country. I didn't have a Kubota yet and was busy mowing the lawn with my old 8hp White riding mower. This mower had 3 forward gears and one reverse, selected via a stick between the seat and the steering wheel. Third gear on this thing was fast - too fast to mow for sure. Anyway, my wife lets one of the dogs out at exactly the same time that our neighbors were pulling into their driveway. The curious, and overly friendly German Shorthair makes a bee-line for the neighbors. I throw it into neutral and jump off the mower in an attempt to avoid a bad first impression. As I swing my leg over, my pant leg catches the stick and jams it into 3rd. I now switch my attention from one run-away animal to the other. Needless to say, that little event broke the ice with the neighbors. It was one of those rare opportunities when one gets to hear a genuine belly-laugh.

I am now pretty cautious about both boarding and my dismount.