Based on a recent poll, over 80% of tractor owners don't have enough ballast weight. This could get you killed. It's not a joke. Browse ballast weight options here: www.goodworkstractors.com/product-category/attachments/?product-category=ballast-weight
The statement is not wrong, but the "enough" part may be a bit misleading. Ballast has two independent purposes, one is simple weight on the tires to increase traction(pulling AND steering) which has nothing to do with balance and is just a more is more deal (but using real R-1 ad tires will also help this). The other purpose of ballast is to change the center of mass [balance] which is a placement issue and NOT a more is more deal.
Very informative video. Would love to see some content regarding the summit tractor. Specifically regarding the belly pan mower and the backhoe that somebody supposed to be releasing in 2023 would love to see you more content regarding these two items as well as the other summit
You can plan on purchasing this tracker at some point in the next two years would love to see more informative content on this machine regarding the backhoe and the belly pan mower as well as the summit tiller I'm needing more information on these items and the information simply is not out there.
In Oklahoma in ~1982 I got a restricted "farm permit" driver license at 14. Had to pass a course offered by the County Extension which was 98% all about farm safety. It covered almost nothing about driving a car on roads, but tried to cover all the common injury and death hazards in a agriculture working environment. Looking back I see that course was a lot more valuable than I gave it credit for at the time.
@@matthewmosier8439 Farm safety courses are a federal requirement for youth ages 14-15 to be employed as a farm worker on a farm owned by anyone other than their parents. The County Extension Office provides the training and certification.
Another good tip,(not sure if someone already mentioned this) is to keep the front bucket low as possible to the ground when loaded and driving around. Thanks for the video.
EVEN when you think it is empty. I was pushing snow with a pusher a couple years ago and had pushed a large volume of snow up the mountain. I thought it was empty as I had pulled away from that mountain, and didn't put it down all the way. When I turned to line up the next pass I KNOW that tractor was on 2 wheels. It didn't tip, but I could definitely sense an underwear changing moment.
I was transporting big round bales across the field and I had to go down a hill that was fairly steep, something that I've done many times before, but I remember that I had the wrong point on or Bale spear! We have two Bale Spears, one where we have to take the bucket off and hook it directly to the arms and Rams, the other straps on in front of the bucket! I had the one that straps onto the front of the bucket, which lift s significantly less and is much more Tippy for the tractor! It was a 90 horse tractor, wheel weights and tires full of fluid, but because that spear was so much further forward than it had to be, the loader was actually up to its capacity with a 1500 lb bale. I scooted down the hill with the back tires barely scratching the ground! I just rode it out, didn't even try to put the brakes on because it wouldn't help anyway! Sometimes even when you have the extra weight on the back it's just as important to have the right attachment on the front too!!😮😮😊
Nova Scotia Canada here. You are the reason I ordered a ballast box and filled tires with my Kubota lx2610. Your channel has taught me soooo much. Thank you for what you do.
My dad was a Budweiser truck driver. I remember him telling me, fifty or sixty years ago that people died on tractors, and I looked at him inexplicably, not understanding how that could happen since they had such big rear wheels and could not tip very easily, laterally. He then told me that they flipped over to the backside with all that torque. He was a simple man and not a farmer; but understood the physics of tractors.
Tipping was a good selling point for the Ford 8N tractor. When you purchased the implements, the implements(2 bottom plow, harrows, mowing machine etc) connected to the 3 pt hitch and would prevent back flips. The 8N came with Calcium in the tires and has spin outs to move the tires wider. They also created a great alternative to horses, but that is another story.
@@davidkottman3440 Yes, and we can expand the front and back tires to fit more rows or larger row spacing. It is older than I am, but all of the implement's work well for its size. For now we are going to replace the brakes and get new tires for it.
I’ve only had my tractor for about 6 months now, I watched a bunch of your videos before I got it and you got me nice and scared about tip overs and rolls…to the point I thought maybe I didn’t need to get one. Well I got one, and every time I drive around I’m always thinking about safety, so thank you for your diligence..:)
When I was 17, I was pulling a full wagon load of square bales using a JD4440. It was mid morning and I was heading down field approaching a slight hill. As I came over the top I could see dew over the hill and a small culvert pathway 60 yards ahead that I had to cross to avoid a ditch and fence row of trees. As I started down the hill I felt the wagon start pushing the tractor sideways and thank God that tractor was hydrostatic (and a beast), because luckily I had the frame of mind at that age to quickly throw it to full throttle, while slapping it into high gear and aim for that culvert. The tractor quickly pulled the wagon back straight and I crossed that culvert like a bat out hell. God, that JD, and a small bit of experience saved my young life that day.
I'll sit and listen to an honest salesman for hours as long as he's providing real information and knowledge. He's not afraid to explain, in detail, why he's selling a solution, and you should buy it from him. Thank you.
A friend of mine rolled a JD 950 w/ 72" belly mower in 1984 while mowing a hill...closed casket funeral. I've scared myself several times . Wheel stands with a 3 wheel International Harvester 704 was my 1st big scare at 10 years old. Tractors can tip over very quickly. I have made it to 70 years old unscathed
On the loader tip over and pulling flip examples, it's important to be mentally prepared for those things to happen every time you lift with a loader or pull from the rear. I remember lifting up a car to load it once with my father's backhoe and almost flipped the machine. Luckily the load was distributed well enough, and I had it low, and the car hit the ground first and stabilized me again. I slowly lowered the loader and proceeded to clean up my pants as my father, who watched it go down, explained to me to always be prepared to dump the loader if it feels like it's gonna go over. Same goes for pulling. Always be ready with your foot on the clutch. If that front end comes up, you need to be on the clutch in an instant, or you're going over. I have an uncle who found that out the hard way. Pinned himself between the steering wheel and foot pedals on his 90hp Massey while skidding logs. The log caught a stump and he was over in an instant. Lucky for him he got away with only a broken arm, some mangled up sheet metal and a bruised ego. Always be ready with your foot on the clutch. You cannot relax while skidding logs with a tractor, ever.
Thank you for providing videos like this! You are saving lives! I thought I would share an event that happened recently to me. I have a Kubota MX5200 with large/wide turf tires. I was working all day in the woods. At the end of the day at dusk, I was driving on a trail returning to the house. The turf tires are so wide on the back, I accidentally ran over a piece of wood lying on the edge of the trail. It was completely hidden. I was going at a much higher speed than I should have, but luckily I had my seat belt on, or I would have been launched off the tractor. Lessons learned: #1 - glad I wear a seat belt! #2 - don’t drive fast with tractors and never be in a hurry. It is worth mentioning I also almost tipped my tractor a few weeks ago while trying to lift a very heavy log into a dump truck. As I was loading it, my friend told me to turn the wheels a little to align the load on the truck, but this caused the weight to start rocking, which translated to the tractor rocking and the rear wheel lifting up over a foot. Luckily, I had my seatbelt on, but I don’t believe I had the ropes down. Yikes! But luckily, I had the sense to drop the load immediately. Finally, another story that people don’t think about is the fact that the ROPS can get caught on a tree limb and cause the tractor to do a wheelie. It has happened to me while cutting the grass on the side of the driveway with the tractor leaning towards the trees and the tree limbs leaning out. I didn’t hit my head, but the tractor ROPS caught it. Luckily, I have a hydrostatic, or I likely would not have been able to react quick enough to hit brakes and/or take out of gear. This is also a good reason to have shade on the ROPS even if you don’t need shade because it will extend in front of you and hit limbs and you can see it happening and stop ahead of hitting it vs. the ROPS being behind you and the only warning is the tractor starting to do a wheelie. Yikes! Working in the woods a lot, i always need to be very careful to watch for limbs that extend and get caught on the ROPS and always always always wear the seatbelt. That’s it for top of mind accidents I would like to share with this great channel! Thank you again!
Important subject. I'm a recent tractor owner and when I got into this I had no understanding of how easy tractors can tip over and the need for ballast. Tractors are big and slow so most people just assume they are safe.
I saw your video on tractor turn overs and one of the events you mentioned reminded me of something I saw in a demonstration when I was a young man just beginning to farm. When you mentioned attaching your pulling point at a low point to keep a tractor from flipping backwards when pulling a stump the demonstration showed that the pivot point when pulling is the bottom of the tire where it meets the ground not the axle of the tractor. In other words any point above the ground level can cause the tractor to flip. That’s why we should be especially cautious when putting a stationary object.
The safest point to pull from would be in front of the rear tires, makes it impossible to flip, but you would need a special mount to attach to the frame to do that since most tractors don't have a strong point there.
I'm a tractor owner/operator since I was a kid, and I'm in my 70's now.Back in the 1950's there was a show on early saturday morning called "Modern Farmer", and I watched it religiously. It primarily talked about safety in regards to the new modern equipment. I learned a lot from that show kept me safe in the saddle for decades. But when the manufacturers came out with these small diesel 4x4 tractors with loaders, the accident rate went through the roof. Trying to teach proper loader operation to newbies is the number one thing they need to learn nowadays, in my opinion. The second thing is getting your rear tires loaded. Back in my day that involved tubes, and lots of liquid calcium,but that still isn't the end all.And third would be external ballasting. There is of course much more to equipment operating to learn, but newbies really do need to start with the basic premise that the cute little 1025R will try to kill you when you least expect it.Enjoy life and be safe.
We used to mix and install our own Ballesteros in rear tires.and boy would CPS have a field day when on the farm at 6 years old we raked hay and pulled hay wagons the Ford tractors we perfect for young drivers as all the control pedals u pushed down on them while driving standing up I don't remember any training just giddy up go.i remember power take off as killing a lot of farmers or there offspring
This topic and discussion needs spread to the zero turn mowing community as well. Far too many injured or killed using them improperly, with roll bars folded or even removed. This is a very sobering video - good job in your presentation.
Courtney, Thank you for pushing safety so often. My tractor dealer never talked about it. Closest he came was saying "of course we will fill the rear wheels with fluid, and ...", but never explained why you would do that. Since watching your videos my Land Plane has become permanently mounted to my BX. Probably still not enough if I were really working the machine, but my front loader spends most of its time carrying heavy stuff like generators, propane tanks, etc... Other than that its snow removal with my 5' pusher.
Thanks for all of your our safety information! I called our local farm tire repair company and have added 15 gallons to each rear tire! Not a ton, but 300 lbs is 300 lbs! And should make it safer. Next will be your wheel spacers! Thank you! Keep It up!
Appreciated the reminder about triggering faster playback speed. Gave me the incentive to hear out the whole video instead of tuning out mid way through. DOUG out
Always good to refresh in these things , slowing down and allow the proper amount of time to complete a job . Also keeping up with maintenance etc on your tractor . Great video Courtney
10 years as a firefighter in VT, you are spot on! 1. Guy riding “passenger” on the tractor fender fell off got ran over and died. 2. Tractor Rolled over on an embankment from uneven loading in the bucket, died. 3. Hydraulic lines injuries. 4. Arm amputation from pro entanglement. Side note; your tractor barely moved an inch when you climbed up! My 98’ 955 Deere couldn’t do it
Yup. I have a hillside slope on my hayfield I call my ‘nope slope’. Took me 2 years to get used to how to navigate it safely, and still have regular sphincter excercizes on it… slow is fast on this one…
I was raised on farms as a kid, had it DRILLED into me how dangerous tools CAN be. Still, at the tender age of 69, I recently had my first ever "tippiness event", when I was using my 1025r to push some wood debris to the edge of my hedgerow. I usually carry between 700-1000 pound of ballast, but that day I think I was closer to 500lbs. The ground was level, EXCEPT for a sinkhole that one of my front tires found! One back wheel came up, but the FEL was able to rescue me. Still, went back to the barn and max-ed up the ballast, then calmed down before going back to work.
Great video, thanks! It might seem obvious but I think we should remember that most tractors are "Off Road" vehicles. We're using them on farms, or big private properties where the terrain is not necessarily flat and even. Just driving across a stream or putting one side into a rut can cause problems with a machine that has a high center of gravity. The video focuses on ballast, and that will certainly prevent some kinds of accidents, but it's also possible to roll a tractor over sideways. That's mentioned in the video but the main focus is end-over end accidents. On my wife's farm there are drainage ditches and ponds. How solid is the bank of the pond as you drive along it? What happens if part of it collapses? There are lots of ways to hurt yourself on a tractor. You can even drown!
Great refresher / reminder Courtney. Complacency breeds bad habits and bad decision making. I operate in heavier Industrial equipment but much of this is applicable, lack of weight causing an imbalance regardless of the size of machine is a deadly situation. Most of what I operate is also articulating which adds another element that can change a situation that is on the edge of okay, in to past the point of no return at the turn of a steering wheel. 👍
One thing a lot of people don't realize about ballast is that it helps take load off the front axle. You might think you're fine and not in danger of tipping even though you know you don't have enough rear ballast, but that means the front axle is carrying more load than it should. Maxing out rear ballast makes the rear axle the fulcrum instead of the front axle, and saves that tiny front axle and its seals....it's not just about keeping the rear tires on the ground.
This video is 1000% spot-on. Bought a new tractor last year, a series 3. Deere seems to have a policy of selling a ballast box with every tractor now. Beyond that, nobody knew anything about ballast - not even what material to fill the ballast box with!
We do slopes every day of 20-30 degrees, knowing this beforehand we bought a Ventrac. That machine will do slopes that will scare you, but its made for it.
I grew up on a farm. I have been around tractors for years. I currently own a compact tractor with liquid filled tires. Every time I use this tractor, I do not feel safe. It is too narrow with high center of gravity.
that story about the flying projectile when mowing recalled this memory.....when I was a kid (mid 80s), we were at the public swimming pool while city workers were mowing the grass surrounding the pool. The mower hit a wire clothes hanger that some one left on the ground, for whatever reason. Mower shredded that clothes hanger and turned it into flying missiles. one of the pieces hit a kid and the wire shard went about 4 inches into his leg. It could have been much worse. I echo the sentiment for anyone watching this video about the dangers of people standing around when someone else is mowing, especially an area of your property that has been previously unmowed for a good length of time. I've had my own close calls when mowing undiscovered areas of our 30 acre property. The previous owner left rebar, barbed wire, bricks, pop cans, and all kinds of land mines on that property. stay safe!
A scenario that i have personally had happen but quickly realized what was happening. While backing up, one of my rear wheels squarely contacted a stump about 12" tall. The tractor had 4 wheel engaged. i also happened to have a bucket full of dirt. the tractor began to climb the stump and the combination of the full bucket severely tilted the tractor to the point where i realized and quickly reversed direction and lowered the bucket. I always have large amounts of ballast on my tractor but in this case it was doing no good.
I worked for an agricultural engineering firm in 70s and we kept hearing about people being killed by their tractor flipping over on them. It was during this time that our government passed a law where all new tractors had to have rollover bars added. Older ones from I think 1965 had to have aftermarket ones added too. We weren't able to have ones on that could hinge the top down after some time in the later 70s. We still heard about accidents happening even then. I'm talking about Britain not the US. We too were a tractor and machine sales company that is still working since 1853.
My sister was riding on a tractor with her husband. They were traveling up a steep gravel road. The tractor hit a large wheel rut, and the tractor turned over the hill side. They tried to jump off the tractor, but she jumped the way the tractor started rolling. She rolled down the hill and the tractor rolled over on her, killing her. What made it so painful for the families, she was 7 months pregnant. Miss her everyday.
My uncle slid a zero turn (big one) down his own front yard because he didn’t wait until the dew burned off. always wear your belt and stay tucked in, it’s a reflex to jump or stick a leg out, don’t do it. And status wise, my uncle had big $, it doesn’t matter, when you become complacent bad things can happen. RIP uncle Jerry and be safe out there people 🐾✌️🇺🇸
This subject unfortunately hits close to home for me. One of my best friends growing up lost his Grandfather back in the early 80's from a Tractor rollover, and around 20 years ago another close friend lost his life in a loader rollover. And a Month ago a good Family friend passed away when his Tractor rolled over on him in a ditch, he had just bought it a Month or so before the accident. So that's 3 people who I knew that this happened to, so watch what your doing all it takes is a second for something to go wrong.
Great video. Life saving. Had a childhood neighbor, 14-16, who was crushed and died for lack of ballast combined with not widening wheelbase on hilly property in the mid 1970’s. Older heavy tractors still need ballast. God bless.
At the 4:30 mark...not one but TWO guys lose control of their compact tractors. One mistake I've not made, so far, is not having something on the rear to balance the loader on the front. Especially if the bucket is full. I have several acres on a sharp slope that I don't like to brush cut but have to. It's in low range, 4x4 engaged and straight up and down, seat belt buckled. My ROPES is fixed, not foldable. As I crest the hill coming up, I lower the bucket and then begin to raise as the tractor begins to level at the top of the hill. Center of gravity. NEVER try to make a turn on a hill going up or down. The tractor will role then flip over. The one mistake I have made is once as I started to go down hill, I was wearing shorts and the shorts caught on the range lever taking it out of low into a neutral position. The tractor started to freewheel and I needed to apply brakes which is usually not a good thing but I managed to not let it get sideways on me. If you are in low range, four wheel drive going down a slope, you won't need your brakes. The tractor will creep down the slope. Braking can tend to make the tractor want to go sideways if it's a hard braking so best to not to use them. I don't wear shorts anymore while on my hydrostatic tractor.
I have a story for you That was a major lesson learned. It happened this past weekend. I have a 2008 Mahindra 3505DI with a canopy installed. I was under s large carport picking up the box blade with the forks in the front. My foot was on the clutch, and the tractor was in low 4. My big mistake was not checking the tractor over for wasp nests. It is over 100 degrees in Texas right now and Yellow Jackets are everywhere. They had a huge nest under the canopy of the tractor and behind the square tube of the ROPS bar. I never saw the nest. All I saw was about 30 angry wasps coming at me. In a panic, I jumped off of the tractor. It went forward and the forks went through the wall of the garage. I tried to shut the engine down, but on this old tractor you need to pull the choke out to kill it. While I was trying to kill it, my leg got caught under the rear tire and the tractor was climbing up my leg. I finally got it shut down, but it was still in gear and wouldn't move. My leg was under the tire and I was hitting the gear shifter trying to get it into neutral. Finally I saw the smaller low/high shifter and I hit that into neutral. The tractor rolled back and I pushed it off of me. My leg was in pain, but it didn't feel broken. I could still walk on it, but it hurt. Luckily my steel toe boots protected my foot. I drove to the hospital and had my leg checked out. Amazingly, there were no breaks or fractures. It is now Wednesday and the pain is almost gone. It should be good as new in a week or so. I am definitely going to check for and stinging insects in the future. We have a ton of Black Widows, Wasps, and Scorpions out here. I am just surprised that I have not seen a rattle snake in almost 20 years out here. Stay safe people. Danger can happen in the blink of an eye. Oh, and I didn't get stung by a single Yellow Jacket.
Complacency is the biggest issue, to the ones that THINK, they are safe. Great video Courtney. One can never tell people enough, to BE SMART, and BE SAFE, and not dead! Take precautions, it CAN, save your life.
I have a B2601 with a grapple. I have been clearing the underbrush, briars and just junk vegetation in my woods. I found hidden dangers that I didn't really think too much about at first, in falling tree limbs. You can be pulling on a grape vine on a tree that is 20+ feet in front of you and that thing is connected to a tree behind or beside you. Next thing you know you got limbs falling around you.
I had less than two hours on my tractor and did exactly this. Clearing out under a bush with the bucket and did not see the grape vine snaking up into the nearby large walnut tree and around a 6in dia x 20ft long dead branch. Missed my head by inches and just bruised my arm and landed across the loader frame and steering wheel. One second you are scraping off weeds and like instantly reality changes and you have a huge branch materialize on top of you. Two inches different and I would not be telling the story. By the way all of this also applies to a basic lawn tractor. I have two cousins that were killed in lawn tractor rollovers and I had my own loose control and start sliding down a hill and I had to jump off. I now have ag tires, liquid ballast and hub extensions on my Craftsman lawn tractor as well as on my 35hp mahindra.
@@MacBailey Glas you're still here to tell your story. I messed up my fender a little backing up while clearing, I was backing up on a grape vine I couldn't see because of the rops was lined up perfect and I couldn't see the vine, I back up and hear a crunch and little branches start falling on me. I had less than 20 hours on it when that happened. I never fixed it to keep it as a reminder to be careful...
A friend of mine got his truck stuck in a field. He connected a chain to his truck to pull it out of the mud with his tractor. The chain was too short to let the tractor set on a solid surface, so he added a stretchable towing strap. He began to pull with the cabless tractor. Suddenly the chain came loose from the truck. The strap being under tension had stretched. When the chain ripped loose from the truck it came fling through the air and hit my friend in the side of his head. Hurt him bad. He survived but suffered a great deal!
You mention backing down a hill when carrying a load on the front and this is very, very good advice. We have regulations for forklifts requiring those carrying loads to move in reverse not only up and down hills because it is more stable, but also because you have better visibility behind you than you do over or through most loads.
My sister in law recently died, moving a large round bale with a narrow front end 4020. She was on a slight side hill, and turned sharply and the tractor flipped upside down.
I have a 1450 lb Bush hog that i keep attached to my tractor anytime I’m using my front end loader or my pallet fork attachment and thank you for keeping it fresh in people minds about how dangerous tractors can be. I have a Mahindra 4550 that weighs in a little over 6000 pounds with the front end loader.
I work for a Gas & Electric utility. We had a bunch of Kubota B21 & B26 tractors. Within a year we had 2 rollovers. One operator is stuck in a wheel chair the other got away w minor injuries. Corporate has removed all mini backhoes from service.
A good friend of mines oldest boy got killed in a roll over while mowing a steep bank. He was only 21 years old. It was heart wrenching. It devastated my friend & he's never been the same.
Excellent reminder for everyone. I always use a weight box 550lbs (along with RimGuard in tires) when doing FL work. Makes a huge difference in stability and work capability. Why not use a tractor in a safe and most efficient way?
To many people pick up something with a loader then drive with the loader high as it will lift. When carrying something with a loader keep it as low to the ground as possible
Use guards around power takeoff shafts, do not wear loose or dangling clothing near them. Always have a rollover protective structure and wear a seatbelt. I was using a Bush Hog behind a Massey Ferguson four-wheel-drive tractor and I stoppped on an incline to back up, but a front wheel, (possibly both of them, I don't recall exactly) happened to be on a flat rock. The tractor suddenly and unexpectedly started sliding to the side down the hill. It rolled over and ended up upside down. I am thankful that I had the seat belt fastened. I was safely hanging from the seat with the tractor resting on the stout rollover protective structure. I, also had a riding lawnmower flip over backward when dring it up ramps onto a trailer.
Just yesterday afternoon I'm going down a four-lane highway with a median in the middle,this guy is in the right-hand shoulder with a rake on the back of his tractor.He never even looks and turns directly left across in front of me - I'm 250 feet from him and going 60 miles an hour, he gives me a casual wave and acts as if he didn't do anything wrong. Meanwhile my heart is pounding out of my chest, what a thoughtless knucklehead he was!!!😮
My first tractor accident happened while digging with a post hole digger next to a small 30' driveway fence for a neighbor. We were trying to put in new gate posts. The auger hit a root and jumped over, snagging the fence wire...then proceeded to wrap and coil it up around the auger in less than 5 seconds, snapping all the old wooden fence posts in the process. My neighbor was standing right next to it, and I thank the Lord he didn't get hit by the fencing!
Thanks for the refresher Mr. Courtney seems I learn something new every time I watch yours. Though to be honest, I never find the ballast weight needed for different implements. I think JD hides them in the implement manual - they definitely aren’t in the tractor manual. It would be so easy if JD would put a section in the tractor manual listing implement and ballast needed…I think I’ll have to get all my implement manuals out and write the ballast for each in the tractor manual as I usually refer to it most often.
Always drive with four wheel drive engaged, that way you don’t have to remember to engage it when you enter a hill situation. Remember that tractors have a solid, non-articulated rear axle, so if you’re backing up, your tractor tips whichever way the ground does, immediately. Center of gravity is everything. Keep your FEL and 3-point implements as low as possible. Always carry an implement or ballast box on the 3-point hitch…..and perhaps wheel weights or tire ballast to keep from overloading the front axle (FEL equipped tractors). If pulling a load (trailer, stump, etc) attach it below the height of the rear axle. Tractors do not drive well on side slopes. You can be going along just fine, then your up hill rear tire huts a rock, and you’ll roll in a heartbeat. Only drive straight up and down a hill. And keep your rollbar up! It’s there for a reason.
My experience has been part time with a variety of smaller tractors. A scary one from 40 plus years ago was with the family's ford 8n. All manuals tell you to shut tractor off when dismounting. This time I did not. I was wearing my carhart overalls, the double knee caught in the shift lever, I had one foot on the ground in front of the rear tire, first gear started to grind, I managed to stop before it went into gear ! To this day I am a lot more careful about securing the tractor. Great video, everyone should take a second and appraise the situation ! !
Good stuff. Thanks for taking the time to share. All good points. I am guilty of not using enough ballast recently. I had taken my ballast box off and was lifting a good size part of a tree of our wagon with my forks. I knew it was going to happen and was expecting it and sure enough one of the back wheels started coming off the ground. I immediately stopped and we readjusted to lift less and got the wagon out, but still not a smart move on my part.
A good friend of mine was Bush hogging about 4 weeks ago and Rolled his tractor. He had a severe compound fracture in his leg had to have 4 or 5 surgeries on his leg. Has a long road ahead of him. Doctors are saying it will take about a year for him to fully recover. Search tractor accident in Giles county Tennessee for the information on this accident.
Been a subscriber to your channel for at least 3 or 4 years now. Your numerous Tractor reviews and model comparisons played a big part in my knowing what I was looking for, and what I ended up buying. I must confess I generally stop the video when you are in your wrap up sentences, but today I happened to see then end where you inserted a bible verse into your video. Thank You for using your platform to share Gods word to hundreds of thousands of people. It is truly refreshing to see. God Bless you, and have a blessed fathers day.
That rollover bar and seat belt on the new tractors could save your life if you're on a slope and a groundhog den caves in. That has flipped many a tractor. I used to have a 9N but now I bought a Kubota L4701. Wow the difference is unbelievable. I use every safety feature I can. Thanks for sharing the safety tips.
My dad was finishing the final phase of a plumbing job on a new house, the day before the home owner was to move in was down in a dry creek bed next to the house, over turned his tractor on him. He never got to stay one night in his new home. That story my dad told me has always stuck with me as I became older and operated many back hoes and other excavators since.
this was a great informational video ,,tractor tip overs are a scary thing ,, i grew up on a farm and still live there , i've been around tractors of all sizes my whole life and safety is a huge deal ,, i learned my lesson at a very young age , i'm nearly 50 now but when i was 21 i was injured by a tractor and my own carelessness ,,was not a tip over but a PTO accident caused by loose clothing and moving machinery ,,1 second of inattention nearly cost me my hand ,i was severely injured but recovered fortunately ,, that happened in 1996 ,, just 2 years later i had a childhood friend who was killed by the exact same scenario ,, we were working with a harvesting crew and were unloading corn wagons into a grain auger system and rather than walk around the tractor he stepped over the spinning PTO shaft ,,it happened in a blink of an eye , a foot slipped and he fell and went flying ,, it was 25 years ago but i can still hear that scream cut short and see it in slow motion ,,tractor TIP OVERS aren't the only hazard when working with or around a tractor ,, the machinery attached to the tractor can be even more deadly
A UA-camr from here in SC was running his old equipment a couple of months ago. He fell asleep while bushogging his food plot and got run over and lost a foot! It was a real tragedy. I hesitate to say his YT name but he did we did post all the details so it’s not like he means to keep it secret. Anyway, there’s another thing to consider… running old equipment that doesn’t have all the safety features. Thanks for your content!
New tractor owner ( 2 years ) and thankfully my uncle hammered in to me just how easy tractors can tip. Ensure I have ballast weight. Keep bucket loads incredibly low to the ground, move heavy items slowly, etc. I also don't allow anyone on the tractor with me, ever(kids). Was a story fairly recently of a person letting their teenager on the tractor with the driver, fell off was ran over by the tire and killed.
I grew up around tractors and heavy equipment and operated in the oilfield what kills so many people is lack of common sense older tractors dozers scrapers etc had No ROPS or seat belts but operators paid attention and learned really fast what you do or do not do on the machine too many with money and no brains good you touched on a few things
All dealers should teach people like you just did. I grew up running older tractors. I first started when I was 8 years old. It's true most older tractors had a lower center of gravity, and the compact tractors are light and narrow, a recipe for roll over .There are a lot of videos on UA-cam, and you can see that the people operating these tractors don't know what they are doing. They need some kind of training for their own safety. They see a seasoned operator, and they try what they see they don't take into account the many years and hours of seat time a seasoned operator has, which can lead to disaster.
I had a friend who's grandad got killed as he was doing some work along a fence row. He was impaled by a low hanging dead limb on a tree as he was backing the Bush hog to clear the undergrowth. Apparently happened without warning and the tractor remained in gear and backed into the tree. His wife was watching him work about a 1/4 mile across the field from her kitchen window. After seeing her husband in the same position for a unusual period, she went to check on him, but he had passed on-to the other side.
ROPS is a system. That big roll bar only helps you if you're wearing your seatbelt properly. Ballast is important, if your rear tires only have air in them, then they are not full, whether it's rim guard, windshield washer fluid, or just water, fill the rears. Then add wheel weights, then add your removable ballast. Your tractor should weigh as much as possible, as low as possible. You'll feel the difference immediately. For those of you with a backhoe, it's an amazing tool for a lot more than digging. The JD 260 that's on my 1025r weighs 610lbs, it's my heaviest attachment by far, and typically lives on the tractor.
I am from the UK and grew up on a farm. Fully half the boys in my class year at Primary School were dead by age 18 in farm accidents or in road accidents driving tractors between farms. I only ever had one near accident under ballasted but near is near enough. I still remember it and I was being careful and was very aware it was a potential risk at the time at the accident nearly happened. I guess being aware saved my life as the cab would not have saved me. I don't know if you do this on the channel but I have a friend who was nearly killed rolling an ATV (4 wheel motor bike) often used on farms. Those things really are quite dangerous on slopes. It happens pretty frequently in the UK on hill farms typically when herding sheep and the shepherd is looking at the sheep and working the dogs and doesn't notice they are about to go over a steep dip on a slope.
great safety video, I realized a long time ago that the steep hillside on the side of my land does not have to be mowed, it is ok to have tall grass and weeds on the hillside. I also realized that the 8' state highway right of way in front of my property that is sloped away from the road is the responsibility of the state to mow so when it gets tall I call the state maint. dept and request they come mow it and they will. This takes the risk of a automobile hitting me while mowing that area or my tractor turning over off the table and I would rather look at tall grass than look at a hospital bill. so if there is any risk or danger I don't mow it.
Good video . I have been a hoisting engineer licensed in MA, for 42 years now retired but keep licensed . That license enable me to operate every type of loader , excavator /backhoe , overhead crane, gantries and so on, with the only exception being stationary high rise building cranes. To get such a license the state requires the operator to bet trained and pass a series of tests, a DOT physical , and continuous training refreshers to get it renewed every 2 years. Personally I would never want any state to require licenses for small machines like compact tractor or utility machines for farming . Farmers and homeowners are already burdened enough as it is. That said, I have owned my own 1997 compact loader /backhoe for home use since 1998 . Most brands include a manual or one that can be obtained which instructs the operator about the dos and don`ts for operating these compact but useful machines which are prone to side tipping more so than full size .Full size too can be tipped or flipped by an unaware or careless operator. In most instances those careless operators might get slightly or moderately injured but rarely DIE inside those full size machines , because they have strong cabins to protect them designed to keep them inside it and prevent them from being crushed by the machine when it rolls in any direction at all . It is important to revisit the manual`s section about the dos and don`ts periodically , 95% of owners become complacent about safety , especially if they have never had a near miss , but just like in the video it takes a few seconds to go from "all is good to total disaster " . This video is good , reading the manufacture`s manual is even better , they made the thing and where it says DO NOT they have a good reason for it , so do not do it, you may get away with it many times, until your luck runs out. Learn how to properly hitch loads, carry loads, and move loads according to the compact machine`s capability . These home toys are not scaled down versions of full size machines , the ratios at which they become dangerous are not the same as those of a full size 420 CAT 17000 pound ( 8.5 tons ) the home toys may look like them a bit and operate similarly , but are far more dangerous when the operator forgets or has become complacent.
Just to be clear from a physics standpoint on the towline connection. Lower is better irrespective of the axle height. The axle being a pivot point is mostly an illusion for the general case. There is no sudden transition in wheely behavior just by connecting above or below the axle. The axle is largely irrelevent and the ground contact of the rear tires is the true pivot of interest regarding wheelies. So connect to the pulling tractor as low as practical and behind the tire contact patch, regardless of the axle height. And attach high up on the thing being towed if said thing is on wheels or skiis. Even better, if you have a three point attachment (a small box blade or grader blade is ideal) and run the tow line on the ground under the attachment to the connection point on the tractor. (Maybe use chain for this part to avoid chafing) Lower the attachment enough to push the tow line down to only a few inches above the ground. This does a few things, assuming your tractor's hydraulics are not set to float mode. First it keeps the pull vector intercept down close to the tire contact patch so you're more likely to loose traction than wheely. With the line high enough on the thing being towed the vector can actually pass below the contact patch eliminating the possibility of a wheely, though if too extreme the angle will cause a modest reduction in traction due to the vertical component, and if pulling a high friction item [not on wheels or skiis] the same vertical component will also increase the needed pull force. Second, if you do start to wheelly the tow-line slightly lifts on the attachment giving a slight nose down moment force(this is really just another way to look at the first benefit). Third, the attachment can directly act as a wheely bar limiting the height that the front wheels can lift, howevery this can still be pretty high if you forget and leave the three point set in the full up position. (The heavier the attachment the more counter balance you should add to the front.)
One other important factor is keeping your load low to the ground and going slow in turns. Take your time and learn the limits of your equipment and the lay of your land. Before wearing a seat belt, look at the job or your land to see if jumping is a better option. Had a good friend died when he rolled over in a pond and could not get unbuckled in time.
In some of those situations, the better answer is to be using a bigger tractor. A bigger tractor will have a wide wheelbase, giving a better center of gravity. Also, with a larger tractor, the weight ratio of the operator to the machine is smaller, allowing a more stable center of gravity.
Something you probably should not do. My Dad used to supplement farm income with many different side jobs. One was digging basements in our little village. He did this with a 1939 model A John Deere pulling an old fashioned sluice scrapper pan. My teen aged uncle drove the tractor and Dad handled the scrapper. He lifted the handles of the scrapper to dig in then jumped on the handles to end the dig. Now the fun part. To get more traction and jump low walls the scrapper pulling chain was attached at the base of the tractor seat over the top of the axle housing. To prevent rear rollovers he attached two heavy planks to the bottom of the tractor frame that stuck out beyond the tires. Sounds dangerous but got the job done on many, many basements without incident. As they say, don’t try this at home.
I was fully ballasted with filled tires and my box blade mounted on the 3 pt. I was digging on level ground, around a small tree, on a mound. I had my new 45 hp compact tractor about a month. As I was lifting my loader bucket, I started to curl the bucket. I had seen loader operators do that. I didnt see it, but a bucket tooth got caught under a big flat buried rock, under the small tree. Rear wheels of my 6600 lb, fully ballasted tractor, came up off the ground. Bucket had effectively stopped moving up. The rear of the tractor was now moving up. I never felt it, but out of the corner of my eye, I noticed I was now "much taller" wrt the lawn mower tractor parked nearby. My rear wheels were more than 15 inches off the ground, and rising. I stopped lifting, lowered the bucket, and was now safely back on the ground, but very puzzled. I was over ballasted, per the manual. More than my lifting capacity. How did this happen? Asked the salesman who sold the tractor and said, "loaded tires are all you will ever need" what happened, and he had no idea. Talked to the service manager at the dealer, who asked a mechanic. Turns out if you curl your bucket while lifting, you amplify the lifting effort. This is the big "breakout force" number on your spec sheet. Its much larger than your loader lift capacity, which determines ballast. Its not something you can really ballast for. You have to be aware, it can happen. Dont focus entirely on just what your bucket is doing, or trying to do.. Lift slowly, if its a heavy load. Check your surroundings. Your brain will register "something looks different" and if you are curling while lifting, know you can easily cause a sideways tip over, if your bucket stops coming up. A couple years later, I was moving a big pile of dirt. 3 dump truck loads of "free topsoil", to flatten a slope. I was moving it and spreading, a bucket full at a time. It started raining, so I stopped work. No cab on the tractor. Came out a couple hours later. Lifting my full bucket load and curling, as I had just been doing for a couple hours before the rain, to reduce spilling.. Sensed my rear tires were now off the ground, only when I tried to reverse out of the pile, and spun. I became "unbalanced" because the dirt in the pile was now wet, and heavy. Using a shovel and wheelbarrow you will feel the change in the effective weight of wet soil. Your loader had no feeling, or brain. It just works. You have to supply the brains. A very good reason to not use the cupholder for beer or wine coolers while operating equipment. You need all your brain cells functioning!
I flipped over a mini digger on flat ground doing exactly what you described. It was a split second thing. Couldn’t believe it. Luckily , my feet got stuck and was unable to jump( that’s what I wanted to do. If I would’ve jumped, I am sure I would have gotten crushed.
I have a novel idea how about a seat belt have you ever heard of these? Put your seat belt on tight. Also cosider a four point belt system like they have in race cars. And yes we had a friend of the family killed by his tractor last year it was a huge tragedy. Not much details - he was on a really steep mountain doing work with trees and it flipped over. That is all we know, he died in the hospital.
The point about hydraulics is spot on. Even brand new tractors can bleed down. Try not to work under a loader without supports if you can, Never work under lifted loaders if the engine is off if you don't have a means to support the loader, and LOCK the controls! I had lifted a pallet of shingles up to the roof and shut the tractor off. While I was up on the roof working the loader slowly bled down and the pallet started dropping. The tractor is less than a year old so the hydraulics are brand new. Also be mindful of the ground when in heavy grass. Watch for sink holes. I have a few in my hay field that WILL roll the big tractor if I am not careful. It is one of my chores today actually to back fill and till the area to smooth it out.
Another one. If you have the backhoe on, ensure the travel pins are in when driving around or parked on an incline. If an arm swings, that can very easily tip the tractor over on an incline.
Good info, great reminder. Thank you!! Not to make excuses, but many of us tractor owners are "weekend warriors" and have never really been exposed to a tractor safety class, etc. So these types of advisories are very useful!
Just purchased a new tractor and although I'm a first time owner I've had some experience with tractors most of my life but I didn't consider or even know about keeping the rigging low at the rear axle height for pulling, but it makes all the sense in the world. Maybe some dealers offer a "Crash-Course" on safety but mine did not. Being new to the workings of a tractor I would've signed up. Maybe dealers assume you'll read your literature, I don't know but they were really helpful with adding attachments into the 0% financing! 😁 Thanks for the safety reminders! Subscribed.
Good morning. Crushing accidents. Support anything lifted, just in case of a hydraulic failure. Not a matter of if but time and when. Be safe everybody.
My antique tractor doesn't have a live PTO. This makes it VERY unsafe when operating a rotary mower because it acts like a massive flywheel linked directly to the wheels. This is especially dangerous when mowing tall grass along a ditch because it can't be stopped quickly. The addition of a $50 one-way clutch on the PTO is an easy fix that has likely saved thousands of lives.
A gentleman in my home town was working on his tractor in the shed one day. A force of nature happened and his tractor started while it was in gear and had a disc behind it. The tractor moved with the disc down and he couldn't get out of the way fast enough and the disc ran him over. What saved his life was the life flight team was doing w training flight in the area was able to get him to a hospital immediately. The man is still alive.
I operated equipment up to 200 tons and trust me it doesn’t matter how big or small your equipment is their are basics that are very very important such wear your seat belt “ALWAYS”. 😎🇺🇸
Thanks for this great video. I've had older tractors that required a PTO clutch for safety so that the mower wouldn't continue to push the tractor when turned off. .Maybe you could cover that if you haven't already. I'm super cautious already when operating my John Deere 4400 compact tractor, but your video is a great reminder to practice safety first.
Courtney... You are an inventor, I don't know if this is possible, but why don't you invent a load sensor for each tire and have a display of all 4 wheels on the dashboard. This will alert an operator if one of the wheels is close to lifting off.
Great video , I'm in the tree industry , i see guys all the time with small tractors or mini stand on skid steers moving or trying to to move logs and guys standing on the 3 point attachment hanging on were they can as ballast ! And yes i have seen them roll . Keep up the good work
There is always something hooked to my tractors and the one that doesn’t have a loader on it has a custom built bumper that weighs in around 500 pounds to offset my equipment. I live on a hill and you have to be able to read the terrain and often times you have to take the long way around to keep the tractor stable. Growing up around a farm I’m probably a little more aware than some folks because of it. There were several people killed and maimed when I was younger getting caught in equipment. Never rush a job.
Based on a recent poll, over 80% of tractor owners don't have enough ballast weight. This could get you killed. It's not a joke. Browse ballast weight options here: www.goodworkstractors.com/product-category/attachments/?product-category=ballast-weight
Excellent point 👍
The statement is not wrong, but the "enough" part may be a bit misleading. Ballast has two independent purposes, one is simple weight on the tires to increase traction(pulling AND steering) which has nothing to do with balance and is just a more is more deal (but using real R-1 ad tires will also help this).
The other purpose of ballast is to change the center of mass [balance] which is a placement issue and NOT a more is more deal.
Very informative video. Would love to see some content regarding the summit tractor. Specifically regarding the belly pan mower and the backhoe that somebody supposed to be releasing in 2023 would love to see you more content regarding these two items as well as the other summit
Summit implements
You can plan on purchasing this tracker at some point in the next two years would love to see more informative content on this machine regarding the backhoe and the belly pan mower as well as the summit tiller I'm needing more information on these items and the information simply is not out there.
In Oklahoma in ~1982 I got a restricted "farm permit" driver license at 14. Had to pass a course offered by the County Extension which was 98% all about farm safety. It covered almost nothing about driving a car on roads, but tried to cover all the common injury and death hazards in a agriculture working environment. Looking back I see that course was a lot more valuable than I gave it credit for at the time.
It's too bad it was required by the county, but the idea is a good one.
@@matthewmosier8439 Farm safety courses are a federal requirement for youth ages 14-15 to be employed as a farm worker on a farm owned by anyone other than their parents. The County Extension Office provides the training and certification.
Accidents don't care if it's the 'first time you forgot' something. They are waiting for you 100% of the time.
Like that old Caterpillar safety film: "Shake Hands with Danger"
Riding mower hit me in the face with a rock thru passenger window driving by.
Another good tip,(not sure if someone already mentioned this) is to keep the front bucket low as possible to the ground when loaded and driving around. Thanks for the video.
EVEN when you think it is empty. I was pushing snow with a pusher a couple years ago and had pushed a large volume of snow up the mountain. I thought it was empty as I had pulled away from that mountain, and didn't put it down all the way. When I turned to line up the next pass I KNOW that tractor was on 2 wheels. It didn't tip, but I could definitely sense an underwear changing moment.
Yep, good tip.
I was transporting big round bales across the field and I had to go down a hill that was fairly steep, something that I've done many times before, but I remember that I had the wrong point on or Bale spear! We have two Bale Spears, one where we have to take the bucket off and hook it directly to the arms and Rams, the other straps on in front of the bucket! I had the one that straps onto the front of the bucket, which lift s significantly less and is much more Tippy for the tractor! It was a 90 horse tractor, wheel weights and tires full of fluid, but because that spear was so much further forward than it had to be, the loader was actually up to its capacity with a 1500 lb bale. I scooted down the hill with the back tires barely scratching the ground! I just rode it out, didn't even try to put the brakes on because it wouldn't help anyway! Sometimes even when you have the extra weight on the back it's just as important to have the right attachment on the front too!!😮😮😊
Nova Scotia Canada here. You are the reason I ordered a ballast box and filled tires with my Kubota lx2610. Your channel has taught me soooo much. Thank you for what you do.
My dad was a Budweiser truck driver. I remember him telling me, fifty or sixty years ago that people died on tractors, and I looked at him inexplicably, not understanding how that could happen since they had such big rear wheels and could not tip very easily, laterally. He then told me that they flipped over to the backside with all that torque. He was a simple man and not a farmer; but understood the physics of tractors.
Tipping was a good selling point for the Ford 8N tractor. When you purchased the implements, the implements(2 bottom plow, harrows, mowing machine etc) connected to the 3 pt hitch and would prevent back flips. The 8N came with Calcium in the tires and has spin outs to move the tires wider. They also created a great alternative to horses, but that is another story.
@@gibblespascack1418 Also the Fords had a low center of gravity & wide front, compared to other models of that time.
@@davidkottman3440 Yes, and we can expand the front and back tires to fit more rows or larger row spacing. It is older than I am, but all of the implement's work well for its size. For now we are going to replace the brakes and get new tires for it.
He was probably referring to the old Fordsons. The hitch location was lethal on those and they were notorious for flipping over backwards.
It's because of the big rear wheels that they tip so easy, higher center of gravity
I’ve only had my tractor for about 6 months now, I watched a bunch of your videos before I got it and you got me nice and scared about tip overs and rolls…to the point I thought maybe I didn’t need to get one. Well I got one, and every time I drive around I’m always thinking about safety, so thank you for your diligence..:)
When I was 17, I was pulling a full wagon load of square bales using a JD4440. It was mid morning and I was heading down field approaching a slight hill. As I came over the top I could see dew over the hill and a small culvert pathway 60 yards ahead that I had to cross to avoid a ditch and fence row of trees. As I started down the hill I felt the wagon start pushing the tractor sideways and thank God that tractor was hydrostatic (and a beast), because luckily I had the frame of mind at that age to quickly throw it to full throttle, while slapping it into high gear and aim for that culvert. The tractor quickly pulled the wagon back straight and I crossed that culvert like a bat out hell. God, that JD, and a small bit of experience saved my young life that day.
I'll sit and listen to an honest salesman for hours as long as he's providing real information and knowledge. He's not afraid to explain, in detail, why he's selling a solution, and you should buy it from him. Thank you.
A friend of mine rolled a JD 950 w/ 72" belly mower in 1984 while mowing a hill...closed casket funeral. I've scared myself several times . Wheel stands with a 3 wheel International Harvester 704 was my 1st big scare at 10 years old. Tractors can tip over very quickly. I have made it to 70 years old unscathed
Thank you!! Keep preaching tractor safety. Many of us are newbies and have no idea of what tractor safety is.
On the loader tip over and pulling flip examples, it's important to be mentally prepared for those things to happen every time you lift with a loader or pull from the rear. I remember lifting up a car to load it once with my father's backhoe and almost flipped the machine. Luckily the load was distributed well enough, and I had it low, and the car hit the ground first and stabilized me again. I slowly lowered the loader and proceeded to clean up my pants as my father, who watched it go down, explained to me to always be prepared to dump the loader if it feels like it's gonna go over. Same goes for pulling. Always be ready with your foot on the clutch. If that front end comes up, you need to be on the clutch in an instant, or you're going over. I have an uncle who found that out the hard way. Pinned himself between the steering wheel and foot pedals on his 90hp Massey while skidding logs. The log caught a stump and he was over in an instant. Lucky for him he got away with only a broken arm, some mangled up sheet metal and a bruised ego. Always be ready with your foot on the clutch. You cannot relax while skidding logs with a tractor, ever.
Thank you for providing videos like this! You are saving lives! I thought I would share an event that happened recently to me. I have a Kubota MX5200 with large/wide turf tires. I was working all day in the woods. At the end of the day at dusk, I was driving on a trail returning to the house. The turf tires are so wide on the back, I accidentally ran over a piece of wood lying on the edge of the trail. It was completely hidden. I was going at a much higher speed than I should have, but luckily I had my seat belt on, or I would have been launched off the tractor. Lessons learned: #1 - glad I wear a seat belt! #2 - don’t drive fast with tractors and never be in a hurry. It is worth mentioning I also almost tipped my tractor a few weeks ago while trying to lift a very heavy log into a dump truck. As I was loading it, my friend told me to turn the wheels a little to align the load on the truck, but this caused the weight to start rocking, which translated to the tractor rocking and the rear wheel lifting up over a foot. Luckily, I had my seatbelt on, but I don’t believe I had the ropes down. Yikes! But luckily, I had the sense to drop the load immediately. Finally, another story that people don’t think about is the fact that the ROPS can get caught on a tree limb and cause the tractor to do a wheelie. It has happened to me while cutting the grass on the side of the driveway with the tractor leaning towards the trees and the tree limbs leaning out. I didn’t hit my head, but the tractor ROPS caught it. Luckily, I have a hydrostatic, or I likely would not have been able to react quick enough to hit brakes and/or take out of gear. This is also a good reason to have shade on the ROPS even if you don’t need shade because it will extend in front of you and hit limbs and you can see it happening and stop ahead of hitting it vs. the ROPS being behind you and the only warning is the tractor starting to do a wheelie. Yikes! Working in the woods a lot, i always need to be very careful to watch for limbs that extend and get caught on the ROPS and always always always wear the seatbelt. That’s it for top of mind accidents I would like to share with this great channel! Thank you again!
Important subject. I'm a recent tractor owner and when I got into this I had no understanding of how easy tractors can tip over and the need for ballast. Tractors are big and slow so most people just assume they are safe.
Great video
I think alot of people need to remember to keep their loader bucket as low as possible to the ground when it's full of dirt or material.
I saw your video on tractor turn overs and one of the events you mentioned reminded me of something I saw in a demonstration when I was a young man just beginning to farm. When you mentioned attaching your pulling point at a low point to keep a tractor from flipping backwards when pulling a stump the demonstration showed that the pivot point when pulling is the bottom of the tire where it meets the ground not the axle of the tractor. In other words any point above the ground level can cause the tractor to flip. That’s why we should be especially cautious when putting a stationary object.
The safest point to pull from would be in front of the rear tires, makes it impossible to flip, but you would need a special mount to attach to the frame to do that since most tractors don't have a strong point there.
I'm a tractor owner/operator since I was a kid, and I'm in my 70's now.Back in the 1950's there was a show on early saturday morning called "Modern Farmer", and I watched it religiously. It primarily talked about safety in regards to the new modern equipment. I learned a lot from that show kept me safe in the saddle for decades. But when the manufacturers came out with these small diesel 4x4 tractors with loaders, the accident rate went through the roof. Trying to teach proper loader operation to newbies is the number one thing they need to learn nowadays, in my opinion. The second thing is getting your rear tires loaded. Back in my day that involved tubes, and lots of liquid calcium,but that still isn't the end all.And third would be external ballasting. There is of course much more to equipment operating to learn, but newbies really do need to start with the basic premise that the cute little 1025R will try to kill you when you least expect it.Enjoy life and be safe.
We used to mix and install our own Ballesteros in rear tires.and boy would CPS have a field day when on the farm at 6 years old we raked hay and pulled hay wagons the Ford tractors we perfect for young drivers as all the control pedals u pushed down on them while driving standing up I don't remember any training just giddy up go.i remember power take off as killing a lot of farmers or there offspring
This topic and discussion needs spread to the zero turn mowing community as well. Far too many injured or killed using them improperly, with roll bars folded or even removed. This is a very sobering video - good job in your presentation.
Slope mower flip over victim here. Shit is for real man
Courtney, Thank you for pushing safety so often. My tractor dealer never talked about it. Closest he came was saying "of course we will fill the rear wheels with fluid, and ...", but never explained why you would do that. Since watching your videos my Land Plane has become permanently mounted to my BX. Probably still not enough if I were really working the machine, but my front loader spends most of its time carrying heavy stuff like generators, propane tanks, etc... Other than that its snow removal with my 5' pusher.
Thanks for all of your our safety information! I called our local farm tire repair company and have added 15 gallons to each rear tire! Not a ton, but 300 lbs is 300 lbs! And should make it safer. Next will be your wheel spacers! Thank you! Keep
It up!
Appreciated the reminder about triggering faster playback speed. Gave me the incentive to hear out the whole video instead of tuning out mid way through.
DOUG out
Always good to refresh in these things , slowing down and allow the proper amount of time to complete a job . Also keeping up with maintenance etc on your tractor . Great video Courtney
Sing it Mr. Savage!
10 years as a firefighter in VT, you are spot on! 1. Guy riding “passenger” on the tractor fender fell off got ran over and died. 2. Tractor Rolled over on an embankment from uneven loading in the bucket, died. 3. Hydraulic lines injuries. 4. Arm amputation from pro entanglement.
Side note; your tractor barely moved an inch when you climbed up! My 98’ 955 Deere couldn’t do it
I watch a lot of your videos. This one is particularly good because you are looking out for people’s safety! Thank you!!
Yup. I have a hillside slope on my hayfield I call my ‘nope slope’. Took me 2 years to get used to how to navigate it safely, and still have regular sphincter excercizes on it… slow is fast on this one…
I have some "nope slopes" where I mow. Those get the weedeater.
I was raised on farms as a kid, had it DRILLED into me how dangerous tools CAN be.
Still, at the tender age of 69, I recently had my first ever "tippiness event", when I was using my 1025r to push some wood debris to the edge of my hedgerow.
I usually carry between 700-1000 pound of ballast, but that day I think I was closer to 500lbs.
The ground was level, EXCEPT for a sinkhole that one of my front tires found!
One back wheel came up, but the FEL was able to rescue me.
Still, went back to the barn and max-ed up the ballast, then calmed down before going back to work.
Great video, thanks! It might seem obvious but I think we should remember that most tractors are "Off Road" vehicles. We're using them on farms, or big private properties where the terrain is not necessarily flat and even. Just driving across a stream or putting one side into a rut can cause problems with a machine that has a high center of gravity. The video focuses on ballast, and that will certainly prevent some kinds of accidents, but it's also possible to roll a tractor over sideways. That's mentioned in the video but the main focus is end-over end accidents. On my wife's farm there are drainage ditches and ponds. How solid is the bank of the pond as you drive along it? What happens if part of it collapses? There are lots of ways to hurt yourself on a tractor. You can even drown!
Great refresher / reminder Courtney. Complacency breeds bad habits and bad decision making. I operate in heavier Industrial equipment but much of this is applicable, lack of weight causing an imbalance regardless of the size of machine is a deadly situation. Most of what I operate is also articulating which adds another element that can change a situation that is on the edge of okay, in to past the point of no return at the turn of a steering wheel. 👍
This is probably the most important post you've ever done!👍👍👍👍👍
One thing a lot of people don't realize about ballast is that it helps take load off the front axle. You might think you're fine and not in danger of tipping even though you know you don't have enough rear ballast, but that means the front axle is carrying more load than it should. Maxing out rear ballast makes the rear axle the fulcrum instead of the front axle, and saves that tiny front axle and its seals....it's not just about keeping the rear tires on the ground.
This video is 1000% spot-on. Bought a new tractor last year, a series 3. Deere seems to have a policy of selling a ballast box with every tractor now. Beyond that, nobody knew anything about ballast - not even what material to fill the ballast box with!
We do slopes every day of 20-30 degrees, knowing this beforehand we bought a Ventrac. That machine will do slopes that will scare you, but its made for it.
I grew up on a farm. I have been around tractors for years. I currently own a compact tractor with liquid filled tires. Every time I use this tractor, I do not feel safe. It is too narrow with high center of gravity.
that story about the flying projectile when mowing recalled this memory.....when I was a kid (mid 80s), we were at the public swimming pool while city workers were mowing the grass surrounding the pool. The mower hit a wire clothes hanger that some one left on the ground, for whatever reason. Mower shredded that clothes hanger and turned it into flying missiles. one of the pieces hit a kid and the wire shard went about 4 inches into his leg. It could have been much worse. I echo the sentiment for anyone watching this video about the dangers of people standing around when someone else is mowing, especially an area of your property that has been previously unmowed for a good length of time. I've had my own close calls when mowing undiscovered areas of our 30 acre property. The previous owner left rebar, barbed wire, bricks, pop cans, and all kinds of land mines on that property. stay safe!
A scenario that i have personally had happen but quickly realized what was happening. While backing up, one of my rear wheels squarely contacted a stump about 12" tall. The tractor had 4 wheel engaged. i also happened to have a bucket full of dirt. the tractor began to climb the stump and the combination of the full bucket severely tilted the tractor to the point where i realized and quickly reversed direction and lowered the bucket. I always have large amounts of ballast on my tractor but in this case it was doing no good.
I worked for an agricultural engineering firm in 70s and we kept hearing about people being killed by their tractor flipping over on them. It was during this time that our government passed a law where all new tractors had to have rollover bars added. Older ones from I think 1965 had to have aftermarket ones added too. We weren't able to have ones on that could hinge the top down after some time in the later 70s. We still heard about accidents happening even then.
I'm talking about Britain not the US. We too were a tractor and machine sales company that is still working since 1853.
My sister was riding on a tractor with her husband. They were traveling up a steep gravel road. The tractor hit a large wheel rut, and the tractor turned over the hill side. They tried to jump off the tractor, but she jumped the way the tractor started rolling. She rolled down the hill and the tractor rolled over on her, killing her. What made it so painful for the families, she was 7 months pregnant. Miss her everyday.
Damn. I couldn’t imagine. RIP
I lost my sister in law in a tractor rollover.
My uncle slid a zero turn (big one) down his own front yard because he didn’t wait until the dew burned off. always wear your belt and stay tucked in, it’s a reflex to jump or stick a leg out, don’t do it. And status wise, my uncle had big $, it doesn’t matter, when you become complacent bad things can happen. RIP uncle Jerry and be safe out there people 🐾✌️🇺🇸
This subject unfortunately hits close to home for me. One of my best friends growing up lost his Grandfather back in the early 80's from a Tractor rollover, and around 20 years ago another close friend lost his life in a loader rollover. And a Month ago a good Family friend passed away when his Tractor rolled over on him in a ditch, he had just bought it a Month or so before the accident. So that's 3 people who I knew that this happened to, so watch what your doing all it takes is a second for something to go wrong.
yup, a guy from our church died last year when he tipped his tractor. Very sad loss - he was a great guy.
Great video. Life saving. Had a childhood neighbor, 14-16, who was crushed and died for lack of ballast combined with not widening wheelbase on hilly property in the mid 1970’s. Older heavy tractors still need ballast. God bless.
I don't have a tractor but I didn't realize the danger in flipping backwards good point thanks!!
At the 4:30 mark...not one but TWO guys lose control of their compact tractors. One mistake I've not made, so far, is not having something on the rear to balance the loader on the front. Especially if the bucket is full. I have several acres on a sharp slope that I don't like to brush cut but have to. It's in low range, 4x4 engaged and straight up and down, seat belt buckled. My ROPES is fixed, not foldable. As I crest the hill coming up, I lower the bucket and then begin to raise as the tractor begins to level at the top of the hill. Center of gravity. NEVER try to make a turn on a hill going up or down. The tractor will role then flip over. The one mistake I have made is once as I started to go down hill, I was wearing shorts and the shorts caught on the range lever taking it out of low into a neutral position. The tractor started to freewheel and I needed to apply brakes which is usually not a good thing but I managed to not let it get sideways on me. If you are in low range, four wheel drive going down a slope, you won't need your brakes. The tractor will creep down the slope. Braking can tend to make the tractor want to go sideways if it's a hard braking so best to not to use them. I don't wear shorts anymore while on my hydrostatic tractor.
You are right tractors are slow and people know speed kills.
Having the bucket above the axles is another killer.
I have a story for you That was a major lesson learned. It happened this past weekend. I have a 2008 Mahindra 3505DI with a canopy installed. I was under s large carport picking up the box blade with the forks in the front. My foot was on the clutch, and the tractor was in low 4.
My big mistake was not checking the tractor over for wasp nests. It is over 100 degrees in Texas right now and Yellow Jackets are everywhere. They had a huge nest under the canopy of the tractor and behind the square tube of the ROPS bar. I never saw the nest. All I saw was about 30 angry wasps coming at me. In a panic, I jumped off of the tractor. It went forward and the forks went through the wall of the garage. I tried to shut the engine down, but on this old tractor you need to pull the choke out to kill it.
While I was trying to kill it, my leg got caught under the rear tire and the tractor was climbing up my leg. I finally got it shut down, but it was still in gear and wouldn't move. My leg was under the tire and I was hitting the gear shifter trying to get it into neutral. Finally I saw the smaller low/high shifter and I hit that into neutral. The tractor rolled back and I pushed it off of me.
My leg was in pain, but it didn't feel broken. I could still walk on it, but it hurt. Luckily my steel toe boots protected my foot. I drove to the hospital and had my leg checked out.
Amazingly, there were no breaks or fractures. It is now Wednesday and the pain is almost gone. It should be good as new in a week or so.
I am definitely going to check for and stinging insects in the future. We have a ton of Black Widows, Wasps, and Scorpions out here. I am just surprised that I have not seen a rattle snake in almost 20 years out here.
Stay safe people. Danger can happen in the blink of an eye. Oh, and I didn't get stung by a single Yellow Jacket.
Complacency is the biggest issue, to the ones that THINK, they are safe.
Great video Courtney. One can never tell people enough, to BE SMART, and BE SAFE, and not dead! Take precautions, it CAN, save your life.
I have a B2601 with a grapple. I have been clearing the underbrush, briars and just junk vegetation in my woods. I found hidden dangers that I didn't really think too much about at first, in falling tree limbs. You can be pulling on a grape vine on a tree that is 20+ feet in front of you and that thing is connected to a tree behind or beside you. Next thing you know you got limbs falling around you.
I had less than two hours on my tractor and did exactly this. Clearing out under a bush with the bucket and did not see the grape vine snaking up into the nearby large walnut tree and around a 6in dia x 20ft long dead branch. Missed my head by inches and just bruised my arm and landed across the loader frame and steering wheel. One second you are scraping off weeds and like instantly reality changes and you have a huge branch materialize on top of you. Two inches different and I would not be telling the story.
By the way all of this also applies to a basic lawn tractor. I have two cousins that were killed in lawn tractor rollovers and I had my own loose control and start sliding down a hill and I had to jump off. I now have ag tires, liquid ballast and hub extensions on my Craftsman lawn tractor as well as on my 35hp mahindra.
@@MacBailey Glas you're still here to tell your story. I messed up my fender a little backing up while clearing, I was backing up on a grape vine I couldn't see because of the rops was lined up perfect and I couldn't see the vine, I back up and hear a crunch and little branches start falling on me. I had less than 20 hours on it when that happened. I never fixed it to keep it as a reminder to be careful...
A friend of mine got his truck stuck in a field. He connected a chain to his truck to pull it out of the mud with his tractor. The chain was too short to let the tractor set on a solid surface, so he added a stretchable towing strap. He began to pull with the cabless tractor. Suddenly the chain came loose from the truck. The strap being under tension had stretched. When the chain ripped loose from the truck it came fling through the air and hit my friend in the side of his head. Hurt him bad. He survived but suffered a great deal!
You mention backing down a hill when carrying a load on the front and this is very, very good advice. We have regulations for forklifts requiring those carrying loads to move in reverse not only up and down hills because it is more stable, but also because you have better visibility behind you than you do over or through most loads.
My sister in law recently died, moving a large round bale with a narrow front end 4020. She was on a slight side hill, and turned sharply and the tractor flipped upside down.
I have a 1450 lb Bush hog that i keep attached to my tractor anytime I’m using my front end loader or my pallet fork attachment and thank you for keeping it fresh in people minds about how dangerous tractors can be. I have a Mahindra 4550 that weighs in a little over 6000 pounds with the front end loader.
I work for a Gas & Electric utility. We had a bunch of Kubota B21 & B26 tractors. Within a year we had 2 rollovers. One operator is stuck in a wheel chair the other got away w minor injuries. Corporate has removed all mini backhoes from service.
A good friend of mines oldest boy got killed in a roll over while mowing a steep bank. He was only 21 years old. It was heart wrenching. It devastated my friend & he's never been the same.
Excellent reminder for everyone. I always use a weight box 550lbs (along with RimGuard in tires) when doing FL work. Makes a huge difference in stability and work capability. Why not use a tractor in a safe and most efficient way?
To many people pick up something with a loader then drive with the loader high as it will lift. When carrying something with a loader keep it as low to the ground as possible
I live by that rule! We also use JCB material lifts and is hard to keep loads low but use the corner jacks when lifting loads high to building roofs.
Use guards around power takeoff shafts, do not wear loose or dangling clothing near them.
Always have a rollover protective structure and wear a seatbelt. I was using a Bush Hog behind a Massey Ferguson four-wheel-drive tractor and I stoppped on an incline to back up, but a front wheel, (possibly both of them, I don't recall exactly) happened to be on a flat rock.
The tractor suddenly and unexpectedly started sliding to the side down the hill. It rolled over and ended up upside down. I am thankful that I had the seat belt fastened. I was safely hanging from the seat with the tractor resting on the stout rollover protective structure.
I, also had a riding lawnmower flip over backward when dring it up ramps onto a trailer.
Just yesterday afternoon I'm going down a four-lane highway with a median in the middle,this guy is in the right-hand shoulder with a rake on the back of his tractor.He never even looks and turns directly left across in front of me - I'm 250 feet from him and going 60 miles an hour, he gives me a casual wave and acts as if he didn't do anything wrong. Meanwhile my heart is pounding out of my chest, what a thoughtless knucklehead he was!!!😮
My first tractor accident happened while digging with a post hole digger next to a small 30' driveway fence for a neighbor. We were trying to put in new gate posts. The auger hit a root and jumped over, snagging the fence wire...then proceeded to wrap and coil it up around the auger in less than 5 seconds, snapping all the old wooden fence posts in the process. My neighbor was standing right next to it, and I thank the Lord he didn't get hit by the fencing!
Thanks for the refresher Mr. Courtney seems I learn something new every time I watch yours. Though to be honest, I never find the ballast weight needed for different implements. I think JD hides them in the implement manual - they definitely aren’t in the tractor manual. It would be so easy if JD would put a section in the tractor manual listing implement and ballast needed…I think I’ll have to get all my implement manuals out and write the ballast for each in the tractor manual as I usually refer to it most often.
Always drive with four wheel drive engaged, that way you don’t have to remember to engage it when you enter a hill situation.
Remember that tractors have a solid, non-articulated rear axle, so if you’re backing up, your tractor tips whichever way the ground does, immediately.
Center of gravity is everything. Keep your FEL and 3-point implements as low as possible.
Always carry an implement or ballast box on the 3-point hitch…..and perhaps wheel weights or tire ballast to keep from overloading the front axle (FEL equipped tractors).
If pulling a load (trailer, stump, etc) attach it below the height of the rear axle.
Tractors do not drive well on side slopes. You can be going along just fine, then your up hill rear tire huts a rock, and you’ll roll in a heartbeat. Only drive straight up and down a hill.
And keep your rollbar up! It’s there for a reason.
My experience has been part time with a variety of smaller tractors. A scary one from 40 plus years ago was with the family's ford 8n. All manuals tell you to shut tractor off when dismounting. This time I did not. I was wearing my carhart overalls, the double knee caught in the shift lever, I had one foot on the ground in front of the rear tire, first gear started to grind, I managed to stop before it went into gear ! To this day I am a lot more careful about securing the tractor. Great video, everyone should take a second and appraise the situation !
!
Good stuff. Thanks for taking the time to share. All good points. I am guilty of not using enough ballast recently. I had taken my ballast box off and was lifting a good size part of a tree of our wagon with my forks. I knew it was going to happen and was expecting it and sure enough one of the back wheels started coming off the ground. I immediately stopped and we readjusted to lift less and got the wagon out, but still not a smart move on my part.
I have a tractor and skid steer, they are dangerous machines as much as I love them. Great video.
A good friend of mine was Bush hogging about 4 weeks ago and Rolled his tractor. He had a severe compound fracture in his leg had to have 4 or 5 surgeries on his leg. Has a long road ahead of him. Doctors are saying it will take about a year for him to fully recover. Search tractor accident in Giles county Tennessee for the information on this accident.
Been a subscriber to your channel for at least 3 or 4 years now. Your numerous Tractor reviews and model comparisons played a big part in my knowing what I was looking for, and what I ended up buying. I must confess I generally stop the video when you are in your wrap up sentences, but today I happened to see then end where you inserted a bible verse into your video. Thank You for using your platform to share Gods word to hundreds of thousands of people. It is truly refreshing to see. God Bless you, and have a blessed fathers day.
That rollover bar and seat belt on the new tractors could save your life if you're on a slope and a groundhog den caves in. That has flipped many a tractor. I used to have a 9N but now I bought a Kubota L4701. Wow the difference is unbelievable. I use every safety feature I can. Thanks for sharing the safety tips.
My dad was finishing the final phase of a plumbing job on a new house, the day before the home owner was to move in was down in a dry creek bed next to the house, over turned his tractor on him. He never got to stay one night in his new home. That story my dad told me has always stuck with me as I became older and operated many back hoes and other excavators since.
I have rim guard and very thankful that it’s there many times. Thank you for sharing.
this was a great informational video ,,tractor tip overs are a scary thing ,, i grew up on a farm and still live there , i've been around tractors of all sizes my whole life and safety is a huge deal ,, i learned my lesson at a very young age , i'm nearly 50 now but when i was 21 i was injured by a tractor and my own carelessness ,,was not a tip over but a PTO accident caused by loose clothing and moving machinery ,,1 second of inattention nearly cost me my hand ,i was severely injured but recovered fortunately ,, that happened in 1996 ,, just 2 years later i had a childhood friend who was killed by the exact same scenario ,, we were working with a harvesting crew and were unloading corn wagons into a grain auger system and rather than walk around the tractor he stepped over the spinning PTO shaft ,,it happened in a blink of an eye , a foot slipped and he fell and went flying ,, it was 25 years ago but i can still hear that scream cut short and see it in slow motion ,,tractor TIP OVERS aren't the only hazard when working with or around a tractor ,, the machinery attached to the tractor can be even more deadly
A UA-camr from here in SC was running his old equipment a couple of months ago. He fell asleep while bushogging his food plot and got run over and lost a foot! It was a real tragedy.
I hesitate to say his YT name but he did we did post all the details so it’s not like he means to keep it secret.
Anyway, there’s another thing to consider… running old equipment that doesn’t have all the safety features.
Thanks for your content!
Great video! To many of us get in a hurry and forget how easy and quick something bad can happen. God bless
New tractor owner ( 2 years ) and thankfully my uncle hammered in to me just how easy tractors can tip. Ensure I have ballast weight. Keep bucket loads incredibly low to the ground, move heavy items slowly, etc. I also don't allow anyone on the tractor with me, ever(kids). Was a story fairly recently of a person letting their teenager on the tractor with the driver, fell off was ran over by the tire and killed.
I grew up around tractors and heavy equipment and operated in the oilfield what kills so many people is lack of common sense older tractors dozers scrapers etc had No ROPS or seat belts but operators paid attention and learned really fast what you do or do not do on the machine too many with money and no brains good you touched on a few things
All dealers should teach people like you just did. I grew up running older tractors. I first started when I was 8 years old. It's true most older tractors had a lower center of gravity, and the compact tractors are light and narrow, a recipe for roll over .There are a lot of videos on UA-cam, and you can see that the people operating these tractors don't know what they are doing. They need some kind of training for their own safety. They see a seasoned operator, and they try what they see they don't take into account the many years and hours of seat time a seasoned operator has, which can lead to disaster.
I had a friend who's grandad got killed as he was doing some work along a fence row. He was impaled by a low hanging dead limb on a tree as he was backing the Bush hog to clear the undergrowth. Apparently happened without warning and the tractor remained in gear and backed into the tree. His wife was watching him work about a 1/4 mile across the field from her kitchen window. After seeing her husband in the same position for a unusual period, she went to check on him, but he had passed on-to the other side.
ROPS is a system. That big roll bar only helps you if you're wearing your seatbelt properly. Ballast is important, if your rear tires only have air in them, then they are not full, whether it's rim guard, windshield washer fluid, or just water, fill the rears. Then add wheel weights, then add your removable ballast. Your tractor should weigh as much as possible, as low as possible. You'll feel the difference immediately. For those of you with a backhoe, it's an amazing tool for a lot more than digging. The JD 260 that's on my 1025r weighs 610lbs, it's my heaviest attachment by far, and typically lives on the tractor.
I am from the UK and grew up on a farm. Fully half the boys in my class year at Primary School were dead by age 18 in farm accidents or in road accidents driving tractors between farms. I only ever had one near accident under ballasted but near is near enough. I still remember it and I was being careful and was very aware it was a potential risk at the time at the accident nearly happened. I guess being aware saved my life as the cab would not have saved me.
I don't know if you do this on the channel but I have a friend who was nearly killed rolling an ATV (4 wheel motor bike) often used on farms. Those things really are quite dangerous on slopes. It happens pretty frequently in the UK on hill farms typically when herding sheep and the shepherd is looking at the sheep and working the dogs and doesn't notice they are about to go over a steep dip on a slope.
great safety video, I realized a long time ago that the steep hillside on the side of my land does not have to be mowed, it is ok to have tall grass and weeds on the hillside. I also realized that the 8' state highway right of way in front of my property that is sloped away from the road is the responsibility of the state to mow so when it gets tall I call the state maint. dept and request they come mow it and they will. This takes the risk of a automobile hitting me while mowing that area or my tractor turning over off the table and I would rather look at tall grass than look at a hospital bill. so if there is any risk or danger I don't mow it.
Good video . I have been a hoisting engineer licensed in MA, for 42 years now retired but keep licensed . That license enable me to operate every type of loader , excavator /backhoe , overhead crane, gantries and so on, with the only exception being stationary high rise building cranes. To get such a license the state requires the operator to bet trained and pass a series of tests, a DOT physical , and continuous training refreshers to get it renewed every 2 years.
Personally I would never want any state to require licenses for small machines like compact tractor or utility machines for farming . Farmers and homeowners are already burdened enough as it is. That said, I have owned my own 1997 compact loader /backhoe for home use since 1998 . Most brands include a manual or one that can be obtained which instructs the operator about the dos and don`ts for operating these compact but useful machines which are prone to side tipping more so than full size .Full size too can be tipped or flipped by an unaware or careless operator. In most instances those careless operators might get slightly or moderately injured but rarely DIE inside those full size machines , because they have strong cabins to protect them designed to keep them inside it and prevent them from being crushed by the machine when it rolls in any direction at all .
It is important to revisit the manual`s section about the dos and don`ts periodically , 95% of owners become complacent about safety , especially if they have never had a near miss , but just like in the video it takes a few seconds to go from "all is good to total disaster " . This video is good , reading the manufacture`s manual is even better , they made the thing and where it says DO NOT they have a good reason for it , so do not do it, you may get away with it many times, until your luck runs out. Learn how to properly hitch loads, carry loads, and move loads according to the compact machine`s capability . These home toys are not scaled down versions of full size machines , the ratios at which they become dangerous are not the same as those of a full size 420 CAT 17000 pound ( 8.5 tons ) the home toys may look like them a bit and operate similarly , but are far more dangerous when the operator forgets or has become complacent.
Just to be clear from a physics standpoint on the towline connection.
Lower is better irrespective of the axle height. The axle being a pivot point is mostly an illusion for the general case.
There is no sudden transition in wheely behavior just by connecting above or below the axle. The axle is largely irrelevent and the ground contact of the rear tires is the true pivot of interest regarding wheelies. So connect to the pulling tractor as low as practical and behind the tire contact patch, regardless of the axle height. And attach high up on the thing being towed if said thing is on wheels or skiis.
Even better, if you have a three point attachment (a small box blade or grader blade is ideal) and run the tow line on the ground under the attachment to the connection point on the tractor. (Maybe use chain for this part to avoid chafing) Lower the attachment enough to push the tow line down to only a few inches above the ground.
This does a few things, assuming your tractor's hydraulics are not set to float mode.
First it keeps the pull vector intercept down close to the tire contact patch so you're more likely to loose traction than wheely.
With the line high enough on the thing being towed the vector can actually pass below the contact patch eliminating the possibility of a wheely, though if too extreme the angle will cause a modest reduction in traction due to the vertical component, and if pulling a high friction item [not on wheels or skiis] the same vertical component will also increase the needed pull force.
Second, if you do start to wheelly the tow-line slightly lifts on the attachment giving a slight nose down moment force(this is really just another way to look at the first benefit).
Third, the attachment can directly act as a wheely bar limiting the height that the front wheels can lift, howevery this can still be pretty high if you forget and leave the three point set in the full up position. (The heavier the attachment the more counter balance you should add to the front.)
One other important factor is keeping your load low to the ground and going slow in turns. Take your time and learn the limits of your equipment and the lay of your land. Before wearing a seat belt, look at the job or your land to see if jumping is a better option. Had a good friend died when he rolled over in a pond and could not get unbuckled in time.
In some of those situations, the better answer is to be using a bigger tractor. A bigger tractor will have a wide wheelbase, giving a better center of gravity. Also, with a larger tractor, the weight ratio of the operator to the machine is smaller, allowing a more stable center of gravity.
Something you probably should not do. My Dad used to supplement farm income with many different side jobs. One was digging basements in our little village. He did this with a 1939 model A John Deere pulling an old fashioned sluice scrapper pan. My teen aged uncle drove the tractor and Dad handled the scrapper. He lifted the handles of the scrapper to dig in then jumped on the handles to end the dig. Now the fun part. To get more traction and jump low walls the scrapper pulling chain was attached at the base of the tractor seat over the top of the axle housing. To prevent rear rollovers he attached two heavy planks to the bottom of the tractor frame that stuck out beyond the tires. Sounds dangerous but got the job done on many, many basements without incident. As they say, don’t try this at home.
I was fully ballasted with filled tires and my box blade mounted on the 3 pt. I was digging on level ground, around a small tree, on a mound. I had my new 45 hp compact tractor about a month.
As I was lifting my loader bucket, I started to curl the bucket. I had seen loader operators do that. I didnt see it, but a bucket tooth got caught under a big flat buried rock, under the small tree. Rear wheels of my 6600 lb, fully ballasted tractor, came up off the ground. Bucket had effectively stopped moving up. The rear of the tractor was now moving up. I never felt it, but out of the corner of my eye, I noticed I was now "much taller" wrt the lawn mower tractor parked nearby. My rear wheels were more than 15 inches off the ground, and rising. I stopped lifting, lowered the bucket, and was now safely back on the ground, but very puzzled. I was over ballasted, per the manual. More than my lifting capacity. How did this happen?
Asked the salesman who sold the tractor and said, "loaded tires are all you will ever need" what happened, and he had no idea.
Talked to the service manager at the dealer, who asked a mechanic.
Turns out if you curl your bucket while lifting, you amplify the lifting effort. This is the big "breakout force" number on your spec sheet. Its much larger than your loader lift capacity, which determines ballast.
Its not something you can really ballast for. You have to be aware, it can happen. Dont focus entirely on just what your bucket is doing, or trying to do.. Lift slowly, if its a heavy load. Check your surroundings. Your brain will register "something looks different" and if you are curling while lifting, know you can easily cause a sideways tip over, if your bucket stops coming up.
A couple years later, I was moving a big pile of dirt. 3 dump truck loads of "free topsoil", to flatten a slope. I was moving it and spreading, a bucket full at a time. It started raining, so I stopped work. No cab on the tractor. Came out a couple hours later. Lifting my full bucket load and curling, as I had just been doing for a couple hours before the rain, to reduce spilling.. Sensed my rear tires were now off the ground, only when I tried to reverse out of the pile, and spun. I became "unbalanced" because the dirt in the pile was now wet, and heavy.
Using a shovel and wheelbarrow you will feel the change in the effective weight of wet soil. Your loader had no feeling, or brain. It just works. You have to supply the brains. A very good reason to not use the cupholder for beer or wine coolers while operating equipment. You need all your brain cells functioning!
🎯🎯🎯👍
I flipped over a mini digger on flat ground doing exactly what you described. It was a split second thing. Couldn’t believe it. Luckily , my feet got stuck and was unable to jump( that’s what I wanted to do. If I would’ve jumped, I am sure I would have gotten crushed.
I have a novel idea how about a seat belt have you ever heard of these? Put your seat belt on tight. Also cosider a four point belt system like they have in race cars. And yes we had a friend of the family killed by his tractor last year it was a huge tragedy. Not much details - he was on a really steep mountain doing work with trees and it flipped over. That is all we know, he died in the hospital.
The point about hydraulics is spot on. Even brand new tractors can bleed down. Try not to work under a loader without supports if you can, Never work under lifted loaders if the engine is off if you don't have a means to support the loader, and LOCK the controls! I had lifted a pallet of shingles up to the roof and shut the tractor off. While I was up on the roof working the loader slowly bled down and the pallet started dropping. The tractor is less than a year old so the hydraulics are brand new. Also be mindful of the ground when in heavy grass. Watch for sink holes. I have a few in my hay field that WILL roll the big tractor if I am not careful. It is one of my chores today actually to back fill and till the area to smooth it out.
Another one. If you have the backhoe on, ensure the travel pins are in when driving around or parked on an incline. If an arm swings, that can very easily tip the tractor over on an incline.
Good info, great reminder. Thank you!! Not to make excuses, but many of us tractor owners are "weekend warriors" and have never really been exposed to a tractor safety class, etc. So these types of advisories are very useful!
Just purchased a new tractor and although I'm a first time owner I've had some experience with tractors most of my life but I didn't consider or even know about keeping the rigging low at the rear axle height for pulling, but it makes all the sense in the world.
Maybe some dealers offer a "Crash-Course" on safety but mine did not. Being new to the workings of a tractor I would've signed up. Maybe dealers assume you'll read your literature, I don't know but they were really helpful with adding attachments into the 0% financing! 😁
Thanks for the safety reminders!
Subscribed.
Going up or down hills with a load; front bucket, pallet forks or a fork lift ALWAYS have the load "up hill". Foward up hill, or backing down hill.
Good morning. Crushing accidents. Support anything lifted, just in case of a hydraulic failure. Not a matter of if but time and when.
Be safe everybody.
My antique tractor doesn't have a live PTO. This makes it VERY unsafe when operating a rotary mower because it acts like a massive flywheel linked directly to the wheels. This is especially dangerous when mowing tall grass along a ditch because it can't be stopped quickly. The addition of a $50 one-way clutch on the PTO is an easy fix that has likely saved thousands of lives.
A gentleman in my home town was working on his tractor in the shed one day. A force of nature happened and his tractor started while it was in gear and had a disc behind it. The tractor moved with the disc down and he couldn't get out of the way fast enough and the disc ran him over. What saved his life was the life flight team was doing w training flight in the area was able to get him to a hospital immediately. The man is still alive.
I operated equipment up to 200 tons and trust me it doesn’t matter how big or small your equipment is their are basics that are very very important such wear your seat belt “ALWAYS”.
😎🇺🇸
I am quite sure you have the mostest/bestest vid's for the boys & girls down on the farm, We perish from lack of knowledge
Thanks for this great video. I've had older tractors that required a PTO clutch for safety so that the mower wouldn't continue to push the tractor when turned off. .Maybe you could cover that if you haven't already. I'm super cautious already when operating my John Deere 4400 compact tractor, but your video is a great reminder to practice safety first.
Courtney... You are an inventor, I don't know if this is possible, but why don't you invent a load sensor for each tire and have a display of all 4 wheels on the dashboard. This will alert an operator if one of the wheels is close to lifting off.
Great video , I'm in the tree industry , i see guys all the time with small tractors or mini stand on skid steers moving or trying to to move logs and guys standing on the 3 point attachment hanging on were they can as ballast ! And yes i have seen them roll . Keep up the good work
There is always something hooked to my tractors and the one that doesn’t have a loader on it has a custom built bumper that weighs in around 500 pounds to offset my equipment. I live on a hill and you have to be able to read the terrain and often times you have to take the long way around to keep the tractor stable. Growing up around a farm I’m probably a little more aware than some folks because of it. There were several people killed and maimed when I was younger getting caught in equipment. Never rush a job.