'Fess Up'......mistakes you've made or close calls.......

Benhameen

Active member

Equipment
2012 Kubota L3800 HST W/FEL and 1963 JD 2010 row crop utility
Jan 27, 2013
691
115
43
Southern IL.
Nothing to major for me but I drove around some with the parking brake set when I first got my tractor. Also, while working in some heavy brush I broke off my fuel filter. Tractor just died and I had no idea why, so I kept cranking, duh…. Had to purge the air out of the system by unhooking the injector lines. That was about a week after I took delivery.

As a kid they put me out in the back forty brush hogging. I managed to knock the muffler off the old JD. Not thinking, I got off the tractor and tried to pick it up, not smart and luckily I was wearing gloves. Still hurt like hell.
 

GeoHorn

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M4700DT, LA1002FEL, Ferguson5-8B Compactor-Roller, 10KDumpTrailer, RTV-X900
May 18, 2018
6,040
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113
Texas
i needed to move a refrigerator from the house to inside the hangar (needed a dedicated beer cooler when the wife bought a new one for the house)…on a day when I was all alone. I was looking forward to how impressed she would be when she got back home from shopping that I’d got that old ‘fridge out of the kitchen by myself. 😁
I managed to get it on a dolly and couldn’t rotate the dolly onto the axles/wheels …so used a strap around it and the dolly-handles to cinch them as a unit… and got it out the kitchen-door to the breezeway, where I could put it on a pallet.
Picked up the pallet with the forks, raised it about 24” into the air and slowly backed it out of the breezeway and headed for the hangar personnel-door which was at the top of a concrete 3-step stairway. I planned to bring the pallet to the level of the slab in the doorway….then slide the refrigerator onto the dolly again to locate it into the hangar. (didn’t want to come thru the big front door level with the ground because I’d have to empty the hangar of toys to do that.)
Since the loader is so capable I didn’t have the smarts to use the straps from the dolly on the pallet-forks-rack to stabilize the refrigerator…but I planned to go r e a l - s l o w …. figuring this would be such a good plan.
Didn’t think about the rock-filled french-drain between the end of the house where a large guest-bedroom window was adjacent to the french-drain….
When the right-front wheel of the tractor rolled over the river-rocks that made up the french-drain … the wheel sank into the rocks and the tractor tilted to the right…. which tilted the top-heavy refrigerator over onto it’s lower-right casters… and the ‘fridge began to fall-over to the right…. and go Directly-Thru that bedroom-window… 😲 (Yep…wife is really gonna be impressed!)
…. but Just-as it tipped-over to the falling-point… I panic-pushed-in the clutch and come to a stop…. the ‘fridge balanced-on-it’s-lower-edge….stopped in mid-fall… and just- b a r e l y- plopped back upright. 😓
Just simply didn’t fully think this thru … or I would have thought about using the straps on the pallet-forks like one does on a dolly. Doh.

Having a tractor enables you to do things you couldn’t previously do by yourself…but it’ s wise to not try something “new” you’ve never done previously with it alone. Your cell-ph with you is definitely a Must.… and having a qualified observer is always a good idea….not only to see things you didn’t notice…but also to be helpful if/when you’re trapped in a situation you didn’t forsee.
 
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nbryan

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Equipment
B2650 BH77 LA534 54" ssqa Forks B2782B BB1560 Woods M5-4 MaxxHaul 50039
Jan 3, 2019
1,233
766
113
Hadashville, Manitoba, Canada
Something to watch for. Ok.
I'm now capable enough with my BH77 backhoe that shifting the tractor position a few feet with the backhoe has become my norm, as it's so much faster to lift and push the unit around a bit than getting down, rotating the seat and driving it a couple feet.
I just reach back and raise the loader bucket a bit off the ground, raise the stabilizers, lower the BH boom to lift the rear wheels up a few inches (leave front end in 2wd not 4wd to avoind fighting the front wheels traction) then operate the dipper/boom and swing to maneuver the tractor back or side to side a few feet.

It's the side to side I'm here to warn about!

A hint: my Worktunes headset has a nice hard shell to protect the side of your head when you over-play the left-right control on the left boom control lever.

It's not so obvious until it happens, but pushing the boom lever to one side with the rear wheels in the air to move a bit sideways has rather dangerous feed-back to deal with, as the actual tractor momemtum forces your body weight AGAINST the lever in the direction it's going and amplifies the thrust sideways so my head and body SLAMMED against the ROPS upright as the tractor leapt sideways the other way.

My headset struck the ROPS BANG and may have prevented me from getting knocked out. The headset survived without a problem - they're solidly made!

So just be ready for that if you take such shortcuts while digging. I still use the method but operate the side-to-side VERY gingerly now.
 

PoTreeBoy

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L35 Ford 3930
Mar 24, 2020
2,815
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WestTn/NoMs
Dumbest recent thing, several years ago I needed a post set. Put BIL's PH auger on the Ford and proceeded to drill. The ground was hard and I wasn't making much progress, so I got off, auger turning, to add some weight. I recognized the danger (sort of) and stayed clear. But working alone, if the smallest piece of clothing had got caught, it would have been ugly.
 

PoTreeBoy

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L35 Ford 3930
Mar 24, 2020
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Past history:
My Grandpa flipped a JD Model 60 over on himself and was killed.
An uncle was mowing along the creek and killed when it turned over.
A neighbor was trapped several hours when, coming down a hill, his old IH jumped out of gear (no brakes) and pinned him against a tree. Around dark, somebody heard him calling.
 

Flintknapper

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L2350DT
May 3, 2022
1,767
2,226
113
Deep East Texas
Most of mine are from my youth using a 9N Ford. There’s was no way to add front weight and with anything much on the 3 point going up hill it had a tendency for the tractor to rotate around the rear wheels instead of the wheels rotating. Notorious machines for flipping over backward and squashing the driver. I was aware of that so not usually a problem… so long as I was reasonably vigilant.
^^^^^^

This exact thing happened to a fellow I worked with many years ago. He was recently retired from the military. He and his Wife had bought a small piece of property outside of town and were planning on building a home there and improving the property over time.

One Monday morning he did not show up for work and his job (ordering supplies) was a rather important one that not just anyone could take over until he got back, so I asked management if they knew when he was going to be back.

They told me they didn't yet have a lot of details but that his Wife had called and said he had been involved in accident on their property while using the tractor and was in the hospital.

Turns out he was using his 9N to try to pull a stump out of the ground. Despite having dug all around the roots....he made the near fatal mistake of hooking the chain around the rear axle housing instead of on a drawbar BELOW the center-line of the axle.

He was unaware that the tractor (ANY tractor) will rotate about the center line of the axle when enough resistance and traction are realized.


The tractor flipped over backwards...throwing him off but not far enough away to avoid having it land on him.

It broke the femur in his leg and left him trapped underneath it. This was before the days of cell-phones and he was out their working alone. Only when he didn't come from the property was his wife alerted that something must be wrong. She found him (now after dark) and called for rescue and medical help.

It was a very long and expensive recovery for him and they were lucky to have saved his leg, but he was never able to walk well on it again. A few errant seconds....completely changed his life and future plans.
 
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ve9aa

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TG1860, BX2380 -backblade, bx2830 snowblower, fel, weight box,pallet forks,etc
Apr 11, 2021
1,202
982
113
NB, Canada
Some years ago a coworker broke his leg really bad (spiral) by stepping backwards into a hole on his small property, just off his driveway in the woods and had to pull himself several hundred feet and yank himself up his back stairs to beat on the door to alert his wife. I am sure that was not fun.

Ever since then, practically no matter what I am doing outside, I have my cell phone on me. The exception might be if the whole family is outside with me.

Not only could I (possibly) alert someone to an injury (or just request assistance holding something) , I find more often than not I might like to take a photo of something I am working on for reference. (serial #, size against a measuring tape, thread on OTT about what you did on your tractor today ;-)

I find cell phones a PITA, but at times they sure come in handy.
 
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Flintknapper

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L2350DT
May 3, 2022
1,767
2,226
113
Deep East Texas
No real tractor screw ups yet but a wood cutting one. Was dropping dead ash trees on the property line and in a hurry, not practicing good technique, I had the saw kick back and catch me mid way between the groin and knee. No chaps, no other safety gear either. Been cutting wood for decades and never needed it. Lucky for me the jeans fouled the chain and stopped it. Lost a good pair of jeans but only had a scratch that was around 3” long on my leg. Tell you what, after checking I wasn’t gonna bleed out and emptying my pants, I hopped up on the B3200 and ordered the proper safety gear. Didn’t touch that saw until it arrived. This is also the reason I have my cell on me when cutting wood or on the tractor when operating it.
It can be kind of a pain in the butt to put on all your PPE (especially chaps) when its hot and muggy outside or you're just in a hurry. But it can save you from a horribly expensive trip to the hospital or worse.

In five decades of using chainsaws....I've never cut myself, but had a few near misses. From the very beginning (as a teenager) I've always had a great respect (if not downright fear) for chainsaws and I own a few that would take your leg completely off in the blink of an eye.

Solo 603a.jpg

PPE.jpg



Glad you were unhurt. Though not tractor related....your experience relates how quickly something can go wrong, it can happen with tractors too.
 
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Flintknapper

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L2350DT
May 3, 2022
1,767
2,226
113
Deep East Texas
I often wear coveralls when operating the tractor. I was getting off the tractor to have a closer look at something when my baggy pant leg hooked over the shifter and pulled it into gear. Away it went, heading towards my new garage. Thankfully, it was in 1st gear, low range, so I was able to jump back on & stomp the clutch. And yes, the brake was on, but was over powered by low gearing.
^^^^^


This is something I need to be more careful about. I mount and dismount my tractor with it running fairly often...(though I always throttle it back to low idle).

My clothing is not an issue for me but just the fact that I have a compact tractor (gear driven) and I am a large person (6'-5" and 260 lbs). There isn't much room to step up and over the gear shifter.

I haven't tried it....but I have no doubt it could be bumped into gear without the clutch being depressed, so I am always very careful about not hitting the shifter with my boot. But it remains a somewhat dangerous practice I'll have to give more thought to.
 

Mowbizz

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Equipment
Bx25d
Aug 19, 2021
515
297
63
New Hampshire
When I first bought my house/property I did not own a Kubota. I had a killer deal on Craftsman’s biggest lawn tractor with a posi-traction pedal which served me well until I bought my BX25D. One of the first times I mowed, I was mowing near a drop off and mistakenly, I was mowing toward the drop off instead of alongside it…well I made my forward pass and hit the brake then instead of hitting the reverse pedal I jumped on the forward pedal…I was literally launched over the drop off but the mower did not tip downhill but jumped out horizontally then dropped like a rock onto some rotting stumps. The mower blades stopped immediately and there I was sitting upright on the tractor upon the rotting stumps. My life flashed before me as the tractor shot out over the drop off but I lucked out! 🤣
i towed the craftsman out with my Jeep and it was none the worse for wear!
 

GeoHorn

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Equipment
M4700DT, LA1002FEL, Ferguson5-8B Compactor-Roller, 10KDumpTrailer, RTV-X900
May 18, 2018
6,040
3,316
113
Texas
^^^^^^

This exact thing happened to a fellow I worked with many years ago. He was recently retired from the military. He and his Wife had bought a small piece of property outside of town and were planning on building a home there and improving the property over time.

One Monday morning he did not show up for work and his job (ordering supplies) was a rather important one that not just anyone could take over until he got back, so I asked management if they knew when he was going to be back.

They told me they didn't yet have a lot of details but that his Wife had called and said he had been involved in accident on their property while using the tractor and was in the hospital.

Turns out he was using his 9N to try to pull a stump out of the ground. Despite having dug all around the roots....he made the near fatal mistake of hooking the chain around the rear axle housing instead of on a drawbar BELOW the center-line of the axle.

He was unaware that the tractor (ANY tractor) will rotate about the center line of the axle when enough resistance and traction are realized.


The tractor flipped over backwards...throwing him off but not far enough away to avoid having it land on him.

It broke the femur in his leg and left him trapped underneath it. This was before the days of cell-phones and he was out their working alone. Only when he didn't come from the property was his wife alerted that something must be wrong. She found him (now after dark) and called for rescue and medical help.

It was a very long and expensive recovery for him and they were lucky to have saved his leg, but he was never able to walk well on it again. A few errant seconds....completely changed his life and future plans.
Sooo… did he afterwards acquire a “flip phone”…?? 🤪

(sorry)

I had a 9N and fortunately had been forewarned about how a tractor can “flip” over backwards on you…. I had a REALLY steep hill I had go down…(wish I had a pic… you wouldn’t believe it but it was maybe a 30-degree slope or more)…. so I BACKED the little tractor back UP the hill. Still pretty scarey.
 

mcmxi

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***Current*** M6060HDC, MX6000HSTC & GL7000 ***Sold*** MX6000HST & BX25DLB
Feb 9, 2021
5,327
6,343
113
NW Montana
I almost broke my leg this summer when I was showing the JD F835 turnover plow to a friend. I figured the beast would be somewhat neutral in terms of balance if I pulled the pin that locks the standards, moldboards, shares etc., to the main shaft. After pulling the pin and realizing that the plow was still latched I knocked the latch free with a hammer! Big mistake! The entire thing rotated and the share nearest the tractor smashed my leg!

I couldn't feel my lower leg for about 10 minutes and was in considerable pain for at least an hour! Had I been further away from the tractor, and my leg planted I would definitely have two broken bones in my lower leg at best, and possibly an amputated leg at worst. It took months to heal and I still have a significant scar on my shin and a divot in the tibia.

My friend is 70 years old and there was no way he could do anything to stop the rotating mass which is many hundreds of pounds, and not far off a 1,000lb I bet. The whole thing happened in slow motion and I had time to tell myself "this isn't good". :ROFLMAO:
 
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Flintknapper

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L2350DT
May 3, 2022
1,767
2,226
113
Deep East Texas
Sooo… did he afterwards acquire a “flip phone”…?? 🤪

(sorry)

I had a 9N and fortunately had been forewarned about how a tractor can “flip” over backwards on you…. I had a REALLY steep hill I had go down…(wish I had a pic… you wouldn’t believe it but it was maybe a 30-degree slope or more)…. so I BACKED the little tractor back UP the hill. Still pretty scarey.
I'm sure he acquired a phone of some sort as soon as they became widely available but this was during a time when 'bag phones' were just hitting the market for vehicle/portable use. No cell phones (as we know them now) in existence yet.

He was off of work for almost a year before being able to come back, but he walked with a limp and was in constant pain. The bone (heavily pinned) healed well enough but the nerve damage and circulatory damage remained.

They moved out of State a couple of years later and i don't know what became of him. I just know that their plans and dreams to build a home here were dashed over that unfortunate incident.
 

NCL4701

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L4701, T2290, WC68, grapple, BB1572, Farmi W50R, Howes 500, 16kW IMD gen, WG24
Apr 27, 2020
2,802
4,247
113
Central Piedmont, NC
Since we got on trees a combo tree/tractor.

The Kubota had about 3 hours on it so although I had a few thousand hours general tractor experience it was new to me and I was unfamiliar with its capabilities. Was cutting a large oak in the edge of the woods within striking distance of my house. Had it roped to the base of a large tree away from the house with a 30K work strength rope so no way it could fall toward the house. Had another rope hooked to the tractor to pull it if needed.

My father was there to observe and advise. He had cut many, many trees and had little confidence in my abilities despite my time with a tree service causing me to have felled many more than him. Because we were dropping it toward the woods we had a very narrow window to drop it where it wouldn’t get hung up in other large trees. I made the face cut, looked it over, and told my father I needed to adjust it just a little bit as the original cut would hit the big tree on the right we were trying to miss. He said it looked good to him. We debated it a good 15 minutes and he finally convinced me to proceed without adjusting the face cut. Made the back cut and it wasn’t falling, which was no shock the way it was weighted. Pulled on it with the Kubota and couldn’t budge it. Was kind of disappointed in the lack of drawbar power. Wedged it over and it fell exactly where I said it would, hung up in the big hickory on the right. My father said, “You know, back when I wasn’t very good at cutting trees I’d use a trick where I’d put a rafter square in the face cut and wherever that rafter square is pointing is where the tree is going.” I asked him if he had a rafter square. He said he did. Probably the most disrespectful thing I ever said to him, but requested he go get his rafter square and shove it up his a$$ because it fell exactly where I said it would.

So then we had this tree at a 45 degree angle inexorably entangled and pulling more with the Kubota was doing nothing, so we finished cutting the hinge off hoping it would slide down. It didn’t. So then took the Kubota and tried pushing it off the stump with the loader. No good and still disappointed with the lack of power. Hooked my father’s alleged grade 70 1/4” 50’ chain to it to pull it off. Broke the chain twice (obviously not a 70). Moved up to a pair of 25’ 3/8” chains. Still no good. Used a 100 ton railroad jack against an adjacent tree and pushed it off the stump. It immediately jammed in the dirt, hung as bad as ever. All this took about two hours of screwing around with it after it was hung.

I was really disappointed in the lack of power my new tractor had in comparison to our old gassers, but we’d tried using the old Farmall H as well and it wouldn’t move it either. Then had a moment of clarity, looked at the range shifter and saw I’d had the dang Kubota in Medium the whole time. Got the H out of the way, rehooked the 3/8” chains, WOT, low gear, and plowed ditch with the butt of the tree until the whole thing finally came down. I was much happier with the max drawbar on my new tractor.

The tree came down, no one got hurt, no damage other than my father’s proof coil 1/4” chain and a little bit to the hickory tree. But there was a LOT of stupid going on that day.
 
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Flintknapper

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L2350DT
May 3, 2022
1,767
2,226
113
Deep East Texas
But there was a LOT of stupid going on that day.
It happens.

Some days I would be better off just staying in bed.

Most of the time I am relatively alert and functionally competent. But on occasion, you'd think I got up that morning and ate a big bowl of stupid before beginning my day.

So you are in good company. Glad you got the tree down with no further incident.
 
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fruitcakesa

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Equipment
M 6040
Oct 26, 2010
856
270
63
Cavendish Vermont
Ok, I'll bite... first day with the 450C dozer. I was got positioned on a slope to hook a log and skid it up to the machine.
Left it running, engaged the parking brake, dropped the blade and hopped off to set the choker.
As soon as my feet touched the ground the dozer began rolling backwards narrowly missing my feet.
It came to a stop against the stump of the tree i was going to skid.
Turns out, the brake has two positions and the first detent was not strong enough to restrain the dozer on the slope.
No damage to me although my helmet flew out of the cockpit and the face screen mount was broken when it hit the ground.
 

Flintknapper

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Equipment
L2350DT
May 3, 2022
1,767
2,226
113
Deep East Texas
Ok, I'll bite... first day with the 450C dozer. I was got positioned on a slope to hook a log and skid it up to the machine.
Left it running, engaged the parking brake, dropped the blade and hopped off to set the choker.
As soon as my feet touched the ground the dozer began rolling backwards narrowly missing my feet.
It came to a stop against the stump of the tree i was going to skid.
Turns out, the brake has two positions and the first detent was not strong enough to restrain the dozer on the slope.
No damage to me although my helmet flew out of the cockpit and the face screen mount was broken when it hit the ground.
Whoa............!

Getting run over by a tractor 'might' be survivable, 450 Dozer, no way.
 

Russell King

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Lifetime Member

Equipment
L185F, Modern Ag Competitor 4’ shredder, Rhino tiller, rear dirt scoop
Jun 17, 2012
5,367
1,415
113
Austin, Texas
I have 4 acres that I shred (rough cut) at least once a year. About half of it is fairly wooded so a lot of turns involved. Some of the trees are multiple stem (Texas) cedar with limbs that are just at all angles. (These are really some type of juniper and don’t ever get real tall.

When I bought the l185 it had no ROPS so I got one on the Kubota safety program and installed it making the tractor about 7.5 feet tall.

I was moving on a fairly straight path and trying to get reasonable close to the trees to reduce the trimming size down. The ROPS is about as wide as the fenders and it happened to catch on a limb which is not that uncommon but in this case the limb was stout enough and high enough to start lifting the front wheels off the ground. So all of a sudden on flat ground I am popping a wheelie for no discernible reason.

Before I could react and get the clutch pedal pressed down the tractor angled enough to get the ROPS underneath the branch and the front wheels come down hard. Nothing bad happened but I stay further away from trees and am more aware of overhead limbs now
 

58Ford

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Equipment
BX23s, LA340, BT603, RCR1248, PFL1242, STB1072
Jan 1, 2022
248
203
43
SW Washington
We were new to Toading with the RV and after giving my wife hell for forgetting to remove the park brake and accidentally towing the truck with the hand/park brake on for about 20 feet I promptly told the Mrs I was going to do it from now on.
Took about a week during hook up, got distracted and forgot to lever the park brake. ME! I did it. Problem was we were doing a U turn and once I started doing a U turn across 6 lanes and noticed the smoke pouring from the rear wheels of the truck - I had to finish the frigging U turn. All up about 250 feet. Talk about flat spots! Badunk, Badunk, Badunk, Badunk……. That’s the sound the truck made after. 2 new rear tires and $380 later…. No badunks.🤷🏼‍♂️

Wasn’t my brightest moment. And for damned sure won’t be my last unfortunately.