Interesting dismount

[Fro65]

Thought this story might help others.

I spent a productive day getting lots of odds and ends done that I have been putting off. Last chore of the day was to use the loader to pull 26 T-posts that have been holding immature trees for the past two years. I pulled the last post and was getting off the tractor to unhitch my chain when it happened.

When I get off my tractor, I tend to pull myself up out of the seat with my left hand holding the steering wheel due to bad knees. Well, I was pulling myself up as usual and the next thing I know, I was on the ground on the left side of the tractor. Kind of rang my bell a bit. Once the fog cleared, I presumed my hand had slipped off the steering wheel and I did a backflip over the left fender. Then I realized the steering wheel was still in my hand.

Yep, the steering wheel had come off. Upon examination, the center cap was still on the wheel and the retaining nut and split washer were rattling between the cap and wheel. And no, I did not stick my landing.

Moral of the story....might want to check your nuts.

Mine now has a generous dose of red locktite on it.

Lastly I'll say I regularly operate on rough ground and, as already stated, I kind of use the steering wheel for chin up bar of sorts. Not a tractor problem, absolutely love the tractor, just something to be aware is possible.

Think I'll take a shower and go to bed now.

 

[100 td]

Glad you are OK, has any work or warranty been performed on the tractor, any reason for the wheel to have been removed previously? If nothing has been done, may be worth mentioning to Kubota, I don't know how seriously they take reports, but perhaps their QA torque tightening regime was missed, may be just yours, or many.

 

[Stmar]

Ahh, tractor dismounts. I was fencing with my 8N, went to get off, hammer on my overalls caught on the hydraulic controls so my step was awkward to say the least. In slow motion I saw my ankle roll more than I thought possible. No break but a rainbow of colors over the next few weeks and recliner time and fencing was postponed.

 

[Tooljunkie]

Shifter grabbed my carharts once. Not a fun trip off tractor. I swing my right leg over steering wheel,no more trying to back off tractor. Need to make footboards bigger so my size 10s wil fit more than just one way. That and raising seat.

 

[Newlyme]

A week and a half ago on a Friday afternoon I opened the gate to the pasture to pull the tractor in to mow. While climbing down to close the gate I see the mule noticed the gate was open. I looked at him, he looked at me, the race was on. First step off the tractor I tripped and landed on my side jamming my hand and wrist into the ground. He won. I would have made a sailor blush with my choice of adjectives. I decided to finish mowing since I wasn't going to catch the mule. When I was done I went looking for him. There he was in the barn. Three days later I'm in the urgent care for an X-ray. Yep I was the jackass this time. I still can't close my hand.

And now the rest of the story.

I bruised up my right hand on Friday. On Saturday evening I got stung by a wasp in my left hand. And Sunday morning when I woke up both hands were swollen up like grapefruit.

 

[rbargeron]

Very glad you landed ok - even if it was only a 4.6
I haven't done a spectacular dismount yet but I sure know about bad knees. I've built baby steps for my tractors. This getting old is more work than I thought.

 

[sheepfarmer]

Hmmm, I have been practicing methods of getting on and off the tractors with only one hand (in case one wing ends up in a brace for a while), good to know the steering wheel is an iffy handle. The loader on the L has a clean spot where I grab onto it.

 

[BX23S-1]

Sounds like you guys should find some different toys to play with before you REALLY get hurt...lol

 

[whitetiger]

Glad you are OK, has any work or warranty been performed on the tractor, any reason for the wheel to have been removed previously? If nothing has been done, may be worth mentioning to Kubota, I don't know how seriously they take reports, but perhaps their QA torque tightening regime was missed, may be just yours, or many.

Steering wheel is Dealer installed.

 

[skeets]

See like riding a bike the question is not if your going to crash but when,, Interesting dismounts, again, not if, but when. It happens to everyone sooner or later..Like when you dismount and find the chain to your wallet that you neglected to out in the house, hangs over one of the levers and your trying to stand on your tip toes hang on and get the chain off all at the same time. It will also make you talk funny for a bit too

 

[JeffL]

Having ankle and knee issues and using the steering wheel as a major part of the dismount; just this past weekend I was thinking "that steering wheel was not made for that" Sorry but I laughed out loud when I read your post. I think I will find another anchor point! Jeff