The day I almost died on my Kubota...

[OldMasterTech]

No sermon here either.
I used to subscribe to Northern Logger magazine and each month the first page I read was the accident listings. Even though gory and sometimes horrible the info makes you think every time you use your equipment.
Stay safe and thanks for the post!

 

[clay45]

I echo what everyone else has said. God bless.

 

[MattN03]

Glad you are okay and able to post a reminder to us all!

 

[bambam31]

Thanks for taking the time to post your story. I purchased a craigslist spreader recently and the shaft was stuck and wouldn't expand. We pulled it apart with two vehicles and I removed the cover. Because I was in a hurry I didn't put the cover back on and we used it all day long. Your scenario never crossed my mind. I will never operate the PTO without a cover again. Thanks and I'm glad you're OK.

 

[Bulldog]

Glad you weren't hurt any worse.

When I first went to work at the quarry our area manager only had one thumb. I ask him what happened. He said when he was a teen he was using a 8n ford with rotary cutter. A sack he was sitting on worked it's way off the back of the seat and started wrapping around the shaft. He grabbed it and it wrapped his hand up until it twisted his thumb off.

One simple mistake with a life long reminder of what not to do.

 

[dandeman]

Regarding how the loss of the thumb occurred..... on one of the automotive metalworking/rebuild shows, a worker had gloves on (standard generic safety recommendation) while using a drill press.

The glove caught on the rotating bit and the glove proceeded to pull his hand in to the bit causing a deep wound.....

In this case the generic "always wear gloves" is a dangerous recommendation when working around rotating machinery.

 

[amsoilman]

Not in the same category of danger but...... I know of a fella drilling with one of those long drill bits over hi head doing alarm wiring. Well his hair got caught in the bit and ripped it all out from front to back and that was with a cordless drill! Watch out!

 

[botaskinner]

I got into the job market starting with what ended up being 20 years on the floor in precision sheetmetal fabrication. I ended up writing N/C code after the first 5, but those 5 years were an education.

OSHA wanted to require using a pair of pliers to bend parts in a pressbrake. If you missed your stop, the pliers would end up broken in half by the tooling, flying who knows where, and the V-dies would be destroyed. That idea was laughed out of the shop, with management support.

One of the cardinal rules that was hammered into my 18 year old head was...
do NOT approach anyone operating a machine until you knew positively they were aware of your presence and acknowledged it back to you.

Stay away until you were sure you caught their eye, no touching, shoulder tapping or not even a word. It's amazing how much concentration is needed when doing fine work around a machine, and newbies who ignored the above warnings would make me jump right out of my skin.

This was brought home by the pressbrake foreman who had lost the tip of a forefinger on one hand, and the tip of his middle finger on the other.

This can apply to any power equipment, tractors, mowers, anything with an engine or enough power to injure. Teach your kids and young relatives early and much grief can be saved.

 

[pmr49]

I join the others in thanking you for the warning and being humble enough to do so. Bad things can happen in a flash even without our contribution of carelessness. My lifetime close call takeaways are these: don't push yourself too hard, especially when the temps are hot - you lose your edge; similarly, stay hydrated, even in cool/cold weather; there are guardian angels, but "don't put God to the test" - use the brain He gave you!

 

[Russell King]

Every time I got on a tractor as a kid my dad would say something like "you know that tractor has nothing to do but sit around and think up new ways to kill you. Be careful"


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[LMTractorGuy]

I am new to tractors. I appreciate your story and am glad you are OK. I is so important that we are mindful of safe operation and stories such as yours allow us to think of possible scenarios before using useful but potentially dangerous machinery. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Kubota_Man]

In my much younger years I worked underground in the mines in my local area as a diamond drill (core drill) helper we would routinely have 15'-20' of open drill rod spinning at 500-1250 rpm before it would be up 2500' into the rock. One day I was told to crawl under the rod and apparently I wasn't low enough the open rod grabbed my shirt and made a tug I ended up pancaking out and dropped to the deck all the while my shirt was pealed off of me like a banana Scared the crap out of me.

I quickly gained a great respect of spinning things

No judgment from me we all make mistakes. I am glad you are ok enough to think about us and give everyone a reminder wake up call.

 

[WFM]

Last week here in Maine a grandfather was watching his grandson who was 2yrs old. He was using his tractor around a wood pile off and on making sure his grandson was out of the way when he would move the tractor. Well. He thought his grandson was on a trailer out of the way when he moved the tractor backing over him killing him. I have kids and I don't move my tractor at all unless I can see my kids and where they are. I've told them if your outside. Make sure I CAN see you. Don't think I can. Be sure I can. Teaching comes early. But at 2 yrs old teaching/learning takes time.
As with the paracord . Accidents happens quickly. I've often thought about throwing that PTO cover as it seems like a PIA....I might just leave it on now.

 

[Daren Todd]

I'm glad you made it ok. That's some scary stuff

I've had a couple close calls bush hogging at my father in laws. The hill is extremely steep and over grown in spots. With Oaks that like to shed limbs. I learned really quick, to take a half hour and walk the hill before hitting it with the tractor.

I've found hidden chunks of oak limbs that could easily tip the tractor. Washed out spots, or someone dug a good sized rock out and tossed it down the bank. All gets moved or avoided

Another thing to watch out for is vines. I had one snag me in the throat while hogging in a new spot. Thankfully I was going extremely slow. Was able to stop, and move it.

And after seeing your experience, that un shielded pto shaft for my rotary cutter is gonna be replaced That could have easily been really ugly with that vine if it got snagged into the pto shaft

 

[John Corey]

" Its just a flesh wound"

Glad you are OK mate and thanks for posting.