My neighbor was almost killed this afternoon. He had a light tractor trying to pull a spreader that weighed 4 tons and was going down a hill in his food plot. The spreader started pushing him and the tractor jack knifes the spreader keeps pushing him sideways. It sheared his PTO shaft off and ripped it out of the rear of the tractor but luck was with him as the tractor stayed upright. Just a reminder for me and who ever else reads this
Think before doing something stupid
- Thread starter Ike
- Start date
coachgeo
Well-known member
Equipment
L225 w/woods Few Mowers & Back Blade, D722 in Motorcycle (Triumph Tiger), LMTV
Glad he is ok. Sounds like his cardiovascular system passed the test and his digestive system most likely got a good clean out. But his pants... not so clean.... most assuredly they will get thrown out.
I am the same way. I think back 40 years ago and some off the stuff I did on a tractor I would not think of doing today. He said he thought he could do it because he saw me doing it last year with my tractor. As I explaned to him I have 60 years experence working a tractor in a steeper hill that he was on.Plus my tractor is heaver that his and bigger. Big think I think that got him in trouble from talking to him is his tractor was a hydo and would not hold the weight of the spreader back as easy as my gear one did last year. I have to go in the morning and unload the spreader for him and I will show him some things I will do different this year. I did not have any problem with it pushing me as I was expecting it to I had trouble get a bite to go up the back side with a full spreader. But after today I don't think he will be trying it again . He said he had to go home and thank a higher power
Lil Foot
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1979 B7100DT Gear, Nissan Hanix N150-2 Excavator
Glad he's OK.
How about a couple pics of the tractor & spreader involved? Might be a wake up call for someone doing something similar.
How about a couple pics of the tractor & spreader involved? Might be a wake up call for someone doing something similar.
85Hokie
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BX-25D ,PTB. Under Armor, '90&'92-B7100HST's, '06 BX1850 FEL
that is EXACTLY why I got rid of my Kawasaki ZZR.........the pain was to much to bear! AND I never wrecked...
bought a tractor instead!
He does not live there as it was his hunting land. He took his tractor home tonight which is about 40 miles away. I really think there will be some bad damage inside the tractor just from looking at it. The spreader did not get hurt. I should have taken the camera with me when he came and got me today. The thing that keeps going thru my mind is no one would have found him for a while because he was in the middle of 160 acres and no houses around other than mine
I am curious about the effect of transmission type on ability of tractor to hold back a load and whether or not gear range would make any difference in an HST. The fact that the spreader jack knifed makes me think the tractor was NOT being pushed down the hill, but it is hard to visualize exactly what happened.
In the interests of those of us whose tractor weights might be marginal, more discussion from you guys that have been there and done that would be helpful. I have a small ground driven spreader, and had concluded that I cannot use the B2650 to pull it on account of the hills, but I can pull it with my L3560HST and load it with the B. Slower but safer. But curious about ability of gear ranges to hold it back. The manure pile is overdue and I should get started on it. Last time my neighbor brought his big tractor and pto spreader over and I loaded and he spread.
I have learned one thing with heavy equipment over the years. Slow and steady. Thanks to Ike I now have another good tidbit that I occasionally forget - never overestimate ANY equipment.
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It was a JD 650. I spread the rest of the fertiizer this morning and found out that he got 7 tons of it plus the weight of the spreader. My rears are loaded and it wanted to push me around on the turns on the wet grass. But it is done now but talking to him this morning I think he learned a lesson.
As for the spreader pushing the tractor it pushed him big time and when he tryed to stop it all H### broke loose. He said the tractor was on 2 wheels when it stopped. He said the hyro would not hold him back. He also said they he would have been better off just putting the trac in netural and going along for the ride. If you know anything about the spreader you rent this one was a middle size one. The tires on it were larger than his tractor rears. When I went down the steepest part of the hill I could feel it pushing but the gears keep it from going to fast and I also tapped both brakes to help
I think it shouldn't be a question so much as to if the gears can hold the tractor, but if the tractor can hold the load behind it. In my experience, it comes down to many variables such as terrain type, are you driving on gravel or grass or dirt, how steep of a grade, etc.
For the example, we have about 60 acres on a hill on our property that is used for soybeans/corn. The road up the hill is gravel, as to prevent erosion and ruts forming during heavy rain. During harvesting season I pull the gravity boxes with a Case IH 7120 magnum with duals. Even with this heavy machine, I still only pull one wagon at a time up and down the hill, not because it can't pull 2 wagons, but because coming back down with 2 full wagons spells trouble. Even with just the one gravity box it pushes the tractor (tires "slip" on loose gravel).
Point is, you can have a big machine that is pulling well below its max load, but depending on where you're driving, the situation can go downhill (pun) real quick.
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For the example, we have about 60 acres on a hill on our property that is used for soybeans/corn. The road up the hill is gravel, as to prevent erosion and ruts forming during heavy rain. During harvesting season I pull the gravity boxes with a Case IH 7120 magnum with duals. Even with this heavy machine, I still only pull one wagon at a time up and down the hill, not because it can't pull 2 wagons, but because coming back down with 2 full wagons spells trouble. Even with just the one gravity box it pushes the tractor (tires "slip" on loose gravel).
Point is, you can have a big machine that is pulling well below its max load, but depending on where you're driving, the situation can go downhill (pun) real quick.
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85Hokie
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BX-25D ,PTB. Under Armor, '90&'92-B7100HST's, '06 BX1850 FEL
Good point Sheep,
I was wondering the same thing about and how it happened
I will say that a geared tractor when pointing downhill does have a huge disadvantage in stopping as opposed to HST, now this is ONLY true if the HST is in 4wd, the geared one in 4WD must be throttled back to slow the forward motion - which many do anyway, thus creeping down the hill. On the HST - you can have the same throttle setting, but end up slowing the fluid rate to the wheels by letting off the pedal, thus a better braking system due to the fact the geared tractor CANNOT stop, unless the engine is stopped, the HST will stop with engine running WOT! - IN both cases - hitting the clutch/brakes is gonna be a no-no!
In both cases however - too much on the rear end is a no-no - no matter what tranny you use!
His idea of putting the tractor in neutral and going along for the ride is about as ridicules as him pulling that load with that tractor in the first place!
He's presuming he can control the tractor as it gains speed downhill. But when he loses control he would be in deeper do do.
He needs some lessons in tractor safety BAD.
Send him to Youtube to see some of the things that happen with bad decisions with tractors, maybe he'll wake up.
He's presuming he can control the tractor as it gains speed downhill. But when he loses control he would be in deeper do do.
He needs some lessons in tractor safety BAD.
Send him to Youtube to see some of the things that happen with bad decisions with tractors, maybe he'll wake up.