Was accident preventable?

[Alzinn]

This summer my dad recently got into an accident on our b6000 tractor. I'm not sure of the exact date it was made but we think the 1970s. My dad was driving the tractor up a gravel road at our house. He has done this a million times but this time the front wheels came up and he lost control. He tried to abandon ship (jump off). Unfortunately he did not jump far enough and ended up stuck under the tractor while the tractor was on its side in a ravine next to the road. His leg was caught under the wheel and the tractor was still running. the wheel continued to rotate and ground into his leg until a neighbor found him nearly 30 minutes later. I'm wondering if these tractors have a tilt switch or any kind of safety feature so if the tractor rolls it would turn off. We are wondering if this was preventable or if there is a way to prevent it in the future. My dad has a long recovery ahead due to the severity of his wounds from the tire. The tractor is fixed and running but we are all a little hesitant to use it. We would like to make it safer. I have been in contact with Kubota. We have tens of thousands of dollars in medical expenses so far and he has a year of recovery.

 

[Tooljunkie]

Sorry to hear about the crash, your dad is a lucky man. There are no cutoff switches in the event of a rollover, this proves things can happen to experienced operators. We run our L4610 down gravel roads quite often, and it can get difficult at higher speeds.reducing speed and carrying loads as low as possible will lessen the risk.

 

[85Hokie]

This summer my dad recently got into an accident on our b6000 tractor. I'm not sure of the exact date it was made but we think the 1970s. My dad was driving the tractor up a gravel road at our house. He has done this a million times but this time the front wheels came up and he lost control. He tried to abandon ship (jump off). Unfortunately he did not jump far enough and ended up stuck under the tractor while the tractor was on its side in a ravine next to the road. His leg was caught under the wheel and the tractor was still running. the wheel continued to rotate and ground into his leg until a neighbor found him nearly 30 minutes later. I'm wondering if these tractors have a tilt switch or any kind of safety feature so if the tractor rolls it would turn off. We are wondering if this was preventable or if there is a way to prevent it in the future. My dad has a long recovery ahead due to the severity of his wounds from the tire. The tractor is fixed and running but we are all a little hesitant to use it. We would like to make it safer. I have been in contact with Kubota. We have tens of thousands of dollars in medical expenses so far and he has a year of recovery.

Very sorry to hear about your dad!

AS far as preventable, yes anything like that IS preventable !

Several questions for you :

What was he carrying on the rear to make the front tires come off the ground?

I am sure that is did NOT have the ROPS mounted????

(if not - you can get it still from Kubota - cost a little some ($300+)

Was it in 4wd or not a 4wd model?

The question that is the biggie.......anytime the front gets light.....bad things will happen......

If he had to do it again - I would get some weights added to the front of the B6000

Have the ROPS installed ( which comes WITH THE seatbelt !) and use the seatbelt. The ROPS , despite being a limb getter and a all around PITA, is a very, very nice thing to have when it comes to saving your butt!!!!!

AND you can place lights on it too!

I hope he can recover quickly!

 

[coachgeo]

Sorry to hear about your dad. Don't know about "today" but no tractors in the 70's had a tilt switch. Don't think they do today either. Preventable? Kubota has been encouraging folk to improve safety on their tractors with low cost FOP (Roll bar) in combination with seatbelt for a good decade or more.

Sounds like he had run it up the road off balance (rear heavy) off and on for years and it caught up with him.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Yes it was preventable.
ROPS, Seat belt, front weights when running rear heavy, wider tire setting, lower speeds when loaded heavy.

I also wonder if he was working beyond the tractors ability, I.E. need a bigger tractor to effectively and safely get a job done.

I'm always sorry to hear when someone gets hurt by equipment, I wish him a full and speedy recovery.

A tilt switch is not a good option on a tractor as there is many a circumstance that it would trip when it shouldn't.

 

[ShaunRH]

Sorry to hear about your father, hope he gets back into full swing of things.

Rarely is the equipment at fault, even if there is a failure of the equipment. There is almost always a human factor that had it been done differently, would've prevented the accident.

Hills and grades are very hard on tractors, and tons of accidents happen because of the situation. It's better to get an indicator installed on the tractor and if you are approaching the limit, back off and figure out a different way to do the task. The indicators are called "Clinometers". Common in the 4x4 and Rockcrawler worlds.

Some form of ROPS (Roll Over Protection System) is mandatory for a tractor, even level grounders benefit from them, that mud hole may be a bit deeper than you think...

Deadman switch. There are several types of these available. A common one for older tractors is similar to what you see on Personal Watercraft and boats. You put one end into the switch, the other attaches to you. If you 'bail out' the switch side pulls free and stops the tractor. In modern tractors this is done with a seat sensor switch. If you get up off the seat for a given number of seconds, the tractor shuts down. You can retrofit this system onto some older tractors. If your tractor is really old, you can do a simple necklace breakaway switch on the fuel shutoff lever. Attach one side of the necklace to the 'pull to shut off' lever and put your foot through the rest of it. When you bail out, the necklace will have a chance to pull that lever and then disconnect, it's not 100% but it's better than zero.

Retrofitting modern safety equipment on an older tractor is a good idea. I'm trying to work out what systems I can install on my 1958 D-17, first is a homemade ROPS. That tractor has been on it's side twice and only saved from full rollover by the backhoe. If it was on a steep enough hill, even that wouldn't have saved it!

 

[dmanlyr]

Sorry to hear of your dad's injuries, it mush have been very hard to lay there with that tire slowly eating away. Ughhh. My best wishes for a good recovery and that he can return back to enjoying life.

Preventable, yes. Lots of good suggestions as to weights, ROPS and dead man switches.

I will throw this out there too - get a tractor with a HST, not that I want to start a manual verses a HST debate, but there is no debating that as soon as his foot would have left the HST pedal, it would have returned to center and stopped the tires from spinning. He still would have been trapped, but at least the tire would not have kept turning.

In at least the case of this particular accident, a HST could be considered a real safety item.

It does sound like you all are uncomfortable with the continued use of your dads current tractor, so this is something to give some thought too.

David

 

[skeets]

Yep that really sucks about your Pap,, and everything mentioned is a good way to stay out of trouble. though I must add from so many years of investigating accidents and fatalities. One thing comes to light in the preventable accident scenario. While nothing mechanical malfunctioned it still happened, and the one thing that is common in 90% of the investigations is that someone became complacent with the job they were doing. Mind on vacation or a ball game or stopping for an adult beverage after work or just wanting to get back to the barn in time to eat supper. If nothing failed nothing malfunctioned, it leaves the blame on only one thing, human error. A pretty harsh thing to say sometimes but when every thing else has proven to be not the case it leaves only one thing,,,
I truly hope your Pap gets well very soon and is able to run the tractor once again

 

[phildac]

Alzinn,

Sorry to hear about your dad. Kubota is offering ROPS for older tractors at a discounted price. $148 for the B6000 plus tax and shipping to your dealer if not in stock. Here is the link to Kubota's website with the information. My friend with an L245 just got his a few weeks ago.

http://www.kubota.com/safety/RolloverProtectiveStructures.aspx

 

[Alzinn]

Thanks for all the replies. I will think about the ROPS but it would not have made a difference in this case. His injuries are from being stuck under it. The tractor dragged him down into a ravine. (Hard to explain) Basically unless there was a whole cage it would have happened either way. He had weights on the front and we think the problem was that he did not have his normal rake in the back. It was longer and he thinks it probably would have hit the ground to stop the tractor from flipping over. The tractor is one wheel drive so when he tried to jump he was no longer engaging the second wheel and unfortunately, the only one moving was the one touching his leg. I have friends who work at John Deere as engineers and they were very surprised with the lack of safety features. Some that could have helped prevent it, others for the problems like his fear of catching on fire since the diesel was leaking all over. You would think that when a tractor is rolled over it would not get gas, but that is not the case as it ran for 30 minutes upside down. It's a baffling case. His wounds are ones that doctors gawk over and when we met him in the emergency room he was "the luckiest man in the world." He is being featured at a wound seminar for the severity and uniqueness of the case as well as his healing process. We are glad he is ok but its odd that a tractor can be turned over and not turn off. It's dangerous for all people regardless of ROPS.

 

[D2Cat]

Alzinn, Hope you dad recovers fully and quickly.

When you have/use ROPS you MUST wear a seat belt for to be effective. The seat belt keeps you in the seat so you're not crushed by the machine or, as in your situation have the tire burn the skin and the weight of the tractor cause further injuries.


Check with your JD engineer's see see if JD had fuel cut off switches on their similar size tractors in same year.

Accidents are easy to solve with 20/20 hindsight.

It was Dandy Don Meridith who said on Monday night football. "If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, oh what a Christmas this would be!"

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Alzinn,
I'm not really understanding where you are trying to go with this?
complaining about a 40 year old tractors safety features or that lack of them seams a little...well dumb to me!
You stated,
"I have friends who work at John Deere as engineers and they were very surprised with the lack of safety features"
Tell them to look at John Deere of the same era (40+years) They didn't have any safety features on there tractors either!
You have a very, very, small 40 year old tractor that was designed for rice fields, flat, wet and slow work was what it was for.
Also you are talking about a grey market Kubota that wasn't even meant to be used in the USA at all.
If you looking for safety, don't scrimp, go out and buy the right size tractor for the job at hand.

 

[Alzinn]

This is not a grey market tractor and it is the correct size for what we use it for. It was not being used to do anything at the time of the accident just relocating. Please refrain from the negative comments as they are not helpful. I understand with rops you wear a seat belt but he was going into is a 30 foot ravine filled with trees. I would rather jump than roll over with the tractor into god knows what. Obviously that's not what normal situations would call for. I realize I'm probably fighting a losing battle asking about safety equipment on an old machine I'm just looking for outsider insights.

 

[Tooljunkie]

A long time family friend was connecting an imlement when the tractor rolled backwards and pinned him between tractor and implement. Pto was off but freewheeling-it bored a hole in his leg. Somehow he managed to shut machine off, but remained pinned for some time.

One misjudged moment can cause serious injury or be fatal.

An old diesel tractor will be difficult to add cut off switches to. A rops is only effective with a seat belt.

 

[85Hokie]

This is not a grey market tractor and it is the correct size for what we use it for. It was not being used to do anything at the time of the accident just relocating. Please refrain from the negative comments as they are not helpful. I understand with rops you wear a seat belt but he was going into is a 30 foot ravine filled with trees. I would rather jump than roll over with the tractor into god knows what. Obviously that's not what normal situations would call for. I realize I'm probably fighting a losing battle asking about safety equipment on an old machine I'm just looking for outsider insights.

Not to add insult to any part of this thread,

today's tractors DO have safety features that WILL cut the engine off, but most all are PTO related, not tilt related.
The JD of 40 years ago were/are just as suspect in a similar situation, tractors improved with safety as more people got hurt doing things that were on the "edge" - and on the edge - meaning things that we have done before and dont think twice about doing again.

Tractors are just like cars of the same period, a 1970 some car might have had a seatbelt, few used it......now you have 7 airbags, a seatbelt, a crumple zone up front....etc....

The bottom line is that things have improved A LOT, the old tractors had lot of accidents, few were caused by faults in the tractor, must are human related. Today we build stuff so that the person that has a moment in thinking has a chance to do it again!

 

[tempforce]

most new tractors have a seat switch that will kill the engine if you remove the pressure of the body off the seat...
it would be easy to retrofit a older tractor with a seat activated kill switch...
something every owner of a older tractor should consider...

 

[tempforce]

A long time family friend was connecting an imlement when the tractor rolled backwards and pinned him between tractor and implement. Pto was off but freewheeling-it bored a hole in his leg. Somehow he managed to shut machine off, but remained pinned for some time.

One misjudged moment can cause serious injury or be fatal.

An old diesel tractor will be difficult to add cut off switches to. A rops is only effective with a seat belt.

a electric fuel valve could be added to an older engine....
another option would be, to install a solenoid operated intake shutdown dampener.

 

[kjjehnzen]

I removed the ROPS on my B1750 while doing some repairs. I have loaded tires, and carry every load as low as I can. While the ROPS got in the way and I didn't missed it one bit; after reading this post, I am determined to put it back on. I'm glad to have a 4 wheel drive HST that stops when I let up on the pedal and pushes straight when we're moving.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

This is not a grey market tractor and it is the correct size for what we use it for. Please refrain from the negative comments as they are not helpful

Alzinn,
I'm not trying to be insulting in any way, just informative, I have the utmost sympathy for your father in his accident and injury, I have had similar things happen over the years and yes most were preventable.

You asked is the "Was accident preventable"
Yes
#1: A larger tractor for the job at hand, the Implement sounds to large for the tractor to safely handle.
#2 Possibly the route taken or ground conditions were too much for the tractors stability.
#3: A ROPS and Seatbelt use might have helped in eliminating or mitigating the injuries.

Unless you are lucky enough to get a T,W,C model B6000 ("T is for Tow model, W is for Wide model, and C is for Creeper model, they were the only legal models that were imported to North America, the other models were Grey/Gray market and shipped here illegally thus Kubota offers no support for those models to US and Canadian owners.").
So if you have any other model like the F or D (most common) you most certainly have a grey/gray market Kubota, 99% of B6000's in the us and Canada are grey's.

Don't believe me, just call or visit a dealership with your serial # and they'll be happy to tell you that they won't even sell you parts for your tractor!

Now back to the point, The "tractor" is not one wheel drive, the point of such a tractor would be ridiculous, it has a differential which supplies movement and power to both rear tires, and the tire that was spinning just had less resistance on it than the other tire.

Jumping off a tractor in a roll over is against the odds of getting away uninjured, there is whole safety programs built around the "stay in the seat and stay alive"

These are not negative comments they are just reality based comments!

 

[CaveCreekRay]

Dittos to Wolfman...

The only one wheel drive tractors are broken/defective ones as they would not function in service. The differential will allow one wheel to turn while the other is stopped.

I have a friend who was not wearing a seat belt while clearing a steep hillside on his property. He somehow managed to bail out as his tractor rolled. The fact that the tractor hung just a second or two saved his life. He tumbled to the bottom of the hill (he was in his 70's!) and then got right up and out of the way. A couple seconds after he got up, his Kubota tumbled down the hill and landed right where he had been laying seconds earlier. It would have crushed him had it hit him.

The ROPs is almost useless in this situation without the seat belt. My friend could have been killed by the tractor rolling over him on the way down the hillside.

Hope your dad heals up.