Tractors can kill you

I have a new found respect for tractors. I grew up in the city so I wasn't around then much. I've been using mine around the house the last few days and can see how dangerous they can be. I never realized the torque from the 12 speeds and combined with diff ratio and tire size. For any of you crazies getting on a tractor with limited experience, be careful.

Kel Lawrence

Good advice! I've been on,around and operated tractors since I was big enough to walk. Always make sure brakes are set,bucket lowered,PTO disengaged etc before getting off tractor. Sometimes you gotta have equipment running to inspect it,in this case use extreme caution...no loose clothing and so on. A PTO shaft will remove or mangle a limb! :****:
Better safe than sorry!!

And passengers are a bad idea....even though I've been guilty of that one,but would advise against it.

Cut the strings off your hooded or shorten them all the way up. Friends dad was almost killed this way on a PTO

I work with farmers every day. I just lost a customer due to a tractor accident last week. He was working on it with a friend when they fired it up they didn't realize it was in gear and he was run over trying to hop in it to stop it. They are very dangerous. Always be aware.

I can't even count the number of people I know thst have been seriously injured or killed by tractors around here. One of tge joys of living in the corn belt.

johneddie said:

Good advice! I've been on,around and operated tractors since I was big enough to walk. Always make sure brakes are set,bucket lowered,PTO disengaged etc before getting off tractor. Sometimes you gotta have equipment running to inspect it,in this case use extreme caution...no loose clothing and so on. A PTO shaft will remove or mangle a limb! :****:
Better safe than sorry!!

And passengers are a bad idea....even though I've been guilty of that one,but would advise against it.

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My grandmother's brother was killed riding on the back of one. Fell off and whatever piece impaled his leg. Infection set in and killed him. I grew up o a sweet potato farm and always respected our Deere because of that.

Farmed all my life and seen lots of stuff. They can be dangerous if you don't respect them just as any other piece of equipment.

The biggest we watched for was PTO. Kill or maim before you could blink. One people overlook though is hydraulics. These things can run several thousand psi. NEVER, NEVER check for a leak in a hose with your hand. Local guy years ago broke this rule looking for a pin hole leak in a hose. Ran his hand across it and it shot hydraulic fluid into his skin. Like a water jet cutter. He now has a scar from hand to elbow where hospital had to cut him open to get fluid out of his arm.

This thread is so true. I live on a farm. We have two tractors and they will **** you up before you can even realize it. My wife's uncle put his tractor on its side with a disc mower last year. Luckily he wasn't hurt but it could've been bad.

I ran my tractor for 16 hours this weekend. It has a loader and I have a bush hog. It is a small 35hp unit, but it still weighs 2700 #. To make it ahort, I was pushing over small trees with the loader and a root ball just let loose. I ended up in the hole and greatful that I was in a low gear. I hit my legs pretty solid on the steering wheel, but not hard enough to bruise. Clutch in, throttle down and memory bank número uno. I pulled it out with my old Ford and took a break. Next, I was pulling part of a a downed tree. Bush hog off, chain set up as a choker. I pulled in 1st, 1st and could not budge the tree in loose dirt. 1 2, then 2 2 but it wouldn't get any momentum to pull the log up the hill. This is where the error on my part kicked in after too much heat, not enough water and a lack of patience. I should have been in 3 2, ended up in 4 3 and found out how quick a tractor will stand up on end. I have a nice roll bar that saved my life....that and not being off camber. I sat the tractor 90*, still pulling. Heart rate at 60BPM, I walked over, after being gently rolled off the tractor, throttled down, quick shifted into reverse and shut it down. Tractor dropped half a quart of oil and had zero damage.

It is the closest to death I have gotten since being blown up in Iraq years ago. Sadly, I accepted my ignorance and didn't get too upset. I have done a little more research on potential hazards, proper techniques and will make sure to be hydrated, alert and way more cautious.

Feel free to give any pointers or safety tips. It could save a life.

Glad your ok! Believe or not...I started to mention "over hooking" ,for lack of a better term, in my previous comments. Whatever you're hooked to may not budge but with enough throttle the tractor will.

johneddie said:

Glad your ok! Believe or not...I started to mention "over hooking" ,for lack of a better term, in my previous comments. Whatever you're hooked to may not budge but with enough throttle the tractor will.

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Thank you sir. The combination of going uphill, mis-selecting gears and my rear tires filled with fluid was all contributing. I have always logged with my f-250, so it never occurred to me the danger of using a tractor to do the same thing. Chalk two up to luck and a huge hope that I am smart enough not to make it to three.

I grew up in farm country of Illinois, as a kid, I can recall multiple family friends (and a family member) that had hooks for hands (all were either combine or other implement accidents) These were all old timers. Got me thinking, are we that much safer these days? Or are there that fewer family farms now, trying to stay profitable with the big business farms out there changing the odds?? I know of a few bad sidehill tractor mowing accidents as well…They are a handy tool, but dangerous when you let your guard down.

I have a lot of experience with smaller tractors been riding working them since I was little I have a 46 hp kubota 4x4 with a loader I've cleared a ton around my house and land with it also some at neighbors! It has the factory roll bar and I wear my seatbelt all the time on it! We have a ton of hills and sand around that make it I guess a little more dangerous sometimes? I've run off in a bunch of root ball holes never really felt uncomfortable doing that? The loader catches the front so tires don't usually even go down in the hole! I've had it stand on the back tires and get pretty vertical while trying to push down larger trees but as long as I stay squared up nothing happens I just back back down. I don't usually do anything without some kind of implement on the back. The only time Ive ever felt a little nervous is side hilling but my tires are full of water and turned out to 6' I usually keep the petals seperate so I can grab the down hill brake if it starts getting to sketchy. My game plan if it ever starts going over sideways is grab a handful of loader up to keep me away from the ground!

Big tractors are dangerous too! We have a customer who gave his farmhand a 682HP Steiger Quadratrac pulling a HUGE disc and dude ended up tearing powerlines and mailboxes down for like 10 miles. He had the radio up so loud he couldn't hear it.

Hell yes they are.
My grandfather is called the "One Armed Bandit" not for WWII, but for a farming accident.

Neighbor was killed a few years back, was plowing, and the plow hooked something, hard stopping the tractor. So the tractor wheelied up and rotated back over onto the plow killing him instantly. Gearing just rotated the tractor on the axle, vs. the wheels on the axle.

I had a close call 18 years ago pulling an anhydrous tank, somehow popped a hose and I ended up. Tossing in Neutral, bailing and running up wind until the tank was empty and the wind had dissipated the cloud of death.

Farming is dangerous, more so if you are inexperience, even more so if you are in a hurry. Why you think farmers never get in a hurry for anything?

Re:

Back when I was on the local fire dept we had a call where a guy was pushing logs with his bucket trying to break them, one of the logs slipped over top of the bucket and came back on him with so much force that he was decapitated. Really gave me a new respect for tractors from that point on

I come from a farming family in Illinois and by far the most accidents and deaths you heard about was people shredding road ditches and pastures. Everyone thinks they can get just a little closer to the ditch to make it look better and end up turning the tractor over on themselves. At least one person was killed a year up there in the small farm town area I was raised in.

Actually saw on the news tonight where a Tennessee state trooper was killed here in East Tennessee by a tractor front end loader fell on him. They called it a farming accident. Haven't heard if it was a repair gone wrong or some type of failure. It was in Sneedville TN.

money_pit_yj said:

Big tractors are dangerous too! We have a customer who gave his farmhand a 682HP Steiger Quadratrac pulling a HUGE disc and dude ended up tearing powerlines and mailboxes down for like 10 miles. He had the radio up so loud he couldn't hear it.

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This is said tractor. It is one impressive machine! Jerome says " mane it ride like a Cadillac"

pholmann said:

Actually saw on the news tonight where a Tennessee state trooper was killed here in East Tennessee by a tractor front end loader fell on him. They called it a farming accident. Haven't heard if it was a repair gone wrong or some type of failure. It was in Sneedville TN.

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Damn, I hadn't heard about that one. I don't watch the news much though. Sneedville isn't far at all from me.