Anyone Flip Over Their Two Wheel Tractor?

[wstr75]

I rolled over my diesel BCS 853 last Saturday while pulling a subsoiler implement. We were pulling up landscape cloth buried under 20 years of mulch and I lost track how close to a chip mound from a ground stump the right wheel was. It crawled up that mound and promptly flipped over. I let go of the safety handle and fortunately the engine fuel supply cut off the engine. No oil loss and no other problems. Am writing this up so my fellow 2-wheel operators have this knowledge.

 

[JamesHW]

I flipped my 853 on its side brush mowing when the right tire fell in a hole the same moment the left tire ran up on a tree stump hidden by brush. Tractor was uninjured as was I.

 

[plumberroy]

I flipped my Grillo g85d I was pulling a big branch down into the ditch. I ran a rope around a tree down in the brush and back to my tractor wasn't straight with the rope when I hit pressure on the rope, didn't hurt a thing

 

[oosik]

I laid our Troy Bilt on its side. First year tilling the garden site. Got tangled with ancient barbed wire. It just kept spinning - pulling & winding that 'ol barbed wire. Then I turned it off. What a chore. Unwrapping barbed wire.

 

[WesKootenay]

Guess I can't join this elite club
Our BCS732 is relatively low powered, though I have had it leap in the air when it hit still frozen soil.
I will have to practice flipping.

Stay safe :drink:

 

[goeduck]

I never had my BCS or my Troybilt Horse on the side or upside down. I did stand the Troybilt on its nose a few times when it hit a rock, but I pulled it back. Dangerous when that happens if it ever hit you under the chin. I stand way back or to the side.

 

[joecoin]

I've put my Grillo 107d on its side a few times, haven't flipped it over completely. Yet.

Lots of hills here.

 

[Ford850]

I never 'rolled' mine while using it, but I did loose it while loading into my truck one time. I used to use wood 2x8 planks to load my old BCS 605 with tiller into my truck. One time I tried it while on my paved driveway which was stupid. As I reached the top edge of the planks, the left plank slipped back and the 605 dropped nose first onto the concrete. It bounced and fell onto it's side. I was lucky, only denting the steel shell around the engine recoil, and the BCS ran fine for years afterwards. I bought a pair of nice aluminum ramps after that, and haven't used wood planks since that day.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Never upset it but did have to extracate it a time or two when it went too far over an edge.



I don't think, a couple of guys could have done it. That thing was HEAVY!

 

[Sevanje]

So you guys are saying that Grillo and BCS 2 wheel tractors can take a beating and still survive. I am watching over mine G110 like it was a 1 month old baby. And with its safety factor of around 2.5 or maybe 3 if I close one eye, that gearbox feels really fragile. At least I will not worry so much now hearing your stories.

 

[JamesHW]

If a one month old was as much of a beast as my 853 it would be changing me. That said I am religious about greasing everything, following the maintenance schedule and running non-ethanol gas. Brush mowing dense brush over irregular ground is about as tough as you can get and the 853 takes it all in stride.

 

[radios1]

Count me out of the professional Tractor flipping association, it seems too dangerous!.

 

[Industrial Toys]

The Gravely PRO 12 was more apt to hit something one corner or other, sending one of those handles into your ribs in the blink of an eye.

If I really wanted to live dangerously with my 2Wheel, I would use the steering Sulky.



It was like an amusement park ride going around corners and you best keep your knees together, for if you went in a dip, those bloody handles would come down at great speed.

 

[Jens767]

Hi wstr75

I'm sorry to hear that you rolled over your tractor, but at the same time I'm glad to hear that you and your tractor got over it unharmed :thumbsup:

These things can happen, and sometimes they happen so quickly that we are not able to prevent them. What you describe, is a good reminder to us all, how important it is to be focused on safety whenever we are working with a potential dangerous tool, like a 2-wheel tractor.

You are of course well aware, that the wider you set your wheels apart, the more stable the tractor gets, and the more unlikely it is to roll over. The standard wheel spacing is usually very narrow, which might be convenient during transportation and in a showroom, but often of little benefit when working with the tractor. If there are no other limitations that you need to consider, I would set the wheels to the widest practical setting.

I use my tractor only in the front-PTO mode, and mostly with my Zanon lawnmower and my sweeper - and since a few weeks - with my Berta flail mower. To stay within the 82 cm (31 3/8'') working width of the Zanon, I have set my wheels to an outside width of 79 cm (30 1/4''). This allows for a little margin of slightly more than 1/2'' on either side, and has made the tractor much more stable. On top of that, I have added 15 kg (33 lb) wheel weights on either side. This has increased stability by lowering the center of gravity a little, and increased traction as an extra bonus.


Best regards

Jens

 

[Richard]

Never happened to me.... but as a kid, cutting the grass at the apartment complex my father (built) owned.... my pal Dave was on the riding mower (Gravely? I don't recall brand) Anyway, a geared riding mower and was cutting. Finally I heard my name yelled out.....went running over....

He was doing (I have no clue) on a slope and the front end went up on him. He was laying on his back with the riding mower wheels up on top of him. He was able to keep soem leverage on the hood to keep it from laying on his chest.

I helped him roll it off of him and other than a laughing moment (we were both probably 14'ish and you know how kids that age might find humor in a any situation)

Anyway.....rolled it off, brushed him off, laughed and all was well. I don't recall that the machine started immediately but we got it running and it was fine.

I've had some leaning moments and those scare me enough....

 

[wstr75]

Jens,
You are correct suggesting a more wide wheel spacing improves roll over stability. My wheels are set wide as seen in these photos. I can attest to improved wheel traction by adding wheel weights. A 65 pound (30kg) addition increased traction by an estimated 25%. I am now looking to buy smaller O.D. weights to put inside the wheel rim for another 100 ponds (45kg).

 

[wstr75]

 

[jbradley]

I laid our Troy Bilt on its side. First year tilling the garden site. Got tangled with ancient barbed wire. It just kept spinning - pulling & winding that 'ol barbed wire. Then I turned it off. What a chore. Unwrapping barbed wire.

I haven't flipped my BCS over, but I have wrapped things around the tines. When I first got a BCS tiller, I drove to Chicago to pick it up (I live in SW Iowa.). I was helping at a camp that week, about 70 miles east of home, where my sister lived. I didn't have time to drive home, but I was so anxious to try it out, that I decided to till one pass alongside her garden, in previously untilled ground. The tines bit into that sod, and the tiller took off. Instead of letting go, I tried to keep up with it, and I hit her garden hose. That hose was so wound up in the tines that I had to cut a section of about 5 feet from the hose out to untangle the mess. I told my sister that I had added value to the hose. Instead of an unwieldy 75 ft. hose, I converted it into 40 ft. and 30 ft. hoses that were easier to manage.

I also hit a cattle panel that was laying on the ground in an area that I was putting a new garden. I did have the sense to let go of the tractor, but it still bound things up pretty good. I had to use an angle grinder to cut it out, as the 4 gauge wire was too tough for my 6 inch wire cutters.

 

[Jens767]

Hi again wstr75

Thank you for sharing your fotos with us :thumbsup:

Am I right im believing that you have the larger 6.5x12x23'' wheels on your tractor?

If you are considering putting more weights on your wheels, and you haven't seen this thread already, you might get some inspiration from one of our members from New Zealand, called Tandem:

https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums...-cbs-740-photos-2.html?highlight=#post5355498

Tandem has been able to add around 42 kg (92.5 lbs) to each standard 5.0x10x20'' wheel. If you have the larger 23'' wheels, you should be able to add even more.

When you are working with an implement like the subsoiler, I think you need all the traction you can get. Modern 2-wheel tractors are usually very powerful compared to older ones, but at the same time they are relatively light, and as traction depends heavily on the weight on the wheels, one tends to run out of traction these days, long before the engine runs out of power. Your tractor probably weighs about 300 lbs, and your diesel engine probably has around 12 hp. Comparing that to a Holder E12 built from the 1955 to 1959 for instance, this tractor had a comparable diesel engine but a weight of 915 lbs! Your tractor weighs less than 1/3 of the Holder, and probably therefore has less than 1/3 of the traction, thereby "wasting" 2/3 of the engine power in wheel slippage.

If you have added 65 lbs to a 300 lbs tractor, you probably have increased traction by around 65/300x100 = 21%. If you are able to add 100 lbs to the 65 lbs you have already, you can estimate an increase of around 165/300x100 = 55%, compared to the tractor without wheel weights. - Not bad! :thumbsup:

I look forward to hear how much weight you will be able to add, and how it will affect your work with the subsoiler.


Best regards

Jens

 

[wstr75]

Here is an article with several interesting bits of information. The four wheel tractor industry says 110 to 120 pounds per horsepower is the sweet spot for optimal traction. The dual versus single tire choice is also discussed. Tire pressure is also discussed.

Note: I had the tire and tube in my BCS 853 "spin" on the rim a few years ago when the psi had gotten too low. I utilize as low as possible tire pressure for my riding lawnmower to keep from hard packing the soil. I am going to experiment with adding more weight and also with adjusting tire pressure to as low as possible without encountering the tire/tube spinning on the rim.

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