Brush hog accident(s)

[lilranch2001]

Anyone other than an idiot would think it cannot happen!

 

[alaarp]

Another thing about this. So person is sleeping in the weeds and brush comes by maybe 2-3 ft away on the pass before it eats you alive! How in the hell do you not wake up, jump up, and get the hell outta there?
This person had to be in an unconscious drunken stupor, in a drug comma, or already dead. INMHO

I vote for already dead. Fits the description. Isn't there some toxicology report they can do to determine if she was dead before the mower struck?

 

[Timmy1957]

I ALWAYS use a back Gaurd. A local man hit some bob wire and spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair

 

[scootr]

Yikes! That is extreme misfortune.

 

[Al Kramer]

Unsure what a poach is?

Poachers.

 

[Al Kramer]

My rubber skirts started chunking out and I ignored it for a time until I mowed over a small pile of DG with pebbles in it. After being "shotgunned" to the back of my head and neck, I fabricated bolt on chain guards out of angle iron and 5/16" chain.
Put that welder to work!

How do chains keep things from flying around? I’ve read about rocks shooting thru the mower decks, so, how would chains stop a rock? Or anything?

 

[lilranch2001]

A chain just slows the momentum of the object being tossed down, maybe you won’t die because you got hit by something…..

But you may wish to have died if it hit you hard enough!

 

[Al Kramer]

Several people have told about running over deer.

I'd be careful running with the loader down low when bushhogging. I've tried that trick in thick weeds and found a stump that bent me WAY over the steering wheel when standing on an open station tractor to see better. I don't want to hit stumps or whatever but I'd much rather have a repair bill than run myself over with the mower after being thrown from the tractor. Running with the bucket low-ish and tilted up is a better solution than blade straight and level.

As for the original post, it's really easy to hit things you don't see in heavy weeds and next to impossible to scout every square inch by foot beforehand. The use of the term "lawnmower" confuses people, especially since the article showed the nicely manicured lawns of the park but not the tall weeds mentioned in the text of the article. The "lawnmower" was likely a farm tractor. I commonly mow dense weeds 3-4 feet tall and sometimes brush higher than the tractor. My tractors could easily run over someone and I'd never notice the difference between that or a rock, stump, or other commonly ignored obstruction while mowing. Plus, some mowers are wider than the tractor itself. Picture the big batwing mowers used on highways. It's a tragedy but likely only avoidable by the victim herself. I'd expect most people to be awakened well before being run over unless they were under the influence or, possibly, they were sleeping where the first pass was taking place and woke in a daze.

“Running with the bucket low-ish and tilted up is a better solution than blade straight and level.” Why is that way better? Seems like in either case you could get tossed off the tractor. I’ve stood up now and then but I’ll think twice about it.

 

[masseyrider]

just mowed the back of the property, about 3 acres +-.
My hammer fell out of the tool box.
The greedy Bush-Hog gobbled it up and flung it a good 100+- feet across the field.
I've had a hammer there for countless years on numerous tractors.
First time this happened.

 

[lilranch2001]

Rut roe….. TBN has a way about items in a field…..

Think pallets!

 

[Hoobie]

Started mowing with bushog in 1976 on the Ford 9n father had on the farm. Was mowing corn stalks one day when I felt my right sneaker slip forward of the foot peg. A minute or two later my foot felt wet. Blood was soaking through the sneaker. A fractured piece of rock had been driven into my foot. Hard to believe that could happen.
The pto on the old 9n was driven off the transmission so when shoving the clutch to stop the momentum from the spinning bushog would push the tractor another 20 feet or so. So stopping required planning ahead. Dangerous really. And I had never heard of an overrun clutch.
Was mowing an abandoned property that a neighbour asked me. At that point I hadn't learned to say no. Heavy tall stuff..couldn't see ahead but he assured me all was flat and clean. Felt something bad happening, shoved clutch, and the hog momentum pushed me onto a short half rotten 16 inch firewood pile. And there I was ...tractor turtled on its belly with no traction to get off. I think that is about when I learned to say no.

 

[masseyrider]

the local dealer won't take a Ford 9n in trade because of liability issues stemming from that PTO system

 

[groundcover]

just mowed the back of the property, about 3 acres +-.
My hammer fell out of the tool box.
The greedy Bush-Hog gobbled it up and flung it a good 100+- feet across the field.
I've had a hammer there for countless years on numerous tractors.
First time this happened.

Friend of mine was loading his dozer on a trailer that was parked next to mine. As it broke over the ramps a hammer that he used to knock the pins out of his root rake slid back and locked up his steering clutch. Machine spun around and hit my trailer, he was more upset that I was, years later he ended up buying that trailer from me. Still had a crease on the fender from that fateful day.
Was telling an old contractor after something similar happened, well that happened before, he said that's what the farmer said when his horse died !

 

[Hoobie]

the local dealer won't take a Ford 9n in trade because of liability issues stemming from that PTO system

Yes I get that. Had to ride the clutch to get tractor and bushog going all at once. Couldn't stop quick. Dangerous. I used it for mowing for 40 years but I understood it and grew up on it. When I sold it I stressed the problem to the buyer.
1939 model and still running.
The Kubota is a dream compared to that 9n.

 

[lilranch2001]

Yes I get that. Had to ride the clutch to get tractor and bushog going all at once. Couldn't stop quick. Dangerous. I used it for mowing for 40 years but I understood it and grew up on it. When I sold it I stressed the problem to the buyer.
1939 model and still running.
The Kubota is a dream compared to that 9n.

I still have days that I miss my 8N, it was fun, it was nimble and it was a challenge.

I like the modern Bobcat, but there was a lot to be said for the 1950s era tractors!

 

[GinNB]

“Running with the bucket low-ish and tilted up is a better solution than blade straight and level.” Why is that way better? Seems like in either case you could get tossed off the tractor. I’ve stood up now and then but I’ll think twice about it.

If it's angled up then you're more likely to thump the stump with the body of the bucket and it'll ride up and over while still giving you the feeling of impact. If you hit a stump with the blade at the lowest point then you're pretty much guaranteed to fetch up the tractor unless it's a small stump that you wouldn't have to worry much about anyway.

 

[sailonner]

i've had a TS 4 foot brush hog horizontal blade for a number of years. Broke the outer pane of insulated glass on a sliding glass door over eight feet above and 50' behind the mower a couple years ago. Wrapped up yards of drip tape, 1/8' wire cable, electrical cable, old rope, and yep, t-posts hiding in the weeds. Last week I decided to buy a 41' HD flail mower to give a try to. $2020 with free shipping from BetstCo in Oregon. I think the drum style flail may work better on the rougher, steeper, brush infested areas. They claim it will chew through 3" brush trunks. Hey, if it will knock down and eat 2" stuff I'll be happy!

 

[D2Cat]

Once stupid, always stupid. You just can't unteach that.

Does this mean you were born so intelligent and all knowing you didn't have to learn anything?

 

[tacticalturnip]

Does this mean you were born so intelligent and all knowing you didn't have to learn anything?

I mean, I was.

 

[Jstpssng]

A human body can be quite small.

Especially if it's a female drug addict.