Carry low

[nebraskasparks]

Glad you're okay. Definately a "pucker" time... Get your rear tires loaded. I have RimGuard in mine. One time install, not in the way. Install and forget.

Glad you’re “ok” fatjay. We’ve all done these things in our lifetimes. I haven’t been on TractorByNet for some time but safety was my occupation in life. Here’s a document that contains some real basics that we all start looking for once we’ve seen “the light”

https://agsafety.tamu.edu/files/2011/06/SAFE-TRACTOR-OPERATION-ROLLOVER1.pdf

 

[kozal01]

Rear ballast was something I learned I needed very early on when I had a butt puckering moment while working down a slope. I bought a cheap steel ballast box off Amazon and filled it with concrete. I won’t do loader work without it anymore. Makes a world of difference.

 

[SmallChange]

the machine's small size and short base is important for where I'm working

I totally sympathize. A ballast box can, though, be pretty small, only sticking out back by less than a foot, and as narrow as a cross bar. I bought one and filled it with scrap steel and then concrete over it all, brought the weight up to 800 lbs. It is very little in the way. Just my two cents.

The one I bought seems to be exactly the one kozal01 shows in the picture.

 

[JasperFrank]

Even with the rops and the belt, I find it completely impossible to not reflexively jut my leg out to stop a roll. I need a sign or something on the dash that says "Keep your feet in the tractor!"

 

[WinterDeere]

Even with the rops and the belt, I find it completely impossible to not reflexively jut my leg out to stop a roll. I need a sign or something on the dash that says "Keep your feet in the tractor!"

Same. No matter how much you tell yourself you'll jump the other way, or just hang on for the ride, my brain just won't allow that to happen. I caught myself twice in a tip on the old Deere 855, once somewhat painfully, which thankfully only weighed about 3000 lb. with loader + ballast box. Caught where I did that last time, just a few degrees past the balance point with me between the tractor and a wood rack, I probably only had 200 lb. exerted on me. Doing the same with my present machine, closer to 5000 lb. with loader + typical ballast, would likely end with more than just bruising and a sore leg.

Of course, level of care goes way up, and likelihood of a tip-over goes way down, on the larger machine. Put me back on a garden tractor, and I'm likely to try some really stupid stuff, that I'd never do on a larger machine.

 

[Jstpssng]

Even with the rops and the belt, I find it completely impossible to not reflexively jut my leg out to stop a roll. I need a sign or something on the dash that says "Keep your feet in the tractor!"

Am I the only one who leans on a side hill? It sometimes works on my snowsled...

 

[WinterDeere]

Am I the only one who leans on a side hill? It sometimes works on my snowsled...

No, I do the same. Human nature, just like anyone in a leaning or capsizing sailboat always climbs to the windward rail.

But my 170 lb. ain't making much difference against a 5000 lb. tractor with another 1000 lb. in the bucket.

 

[fatjay]

Am I the only one who leans on a side hill? It sometimes works on my snowsled...

I absolutely lean when on a side slope. I was leaning on the kubota when it started to roll, but it got dicy anyway, and when it dumped me out, i lost that counter weight of me which made it worse.

 

[nebraskasparks]

Was moving dirt on the kubota b7200. Little tractor, big jobs, it does pretty well for what it is. Ran into the dirt pile and got a good scoop. Left side was heavier, I could feel it. I backed up and the right rear tire came over a mount of dirt, and the back end came up, and everything started to roll left.

I had my right hand on the controls and left on the grab handle, but I was going left, and I began to fall out. I put my left foot down on the ground to stop myself from falling, and I saw the tractor coming down and the foot rest was going to hit me mid calf when the tractor fell, and my brain was screaming MOVE.

It all happened in slow motion, my mind was racing, right arm was searching for grab handle, right foot was on reverse, which was the wrong thing, left hand still holding it's grab handle. Just then, the bucket hit the ground, and everything stopped. It gave me a split second to re-orient myself, right hand lowering bucket, in forward to come off the hump that elevated the right rear tire, left hand steering left to turn into the roll to push weight to the outside.

If that bucket hadn't hit the ground at that moment just before hitting the point of no return, I'm fairly certain I'd have lost my leg at least from the knee down.

Also I'm gonna need a ballast box.

ROPS and seatbelts . Gray hair doesn’t argue with those two essentials.

Best

Greg

 

[WinterDeere]

ROPS and seatbelts . Gray hair doesn’t argue with those two essentials.

Great post. Those of us who live on heavily-treed lots tend to leave our ROPS folded down, as in regular use, they create daily problems. Obviously not best, if there's ever a roll-over, but keeping it up on a lot like mine would vary between impractical and dangerous.

The "dangerous" bit comes in when the ROPS catches a tree branches, and causes you to wheelie or get whacked and slammed down on the steering wheel, all of which have actually happened to me. Incidence of these events are much more frequent, but obviously much less deadly, than a rollover.