Don't drop bucket at full speed...

[clenhart]

According to the info on the e-mail, this happened because the loader bucket was lowered while moving at a good clip. I can't verify the authenticity as this was just one of those forwarded e-mails that I receive too many of, but looks and sounds plausible. I always wondered what would happen and hoped to never find out, but this goes beyond what I could have imagined. I guess the extra "weight in motion" from the trailer didn't help any...


edit... O.K. Sorry for the re-post. I missed it somehow, even after searching to check first...

 

[gordon21]

Old pix. This was on TBN a few months ago.

 

[RonR]

I don't know; I can't see how it happened any differently.

My guess is IF that trailer had not been hooked to the tractor, the tractor would have probably rolled forward over, causing more damage/injury.

Seems like it would take a fluke for the bucket to dig in enough to make that happen.

ron

 

[jmfox]

A while back I suggested wearing seat belt at all times. I was driving merrily along when suddenly the bucket dug in and everything came to a stop; including my nose within inches of the windshield.

jmf

 

[cp1969]

A friend of mine had a mid size John Deere tractor and had replaced the front bucket with a bale spike. For reasons no one will ever know, he either deliberately or accidentally dropped that bale spike into the gravel road he was driving on in top gear.

That spike dug in to the road, but the tractor kept trying to go forward. It turned into a bucking bronco with him inside. Don't know if he was knocked out initially, but someone came along and found this tractor bucking like crazy in the road with him inside. I do not know how they stopped it.

He did not survive. Another friend who works at the funeral home said she had never seen a body so badly damaged.

 

[Pooh_Bear]

My understanding of those pics was a hydraulic hose burst.
People were wondering if it would be covered under warranty.

Pooh Bear

 

[wushaw]

Traveling along at a good clip would be an understatment.
It look like to me the tractor had to be going more than 10 -15 mph to fold it like this.
There is something missing to this story.

 

[RonR]

Pooh Bear,

In the 70s as a kid I worked with a crew on a small bale mover, which looked like a truck, but was special made for bale handling. It had a snout to pick up the bales in the field, and a track to move them back on the bed. It worked slick, but I was ALWAYS worried about the steering.

The driver sat at the left front; the steering was totally hydraulic--there was no manual linkage to the wheels. I sweated every time we drove it, and it would go 40+ on the highway. If one of those steering hoses or the cylinder ever gave way, the wheels would turn all the way left or right. I cringed thinking if that were to happen at highway speed.

We drove it several years (then I went to college) and never had any incidents. Looking back, I don't know how they could sell the machines that way. Would be curious to look at some of the newer ones to see if they have a manual backup.

ron

 

[Zork]

Was he pulling the trailer? Did the trailer come unhooked at 60 mph, spring brakes on, and the tractor slide off? The tractor draw bar isn't bent, and there is a gouge where it appears that the trailer tongue was plowing all the way up to the bucket impact, that shouldn't have happened if it was connected to the draw bar, would it? If the bucket dropped at a fast speed wouldn't there have been a larger area where the road was scraped before the bucket took a bite? What probably happened is the usual thing- following to close to a Branson and couldn't stop quickly enough. Either way, my heart goes out to them.

 

[RalphVa]

He's lucky it was a heavy tractor. A lighter tractor may have ended up upside down, after having been tossed end over end from ramming whatever he hit as unmovable object with his FEL. With the heavy tractor, it apparently just ripped the FEL from its mechanism, and the tractor went over the FEL.

Ralph

 

[Rowdius]

On a job about five years ago I watched a guy moving a track load across a location at full speed, hit a rock, he slammed the bucket into the ground and he shattered the front windshield with his face. By the time I got my dozer over to him, he was still just slumped in his seat, I thought he had broken his neck, but he shook it off...

 

[JayDavis]

These were posted a while back. My thoughts are that it looks like the trailer is hooked to a dolly with a gooseneck style hitch to pull what looks to be a semi trailer. I am thinking the truck was pulling the whole assembly with the tractor on the trailer when the gooseneck/dolly detached from the hitch on the truck. End result, gooseneck frame drops to ground digs in. Trailer comes to an abrupt stop and tractor goes off the front and hits the ground.

Either way that is an expensive way to split a tractor.

 

[blueriver]

As I understand, the grandpa and his grandson were moving rolls of hay, thus the trailer behind the tractor. The grandson accidently hit the joy stick while on the move, the load kept the tractor from doing a complete flip and assisted in the folding of the tractor. The grandson had several injuries, I belive he was ejected!

 

[chh]

I think Jay may be onto to it. There isn't a ball or attachment on the back of the tractor where it could have been towing the trailer. The bucket looks to have hit the ground at a pretty steep angle from that gouge. It would ad up to the tractor to having been on the trailer and coming off from the trailer coming loose. No sign of tie down chains either. Probalby just moving it from one feild to another and decided it didn't need chained down. Looks like a bad end to a nice MF tractor.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I think you guys are on the right path. Look at the Ford Pick Up Truck in picture #2. It has a hitch in the bed and I bet it was the rig pulling this tractor and trailer combo. There are no signs of hay. I would have been lauched into the rear of the tractor and even if they cleaned it up it there would be some sign. Lack of tie downs on the tractor and lack of safety chains on the trailer. I bet the insurance company and the lawyers had a good laugh at that one.

Chris

 

[Zork]

Lets just say the trailer was connected to the tractor, the tongue would have been bent in the position that the draw bar is in now, or the tractor would have jack knifed and not be so straight on the road- and there would not be the tongue gouge in the roadway. Plus, look at the angle of the "bite"- that road surface is so hard either the bucket pivot mechanism would have been bent backward and then skidded on down the road. Looks like good photos to justify $150 in tie downs.

 

[blueriver]

I went back and searched this, copied and pasted the following information. I thought I remembered most of it I was mistaken about the grandson as well as the extent of the injuries. Look again at the pictures and you will see some left over hay on the trailer as well as on the road.


Copied and pasted the following.

Together with the SK license plate on the Ford pickup, and the stickers on the cab that say Full Line Ag, I got the dealer information in Swift Current, SK, Phone: (306) 773-7281.
Ok, here's the scoop per a salesman at FULL LINE AG. The owner of the Massey tractor was traveling down the road in road gear pulling the trailer with a full load of bales. Either the owner or the owner's 4 year old son accidentally pushed the joystick to roll the bucket down into the road. The 4 year old actually was thrown out of the cab onto the road but fortunately sustained only scrapes and bruises. The owner as I understand was relatively unhurt. The tractor has been submitted to insurance and that's where it stands as of now.

 

[RonR]

Thanks for the search job Blueriver.

I went back and looked at the pics.

Question: How would you remove that tractor from the road?

Another big tractor and LONG chain to pull it backwards to try to un-kink it?

Or start torching the loader away from the tractor?

Or just scrap it in place?

Ron

 

[civesnedfield]

Traveling along at a good clip would be an understatment.
It look like to me the tractor had to be going more than 10 -15 mph to fold it like this.
There is something missing to this story.

Yes there is. In the earlier thread it was explained that the trailer was loaded with round bales and was hooked to the tractor.

 

[blueriver]

Thanks for the search job Blueriver.

I went back and looked at the pics.

Question: How would you remove that tractor from the road?

Another big tractor and LONG chain to pull it backwards to try to un-kink it?

Or start torching the loader away from the tractor?

Or just scrap it in place?

Ron

Maybe a rollback wrecker?