Man killed trying to separate PTO shaft with tractor

[lennyzx11]

I skipped a few posts to get here.
My opinion is that he tied it to the 3 point. Either a quick hitch or draw bar across the lower link balls. Then when the tractor reared up, the lift arms free floated up providing no resistance.

And I have one shaft that I systematically have to screw with (on my posthole digger) because it’s tight. So I see the reasoning behind attempting to free it (even if wrong).

Though it does seem like a stupid accident,(aren’t they all?), I sympathize because I have done similar stuff.
BUT due to this forum and education learned here, I never ever ever put a hard pull above the center of the rear axle!

 

[Jstpssng]

Right, he has his rear tires reversed, real stupid!

Seriously, the Dad (I assume) says he hopes the kid does not land on his head, and says dont flip it. What kind of parent knows his kid could kill himself and lets it go on. Fortunately that old Ford had too high of gears and not enough grunt.

Not his son, I believe that at the beginning the narrator said the operator was also the person who restored it for him. I wondered if I was the only one who noticed those tires.

 

[Diggin It]

Very few news outlets, print or TV have field reporters that go to incident scenes and talk to people. They use snippets of news releases from public safety agencies or make a couple of quick phone calls to those agencies. Articles on TV news websites are usually no more than brief outlines that don't contain the same detail of the broadcast report and they're sometimes posted by people that maintain the website, not the reporters or news staff. I've caught errors in stories and contacted the reporter directly. They stated they only know what was in their broadcast report and wasn't even aware the story was posted on the site, let alone what was in it.

 

[MossRoad]

Very few news outlets, print or TV have field reporters that go to incident scenes and talk to people. They use snippets of news releases from public safety agencies or make a couple of quick phone calls to those agencies. Articles on TV news websites are usually no more than brief outlines that don't contain the same detail of the broadcast report and they're sometimes posted by people that maintain the website, not the reporters or news staff. I've caught errors in stories and contacted the reporter directly. They stated they only know what was in their broadcast report and wasn't even aware the story was posted on the site, let alone what was in it.

That depends on the story. Local TV and newspaper reporters do go to the local scenes and do talk to local people/authorities. That's the original story. Most TV and newspapers are now owned by large media conglomerates. The local reporters put the story into the conglomerate's system, and then it spreads across all outlets that they own. Editors select what stories they want to run. Sometimes it's a local editor, but many times it's a regional or even national editor that says "Run this story". If it meets the criteria for wider interest, places like Associated Press would pick it up, and off it goes worldwide. However, AP is waning in importance, as media conglomerates now have so many entities that they can generate their own national news service and don't rely on agencies like the AP and no longer pay for their services.

For example, this story we've been talking about in this thread appeared almost simultaneously on many Michigan news outlets, most tied to MLive. MLive Media Group was formerly Booth Newspapers.

From here:
Booth Newspapers - Wikipedia
Some of the papers they own include The Bay City Times, The Flint Journal, The Grand Rapids Press, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Kalamazoo Gazette, Muskegon Chronicle, The Saginaw News and Advance Newspapers, the company also maintains newsrooms in Lansing & Detroit.

MLive is owned by Advance Publications, which is the 44th largest privately owned company in the U.S., and the 4th largest privately owned company in New York as of 2012. Advance also owns 31% of Discovery Channel, and are majority stakeholders of Reddit. Source:Advance Publications - Wikipedia
So off the story goes nationally.

So, yes, a local reporter still covers a local story. From there, however, it gets repeated again and again, usually with no reference to the original author, especially if the original reporter works for a TV or newspaper owned by a conglomerate.

 

[gojira]

Put it this way...if you need to tow or pull, connect to the tractor's drawbar below the PTO out shaft.

This is one of the stupidest things I've ever seen...

BTW, I just pulled a stuck PTO driveshaft apart yesterday...I'd sprayed penetrating oil on it and let it set for a couple days and rigged a couple straps to each end...one to a fixed object (trailer hitch on my truck), the other to a bucket hook. The bucket was curled enough to act as a shield in case the shaft flew apart. Then, a slow pull and, it did come apart pretty easily

Oh man, there's so much bad going on there.

Years ago I was driving on one of dirt side roads in a town near me after picking up some goodies from the local smokehouse. There was a pickup backed into a tree at a funny angle and was running, so I stopped. Turned out the guy was trying to pull a stump with his truck's winch and a loop chain; when he floored it in reverse, the chain and cable came loose and flew back through the windshield. The windshield was smashed, the rear window was smashed and the chain was in the truck bed. He was fortunate that he only was grazed by the chain; I was able to get a call into the local fire/EMTs who transported him to the hospital. He needed a couple of stitches and was on concussion protocol but otherwise ended up OK.

 

[LD48750]

Right, he has his rear tires reversed, real stupid!

Seriously, the Dad (I assume) says he hopes the kid does not land on his head, and says dont flip it. What kind of parent knows his kid could kill himself and lets it go on. Fortunately that old Ford had too high of gears and not enough grunt.

How does the mounting of the rear tires make this application "stupid"?
How would it be safer if reversed?

And as an owner of one of those old Fords, I assure you it has enough gear & grunt to flip it.

 

[MossRoad]

How does the mounting of the rear tires make this application "stupid"?
How would it be safer if reversed?

And as an owner of one of those old Fords, I assure you it has enough gear & grunt to flip it.

I'm just guessing that if the rear tires are mounted incorrectly, with the tread facing the wrong way, they'd slip a lot easier going forward VS if they were mounted in the correct direction. The tires slipping may have prevented a rear flip over.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I once read, that there is a good reason to mount them that way, for certain applications, but don't remember why.

As far as the FORD tractor goes. If someone had no experience, how are they to know any different. I pulled many hawthornes out as a twelve year old kid. If our tractor didn't have a drawbar down low, I'm sure I would have hooked it anywhere I could, not thinking of the physics.

 

[Diggin It]

That depends on the story. Local TV and newspaper reporters do go to the local scenes and do talk to local people/authorities.

Yes, and this is not the kind of story they would go out on. Staff and budgets are limited, so News Directors pick and choose which stories to send field reporters to. Unfortunately, they often only choose to send a camera operator to get footage without interviews. In the 70s and 80s, I can remember being on incident scenes in a big city and seeing multiple TV crews and several print reporters and photographers all scurrying around in different directions.

 

[Jstpssng]

I once read, that there is a good reason to mount them that way, for certain applications, but don't remember why.

As far as the FORD tractor goes. If someone had no experience, how are they to know any different. I pulled many hawthornes out as a twelve year old kid. If our tractor didn't have a drawbar down low, I'm sure I would have hooked it anywhere I could, not thinking of the physics.

I once asked somebody why he had his front tires on his 4WD Kubota mounted backwards. He said that he used to work on a pig farm, and they found that with the front tires reversed it was easier to back out of stalls with a bucketful of manure. Then again I asked someone who had his tires reversed on his JD who replied that he didn't want to take the time to dismount them from the rims to switch them around.

To be honest I thought the guy on the 8N seemed to know what he was doing, and the right time to throw in the clutch; while he had the tractor jumping, he never stalled or lifted the front off the ground.