Right place, right time.

DT86 · Apr 25, 2012

I had a very interesting day today...

At about 1:00pm my dog and I left the farm on my tractor to head about 1.5 miles to a friends machine shop to do some heavy lifting with the loader. The dog loves to ride but was acting funny about half way there like he wanted off. I pulled into the parking area, jumped off the tractor and went about three steps towards the shop. At that point for no reason I turned around and there were flames about a foot tall coming out of the hood of the tractor. I yelled for help as I went for the fire extinguisher inside the shop door. Luckily the man that works for him is also a fire fighter. He quickly put out the fire and we opened the hood to inspect for the cause and damages. There was a nest of dry grass and straw, about the size of a shoe box, on top of the #4 valve cover, right beside the turbo and muffler. I had just ran this tractor several hours Saturday. Those little bastards sure moved in quick.

I'm guessing while driving at road speed the nest never caught fire due to the wind but smoldered pretty good and upon stopping it burst into flame. I also suppose the dog smelled the smoke when I couldn't and was uneasy over that. He doesn't like fire.

The good news is we put it out in time that there is no damage whatsoever to the tractor. The bird however is now homeless.

If I hadn't been going to a place with fire extinguishers and I had walked in the door without turning back towards the tractor I am almost certain that it would have burnt to the ground. For once in my 26 years I was definitely in the right place at the right time.

I think I'll drink a beer or six and shop online for a fire extinguisher of my very own.

Piston · Apr 25, 2012

Glad to hear nothing serious happened! Also you might wanna pick up something nice for the dog! Although you didn't catch his/her hints right away, he sure was trying to warn you :thumbsup:

DT86 · Apr 26, 2012

Piston said:
Glad to hear nothing serious happened! Also you might wanna pick up something nice for the dog! Although you didn't catch his/her hints right away, he sure was trying to warn you :thumbsup:

You and me both!

I take him for a swim in the creek almost everyday in the summer, he sleeps in the bed when he wants to and he has also been my best friend for the last 8 years. He's pretty well taken care of!

jimmysisson · Apr 27, 2012

My experience after decades of carrying around an extinguisher is that if you have it you don't need it. It's when you don't have it...
Jim

Treemonkey1000 · Apr 27, 2012

Good news all around then for you and your tractor and mans best friend. I keep thinking I should put an extinguisher on my tractor. That may be the incentive I need. Too bad it wasn't a grouse or some good eating bird on your tractor burner. :laughing:

skylarkguy · Apr 27, 2012

GOOD DOG!

ricklman · Apr 27, 2012

Yep, wife and I found this one out the hard way when we moved to SW Arkansas... They seem to LUV her Durango. They tend to leave my F-150 and Jeep alone. Those critters would actually fill the air filter box up every night with acorns. I'd clean it up every morning and they'd fill it up every night. They chewed up the hood blanket and made nice little nests out of the material as well as several wires. They actually do prefer Mopar products based on many conversations around these parts with the locals.

After all of the local advice, baits, poisons (yuck) and various stuff, we found that raising the hoods of our vehicles every day when we get home and the little critters won't move in.

And, as a bonus, all the visitors (no such thing as neighbors way out here) all ask about why we have our hoods up ;-)

My Kioti CK30HST is due to be delivered tomorrow and I've been mulling over how I'm gonna handle that.. Guess I'll have to leave her hood up everyday!

Stick895 · Apr 27, 2012

A cat. I'm surprised there you don't have blacksnakes eating them up.

creekbend · Apr 27, 2012

I'm sincerely glad that the results were positive in regards to the incident. If you go to the SEARCH section here on TBN and type in "Fire extinguishers on tractors", there is quite a few threads and posts that contain some good info such as the type, mounting; etc involved.

Treemonkey1000 · Apr 27, 2012

ricklman said:
Yep, wife and I found this one out the hard way when we moved to SW Arkansas... They seem to LUV her Durango. They tend to leave my F-150 and Jeep alone. Those critters would actually fill the air filter box up every night with acorns. I'd clean it up every morning and they'd fill it up every night. They chewed up the hood blanket and made nice little nests out of the material as well as several wires. They actually do prefer Mopar products based on many conversations around these parts with the locals.

After all of the local advice, baits, poisons (yuck) and various stuff, we found that raising the hoods of our vehicles every day when we get home and the little critters won't move in.

And, as a bonus, all the visitors (no such thing as neighbors way out here) all ask about why we have our hoods up ;-)

My Kioti CK30HST is due to be delivered tomorrow and I've been mulling over how I'm gonna handle that.. Guess I'll have to leave her hood up everyday!

Get a good barn cat.