safety switches...

[BeeferMan]

Ok, go ahead and blast me, but I'm sick and tried of safety switches.

I picked up a TT75A recently, mainly some extra HP for haying. I haven't used it yet and it's already about to drive me crazy. It's got more freakin' safety switches on it... Seat, PTO, tranny, aux tranny, brake... And if you get off it without setting the brake - even with the tractor turned off - it emits this periodic beeping that'll raise the dead. And of course the pawl on the brakes is worn enough that it'll occasionally release on it's own. I keep the tractor far enough away from my house that I can't hear it, but some of the neighbors can - need I say more? So I've shorted out the seat switch already.

Then, last weekend I decided to get my Wheel Horse lawn tractor going. I got another one, so I never ever fired this one up last year. Battery was dead, so I put a new one in it, set the brake, climbed on - no starter. About an hour later I had it running - after having to defeat every single safety switch on the tractor. They were all bad! One on the seat, one on the brake, two on the PTO lever. I'll probably end up replacing most of those, but....

Ok, rant over....

 

[Radio Mark]

Got to say there has been many times I thought about defeating the safety switches on my tractors then I remember that my wife likes to use them at times. Enough SAID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:laughing:

 

[BeeferMan]

I don't think I'd ever want to NOT have a neutral safety switch - but how many do you need? I think one is enough. And the ear splitting beeper? It's handy to know that your tractor won't start (or has just shut itself off) due to a safety switch being opened, but a red light on the dash would serve the same purpose and be a lot less annoying...

 

[Radio Mark]

a little clip of a set of side cutters might also be in order for the piezo speaker, God I hate those things

 

[kebo]

a little clip of a set of side cutters might also be in order for the piezo speaker, God I hate those things

Or maybe stuff some cotton over the speaker and then wrap it up good with some electrical tape.

Speaking of safety switches.....
My ex father-in-law defeated the seat switch on his Exmark ZTR mower. Got it stuck one day in the drainage ditch in front of his house and tried unsticking it by the mower deck WITH THE BLADES SPINNING. He now has five fingers (3 on on hand, 2 on the other) that are a little bit shorter than they used to be. This man is a degree'ed electrical engineer too.

 

[Denwa]

.......
My ex father-in-law defeated the seat switch on his Exmark ZTR mower. Got it stuck one day in the drainage ditch in front of his house and tried unsticking it by the mower deck WITH THE BLADES SPINNING. He now has five fingers (3 on on hand, 2 on the other) that are a little bit shorter than they used to be. This man is a degree'ed electrical engineer too.

Kebo,
Bet *he* didn't try to sue the mowers manufacturer either. All these fine devices are thanks to our societal trend to sue folks for our own poor judgments. And the legal system's/ambulance chasers/jury awards that make doing so so easily rewarding.

Got to agree that most of those switches are a PITA, but, they will keep one out of injurious trouble, other than hearing loss. They don't seem to have come up with a switch for overly loud exhaust noise on lawn mowers or motorcycles.

Regards,
Dennis

 

[Raspy]

I could not live any longer with the kill switch connected to the seat! Every time I so much as stood up, the engine died. So that went away early on.

The neutral switches on the gear and range are still there, and might be a good idea. But, one day out in the brush, they got pulled apart by some branches and I had to figure it out.

 

[mjncad]

Safety switches and mechanisms are a good idea up to the point where they begin to hinder safety.

If it takes three hands, and holding your tongue just right to engage the safety switches in the proper sequence for an operation; then there are too many nanny switches.

I remember the original Saturday Night Live cast did a spoof on digital watches after they first came out. They showed about five hands being needed to operate the silly watch.

I defeated the RIO switch on L-130 lawn tractor, and added a selectable PTO safety bypass switch on my 4200 so I can run the PTO and jump off my tractor to operate my sprayer's handgun without having to remember the sequence Deere prescribes to run the PTO when the operator is off the seat.

 

[Rgillard]

The switch on my skid steer seat has recently become faulty.
There must be a loose connection but when travelling on rough ground the skidsteer will all of a sudden lock up, disabling all loader and wheel movement. If your travelling at high speed or with a load this could really hurt..I have experienced travelling at top speed and it suddenly stopping..I am thinking of disabling this as there is a frame to hold you in. I know this is to prevent u moving the machine without anyone in the seat but it has become such a nuisance now and god knows what a new switch from komatsu would cost...

 

[BeeferMan]

The NH TT75A that started this thread was delivered to me at 9:00 on a Saturday night, on the side of the road, in the dark, in the rain, by a trucker who knew nothing about tractors. Being confident, I said "No problem...", got on the tractor to start it and drive it off - and spent the next 40 minutes trying to figure out how to get the &$@# thing started. I never did get it started that night, had to roll it off the trailer and get my wife to tow me to the barn with another tractor, all the time with the NH "beep, beep, beepin'" at me. The next morning I pretty quickly found that the "Operator Presence" switch for the seat had vibrated loose during transport. But that didn't make me feel any less a fool the night before, or make me any drier, or less aggravated. The topper was when my wife asked me why I paid so much money sight-unseen for a tractor that didn't run. :mur:

 

[BeeferMan]

Nothing like loading on one's own thread, right...

But here's more. I finally actually took the NH out and cut some hay yesterday, tractor ran well (when I could get it started) and I was happy with that part of it. But I again had trouble starting it. something was obviously intermittent in the safety start system - and it was getting way worse. So when I was done, I took it back to the barn and started to check it out. I found that the safety switch on the clutch was on its way out, it was way flaky. I jumpered around that and now it started every time, as it should. But in checking that switch out, I couldn't help but notice what a crappy design the mounting of that switch was. The switch is mounted to so that it opens (disables starting) when the pedal is the totally released position - but it closes (allows starting) with almost no motion of the pedal, i.e. press the pedal down about 1/2 inch and you can start the machine - way, way before the clutch actually releases. So IMO that's not a very effective safety switch, someone could easily start it with the clutch engaged, but think they were safe from that.

So I got to thinking - maybe a good way to put a end to this safety switch madness that litigation seemed to have caused would be to sue them for a poorly designed safety switch? Then they'd be less inclined to install so many of them for fear of being sued! I'm kidding, of course, but one can surely see the ridiculous ends continuing this CYA overreaction could bring us too.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

I have had some luck flushing those switches out with WD-40. Keep squirting it in while cycling the switch will help. I am not a big fan of all of them myself. In defense of some Safety switch talk to the folks missing fingers, hands, arms or their life because of bypassing or a lack of a switch (operator "error")

 

[pat32rf]

Many years ago I bought my first 4x4 with an automatic tranny. One day the kid and I were awaaaay back in the bush and got stuck in a small mud hole in the snow. Shut it off to assess the situation and two hours later found that the safety switch wires on the tranny had been pulled off by a branch...The first of many issues with safety switches

 

[whistlepig]

I disabled a faulty PTO seat safety switch one time by jumping it. This was on a 1,300# riding tractor. My wife was mowing with this tractor on a steep side hill and ran the rear tire over a rock on the high side of the of the hill. This bounced her out of the seat, she slid down the hood, and the tractor and mower ran over her right leg while still running. I seen this happen. The mower blades chewed the bottom of her shoe off and was cutting into her sock when I got there and shut the engine off. Thank goodness she wasn't hurt. I will never disable any safety switch again. I don't feel that the safety switches are put there for me. But they are put there for someone.

 

[The Haymaker]

The seat switch on my 2220 was the first thing to go. PITA!

 

[mjncad]

On my L-130, I won't disable the seat switch as that is a good thing. I was mowing my front ditch and I had the mower slightly angled causing it to want to tip. Add into the mix the slick vinyl seat and I was sliding off the mower. Having the seat switch kill the engine was a good thing.

As I said in a previous post, the RIO switch was bypassed as its a PITA.

 

[FlaDon]

Most of the tractors I've got or ran never have had seat safety switches. If they do, they get kept for use in Ohio where it would be real easy to roll over a bank. Safety switch on a two-wheel tractor is located between the handlebars and called an operator.

 

[aczlan]

We have a Cub Cadet LT1050 that I disabled the engine portion of the operator presence switch, so if you get off the seat with the blades on (even for a second) you have to shut them off and turn them back on. I am comfortable with that, what I didn't like was the engine shutting off when you got off unless you set the parking brake. Just seemed really hard on the engine.

My inlaw's Kubotas all have the switches that Kubota put on them in good working order as if I fall off the tractor while raking (or cutting, or baling) I want the tractor to stop before it feeds me through the implement on the back.


Aaron Z

 

[BeeferMan]

I don't mind some safety switches - I wouldn't want a tractor without a neutral start safety switch. But carried to the extreme, they can cause a tractor become *less* safe.

Example: The TT that prompted my initial rant will continue to emit that annoying beep even after you shut it off if the parking brake is not set and the transmissions aren't in neutral. I like to park my tractors with the transmissions in gear, that prevents them from rolling should the brake fail, and also provides a small amount of protection from someone like a kid getting on and inadvertently starting the tractor. With the TT, due to the excessive design of the safety system, I must leave it parked, in the starting position, with no safety other than a (poorly designed!) parking brake. Sort of a counter-productive safety mechanism in my opinion...

As for seat switches, no easy answer. I've mowed bankings on my lawn tractor with one hand on the key, in case it starts to tip. But I still hate the seat switch. I have considered rewiring the seat switch to a plug with a lanyard (like you'll find in a boat) that would allow "operator presence" protection for those risky areas, but still allow me the choice to run the tractor without having to always be sitting on the seat.

 

[Renze]

Both my Volvo 440 1.9 turbodiesels didnt stop when you turned the iginition key to OFF... I had to stop them with the clutch, 2nd gear and brakes.
replacing the solenoid on the fuel pump didnt help, so i used both of them as is.