Seat safety Switch? What is the point?

[GeneV]

Say you are mowing, a low branch knocks you out of your seat, or like a post a few years ago, a female operator run her tractor up on a guy wire of a utility pole, she fell out of the seat, mower continued run her down and chop-chop. That's the idea. a once in a million thing. BUT it happens. It has happened, and if it saves just one life etc etc.

Yup, that's why I reconnected mine for mowing. But, I do disable the switch when doing everything else on the tractor other than mowing.

 

[GeneV]

Some of the safety switches make sense, to me when they "stack" 2-3 switches it becomes troublesome. (seat, neutral & PTO) A simple "operator presence" switch saved our Front cut mower (F series Kubota) from sucking water when the Mrs. drove it into the pond and bailed off. Of course it was the steep bank deep end, spent a good 45minutes at about 10' down.

Finally, somebody makes a good case for the engine c/o safety switch...hydrolocking a tractor can't be good. Other than that scenario though, that switch is a royal pita for a hst tractor operator.

 

[fried1765]

Seat safety switches and ROPs are there to help keep you alive....What don't you understand...

Dale

So......I am nearly 80.
If I sit on my tractor with safety switch connected, and ROPS attached.....how much longer should I expect to live?
I have lived through riding my bike without a helmet, drinking from the garden hose, not having car seat belts, landing on an aircraft carrier, being shot at in Vietnam, etc. and I am STILL alive!

At my age, I think the Coronavirus, Cancer, or organ failure, is MUCH more likely to be my undoing, than a seat switch, or ROPS. (On my L48TLB, the seat switch is bypassed, and the ROPS is off).
I think the New Hampshire motto has it exactly right: "Live Free or Die"!

38,000 people die each year in automobile accidents (even with seat belts, and air bags).
That is a LOT !!
Idealistically, we could prevent ALL those deaths, if we just simply quit driving!

 

[nybirdman]

I believe in safety switches and would never disconnect;on my lawn mower(JD),I have to set the parking brake and shut off deck to dismount with the motor running.Back up safety is more of a PITA but acceptable.
I have seen too many "farm" accidents where the safety devises have been removed.

 

[aczlan]

Have a seat safety switch on an M series Kubota, doesn't do anything other than sound an alarm if you get off the seat with the PTO engaged.

Most ag size tractors don't have the nanny switches lawn tractors do, I've never bypassed safety switches on lawn tractors even though they can get annoying.

As I understand it, the requirement for a seat operator presence switch is based on tractor frame size. The object is to make it so that you cannot accidentally put the tractor in gear while standing on the ground and run yourself over.

Aaron Z

 

[newbury]

Being from Pittsburgh, this might explain it better.

Hi All,

I was viewing a thread where people eat fish on Friday

I guess I am thick headed, but I do not eat fish on Friday and really cannot see an advantage to doing so, other than perhaps a quick intestinal change,,.

What am I missing? It sure seems like the fish causes a lot of grief to those who eat them, and not eating one brings no grief to those of us who do not .

I guess I would eat fish if they are a real benefit, but I just can not see what the real benefit is!

** OK, perhaps there is some protection there..

If you do not want to believe in safety switches, nothing I say will change your mind,,

I have them,, on the tractors that came with them,

If you study up on the history of the Catholic religion you will find out why many people eat fish on Friday (I am not Catholic).
This obviously has NOTHING to do with tractor safety devices, but is just to answer the above example/question.

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

As I understand it, the requirement for a seat operator presence switch is based on tractor frame size. The object is to make it so that you cannot accidentally put the tractor in gear while standing on the ground and run yourself over.

Aaron Z

I think the seat safety switch is to protect the innocent and unknowing. NOT the tractor. If you flip your tractor be concerned for your life, not your engine.

 

[BrokenTrack]

So......I am nearly 80.
If I sit on my tractor with safety switch connected, and ROPS attached.....how much longer should I expect to live?
I have lived through riding my bike without a helmet, drinking from the garden hose, not having car seat belts, landing on an aircraft carrier, being shot at in Vietnam, etc. and I am STILL alive!

At my age, I think the Coronavirus, Cancer, or organ failure, is MUCH more likely to be my undoing, than a seat switch, or ROPS. (On my L48TLB, the seat switch is bypassed, and the ROPS is off).
I think the New Hampshire motto has it exactly right: "Live Free or Die"!

38,000 people die each year in automobile accidents (even with seat belts, and air bags).
That is a LOT !!
Idealistically, we could prevent ALL those deaths, if we just simply quit driving!

You are looking at it the wrong way. 38,000 deaths is not really a lot compared to how many drivers are typically on the road. But that does not mean their should not be safety precautions on tractors still.

Every year more people are killed in skate boarding accidents than with hazardous materials, but I still am very glad they have restrictions on hazardous materials due to safety concerns.

Same idea.

 

[BrokenTrack]

It is interesting...

I used to wonder why they put seatbelts on tractors? What a dumb idea I thought, then I ran a loader for a guy in gravel pits loading screens and rock crushers. I started using my seatbelt and something interesting happened: I had a lot more energy at the end of the day.

What was happening was, I was constantly bouncing around in the seat before and stressing and tiring me out. But when I sucked myself into the seat, and allowed the seat to take the shock, I was a lot more productive, and a lot less tired.

My good friend is about as redneck as you can get, and has equipment that is massive in size, and probably number in the 100's. Yet he was the one that told me about seatbelt use. He uses them because it makes him a much better operator. Who would have thought?

It is the same way with hearing protection though. Try using a chainsaw without it, then with, and you will be astounded how much more tired you are when you do not have them in place.

 

[old and tired]

...OK, perhaps such a switch prevents one from starting the tractor(with the key) while standing next to it. I get that...

I'm with ya' but the only safety switch I disconnected was the clutch!!! (felt safe since it's HST). The others are a PITA but not enough to mess with them.

 

[aczlan]

It is interesting...

I used to wonder why they put seatbelts on tractors? What a dumb idea I thought, then I ran a loader for a guy in gravel pits loading screens and rock crushers. I started using my seatbelt and something interesting happened: I had a lot more energy at the end of the day.

What was happening was, I was constantly bouncing around in the seat before and stressing and tiring me out. But when I sucked myself into the seat, and allowed the seat to take the shock, I was a lot more productive, and a lot less tired.

My good friend is about as redneck as you can get, and has equipment that is massive in size, and probably number in the 100's. Yet he was the one that told me about seatbelt use. He uses them because it makes him a much better operator. Who would have thought?

It is the same way with hearing protection though. Try using a chainsaw without it, then with, and you will be astounded how much more tired you are when you do not have them in place.

As a teenager, our next door neighbor rented a skid steer to remove some railroad tie retaining wall. you got the bucket wedged in between two layers and instead of them coming apart, they stayed attached, so he picked up the whole 20' long wall. Predictably, the skid steer tipped forward and landed on its nose (ended up tipped forward at a 45 degree angle).
He did not have a seat belt on and was unable to run the hand and foot controls at the same time to lower the boom and let the skid steer tilt back down.
I was able to get in it, buckle up so that I could hang off of the seat belt, then start the skid steer and drive it forward as I lowered the boom so that it ended up flat on the ground again.
It made all the difference in the world having a belt on.

Aaron Z

 

[k0ua]

I will second the seat belt needed. Some of the slopes I operate on here requires the seat belt belted in so you can actually operate the tractor. Otherwise you slide forward in the seat up against the steering wheel. The seat belt makes operation much easier.

 

[tmcj]

I am 45, and for as "young" as I am, I guess I have old school habits when it come to the seat safety switch and seat belt. I grew up on old farm tractors that didn't have them and still occasionally run the old Farmall M. I was always taught safety and cautiousness comes first with any machine. Just be smart about everything you do. Of course the unexpected may still happen, but keeping your head on straight keeps your bones from getting bent, or so I've heard, lol. The seat safety switch on my Max26xl was nothing but trouble, wires constantly getting pinched and blowing fuses, so I bypassed it. I have never used the seatbelts on it either. The ROPS is folded down a lot of the time too. It is too tall to fit in my garage or get under tree limbs in a lot of areas. Probably best not to have a seatbelt on in that case. But I do put the ROPS up if the job permits.

I try to keep the switch hooked up on a lawn mower. I can't imagine having a running mower deck coming at you if you would roll over.

Otherwise I am a strong advocate for safety first. I am a shop supervisor at my work and always enforce using seatbelts on forklifts or the occasional skidsteer usage, among many other things. We started wearing seatbelts in the cars all the time when our kids were young, mostly to set an example for them to grow up with that habit. Motorcycles and ATV's on or off road, I always tell my kids and other folks to dress for the crash not for the ride. Wear the best protective gear you can afford.

I guess I can see it both ways for my tractor. But for now, I have no intentions of fixing the seat switch or pulling out the seat belt. After 4 years the sealtbelt straps still have the plastic sleeve over the webbing from when it was new, lol. Lord willing, I won't regret it.

 

[BrokenTrack]

I will second the seat belt needed. Some of the slopes I operate on here requires the seat belt belted in so you can actually operate the tractor. Otherwise you slide forward in the seat up against the steering wheel. The seat belt makes operation much easier.

I operate a boom mower in the summer, so from July to September, just about daily the "pucker factor" comes into play.

 

[Peter 315]

I am 45, and for as "young" as I am, I guess I have old school habits when it come to the seat safety switch and seat belt. I grew up on old farm tractors that didn't have them and still occasionally run the old Farmall M. I was always taught safety and cautiousness comes first with any machine. Just be smart about everything you do. Of course the unexpected may still happen, but keeping your head on straight keeps your bones from getting bent, or so I've heard, lol. The seat safety switch on my Max26xl was nothing but trouble, wires constantly getting pinched and blowing fuses, so I bypassed it. I have never used the seatbelts on it either. The ROPS is folded down a lot of the time too. It is too tall to fit in my garage or get under tree limbs in a lot of areas. Probably best not to have a seatbelt on in that case. But I do put the ROPS up if the job permits.

I try to keep the switch hooked up on a lawn mower. I can't imagine having a running mower deck coming at you if you would roll over.

Otherwise I am a strong advocate for safety first. I am a shop supervisor at my work and always enforce using seatbelts on forklifts or the occasional skidsteer usage, among many other things. We started wearing seatbelts in the cars all the time when our kids were young, mostly to set an example for them to grow up with that habit. Motorcycles and ATV's on or off road, I always tell my kids and other folks to dress for the crash not for the ride. Wear the best protective gear you can afford.

I guess I can see it both ways for my tractor. But for now, I have no intentions of fixing the seat switch or pulling out the seat belt. After 4 years the sealtbelt straps still have the plastic sleeve over the webbing from when it was new, lol. Lord willing, I won't regret it.

My buddy always says , Dress for the slide not the ride......

 

[LouNY]

Say you are mowing, a low branch knocks you out of your seat, or like a post a few years ago, a female operator run her tractor up on a guy wire of a utility pole, she fell out of the seat, mower continued run her down and chop-chop. That's the idea. a once in a million thing. BUT it happens. It has happened, and if it saves just one life etc etc.

To para-phase another thread "Another reason for a cab" :drink:

 

[k0ua]

To para-phase another thread "Another reason for a cab" :drink:

Well, yeah, there is that..

 

[Henro]

Lot's of input!

I think the issue of possibly falling off the tractor is a non issue if you wear your seat belt, so those concerns pretty much go away with seat belt use.

Can see the advantage of the tractor turning off if tipped on its side, due to the seat switch causing shutdown. Not sure if the seat switch would activate if one is wearing the seat belt, but it might.

Looks to me like a tilt switch would be a better option, in the case of tipping or rolling. It would cut power regardless if one was wearing a seat belt or not.

I am having trouble with the fish on Friday analogy. This is even having after gone to Catholic grade school (over sixty years ago). Could be because I am from Pittsburgh...:laughing:

By the way, I think having a mower that turns the engine off, if you back up with the mower deck engaged, is worse that a seat switch!

 

[PILOON]

"the publishers clearing house" , now that should be banned!

My CUT came with the safety switch missing when I bought it.
The switch was integral to the manual shifter to prevent starting in gear.

Being a simple male/female connector on the wires I disconnect them and it serves as a theft deterrent.

That being said any CUT that has the switch disabled, can by simply using a single switch be similarly modified.
Mind U it won't stop professionals but for sure 'joy riders'.

 

[fried1765]

Lot's of input!

I think the issue of possibly falling off the tractor is a non issue if you wear your seat belt, so those concerns pretty much go away with seat belt use.

Can see the advantage of the tractor turning off if tipped on its side, due to the seat switch causing shutdown. Not sure if the seat switch would activate if one is wearing the seat belt, but it might.

Looks to me like a tilt switch would be a better option, in the case of tipping or rolling. It would cut power regardless if one was wearing a seat belt or not.

I am having trouble with the fish on Friday analogy. This is even having after gone to Catholic grade school (over sixty years ago). Could be because I am from Pittsburgh...:laughing:

By the way, I think having a mower that turns the engine off, if you back up with the mower deck engaged, is worse that a seat switch!

Don't know what they did in Pittsburgh, but.....We had fish on Friday for school lunch, because the Catholic kids were not allowed to eat meat on Friday!
Maybe a different variety of Catholicism in Pittsburgh?

 

[Henro]

Don't know what they did in Pittsburgh, but.....We had fish on Friday for school lunch, because the Catholic kids were not allowed to eat meat on Friday!
Maybe a different variety of Catholicism in Pittsburgh?

I know and remember about fish on Friday (got the impression they don't do that anymore), just do not see how it relates to the seat switch...

Unless it would refer to the majority having to bend to the will of a minority, perhaps?

Edit: By the way, there were no school lunches when I was in grade/high school. We all walked home for lunch. Different world now, with buses and cafeterias.