Terrified of tipping - how about an inclinometer?

[beenthere]

The inclinometer isn't going to tell you anything that you want to know.. as to when you are "safe" from rolling over. And the reasons are already mentioned.
Won't tell you where the center of gravity is at or going to be (hoe bucket too high, FEL too high, upcoming rock, upcoming hole, etc., etc.).
And as joecdeere said, it is just a distraction from what you need to be paying attention to at the moment.
Go by your comfort zone. If not comfortable, don't go there.

 

[k0ua]

The inclinometer isn't going to tell you anything that you want to know.. as to when you are "safe" from rolling over. And the reasons are already mentioned.
Won't tell you where the center of gravity is at or going to be (hoe bucket too high, FEL too high, upcoming rock, upcoming hole, etc., etc.).
And as joecdeere said, it is just a distraction from what you need to be paying attention to at the moment.
Go by your comfort zone. If not comfortable, don't go there.

^ pretty much what he and others have said, the inclinometer is the last thing you need to be distracted with. If you feel uncomfortable, then don't do that. Of course where you feel discomfort and where an experienced operator feels discomfort are two different things.

We build up and modify our discomfort level as we have experiences. Tiny slopes where my wife feels discomfort are of no consequence to me. But I have a discomfort "tippy" level too. And the tractor is probably no where near tipping over.

I watch the state highway department mowing on slopes with their "squat tractors" that make me want to puke just watching them. But I have been on grassy slopes where the tractor wants to slide down them, which they sometimes will do before they tip. But hitting a highside rock or a lowside hole can make all the difference in the world, and can be the straw that broke the camels back.

Bottom line: if you are a scaredy cat you are a scaredy cat. Not much can be done about it until you operate for a few more years and have more experience's built up. Don't do stupid things like travel with your loader up, and always have proper ballast on the tractor, avoid side hilling whenever possible, and keep your wits about you.

 

[sea2summit]

Bottom line: if you are a scaredy cat you are a scaredy cat. Not much can be done about it until you operate for a few more years and have more experience's built up. Don't do stupid things like travel with your loader up, and always have proper ballast on the tractor, avoid side hilling whenever possible, and keep your wits about you.

Reminds me of the old saying: There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there’s not many old bold pilots.

 

[Diggin It]

You can run up and down the same slopes a thousand times doing different tasks with different implements or loads, under different conditions, but nothing is going to warn you about that unseen low or soft spot that wasn't there last time.


I regularly mow a steeper hill than many here would consider safe, but I've done it enough times to know what to watch for. And that ain't a dash mounted gizmo. Still, that soft spot from a critter or the last big rain might very well get me someday.

 

[Hughman]

I had a meter on my tractor for a short while. I found that unless I was sitting still, the meter was bouncing around so much from the vibration that it was pretty much useless. Eventually the two-way tape holding it to the tractor came off and I never bothered to replace it.

The best meter is the one between your butt cheeks.

 

[oosik]

I don't really have many slopes that I would operate on. Most everything is either dead flat or vertical. You must learn by the seat-of-your-pants feeling. Maybe the little gage will help.

It's probably not the incline that will get you. It's when you are on the incline and the down hill rear tire drops into a hole. There isn't a meter in this world that can help in those conditions.

For now and until you get more experience - stay off slopes the make you feel uneasy.

 

[VroomVroom]

I'm sorry, but if you've managed to end up in a situation where you think this might be of some use, you need to be looking at what's going on, not a gauge, even for a second. I rolled my dads MF-135 as a teenager when I dropped a down hill rear tire in an old well that was covered with brush. Tractor and mower were on it's side in less than a second. My only saving grace is that he had put a ROPS and seat belt on it a year or two before

Wheels keep turning?

 

[VroomVroom]

Yeah. Manufacturers probably wouldn’t install as too many variables changing from day to day. Even speed or a bounce could make the difference etc. First thing you’d have to do also is install the gauge and then tip the tractor over to know where it’s going to tip for next time with same conditions

 

[Hay Dude]

Had one of those in my Toyota Landcruiser FJ-40 back in the early 80’s.
It’s not going to do anything but distract you. Just put your energy into lowering and widening your equipment, proper tire inflation, slow down a gear and go up/down hills instead of along the side of the hill.

 

[bcp]

You can be stopped on a slight sidehill, in a very stable position, and then roll over simply by raising your loader bucket.

I've done it twice in the last ten years. Not fully over, but rear wheel off the ground and front axle against the bump stop. This was a lift from about 4 inches off the ground, going up toward a height barely sufficient to dump the bucket. The rear wheel came up when the level bucket was about a foot off the ground. If I hadn't been aware of the potential problem, and raising the bucket very slowly, it could have rolled fully over.

Bruce