Tractor neophyte asks: "Is this safe"?

[dochockin]

I'm close to making the purchase decision on my first tractor (a B series Kubota) and came across this video while researching. To my inexperienced eyes, the section at around 2m50s looks pretty sketchy...

Digging a pond with a Compact Tractor - Kioti CK20s - YouTube

 

[dragoneggs]

You will love your tractor... so much you will find to do with it. I don't see any problem with his project and the hill he is climbing other than he needs to keep his FEL as low as possible at all times. No reason to have it up in the air like he does. A tooth bar would have helped him on that project as well.

 

[Baby Grand]

As dragoneggs says -

... so much you will find to do with it.

Please keep in mind while you're doing all these many things that digging with the
FEL is hard on our CUTs & SCUTs. Digging with the FEL without a counterweight on the 3pt is very hard on our tractors. It really tests the mettle of our front axles, which often prove to be the Achilles heel of our otherwise mighty machines. Rear ballast also greatly improves your tractors traction and stability. Be kind to yourself & your orange friend and ballast up!
-Jim

 

[k0ua]

In a word, NO. not the way he worked.. as pointed out, No ballast on the 3pt. Needs 500 lbs or more on the 3pt for even that small tractor to unload the front axle and keep the rears on the ground. Never carry a full loader up high like that. It can easily lead to a rollover accident.. Only raise the loader when you are on the dump location and are nearly stopped. You saw the rears raise many times. This is never good, as the front axle is on a pivot bolt and the tractor is free to roll to one side or the other when the rear tires are off the ground.. Did he survive? yep he got lucky. Don't count on your results being as good. Loaded rear tires would have helped stability also. There are many unsafe working tractors on You-tube. What you don't see is all the turned over tractor pictures like you see posted here. I am not on the safety police force, but having owned 5 tractors, and almost turned over a few from doing stupid things, I have learned a thing or 2 from these near misses.

James K0UA

 

[CobyRupert]

eh....
Sure, he could of been safer (you ALWAYS can be more safer, no matter how riduculous.)Everbody has their own comfortability/risk tolerance. Personnally, I would tend to keep the bucket lower, but he really didn't have too much weight in it, and I never saw the tractor in a situation where it was even close to going over. -Though when he raised the bucket pretty high when tipped sideways to "settle the load" I sort of though winched and thought "hope he doesn't drive that way"

 

[rd_macgregor]

It looked to me like he also wasn't wearing his seat belt...at least near the end.

 

[dragoneggs]

eh....
Sure, he could of been safer (you ALWAYS can be more safer, no matter how riduculous.)Everbody has their own comfortability/risk tolerance. Personnally, I would tend to keep the bucket lower, but he really didn't have too much weight in it, and I never saw the tractor in a situation where it was even close to going over. -Though when he raised the bucket pretty high when tipped sideways to "settle the load" I sort of though winched and thought "hope he doesn't drive that way"

Except that it only takes a stray rock under a rear wheel when the bucket is raised, especially if you are turning a bit to flip you over quickly. The higher the bucket the less chance of recovery.

 

[k0ua]

Except that it only takes a stray rock under a rear wheel when the bucket is raised, especially if you are turning a bit to flip you over quickly. The higher the bucket the less chance of recovery.

Yep, and you have some "puckering" experience on that terrace project right? And that is with a BX... a machine noted for low center of gravity.

 

[dochockin]

I don't mean to criticize the guy, perhaps he is a Tractor Master... The hill climb did seem pretty steep to me, especially coming down with an empty FEL... I didn't even think about the height of the loader.

@Baby Grand: Is digging hard on CUTS just for balance reasons, or for abnormal wear and tear? While watching the video, despite my safety concerns, I was excited at the idea of being able to dig ponds like that, but not if it takes years of the tractor's life.

 

[flusher]

I'm close to making the purchase decision on my first tractor (a B series Kubota) and came across this video while researching. To my inexperienced eyes, the section at around 2m50s looks pretty sketchy...

Digging a pond with a Compact Tractor - Kioti CK20s - YouTube

The FEL on these little Kubota's are more suited for scooping loose material than digging in compacted soil. You can do it, but you have to be careful not to twist the FEL arms.
Be careful when scooping material that's setting on concrete. The front wheels need to be able to spin when you push the bucket into the pile of stuff and the tractor's forward motion stops. If you do this on concrete in 4WD, you may end up damaging the 4WD transfer box since the front wheels may not spin when the motion stops. Better to use 2WD in that case. That's one of the first things the dealer warned me of when I bought my new 2005 Kubota B7510HST with 4WD.

Good luck

 

[k0ua]

I don't mean to criticize the guy, perhaps he is a Tractor Master... The hill climb did seem pretty steep to me, especially coming down with an empty FEL... I didn't even think about the height of the loader.

@Baby Grand: Is digging hard on CUTS just for balance reasons, or for abnormal wear and tear? While watching the video, despite my safety concerns, I was excited at the idea of being able to dig ponds like that, but not if it takes years of the tractor's life.

Couple of things.. the Hill climb was not the real danger. the real danger was prying out the dirt without proper ballast, and then transporting it over rough terrain with the loader up high. Coming down with the empty FEL, no problem, just keep dropping it as you reverse. Just like you raise it as you inch up the hill. As long as thee hill is kept even and not slanted to one side or the other.. No problem. As for digging in dirt like that, it is do-able. But without proper ballast to "unload" (take weight off of) the front Axle it does put additional strain on it. But they are tough. A tooth-bar would have helped immensely in the digging by breaking it up as the loader goes into the "pile". Another way to do it is to have a good heavy box blade with its rippers down, and "rip" the ground up and this will make digging of the loosened material so much easier.. The guys concept was fine, it is just a few of the executions and risks he took, that cannot be recommended. Yes he got away with it, and I suppose his reflexes and "butt feel" was good and he could kinda tell when he was getting on the "edge". But all it takes is a moment of inattention or fatigue to have a disaster when you are on the "edge". Best to play it safe at all times, and then when you are tired or distracted, nothing bad happens to you or the machine.. Hope this helps.

James K0UA

 

[Renze]

I once allmost put my tractor upright on the back of the cab when pushing up the manure pile, because i didnt lower the bucket enough after climbing the front end onto the steep heap (allmost vertical). When i pushed the clutch it immediately rolled backward, putting the front axle back down.

 

[rd_macgregor]

I always worry about lateral stability when edging up onto the manure pile. With the bucket raised to dump, any sudden tilt to the side could be more excitement than I want.

 

[k0ua]

By the way. The guy in the video is a very prominent poster here on TBN.

 

[tractorshopper]

I think he did good work and made it look easy. He's less uneasy on the seat than I'd be. I dug my pond that way, but used a toothbar and had my 6' box blade and filled rear tires for ballast. That actually helped me take heaping scoops at a time though so probably equalled out our pucker factors as I went up the steep stuff too. It was a fun project and I wish I had taken video and pics of mine while doing it like he did. I got squirrely twice when backing up and ran up bank sideways almost rolling it but dropped the loader quickly enough to not go over. Luck can have some influence.

 

[ddb123]

By the way. The guy in the video is a very prominent poster here on TBN.

I was wondering if anyone else realized this. I can't recommend some of his actions, including ramming into dirt with the bucket to dig, and he addressed this video on another thread. I might have tried climbing like that while moving much more slowly, with the bucket lowered and good weight on the 3pt.

The finished product is pretty impressive, though.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I remember the original post here on TBN and I don't think he was moving that fast in reality. Yes he did a few dumb things like having the FEL too high, maybe not wearing his seat belt, but as for climbing the slope, nothing wrong with going straight up and down a slope even steeper than that one as long as you go straight up and down, slow down a bit and not turn to the side AND keep that FEL within about a foot of the ground. You only need to raise it up high enough for the bucket lip to clear the ground in most instances.

 

[dochockin]

Can anyone link to the original post here? I'm curious to learn as much as I can.

That being said, I've no wish to offend the fellow in the video. I'm sure other folks would cringe if they saw some of the things I've done on a bicycle in urban traffic... sometimes it's about comfort level and experience and feel... I hope to have my own machine within a month and I'm looking for guidelines so I don't pull a classic stupid.

Thanks

 

[Green Power]

Click here.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/kioti-owning-operating/256452-diggin-pond-my-ck20s.html

 

[ddb123]

There is also a thread in which people confessed their own "classic stupids." Mine were driving with the parking brake set (a common one), and backing off of a trailer with the top link hanging down, bending it into a pretzel.