Tractor Rollover

[YLee Kioti]

Those meters are great and all, but speed and a rock or a hole can dump you over even if your incline is 'green'. The incline adds to your risk, certainly. For me, having a meter would likely add to a dangerous level of complacency. Ymmv.

I am probably overly cautious, but my life doesn't depend on anything I'm doing with my tractor. It certainly isn't worth the risk to push the limits.

Basic physics things can help. Wider stance. Lower center of gravity. Weight in the seat (wheels). Inertia (slower is better). Keep your loader as low as is practical. Similar to driving on ice, sudden changes are not your friend.

Not so sure about complacency heh...heh..
My pucker factor ever went away.
I just grit my teeth and remind myself to look at.the terrain closely.
It's another tool but vigilance is key for us all...

 

[Elviscaretaker]

The stated slope sideways for my 5110 is 30 degrees in the paperwork. That said I've had it on 2 wheels at 14 degrees and the pucker factor is real. I still do it but at crawl speeds for turning around is all. Now on my tc-30 I'll do 30 degrees as long as I don't have a loaded buck. If the backhoe is on even more if I swing and extend it uphill I just think maybe I'm more careless in the small one vs the big one.

 

[OldPaint]

Anything that lowers your center of gravity is going to help. But as others have pointed out, one stump hole at the wrong time will cause a problem on even a modest slope. If you can’t go straight up and down, then it’s best avoided. NEVER pull a load of significant amount across a hillside. Even a heavily loaded trailer can make the tractor unstable by pushing the rear.

 

[dadohead]

Retired tractor engineer here. I used to study accident reports. Know that many of the rollover type accidents start as a "runaway" then end in a rollover.

Soooo, pay attention when decending a hill with that load. Diff-lock is the one feature you use  before it is needed. Without, all it takes is one tire to break traction and the other will "freewheel". It feels exactly like you shifted to neutral. Pay attention on decents, slow down, and engage diff-lock before the decent. Good discussion! Hope this helps!

 

[WinterDeere]

Diff-lock is the one feature you use  before it is needed. Without, all it takes is one tire to break traction and the other will "freewheel".

... and with today's mostly-4wd CUT's, I'd say the same about that. Always engage your 4wd on a downhill run, before you need it.

One of the few times I really scared myself on a tractor was headed down a hill with a load of maybe 10 empty shipping pallets on the FEL. Not enough weight to bother reversing down the hill or engaging 4wd... or so I thought.

You already know what happened. The rear tires were in zero danger of coming off the ground, but they were just light enough to lose the traction battle with gravity and slope acting on the weight of the tractor, and I went freewheeling down the hill!

In my case, stopping was as easy as dropping the loader. But as much as you tell yourself that's a simple way to stop, it did take my brain a second or two and dozens of feet traveled between several large trees, to gather my wits and do it.

 

[fustsgt]

The off road supply houses sell incline gages.

Going a cross a side hill that should have been ok turned into a roll over for a friend when his loaded rear tire hit a soft spot from ground squirrels… it didn’t take much

Whenever my BIL's uphill rear tire went over a groundhog mound n his steepest hay field, He would call "come shoot woodchucks"

 

[Shawn T. W.]

The manual on my Kubota L5030, in the safe operation section only says to set the wheels as wide as they go for widest practical application ... Nothing about reduced weight capacity or increased wear ... The wheels have adjustable spacing, I have them at there widest.

My Massey Ferguson GC 1725 MB doesn't have adjustable wheels, and doesn't say anything about wheel spacers, I have 3" spacers on the back, and 1.3" on the front ... Haven't noticed any "wear" or problems in the 735+ hours I have on it, I bought it new ...

My "seat of the pants meter" went off at this point, my front tires wouldn't pull/steer up hill in 4X4 .. the 5' brush hog on the back is a bit heavy for it, and I had forgotten to put rocks in the bucket like I normally do for front ballast ...

I gingerly got off the top side holding onto the ROPS hoping it wouldn't tip over, it didn't ... I gave it a little "shake" ... Rock solid ... Gave it a "PUSH" , still stable ...

You can see how the front tires had spun a little trying to pull me up ... I probably could have just backed up, but I didn't feel like it, plenty of weight on the back, and down low, tires are filled, 70 Lb steel wheel weights on each side, and 275 Lbs mounted on the BH frame, plus the brush hog , rear tires had not broken traction ... Once I added a few rocks, the front tires could steer, and I just drove out!

I can easily mow this hill sideways in 2 wheel drive with this Kubota, rear tires are not filled, but the MF needs to be in 4X4 ...

This next picture is the same place as the previous picture, the little tree near the rear tire is the same as the one 10' to the left in the previous picture, with the 5' brush hog I can mow this in 2 wheel drive, but with the 90" finish mower, I need 4X4 to pull it back up, it weighs twice as much, and all the weight is on the ground ... I mow sideways on the hill until I get to that little tree, then go up and down to get beside it ...