Well that was pretty dumb!

grm61 · Dec 28, 2014

GManBart said:
I have lots! A few weeks ago I was putting fuel in my Massey and got it really, really full...like just enough room to get the cap on without spilling anything. It was pretty cold out, but I never thought about it. A week or so later I was pulling the steering cylinders off to take them to the hydraulic shop (both were leaking) and I found fuel running down the side of the engine, and drips all over the ground under the machine....everything was wet! I immediately started checking fuel lines, and trying to figure out where the fuel was coming from. I was thinking that there should be no way the tank had rusted through, but that I was going to have to take the hood, and side sheet metal off, etc, etc. Then I remembered fueling it and thought that maybe I had spilled some. Nope, I realized it was 25* warmer than when I had fueled it, and the fuel surged over the top of the neck, and poured all over the top of the tank, which is why it was leaking everywhere.

I know better, but wasn't thinking....luckily it was just some mess to clean up, and the machine is actually cleaner now after wiping up all that fuel! I felt really dumb, but at least nothing was damaged

I did that with my boat..topped it off real good before winter to prevent condenstion...no airspace..yea, soon as it warmed up outsided I had gas running out the vent all over the garage:mur:

DABSGT · Dec 28, 2014

Years ago I had a JohnDeere 410 backhoe and a friend built a new home. The neighborhood had all underground utilities, electric, phone and cable and he asked if I would dig out the 200 foot trench in exchange for a nice older Farmall cub I had attempted to buy from him in the past.

Easy job 200 ft. Trench and fill it no problem or so I thought. After digging the trench I tried talking him into laying PVC for the lines to be pulled through but he didn't want to because utilities told him it wasn't needed. Well one day goes by no utility's two days,three days and on the fourth day a hurricane, yep a hurricane and half the trench collapsed and now he is on the phone telling me that the utility companies call and scheduled for the following day. I went back to the house after work and was in no way going to hand shovel the trench to clean it out and in looking at the width of the trench and the width of the 410 wheels I had no problem straddling the trench to clean it out. About 150 into the clean out I hit a pocket of real sandy soil the trench collapsed and the 410 was lying on its side. Boy that was a pucker factor of 10.

Once I stopped cursing and looked it over refusing to call a heavy duty tow truck I was able to right the tractor using the bucket backhoe and stabilizers. Interesting, educational and very very DUMB.

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TJP89 · Dec 29, 2014

My turn. I was unhooking the brushog for the last time of the season and was in hurry. The 3PT was being difficult. I finally got it off, fired up the tractor and drove off. 3 feet and I hear this pop. Look behind and see one half of the PTO shaft attached to the tractor and not to the mower, and the other half attached to the mower but not to the tractor. I had forgotten to unhook the PTO shaft and it had pulled apart at the joint where it extends! I finished cursing, unhooked the half attached to the tractor, and shoved it back on the mower. I'm finished with the hog for the year, so I'll see how it is this spring. I'd be surprised if it doesn't work just fine though.

xtn · Dec 29, 2014

puckgrinder85 said:
Thermal expansion, all liquids, solids and gases. Fuel tanks are not meant to be filled 100%, you always leave a little bit of dead space for this very reason.

There are a few materials known to exhibit no thermal expansion properties. Just as a point of trivia.

xtn

GManBart · Dec 29, 2014

FTG-05 said:
Is this with diesel or gas as the fuel. I didn't think that would happen with diesel. I'll have to remember that in the future because when I refuel my tractor, I usually take it all the way to the top - and I also *usually* do it when I'm done so it's ready the next time (something I didn't do this time)

It was diesel, and I knew better

Mace Canute · Dec 30, 2014

I've posted this before.

Years ago when I was an apprentice lineman, we were out in a community pasture building a power line to feed a water well pump service for the cattle. To get to where we needed to go, we had a choice of taking a darn long way around a long steep hill...or go straight up it. The foreman and lead hand decided to try it first in the old 1972 International 3/4 ton pickup and see what it was like. They made it and decided it wasn't too bad and waved me on up.

I was driving the digger truck, a 1971 Fargo with single rear axle, duals and a 413 high compression engine that drank high octane only. The truck and material on it weighted a good 25,000 lbs or a bit more and we were pulling a pole trailer made out of an old truck frame and had it loaded down with a bunch of 35 foot power poles, almost two dozen of them so a good load there too.

The old Fargo had a real low first gear and we started up the hill pedal to the medal. It grunted and pulled down a bit then kept on pulling...right up until we got almost to the very top of the hill...which was just a tad steeper than the rest of it...I couldn't see anything but sky through the windshield. That was all it took...the fuel pickup in the tank uncovered and she sucked air and died! This old beast had vacuum brakes so when the engine died, so did the brakes...and the power steering. Without power steering, that old truck needed two men on the steering wheel to turn it on level ground. I quickly decided to try to get it into reverse to get the motor turning over to develop brakes and power steering since I didn't want to run it backwards and starve it for oil nor lose the power steering but...too late! The speed was already too great to get it into reverse from low.

In retrospect, that was a bad decision.

Being on that steep a hill, we quickly started to roll backwards and gain speed at an alarming rate. I had no choice but to try to back down hill without jackknifing it and rolling the truck. I was doing not too bad until the stupid newbie apprentice in the passengers seat decided he was going to jump! He opened the passenger's door, got one foot on the running bard, and then froze! He didn't know whether to jump, sh*t or go blind!

Needless to say I am now trying to back this rig up with just the driver's side mirror...screaming at the dip stick apprentice to close the effing door!

We got up to a considerable speed too on the way down...estimates from the other crew members were in the 45 mph range...did I mention the hill was steep?? Since we were in the middle of a community pasture there was also a herd of cattle that we had just drove through. The noise and commotion of us bouncing downhill half (ok, 90%) out of control was enough to scare them into running, so I missed skewering any of them on a 35 foot pole.

The other two guys on the crew were sitting in the third truck, a cornbinder, watching from behind us as we tried the hill. Why the driver never pulled right in behind me to follow me as I started up was a mystery, he said didn't know why even, but his decision saved him from getting rammed by a load of power poles. By the time I rolled to a stop, we were a good quarter mile from the top...

That was the farthest I ever backed a trailer up...fastest too!

I took a moment or three to get my heart to stop racing and then I fired up the old Fargo and we took the looong way around to the top...after switching over to the other full gas tank!

skyhook · Dec 30, 2014

I can see it now, both hands on the wheel and both feet on the brakes.

Oh ya, and a few "oh God's"...lol

k0ua · Dec 30, 2014

Did the apprentice have to go home and get some new underwear?

Heck for that matter did you need new underwear?

RoyJackson · Dec 30, 2014

k0ua said:
Did the apprentice have to go home and get some new underwear?

Heck for that matter did you need new underwear?

I don't know if Mace or the apprentice had to change their skivvies, but I sure as **** would have!

EddieWalker · Dec 30, 2014

I was mowing along the edge of my field and listening to music on my phone through head phones. I normally keep the phone in my pocket because I don't want it to get damaged and there isn't any reason or good place to put it that it would be safe. For some reason that I will never understand, I decided to rest it in my cup holder on the same side that the branches where on while cutting as close to the trees as I could get. A branch caught the wire from the ear phones to my phone and pulled the phone out of the cup holder and under my mower. I hit the clutch as fast as I could, but not fast enough to save my phone.

Eddie

RoyJackson · Dec 30, 2014

EddieWalker said:
...
A branch caught the wire from the ear phones to my phone and pulled the phone out of the cup holder and under my mower. I hit the clutch as fast as I could, but not fast enough to save my phone.

Eddie

I've lost a couple water bottles like that...

CobyRupert · Dec 30, 2014

Bought a hot tub 60 miles away. Hooked up the utility trailer to go get it. Or so I thought. Must of got distracted (and didn't double check?) cause when I got there I saw that just the trailer hitch was sitting on the ball NOT LATCHED!
There but by the grace of God go thee.
Sure there was safety chains, but there's very little tongue eight on that trailer when empty. When I think about hitting all those road bumps /expansion joints at 60mph. Doh!!

Raised on a Deere · Dec 30, 2014

EddieWalker said:
I was mowing along the edge of my field and listening to music on my phone through head phones. I normally keep the phone in my pocket because I don't want it to get damaged and there isn't any reason or good place to put it that it would be safe. For some reason that I will never understand, I decided to rest it in my cup holder on the same side that the branches where on while cutting as close to the trees as I could get. A branch caught the wire from the ear phones to my phone and pulled the phone out of the cup holder and under my mower. I hit the clutch as fast as I could, but not fast enough to save my phone.

Eddie

It is absolutely amazing how frequently something that looks to be in a perfectly secure place nestled in the open tool pocket/water bottle holder can just be gone. The one on the other side has a lid and it is a nice place to put cell phones, hearing aids, and other stuff you know you don't want to lose. I'm tellin ya, it is like my dad used to say when he saw a log chain nestled on the floor board of a neighbors tractor, "There is a lost chain" he would say.

xtn · Dec 30, 2014

I loaded/hauled something wrong.

Last night was moving a few bits of furniture for my mother-in-law. Small utility trailer and 1" ratchet straps. A small table didn't make it to the destination. Must have vibrated/shimmied itself out from under its strap, which was still in place and secured. Possibly due to wadded up sheet under the strap used to prevent chafing on the table surface? Wadded up sheet caused too much play perhaps? I'll never know. I re-drove the route a bit later to look for it, but never saw any sign of it.

xtn

DABSGT · Dec 30, 2014

Great story Mace glad you are here to share it.

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check · Dec 30, 2014

Diesel in a gas engine and gas in a diesel engine. Done both. Now i have yellow containers for diesel and red ones for gasoline.

BTW, if you are driving in Europe and see the word "Gaz" on a pump, guess what it is?

FTG-05 · Dec 30, 2014

check said:
Diesel in a gas engine and gas in a diesel engine. Done both. Now i have yellow containers for diesel and red ones for gasoline.

BTW, if you are driving in Europe and see the word "Gaz" on a pump, guess what it is?

Beer or wine, depending on the country.

Xfaxman · Dec 30, 2014

Here is one of my dumb stunts from 5 years ago when I had a tractor.

Had been cutting trees, backed up to a juniper with two trunks, cut one, it fell on the ROPS. Could not drive out from under it, backed up, it stayed on the tractor.