WHACK, then the sky.

Mith · May 23, 2005

I was mowing an older ladies lawn. Done it many times before. The kind of old garden with apple and par trees, long established with gnarled branches just above head height.
Well it was raining so i decided to do it with the WH because of the roof on it to keep me dry.
Anyway i was mowing quite happily but i could hear a rattling sound. Aha, found it, tools ratting in the tool box. I leant down to move them apart.
WHACK. What happened? I push in the clutch as an instant reaction. Feet in the air, thats not right... I work it out. The top of the ROPS/cab hit a branch and the tractor tipped right backwards. the rain helped, I lost traction before going all the way over. Soon had it sorted with a bit of revese action, but boy did it get my attention. My pulse jumped loads in a second.
so it taught me 2 things, look above and to the front, and boy does it happen quick!
The rest of the mow was uneventful apart from taking out a guy line with the corner of the ROPS, repaired with a piece of rope /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

What dont kill u makes you stonger /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

GaryM · May 23, 2005

Glad you're safe! I've never done that, yet, but did back into some branches with the ROPS, and when the ROPS hit the end of the branch I got wacked in the back of the head. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

thingy · May 23, 2005

BOY,,your lucky you don't have two or three more of those safety devices on your tractor,,,and,,,you always have to watch them old woman,,,,,thingy

BoneheadNW · May 23, 2005

Mith-

According to my reference book on British slang that I have previously mentioned, you could use a set of pink pillows for your head and a pint of falling down juice . Be careful around those apple and par trees!

Bonehead

frank_f15 · May 23, 2005

Had to change your bloomin shorts did ye? glad it all worked out ok /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Mith · May 24, 2005

Bonehead, you gunna have to tell me what they all mean, dont have a clue, sure this aint a northern thing. Do you have 'going for a hit and miss' in that book o yourn?

( Had to change your bloomin shorts did ye? )
Frank, remember i live in the UK, trousers please

Thingy, dunno what spell she performed but it worked /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

MikePA · May 24, 2005

Reminds me of a story...

Our one story garage is a separate building, about 25 feet away from the house. To get electricity to the garage, the previous owners strung a steel cable from the first floor eaves on the house to the peak of the garage roof. Then they wrapped the electrical feed line (20 amp, 110v) around this steel cable.

Last spring, after a long day of driving the last of 227 fence posts, I was headed back to the garage. Instead of driving around the far side of the garage (as I had done dozens of times before), I went between the house and the garage. Well, the post driver sticks up even higher than the ROPS. Yep, snagged the electrical cable with the post driver which yanked the house side of the cable right out. The tractor didn't even slow down. I realized something was amiss when I glanced down and thought I saw a 'black snake' on the driveway. It was the electrical cable. Of course, my wife, who had not witnessed any of the hard work (many nights and weekends) driving posts into the ground (I did all that by myself) was there to witness this. Sigh.

BoneheadNW · May 24, 2005

Mith-

Depending on a Yank to tell you the meaning of British slang? O.K., if I really must. Falling down juice is beer and pink pillows is defined as "ladies love cushions". Note that is ladies and not laddies (a little Scottish humor there).

Back to the subject at hand. Would you mind taking a couple of pictures of the apple/par garden next time you are out there? It would be neat to see an old Engish orchard again.

Bonehead

Mith · May 25, 2005

Bonehead, made a special trip out for you. Got many pics of stuff from arond the place. Here is a pic of some of the many fruit trees, not the one that jumped out at me.

( Falling down juice is beer )
Guess it means i aint an englishman, cos i sure dont know these british slang stuff. Whats wrong with calling it booze, or grog? And pink pillow well im still /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif about that

Junkman · May 25, 2005

That is a good looking goat you have there...... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

BoneheadNW · May 25, 2005

Mith

Thanks for the xtra trip to get the picture. One of my favorite memories of our trip to England/Scotland was the walks through the gardens. It has a similar look to here in the northwest but the older gardens there have much more character.

Bonehead

Mith · May 26, 2005

Junkman, thanks, pretty nice dog too innit /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Bonehead, you dont get too much an older garden than this one, she is 90, lived there all her life, parents, gparents ect too. Did you go around Hampshire much?

LBrown59 · May 26, 2005

( . The top of the ROPS/cab hit a branch and the tractor tipped right backwards. D )

This is where a ROPS becomes a saftey hazzard rather than a safety feature.

thcri · May 27, 2005

Ohhh thats what them signs mean on the highways here in Minnesota that say "Look up and stay Alive"

Man glad your ok and you didn't tip all the way over.

murph

btolle · Jun 4, 2005

I work in the woods clearing brush and I always wear a hard hat. I have taken a couple of licks on the hard hat that I know would have given me a nasty cut and/or bruise. My head is worth the $6.75 the hard hat cost a Lowe's (my wife may not agree with the aforementioned statement at times).

Bill Tolle

Mith · Jun 5, 2005

Bill, thats why i built it in the first place, to aviod being hit by branches and brambles
i have a picture
it hit right at the top left corner and wayhey, over the back /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

BoneheadNW · Jun 5, 2005

Mith-

What is that rope for around your seat? Is that a rope seat belt?

Mith · Jun 5, 2005

yea I tie myself to it so if I fall off the tractor dont run away without me, it drags me with it /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
naaa, its just cos I was pulling out roots and pulling trees down earlier. There be lots of junk in those brambles and I use it to tow stuff out. Its just round the seet to stop it getting caught, notice its round the towball.

EastTexFrank · Jun 5, 2005

Mith, don't have much time but let me say that what you experienced is one of the scariest things that will happen to you on a tractor ... and it happens sssooooo fast. It happened to me while mowing at the house just after I got the Kubota. The few times that I'd mowed under that particular tree, I'd always managed to nudge the offending branch out of the way with the ROP. On this occasion I was probably a few inches closer to the trunk and it didn't move. I was going pretty slow round the tree and all of a sudden the front of that tractor reared off the ground and I was staring at blue sky. Luckily it was HST so all I had to do was remove my foot from the peddle and on to the reverse but it did scare the **** out of me. I don't think it would have flipped the tractor all the way over backwards, probably just raised the front enough to allow the ROP to slip under the branch, but the landing would have been pretty hard. Right after that I instigated the 6' rule ... no branches on any tree lower that 6' above the ground or else the chain saw comes out. My wife wasn't too happy with that at first but I sure was. Life is a little easier and safer now.