[Ford-ferguson] a few questions

[soffiler at ct.metrocast.net]

----- Original Message Follows -----
From: schade at acegroup.cc

>I have two "drawbars". At least I think I do. One is a bar
>with a row  of holes that fit onto the bottom arms of my
>three point hitch. The  other is connected to the underside
>of the tractor. I have a ball on  that for my trailer.
>Which one is best to use for pulling heavy stuff?  A woman
>near here had a Ford tractor come over on her near here
>last  fall while pulling an old truck. She was killed.


Skidding logs out of the woods is very dangerous, deadly
activity for a farm tractor.  The problem is that the front
edge of the log can get hung up on just about anything that
is protruding from the forest floor, and that is a recipe
for a backflipped tractor.  One thing you can do to
alleviate the danger somewhat is to use your 3-pt drawbar,
and chain the log right up tight against the drawbar so that
the whole front of the log is lifted right off the ground by
the 3-pt.  This gives an effect something like the curled-up
tips of skis.  Go very very slowly.  Be extremely careful on
slopes.  Keep in mind ALWAYS that if your log gets hung up,
it will haul backward on the tractor and tend to backflip
it.  Once it starts to go over backward things happen VERY
fast and there's usually no time to catch it.  If that's not
worded strongly enough, I'll repeat that SKIDDING LOGS CAN
BE DEADLY.


Steve O.