[AT] narrow vs. wide front tractors

[Herb Metz]

Howard, Thanks for sharing. Wow!
A Ford Clipper rotary cutter was a ?' rear/belly/pull behind/side/front 
mount?  My initial opinion is type of mounting would not be significant 
unless cutter width were large (suggest >12') and mounting was very rigid; 
in such situation the mounting may serve as a side "wheely bar"?  Quite 
often such dedicated use tractors have smaller diameter tractor tires, which 
definitely improves stability by lowering tractor center of gravity.
After a few "experiences", did some of you young guys tend to develop an 
invincible feeling?
Herb

From: Howard Weeks
:I spent several summers as a teenager in Texas driving a Ford tractor
with a Ford Clipper rotary cutter on it cutting highway shoulders.  We
had lots of banks that were too steep to take a tractor on.  They
weren't marked as such so we had to learn to make that judgement on our
own.  If we chose to attempt a cut on a steep bank, we were taught to
ride with one hand laying on the fender of the up-hill tire and pay lots
of attention to it.  If the fender/tire started to float (you can feel
it) turn the front end down hill until it stopped. If the wheel came up
aggressively, you stopped it by hitting the down hill brake and
immediately turning the tractor straight down hill and running to the
bottom if required.  I and the others came off a lot of banks that way
and never had a turn over.

We had to stay off doubtful banks that were over bridge abutments and
other drop offs that could get you even if you avoided a roll over at
the top.

Had one death, a 65 year old man, that got too close to a 24 inch drop
off into a ditch with a flat bottom.  The edge crumbled and dropped the
wheel on that side of the tractor into the ditch and turned it over
pinning the guy underneath. Our lesson was to stay away from sharp edges
like that.

Another "gotcha" was loose gravel, wet clay or mud on a steep bank. On
those, the rear wheels would usually break loose suddenly and start down
first leaving the front end up hill.  That situation was hard to recover
from.  We were using rotary cutters with down force. Keeping it pushed
into the ground would usually keep us from going over backwards.

And I agree with Dean!

Howard in GA

On 4/6/2014 4:22 PM, Dean VP wrote:
> I'm going to summarize the physics of a possible roll-over on our tractors
> as described in an article which I am unable to find on the internet right
> now. It is a very complex issue and the difference of potential roll-overs
> on a Narrow Front End tractor vs a Wide Front End Tractor is stated to be
> not nearly as much as we might want to believe.  However, there are three
> conditions that have to be considered to properly analyze what might 
> happen
> and why. These are whether there are any static vs dynamic forces 
> involved.
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