[AT] Plows, was Re: Supervision

Wed Jul 1 04:12:00 PDT 2015

The rule is ROPS and a seat belt or no ROPS and no seat belt and be ready to jump. Rollover with ROPS and no seat belt has several crush to death by the ROPS scenarios that are slightly less likely without ROPS. 

Of course as you discovered, most accidents happen so fast you cannot jump in time, which is why ROPS and a seat belt is so much better. 

On July 1, 2015 12:07:52 AM CDT, Dean VP <deanvp at att.net> wrote:
>Mike,
>
>I'm not sure I want to tell the details of the story but if it helps
>someone else not get injured or
>killed I will explain what happened. The JD 750 is a compact tractor
>built fairly low to the ground
>with a 3 cylinder diesel engine. I think it was new in 1982 and still
>doesn't have over 500 hours on
>it. It has been probably the most reliable used tractor I have ever
>purchased. I've owned it since
>1998 and it came with a front three way hydraulic blade and a 5' brush
>cutter. I expected to use it a
>lot more than I have and the main reason is it helped get the 6 acres
>leveled out and under control so
>now I can do everything with my JD 425 Garden Tractor,  The only weak
>link in the tractor are the
>brakes. Over time moisture seeps in though the brake shaft and rusts
>the shaft so that they freeze up.
>So about every 5 years I have to totally refurbish the brakes to keep
>the pedals from locking up.  But
>I guess since that is all the repairs I have had to make to this
>tractor I shouldn't complain. A few
>years after I bought it I found a 50" rototiller which has really
>helped keeping my wife's garden in
>shape and then I found a used front loader for it at an auction. So the
>loader is on it most of the
>time and I use the rotary tiller as ballast on the back to counter
>weight the load in the front
>loader. Has done everything I've asked from it for years trouble free. 
> So I've never had an incident
>with it in 17 years. Until last week.  
>
>My wife and I decided we wanted to change the landscaping a bit at the
>front entrance to our  acreage
>which entailed removing a bunch of dirt from one side of the entrance
>and I moved the dirt to the lawn
>where depressions has developed due to our heavy rainfall.   The area I
>was working slopes up to the
>neighborhood road and I would fill the bucket and then get on the road
>to get to where I wanted to
>dump on the lawn.  Then I would have to leave the road to get to the
>location on the lawn.  I did
>several scoops without incident and then I had a mental lapse. Please
>keep in mind the JD 750 has a
>very substantial  ROPS on it and has a seatbelt so that if you tip over
>you don't get thrown off the
>seat and get crushed by the rolling tractor. The ROPS acts as a
>protective cage for the driver if he
>is locked into the seat while the tractor rolls. I am embarrassed to
>admit I didn't have my seat belt
>on. A severe and stupid  mental lapse.  I picked up another bucket load
>and went down the road to
>where I wanted dump but unfortunately this time I wanted to get the
>load in a certain area that I
>thought the right way was to come in at an angle from off the road to
>the sloping down and away lawn.
>I had the bucket low and the Rototiller low.  But then the right front
>wheel fell into a hole in the
>lawn that I didn't know was there and the bucket swung right and the
>rototiller swung right and danged
>if it wasn't enough to cause the whole tractor, loader, rototiller and
>me to roll over in a flash.  It
>happened so quick there wasn't any warning.  The tractor rolled over 90
>degrees and then hit the right
>side of the ROPs and stopped instantly. But I didn't, I got thrown out
>of the seat out onto the lawn.
>I was so stunned It took me a couple seconds to try to move further
>away if the tractor kept rolling
>but it didn't.  I got up, didn't feel like I was hurt and shut off the
>tractor engine as it was still
>running on its side. Fluids started draining out of the crankcase and
>transmission.  But there wasn't
>anything I could do about that. I checked myself again and the only
>thing I noticed is I had a scrape
>on one of my arms.  I then realized how lucky I had been. Got another
>tractor out and rolled the JD
>750 back up right.  Checked for damage and didn't see any and drove it
>to the shop to get the fluid
>levels back to norm.  Have used it a few time since and did find that
>the right rear fender lip got
>bent a little and a couple crescent wrenches removed that damage and
>then I found I had broken a link
>on one of the sway chains on the three point hitch. Fixed that with my
>arc welder and the tractor is
>ready to go.  Unfortunately a day later I found out that I had gotten
>beat up a bit. I had severe back
>spasms for about 4 days and my right shoulder was really stiff and sore
>during that period.  I didn't
>notice it all immediately after the accident. The back and shoulder is
>starting to settle down and I
>think a week or so more I'll be back to normal which includes a bad
>back at all times.  I guess us 75
>year olds don't bounce as well or recover as rapidly as we used to.
>
>So the lesson learned. I should have been wearing the seat belt and I
>wouldn't have gotten thrown out
>and probably would not have gotten beat up so bad. I don't know how
>much damage the seat belt would
>have done to me when the tractor roll was stopped so abruptly by the
>right side of the ROPS.   But I
>will say without the ROPS I probably wouldn't be alive to write this
>embarrassing story.   So always
>have the ROPS installed and always wear the seatbelt. I got half of it
>right.  I consider I've used up
>one of my lives in this little incident.  So be prepared, be safe and
>use the safety tools provided.
>JD was very instrumental in being an early developer of ROPS. Thanks to
>that effort I'm here to write
>this story.   Follow the rules. Don't do as I did, do as I say!  :-) 
>An important lesson for all of
>us. 
>
>
>Dean VP
>Snohomish, WA 98290
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
>[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of
>Mike
>Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2015 6:52 PM
>To: Antique tractor email discussion group
>Subject: Re: [AT] Plows, was Re: Supervision
>
>Dean, maybe you could fill us in on what happened, I rarely use my seat
>
>belt or ROPS unless I'm near an incline or unstable ground. I know, I
>know.
>
>Mike M
>
>
>On 6/30/2015 6:44 PM, Dean VP wrote:
>> I suspect the spring trip had never tripped before or since and was a
>little rusty. Not quite as
>> smooth as we humans would like. A well written story however. It
>could have been a lot worse.  I
>> probably have 100's maybe even 1000 hours of seat time plowing when I
>was a kid and never had a plow
>> hitch trip. We didn't have any large or even small rocks in our soil,
>in fact I only remember
>plowing
>> up one rock ever and when I got home for lunch I mentioned it to my
>Dad and he very quickly said: "
>> The Rail Road" must have brought it in. We don't have rocks in our
>soil"!  End of discussion. I had
>> been plowing where the RR had cut through a slight hill.  My Dad was
>proud of the quality of his NW
>IA
>> soil.
>>
>> PS:  I just was thrown off my JD 750 Compact tractor last week and
>your story reminded me of that
>> trauma.  It too could have been a lot worse.  I suspect the seat belt
>will be used from now on!  :-)
>>
>> Dean VP
>> Snohomish, WA 98290
>>
>> "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and
>the gospel of envy, its inherent
>> virtue is the equal sharing of misery."  . Sir Winston Churchill
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
>[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf
>Of
>> John Slavin
>> Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2015 2:11 PM
>> To: AT at lists.antique-tractor.com
>> Subject: Re: [AT] Plows, was Re: Supervision
>>
>> We had a 4 bottom John Deere plow when I was a kid.  It had the
>spring trip that has been mentioned.
>> I only remember it tripping one time.  I was plowing along with our
>Farmall 450 and I hit a buried
>> stump or rock or something and I nearly went over the steering wheel
>because it nearly stopped the
>> tractor in its tracks.  Then about the time I had gathered myself up
>from having a steering wheel
>> firmly planted in my chest, the springs released the hitch, the
>hydraulic hoses popped out of the
>> Pioneer couplings and the tractor jumped ahead.  With its sudden
>freedom, I nearly rolled off the
>back
>> of the seat.  Needless to say, it got my attention.
>>
>>
>> John Slavin
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