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Close Calls, near tractor accidents

R

redforlife

Well-known Member
Anybody that has run tractors nearly their whole life has no doubt had a close call or two. I remember one time I roll started an H farmall with 12 V battery and no battery box. Battery slid a little. Smoke came up from under gas tank. Got off to look. Positive post of battery was in contact with gas line. Gas line was glowing red hot. Not thinking, I pulled battery away. Luckly, it did not melt a hole in gas line. Could of been really bad with me standing right there if it melted through. Another time I was driving a low profile tractor that was hot wired (key switch by-passed). Hit a high cut tree stump in tall grass right on the clutch pedal. Couldn't clutch out of gear or shut tractor off. Using my head, I just idled down to idle and pulled the choke to kill the engine. Anyways, if you have a close call story to share please do and be careful this farming season. I seen a spray rig after it got hit by a train the other day. I think the guy was luckly just injured. Don't need to see any more postings on here about fatality accidents.
 
The closest near miss I had was using a neighbor's TD9 to level silage. No dozer, just see-sawed the TD9 back & forth to spread the silage with the track. Went to climb the pile going forward and noticed the radiator start to bob up and down and I hit the clutch before it could flip over backwards. That is when I learned to always back a crawler up a steep incline. Doubt that I'd have survived a TD9 on top of me.
 
Oh yes , accidents can happen to the best of us & those who actually know the dos & don'ts of tractor safety . One time while jump starting my Ford 640 , I had it parked on a level spot at my barn , set a spare battery near-by , connected the jumper cables to the battery , turned the key on with choke pulled out , then connected the negative jumper cable to the starter cable ,& then the positive to a spot on the running board .That baby fired off instantly & about ran over me before slamming against the barn wall before I could jerk it out of gear . Yes , my pants definitely needed changed after that scare .Play safe when playing with farm equipment .Be an influence not a sad memory .God bless, Ken
 
Planting corn as teenager,John Deere G. Lighting hit muffler air cleaner and the upright marker. Killed the G, but restarted moment later. My arms were very sore and stiff as well as other joints. Years later another bolt hit barn I was in, shocking me also . Two months later I was passing out . Received pacemaker at that point. Dr said my natural pacemaker was damaged. For some reason folks will not stand to close to me when they hear thunder!!
 
I rolled my grandpa's model M John Deere over when I was doing chores on the farm when I was 14,lucky to be thrown off as it ended upside down running.I don't watch hawks circling overhead or anything else for that matter when I'm operating farm machinery any more,hit a stump with my rear tire and it flipped in a matter of half a second,I don't think I would of survived if I hadn't been thrown off.
 
I was adjusting a mower on the back of an old TO30 (no live PTO) and felt something brushing against my coveralls. The PTO was spinning. I shut off the tractor and went inside. Didn't come back to it for about 3 days. Really shuck me up.
 
I was mowing in weeds over the tractor. Couldn't see in front of me. Trying to fllow a fence line down a hill. I got into the fence, and one of the angle pipe braces came up through my steering wheel. The pipe hit my chest, and slid over under my arm before I got stopped. Don't know what would happened if it hit my chest square on. Stan
 
That reminded me of another incident I didn't recall while writing original post. I likewise had a simular thing happen. An H on full steel. Got in habbit of standing by battery while starting. Battery cable often needed wiggled to get things to work. It fired off one day in gear and I barely got out of the way of back wheel in time. Let tractor go by, then crawled on the back to get it out of gear before hitting anything. My nephews had played on the tractor while it was sitting un-used. I had forgot that they had been around and maybe had put it in gear.
 
Only once. Was driving a tractor over to a field to start plowing there. 756 IH with a 4 bottom plow. A car coming the other way just about took me out. I steered down into the ditch and edge of a little pond. The tractor was stuck but upright. Waking back up to the road I saw that wen I first went in the ditch, moving about 20 MPH that the left rear tire actually was in the air for about 20 feet. The driving of the car was a girl I had taken out a couple of times before I started dating my wife. She was terrified of driving into a ditch so on gravel roads she would go right down the center.

Rick
 
We thought we were doing everything safe as we were unloading a large bag (tote) of seed beans into the planter auto fill system. Holding the bag on the loader tractor well above the auger my helper was choking the flow down as the bag would empty faster than the auger would take the flow. Suddenly the cord got down through the guard and wrapped on the auger. Thankfully he only had a loose wrap around his hand and it slipped off with minimum damage but could have taken his hand completely off.
 
When I was about 10 years old my dad was unloading two oliver 88 diesel tractors from our flatbed truck backed up to a dock.I sat on the first one up front.When dad got to rear of the truck backing the first one off the weight raised mine up a little and it rolled over off the side of the truck.I'm 64 now and can still feel that ride.I landed under the tractor between the fender and the seat and never got a scratch.
 
Had very similar experience with my 8n. My pants got ripped off me, my comb that I still carry has an ever reminding curve in it. What saved me was I reached forward and hit the pto lever. It was an eye opening event to say the least. My dad broke his leg grinding feed back in '72. He was able to reach the lever in time, too. Scary to think of the similarities of the two events 30+ years apart.
 
Oh golly, how many times? The most recent was four years ago, backing my Deere 630 with loader on a deckover gooseneck trailer. The clutch was dangerously worn where it was either go or no-go and the clutch linkage was so worn and sloppy I had to reach way up there to engage it. Top it off with a stiff neck and worst of all, a touch of vertigo going on in my head. When I got it backed on the trailer and stopped, my right rear wheel was a good half off the edge of the trailer deck. The rear tires are 13.6X38's so there wasn't much tire still on the trailer. Everything leading up to it was bad, but we old bull headed farmers will still go ahead and do it even if it might kill us, and this one was a few inches from killing me.

The clutch is now smooth as satin, completely overhauled, complete with new tight linkage. Will I back another tractor on a trailer when I have vertigo? Depends on how stubborn I feel. Jim
 
I nearly rolled a John Deere 60 one time, my brother told me to drive through the ditch, and the bank caved away from the left rear wheel nearly upsetting me. The loader gouged into the far side, and that was all that kept it upright. When I climbed off, my knees were so rubbery that I sat right down in the mud.
 
The one time I scared the hell out of myself was with a forklift I'd rented and was driving down a gravel road to take it back.

It traveled faster in reverse than forward, so I took off in reverse and opened the throttle. Then it hit me, I didn't know for sure which way to turn the steering wheel as it was backwards. And I was easing toward the side of the road. I shut down the throttle and carefully tried turning the steering wheel. Thankfully, I got it right the first time.
 
Close call for my wife, not me, and she never even knew there was a problem.

Using my neighbor's JD 70, about 40 years ago, to do some baling for him. Wife standing by the baler tongue, to put the pin in. I was not familiar with JD hand clutch, and as I was backing up, I pushed the lever the wrong way- instead of stopping, it speeded up, going right toward her. I figured it out at the last second, and stopped quickly, with the drawbar hole perfectly aligned with the baler hitch. She smiled up at me, and said, "Wow, you're really good!" I was sweating bullets and almost sick to my stomach, because she didn't know how close she had come to "buying the farm."

And I never told her. We celebrated our 43rd anniversary this year.
 
Plowing snow with a rear blade on my 60. Narrow road (maybe 12') and almost straight down (REAL steep) on the right, straight up rock cut on the left. Hit a 'nubbins' with the rear blade and it sucked the right rear tire over the edge, the single front followed before I could get to the clutch. Dandy. Now I have a 3 wheeled tractor with 2 off the road and whole thing about 45 degrees. Made 4 trips to the house/shop (1 mi.) to get a huge old chain block and chains, hooked block to front and some trees on the uphill side and chained the rear the same on the rear. Got on, started up and moved forward and upwards a couple of feet. To make a long story longer-did the same on the rear. Only took about 4 hours but finished the plowing in the dark. Best part was; I was totally alone and the nearest neighbor was 5 mi. away - couldn't get there 'cause the drive was blocked by some nimno with a tractor ! Ahh the memories.
 
Amen to all those calls im still counting to ten .i remember they first time iplanted corn thimet plugged up i reached in loosened it up that night was rough.one that always stuck with me my cousin reached in to get a piece of twine out 5 hours of surgey he still has a hand.
Bottom line familiarty breeds contempt
 
New house just moved in 1/2 mile drive last 300 yards steep incline with a crest at the top then a landing to the road. Was going to get blade at my brothers/ neighbors house on a John Deere 4010 made it almost all the way spun out at the crest of the hill, started sliding back and jamed on brakes motor started to die and luckily rememberedI wouldn't have anything if it died let of the brakes spun it wide open. Slid down backwards 150 yards. Nearly jumped off, should have put it in the ditch but didn't think that fast. Sat there for a good 5 minutes shaking.Now I only use our small 4x4 to plow drive... Brother did same thing on 100hp 4x4 coming down the hill didn't have it in 4x4 and was in too high of a gear started sliding and did a 360 luckily there was a large root ball that stopped the tractor before flipping, tractor was only 3 days old had push button 4x4 that re-set after tractor was tuned off not like are other one.. Other close call was going to county fair pull had backed my Jd g on and was loading dads super m has a jumpy clutch and was trying to angle it on good top of ramps popped clutch front came up started to turn scared the day lights out of me, needless to say parked it back in the garage... I try to be as safe as possible my grandfather lost 4 fingers in a picker on a Jd 70 in the 50's not shutting off pto he was always on me about safety but it sure does happen fast...
 
I tried bi-passing the solenoid and going straight to the starter. Forgot I still had it in gear. Scared the pejabbers out of my self but no harm.

Larry
 
I had smoke coming from under the hood of my 300U once - found a birds nest on top of the manifold on fire. It was real close to the fuel tank. Funny how I was more worried about the tractor than for myself.
 
I had stuck one of my dozers in mud when cleaning out a pond. Got the other dozer and hooked a long cable to it but couldn't move it. so i gave it just enough throttle so the tracks wouldn't spin. got off and got on the stuck dozer and put it in reverse and got out, dropped the blade and locked the brakes and both stopped moving.
went to climb back on the pulling dozer and like a dummy hit the transmission neutral lock lever to get on and it threw the machine in neutral---i was standing on the track and the dozer slingshot back about 25 ft from the cable tension.I took one flying leap backwards off that track to get clear!
 
ive got a 51 A jd that I use all the time. 30 yr,s ago I also had a 44 Ajd that I neede to start but no battery.(it had a mag) simple just pull start it. ok now all I needed was 2 tarp straps 1 for each steering wheel. hook up the chain and put the 51 in 4th gear and the 44 in 3rd gear. jump on the 51 and put the clutch out and then jump off and run back to the 44 and hit the clutch pop pop pop and yank the clutch back and jump off and run ahead to the 51 and yank that clutch back. then unchain and drive one back to the barn walk back out to the outher one and back to the barn with it. now that iam older and think of all the crap that i did years ago its a wonder ive lived this long. and that's not the worst thing I ever did . Bob
 
IT is not just the older tractors that can get you.

I did just about upset a "new" JD 7810. They had just brought out the IVT transmission. I was showing a customer how the IVT would maintain road speed with the engine speed slowed down. This tractor was a MFWD but the tires where set in to 60" centers and the duals had not yet been put on it. The customer was riding on the little "buddy" seat. We where going down the road at 25 MPH and the engine speed had dropped back down to 1300 or so. HE really liked that from the fuel saving stand point. So when we got to the next county road I just pulled the throttle back some to turn into the road. I did not move the IVT speed control lever. About half way through the turn the IVT transmission sensed the tractor slowing down. The computer controlled transmission sped the tractor and engine back up to the 25 MPH. I hit the clutch and brakes. The tractor spun around in a half circle. We both rattled around in the cab a good bit. We both got out to settle our nerves. There was no tire track from the inside tire. The tractor had been up on the outside two tires. I came that close to rolling that tractor. The customer did buy a JD 7810 but with the Power Quad not the IVT.

I HATE the new computer controlled stuff. You can have the machine do something you don't want it to do.
 
I was loading a garden tractor into the back of a pickup and was using ramps. When I got to the top and the front was in the truck, the blade caught the ramp and the rear wheel turned the ramp right out from under me and down me and the tractor went. I knew if I could get away from it that it would not break my leg...I did but it scared the crap out of me.
 
A friend of mine's dad did that in the 40's trying to hook up a plow himself. Ran the plow lever through him and that was it. John Deere bad idea. Sad
 
A few years ago when my brother and I were taking down some oaks for firewood, one of our sisters was helping us, driving the tractor to drag the trunks out to an open area where we could cut and load them easier. She backed the tractor up to the trunk and lowered the arms and draw bar down so I could wrap the chains around the trunk close enough to the bar so she could lift it enough to drag it out. I was bending over, doing the chain, and she had it in reverse and dumped the clutch. That tractor jumped up back on me, and I stood up and started running backwards straddling the trunk. I grabbed the fender and vaulted out of there because the tractor was coming back faster than I could back peddle, and it was either that or end up under it. She came to a stop with the tractor straddling the tractor far back from where I started. Scared the devil out of me. I truly thought I was dead. There was nowhere for me to go. My sister shut it down and to this day will not touch that tractor.

Gotta be careful, I guess. We all do dumb stuff and don't realize how dumb until a near miss that could have gone very badly, but luckily didn't that time.

Mark
 
We have a fairly steep abandoned railroad bank behind our house that I seeded to grass amd have mowed for many years. You can only go up, it will slide down. I use a 430 JD with turf tires and it will spin out if its wet or slippery.
One day I came home with a Wheel Horse Work Horse that had bar tires on it. That particular model had a Briggs instead of a kohler.....light in the front.
I went down as usual and started back up. About 3/4 of the way up those fine bar tires dug in and before I could hit the clutch, over backward I went. I slid about 6 ft down the hill on my shoulders with whole weight of the tractor on the steering wheel that was setting on my chest and everthing running including the deck. It finslly fell off to the right side and I shut it off. I got up and took inventory to see if anything was missing. Just two bunged up shins from the pedals. I set it back up on its wheels, fired it up and mowed the rest of the yard.
Prayers of thanks were said. Two days later my chest was really sore.
 
When I was about 12 or 13, was pulling our 336 Deere baler and 2 full hay racks down the road with our 756. Wasp got between my glasses and face, and I tried to swat him away. Knocked my glasses off, and I couldn't see a thing. Ran that whole train off into a ditch and up a waterway.
A bit later the best neighbor a man could ever have came along, found my glasses in the road, unbroken. He calmed a scared young man down, got the whole thing back on the road, and followed me home. He never told a soul, as far as I know.

When I was in tech school, I was driving a 4020 power shift up a steep hill into the shop. At the bottom of the drive was a sharp curve, with a deep pond below it. Just about at top of the hill, and the thing ran out of fuel. Took off like a rocket backward downhill, brakes would not pump up manually. Finally got it jammed into park, about 10' short of going over the bank into the pond. I was in the process of bailing off when it stopped. Was afraid it'd go over backward when park caught, but it didn't.
 
(quoted from post at 20:47:18 04/14/14) A non-secured battery or a "hot-wired" ignition switch are not "accidents!
Click to expand...

Gotta agree with Bob on some of this stuff. An accident is something you have no control over. A lot of the stuff on here smacks on over confidence, carelessness, poor maintenance/shoddy field repairs that were never made right at a later date or just not checking things, like if the tractor is in neutral before starting. This you do have control over but just didn't take control. You guys be darned careful, these machines will eat your lunch and clean your clock. We may not all get along all the time and have different views on things but I'd hate to loose any board member in a preventable accident.

Rick
 
Your right, not accidents. Rather, things that were overlooked that could of been direct cause of an accident if these situations would of turned out differently. In other words, Close Calls! Headline was shortened up! Sorry. I guess I should of said "Close Calls that could of near been a tractor accident" in headline. Everyone else understood for the most part. I'm sorry if you got the wrong idea from the headline. A gasoline explosion, and a tractor stuck in gear and can't be shut off at the switch are recipee's for accidents. Many have posted simular close call situations.
 
I was shelling some downed corn one year and would have to stop every so often to clean the corn head off with a pitchfork, (NO real) and I got out and was in front of the head pushing back towards the auger and I got too close and the gathering chains hit both sides of my knee about a dozen times before I could get away. I had 2 big bruises on each side of my knee for a while. Probably a stain in my under ware too. Deluxe.
 
My brother had me back down into the woods to pull out a log with my Farmall H. We used about 20 feet of chain as the log was over the break of a rather steep and brushy hillside. He hooked up the chain and I let out on the clutch. I got a wheel spinning a little but it was inching out. Of course, every time that wheel slipped, the tractor would move sideways a little. Then, all at once, the slipping wheel grabbed solid ground and the front tires hit a little sapling. Next thing I knew, the front end of the tractor was about 4 feet (felt like 10 feet) off the ground and I was looking all over for that %$#@ clutch. Then, just as easy as it went up, she came right back down.

I pulled the log over to the saw yard, cleaned my shorts and told my brother we weren't doing that ever again. He didn't argue.
 
I was clearing a fence line with my HD 10 dozer when i felt something brushing my knee, i look down and see a thin spruce tree top first coming up trough the floorboard right under the clutch lever. heading for my chest at a alarming pace
I cut the throttle and tried to pull the clutch lever but the spruce had it jammed, by then the spear had me already in the chest.
I had at the last split second the presence of mind to pull the stop knob killing the engine.
By the time the cat came to a stop i was held solid stuck to the back rest and lifted clear of the seat.
If it wasn't for the winter coverall i was wearing i would have been skewered like kebab.
Luckely my son was close by and cut me free with the chainsaw.
 
I think may of us, myself included, post these stories as a way of educating each other. Yes, looking back, I know what I did was stupid, and I'm lucky to be alive, and it was easily preventable. A smart person can learn from his own mistakes. But a really smart person learns from other people's mistakes.

Then again, some people learn by reading and listening. Some people learn by observing others. But some people have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.
 
Well said. Alot of bad things that happen, do happen because of reasons you mention. I'll add the reason of stupidity, LOL. Guilty of that one myself, unfortunately. An accident in my opinion, is something bad that happens that is not intended or deliberately done. Most are very well preventable. Things are overlooked and or forgotten about. Or just not thought about. They can cause bad things to happen down the road. In my opinion, some can still be considered accidents even though they were preventable. For example, I'm sure no one intends on overturning a tractor, even though they are driving where it is to steep. I guess its about stretching the limits, and no 2 people are going to draw the line at the same point. One guy wont do it. One guy will go for a ways and quit at the right time. Another guy might keep going to far and overturn his tractor but didn't intend to. Its all how you look at it, and what boat your in. Point is - be smart, be careful, and be safe.
 
r1983.jpg

Seven or eight years ago neighbor was riding down the road when the steering quit working. Took off down an 8-10ft. bank. He was able to bail out behind the tractor. Clipped his ear on the uphill fender when he did. Sat upside down as you see it for two days before I helped him recover it. Still had all the fluids in it, even the battery, except for the transmission. Other than a smashed light on the right fender and a bent up steering wheel, there was no major damage. Righted it, pulled it home, and started it up. Smoked like crazy for about 45 minutes. Replaced the transmission fluid and it has been working ever since. Both him and his tractor are very, very lucky. Gotta be careful on this old stuff and keep it in good working order.

Noah W
 
one that always jumps into my head was on a little john deere lawn tractor.

Nice sunny day, mowing my lawn. Not a care in the world...

Going up a small but steep little hill, around a retaining wall.

Grass was a little wet from dew - I started sliding backwards.

Of all the stupid - idiotic - dumb a#$ moves to make - somehow, instinctively I put my left foot down onto the ground to try to stop the slide.

I have no idea why I did that - who cares if I slid a bit??? it didn't matter. there was nothing but grass behind me. But that's how I reacted.

The tractor of course continued to slide, and the mower deck went right over my foot, pinning my foot underneath it. The tractor continued sliding forcing my foot further and further under the mower deck till my whole foot was under there - blades at full speed - which had to be a mere millimeter away.

I quickly shut the mower - but probably not as quickly as you might think.

There was a moment of panic where I focused on trying to yank my foot out when I should have been hitting the switch. Just a split second - but still. I imagine a mower blade can do a lot of foot shaving in half a second.

I did finally hit the switch. And I did stop sliding and got my foot out.

It was all over before it could even register what just happened.

By some miracle the blades never touched me.

How I didn't at least lose a few toes I really don't know.
 
(quoted from post at 23:25:00 04/14/14) Well said. Alot of bad things that happen, do happen because of reasons you mention. I'll add the reason of stupidity, LOL. Guilty of that one myself, unfortunately. An accident in my opinion, is something bad that happens that is not intended or deliberately done. Most are very well preventable. Things are overlooked and or forgotten about. Or just not thought about. They can cause bad things to happen down the road. In my opinion, some can still be considered accidents even though they were preventable. For example, I'm sure no one intends on overturning a tractor, even though they are driving where it is to steep. I guess its about stretching the limits, and no 2 people are going to draw the line at the same point. One guy wont do it. One guy will go for a ways and quit at the right time. Another guy might keep going to far and overturn his tractor but didn't intend to. Its all how you look at it, and what boat your in. Point is - be smart, be careful, and be safe.
Click to expand...

I guess it's perspective. To me an accident is something you have no control of, like a guy rear ending you at a red light. Standing in front of a tractor tire and starting a tractor while it's in gear is a mishap if no one is injured and a tragic incident if they are injured. A tractor fire is an unfortunate incident most often because it's caused by leaks, birds nest no one looked for or unrepaired electrical problems that went undetected. A fuel line breaking in the field is an accident. Just drilling a hole to run wires through is an electrical fire waiting for the right time unless a grommet is installed.

I'm nitpicking this because if these stories on here prevents one person from being killed or injured or keeps one tractor or combine from burning to the ground then the OP started a great thread.

Rick
 
how ever the subject comes up, i think tractor safety is good to continue talking about and to keep fresh on our minds.
 
Why do you make up so many stories??? I was in your town a while back and asked around if they knew of you---most of them never heard of you or if they did they said you were just a feed truck drive!!!!
 
I agree, it's a state of mind a lot of the time.
I'm pretty careful around my bigger tractors.
No matter how strong, ya can't win against an big engine with a governor. And they are heavy enough to squash me.
But, I also have a lot of garden type tractors and they bite me a lot.
Little tractor, you get careless...
Flip overs, rollovers, crashes..
And like the other poster, WHY is it our instinct to put our feet down on a garden tractor? I've done it when in trouble, and the little AG tires will do a very good job of climbing the back of your leg.
ouch

before youtube, too bad.
Little early WH with the rearset engine, testing the clutch, flipped me off, continued going straight up heading for my truck. Got up, ran it down and basically tackled it before it hit the truck.
 
Had a length of 1/2" galvanized pipe do the same
thing only got my left leg so couldn't push in
clutch, pulled both steering levers before anything
broke.
 
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