can tractors do wheelies?

I was discing the other day. There is a short but steep hill, and I usually try to work the ground there as I am driving DOWN it, not up. This pass it was faster to go up, so I did. Tractor didn't seem too burdened, but I had this uncomfortable feeling like the front end wanted to rise up off the ground. Could that happen?
 
You bet. There are lots of utube videos of less than intelligent actions where pulling on something made the front end pop up and sometimes flip over.
 
I have had a tractor do a wheelie many times. Take off to fast at high RPM or lift something on the 3 point that is to heavy or like I had happen not long ago with my Farmall BA. I was driving it up to a neighbors place to cut his hay and going up my steep driveway hill the front end kept trying to go to the side one way or the other due to it being to light in the front. I just added a weight to it today as far forward as I could so as to maybe not have that happen again
 
When pulling logs out of the forest on dad,s old F-20 farmall the front wheel were usually a few inches off the ground. Just had
to use the steering brakes.
 
They very much can!

One good thing about having an extended attachment, it works like wheelie bars and will stop it from coming all the way over, but the same attachment adds weight to the back making the front more likely to come up.

What is dangerous is pulling with a chain tied up above the draw bar. Many have been killed doing this! Few of the older tractors have ROPS (rollover protection structure).
 
They certainly can, and it's a concern.

That's why the Fordson we had when I was a kid had "teardrop" fenders with toolboxes built out over a foot behind the rear wheels, maybe 18" above ground. Very handy as toolboxes, but the main purpose was to prevent the tractor from rolling over backwards.

I recall once, more recently when I was chisel plowing a field with a 1086 Farmall and a 13' chisel plow. There was one spot in the field where the ground was clay and was uphill for maybe 100 yards. With the tractor full throttle in 1st gear, the front wheels would come about 6" off the ground going up the hill. I had to steer with the brakes on that stretch every round.

The pull on the drawbar had the effect of holding the front wheels to that height. I still had my foot riding the clutch, though.
 
If the tractor has a 3 point, or Fast Hitch if an IH, it won't go all the way over because the hitch limits the motion. It will
scare the beegeebers out of you though. If pulling an implement from a draw bar connection with a pin or clevis, it can go over.
As noted hitch only to the original draw bar.
We live with IH and Farmall Fast Hitch implements and when lifted to the transport position, they were light in the front. We are
just use to it. Don't pull going up steep hills. Jim
 
I've got a little Kubota B5200 tractor that can't handle a bush hog on the back. Every time I start off with it the front end leaves the ground.
 
OH YEAH! Right after I got my 1655 had to put new motor in it--just did a replacement or upgrade. The young man doing the work was breaking it in and after a few passes up and down the road in front of the shop he comes pass the shop in 4th gear low range and high RPM, pops it from low to high range and the front end comes up at least a foot. No counter-weights on the front. Surprised me!
It has happened to me several times since.
 
They can....and will go right over with a 3 pth. Enough momentum will twist any hitch sideways.Be careful out there! Ben
 
old-9, I suppose one should know how to do that in case you need to. I really don't know what they are doing though. Throttle lever by steering wheel? And something else? Someone else said something about engine break, I think? That's not your right foot break?
 

goose, I like that idea of a giant toolbox sitting low in back. Very handy for more tool storage and could help to prevent rollover, too. I could see how each certain implement being pulled could cause the tractor to want to come up, or come up and stick at a certain height like yours, or want to flip over. That's all mathematics and fun to figure. You said you had to use what, the steering brakes? What do you mean? Not the foot pedals on the right, right and left tire breaks? When I had that feeling like my tractor might want to lift, I quick was deciding in my mind what would be better: to put on the clutch or to push the throttle lever all the way to the left!
 
(quoted from post at 16:36:03 08/16/18) I dislike going up a hill for that reason. Stan
Or going along the side of a hill!

Driving a tractor is one of the activities I find to be most nerve-wracking at times. You're often on uneven ground and bouncing around when something unusual happens. Unless I'm on level flat ground going at a slow pace I've got one foot resting on the clutch pedal and other near the brakes. I've been doing a lot of loader work with my NH TC45 lately with my box blade on the rear for some weight on the 3pt. But even with that, I'll find one rear wheel pop off the ground sometimes when I go into a pile or the bucket gets filled unevenly. Had several of those scary moments the other day spreading fill. It sure felt like the tractor was going over sideways.

I remember seeing demonstration videos online somewhere of tractors where they purposely flip them over. I'd be a nervous wreck if I farmed some of the hilly country around this nation.

Which brings up a question: do they make or any one offer an inclinometer to show how close you are to going over center of gravity on a tractor?
 
Throttling down some might be OK, but if you stop, there are major issues. Like setting the brakes, and unhitching the implement,
then getting out of the location, then retrieving the implement safely. The brake pedals are wheel brakes. and when the front
tires are slipping at an angle, using the brake on the side that is in the direction of the turn will assist in turning. Jim
 
Certainly. The brakes help you steer when it happens.
This young man ain't skeered! :)
Note that he does have wheelie bars to keep him from flipping.

21597.jpg
 
Oh they sure can and will do wheelies other than pulling a sled. Too heavy an implement in the right situation will easily bring the front end off the ground unless the front is counterweighted. I found out the hard way one day loading my 70 JD on deckover with 2 bottom 16"s on.
 
Yes they can and do so so fast that there have been many times people can not react fast enough and people are badly hurt or die . If you have the tires locked to the ground and not enough ft weight they will come up fast, even with ft weight they can and will stand up on you and looking DOWN the oppen end of the muffler is not a fun feeling . On the hills around here it is not uncommon for this to happen plowing . even on flat ground if you snag something or hit a patch of hard pan it will bring the ft. up . Now i personally have never had the ft. come up while disking even with the 18 foot disc behind the 1066 as normally she will break traction even with the duals on before she will come up . BUT plowing or deep ripping i have had her five feet in the air before . Worst one was my old Farmall 460 as she went straight up while on a hill when a pin sheared in the tel-a-depth control system when i tried to just lift the plow a bit when it snagged a root on the last round . You try and stay in the seat and hold the clutch down while the tractor is standing straight in the air and do some FAST thinking of your next move , to late for the Bail off now is it going all the way over backwards or is it going to drop like a rock . To get her down it was stuff it in rev. and ease the clutch out and when we started down STAND ON THE BRAKES . Even with the brakes on when it broke over center with the hitch all the way at the top and the plow hooked to that root when the root broke man did she hit hard . In my 60 plus years of running equipment of all types i have had many experiences and it does not matter how careful you think you are DO DO happens and happens fast , I have had excavators side unload i have had dozers slide off the side of trailers i have had dozers slide side ways down a hill on frozen ground , came close to rolling a combine on a side hill i have had brake failures on scrapers and the electric steering fail on old Le Tourneau scrapers while on the haul road running flat out while loader and now way to steer and shoving down the clutch and standing on the brakes that were about worthless and no way to drop the bowl as everything except the drive was electric controlled . Then ya use a tractor for loader work . One can NEVER have enough weight on the back end for loader work . And as we age we slow down and do not react to a fast problem like we did in younger years. This stuff can KILL YOU IN A SPLIT SECOND , So stop and THINK before you do and then stuff can still go from good to BAD fast.
 
the tractor vet, pretty scary stuff. I'm going out on tractor today. Feelin' kinda nervous now ;) I think I'll keep it in first about half throttle, so about 1 mph. Not much can happen then, right? Haha! I'm staying on flat ground and going slow. You guys giving me nightmares. :D
 

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