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44 year old Midland MI Man Killed on Tractor - Be Careful

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Brown Green

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Happened yesterday. Thoughts and prayers go out to the family.

A rural Midland County man died when his tractor flipped over on top of him.

Midland County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Michael Goodall identified the victim as Greggory James Caldwell, 44, of Mills Township. He was dead at the scene.
Goodall said in a statement that Caldwell was using a 1950 Farmall tractor to drag downed trees out of the woods to cut up for firewood. One of the dead trees he was dragging got caught on a live tree next to the narrow trail, causing the tractor to flip over backward.
Caldwell was pinned beneath the Farmall and did not survive.




The accident happened on private property in the 2000 block of East Baker Road, about 10 miles north of Midland.
Deputies continue to investigate the incident. They were assisted at the scene by MidMichigan Midland EMS and the Mills Township Fire Department.
 
Doesn't make any difference how old you are or how long you've been doing a particular activity, it only takes a split second for something to go wrong. Our prayers go out to the family. Keith
 
Can someone please explain to the physics behind this? I cannot understand if someone is pulling via the drawbar how it can bring the tractor over backwards.... the drawbar should pull down on the front end as the attatchment is in front of the rear axle...
farmall's do not have a 3 point hitch (unless aftermarket) so how could this happen?

Thnaks, Bryan
 
You can get a lot more pull by hooking to the axle, but it is really dangerous to do this. The tractor can go over backwards very easily.
 
(quoted from post at 14:38:04 06/21/12) Can someone please explain to the physics behind this? I cannot understand if someone is pulling via the drawbar how it can bring the tractor over backwards.... the drawbar should pull down on the front end as the attatchment is in front of the rear axle...
farmall's do not have a 3 point hitch (unless aftermarket) so how could this happen?

Thnaks, Bryan
Click to expand...

Most likely he had them hitched to a higher point in order to try to have the butts up off the ground for less resistance, and to get a little draft for traction.
 
Just like at a tractor pull the front will come up. When the tractor body stops, and the tires keep digging/moving, over it comes. The more you pull the more weight you have on the front. Pulling 33' of chisel with a 7110 Case/IHC I had 800/1000 Ibs on weight on the front. I have had the front wheels on my JD MT over 3' off of the ground going up a steep grade and the blade up.
 
A moving tractor with something hooked to the drawbar that hooks on something stopping the forward motion of the tractor can indeed cause it to flip with NO warning. Faster it's going the faster it happens. I was plowing a deer plot for a freind this spring. I hooked a root ball from a tree that he had cut down at ground level that I couldn't see. My lower arms on my 3 point are in front of and below the axles. The top link is what kept it from going over but the front tires jumped about a foot off the ground before the tractor stalled.

Rick
 
Don't know if I can explain the physics but my dad always warned me of what could happen when I first started driving a tractor over 40 years ago. He called it the tractor walking over on itself.
The tractor is pulling something, that something gets caught. The tractor's tires keep moving and if they don't spin on the ground but get traction then since the transmisson is still turning,the rear end is turning the tires are turning the tractor will walk the front end up and over. If you don't get the clutch in fast you end up with the tractor on you and it happens so fast not much chance you will get the clutch in intime.
I have been lucky and never have been in that postion yet. Have had the front end come up doing the antique pulls but slow pulling in first gear, foot on the clutch ready to push it in when the front end does come up is different then say out plowing a field making good time and not ready for something to catch.
 
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