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Things Learned In Life Around Tractors

3

37chief

Well-known Member
Location
California
I have been around tractors most of my life. There a few things I have learned in the process.
When you run over a bee hive in the ground discing. The bees will still be there on the next round.

When loading your tractor on a trailer. Don't do it on a hill with the truck pointing down hill with a car parked 30 ft away.

Never use only two chains to hold your tractor on your trailer, when you know the tractor brakes don't hold, any you didn't do a good job on the chains, and binders. The next noise you will hear is the tractor leaving the trailer at a stop light.

A diesel motor will run on 50% gasoline. You will need to know a pump rebuild is around 500.00

A car can stop faster than a pickup pulling a tractor at a stop light. All in front of a cop.

Whey you run out of fuel you will be as far from your fuel supply as possible.

There must be a lot more of bits of wisdom I have learned, but these come to mind. I'll bet some of you have some good things you have learned also. Stan
 

"There a few things I have learned in the process.
When you run over a bee hive in the ground discing. The bees will still be there on the next round. "

I don't know about them other ones, but I got this one down good! I did not have to have this happen but once and I remembered to lean out and look while riding along. Them dang little yellow jackets that nest in the ground can sting and it feels like someone just poured liquid fire down your leg or arm. Jump off the tractor and go back an hour later and the varmints are still trying to sting the tractor. I hate those things with a passion! :twisted: I won't tell you what I do to them or some peta nut that just loves wasps will get after me.
 
(quoted from post at 20:58:17 03/19/14) I have been around tractors most of my life. There a few things I have learned in the process.
When you run over a bee hive in the ground discing. The bees will still be there on the next round.

When loading your tractor on a trailer. Don't do it on a hill with the truck pointing down hill with a car parked 30 ft away.

Never use only two chains to hold your tractor on your trailer, when you know the tractor brakes don't hold, any you didn't do a good job on the chains, and binders. The next noise you will hear is the tractor leaving the trailer at a stop light.

A diesel motor will run on 50% gasoline. You will need to know a pump rebuild is around 500.00

A car can stop faster than a pickup pulling a tractor at a stop light. All in front of a cop.

Whey you run out of fuel you will be as far from your fuel supply as possible.

There must be a lot more of bits of wisdom I have learned, but these come to mind. I'll bet some of you have some good things you have learned also. Stan
Click to expand...

When brushhogging a 5 acre field, you will find the only rock for miles....in that one patch of thick weeds.

It is twice as hard to load your tractor on a trailer when someone is watching.

Crawlers don't like steel ramps.
 
I was cutting high grass and weeds with a push mower one day and ran over a yellow jackets nest. Two of them got me but they attacked the mower, just as you said. I don't see how that poor mower survived all those stings! As long as the engine was hot, they were trying to sting it. And no, I ain't gonna tell ya how I got rid of them either.
 
Tractor brakes sometimes leave a lot to be desired - when hotdogging downhill with a full loader bucket of gravel, your Suburbans rear hatchback will stop you.

It's a lot of work to pry a smashed hatchback open and shovel out gravel.

On the brushhogging side - Helping out your neighbor, who tells you there's nothing to hit in that tall grass except the large concrete block he forgot about.
 

Yep, I always liked this one -

tractor%20loading.JPG
 
1. Bush-hogging that 6" tall sumac, you may run over a bald-face hormet"s nest, but if you reach and open the throttle up fast, you might be able to outrun the little stinkers.
2. BUsh-hogging the old farm after 20 - 30 years, that sudden lurch might ae a rear wheel dropped off into a small sink-hole that wasn"t there when you were young.
 
(quoted from post at 23:12:22 03/19/14)
I won't tell you what I do to them or some peta nut that just loves wasps will get after me.
Click to expand...

Well, I'd like to know! As a trail rider (horses) that has run afoul of them yeller jackets too many times (once is too many), you won't hurt my feelings by telling'.
 
My grandpa always said that was one of the reasons for the tall exhaust stack on his Farmall M, was so that when he was mowing or baling hay the bee's would attack the highest point of heat. Always worked for him...mighta been old farmers luck though.
 
I was mowin around the pond in the pasture with a JD 950. No independent PTO! When the first two stung the back of my neck I tried to shift up outa 3rd gear....there I sat grindin gears while 9 more got the back of my neck. Finally jumped off and ran!
 
Yep them ramps seem 100 ft. long when you find out your new old tractor has brakes on it, but they don't work. LOL.
 
here"s another one,,, your tractor will always embarass you in front of a crowd,,, never when you are alone !
 

I was disking a broom sage patch and hit them yellow jackets they started stinging and swarming all around me and the tractor. I tried to kick the tractor out of gear where I could jump off thought I did so I jumped off and ran about fifty yards and lay down on the ground. They seem to have left so I got up and looked toward the tractor and it was going across the field I had to then run the tractor down. Lucky I had kicked it into a lower gear. I caught the tractor and stopped it with out a incident but my had to take me to the hospital to get treated for bee stings it was one of them days.
 
When learning to harrow and grandpa says don't turn too tight because you will catch that cable with your tires, listen to him,.... one of you has already learned that lesson the hard way!
 
Monday I learned that you can get a front wheel assist tractor stuck in the snow in Mid Michigan in the middle of March.
 
Its amazing how fast bees and wasps can build a nest or move into something you use everyday. My cousin bale a 15 acre hay field and left the JD 4430 set next to a tree line for 2 days (it rained) and when he opened the door to move it he got a nasty surprise, Them little Black Bees had moved into it. He got sting 9 times and the tractor set there in the field till the snow flew!

I found out (the hard way) that a skid steer is no place to be when you spear a round bale and there is a bees nest in it, NO place to go but backwards fast! And it still don't help! Ouch! Bandit
 
The only time you ever forget your gloves is when you need to unplug the remotes. That is also the day that your hands have somehow remained clean.
 
I have learned several things around tractors also:
1.Never drive a tractor to the county fair expecting not to be embarrassed when the tractor quits and won"t start. Then have to be pushed by onlookers into the building .
2.Don"t turn too short with a tractor w/duals pulling a small disc to knock down endrows.
3.Don"t park behind the combine operator because he is sure to back into you when you don"t expect it.
4. Never roll a two cylinder down a hill without plenty of room or you might end up in the neighbor
s lawn.
5.Never be towed by a guy that has never towed anything, because when you go up over a street curb, you might end up lying on the hood of the tractor.
6.NEVER,NEVER, run a badger through a windrower cutting hay because you know he is going to be very mad if he lives through slugging the crimping rolls.
Jeff.
 
I got 2 mfwd tractors stuck Tuesday. Trying to get a flat rack from a fence line to load a few small square bales on for a neighbor. Still 36 inches of snow in spots here. West Mich. Took a 2-135 MFWD with duals to pull everyone out.
 
Pretty much the same here. I had to get some bales out of a fence row. I got up in the crust and fell through when I picked the bale up. The belly got hung on the crust and that was all she wrote. I had the 2-135 with duals hooked to the gooseneck trailer. I unhooked it and tried pulling the 1365 out alone. I rehooked and moved three times before I got it dragged far enough to break the crust. By then I could rock it back and forth and get it out under it's own power. I don't know if the 2-135 ever would have got it out just dragging the dead weight.
 
When trying to pull a stump with a row crop, you can get it almost straight up toward the sky, but it's rough on the operator when it comes back down on the front tires. ( Trust me I know! )
 
if you have a lot of mud, you need three tractors.

The first one to get stuck.

The second one to get stuck trying to un-stick the first one.

And then the third one to pull both of them out.

There's no way around it.
 
Several more--

When you do run over some yellow jacket's nest, they can fly faster than the highest gear you can get the tractor into quickly....

ALWAYS open the barn doors a bit further than you think they need to be. The axles do stick out further from the wheel hub than you calculate....

If you do run over a bees nest when you are doing something, one of the little buggers will ALWAYS find that little hole in the back of your hat just above the adjusting strap....

Remember that the muffler cover is a few inches higher than the muffler when pulling into a low hanging shed....


I could go on and on, but there have to be a few things for the other idiots to put on here...
 
Whenever you head out with your tractor (truck,jeep etc)and have a "gut feeling" that you should put more fuel in, you were right.
If your dog finds a ground hornet's nest, they will be mad at you too
 

Thing I HOPE I remember: When running the tractor with a cab, don't go under the electric fence where it goes over the drive way. That makes three years in a row. Many I should move it. DUH.
 
1) If you have a tractor that's prone to jumping out of gear, hold the shifter in place when going down a long hill.

2) 15MPH seems an insanely high speed when you're doing it down a long hill on a tractor that's suddenly in neutral and has weak brakes.

3) Some 3pt implements can be used as an emergency brake by dropping them to the lowest position.

4) You might not see for months the fellow who owns the adjoining field but he'll magically appear just at the moment you're making the above three discoveries.
 
Never park a tractor with the loader up .My dad told me when he was younger his best cow was killed when another cow licked the laver and the bucket hit her in the head . He told me it could have been a person.remember kids like to play on tracors
 
seems to be true in grain truk ,,.. flat bottom gas tanks on the 730 Case gasser is a good thing..if you starve out of gas on a hillside ,, turn around and bak up to the bulk tank with the fuel runnin over to the lower outlet...usually another gallon left in there
 
1-Woodchucks will move into hay fields they've never been in before

2- It's bad to hit a woodchuck den with your John Deere Model A & New Idea mower.

3- Some darn fool at John Deere put the starter pedal on a late A where the clutch pedal should be.

4- Engaging the starter on a late John Deere A while running makes bad noises and will not even slow it down.

5- You can fix a Farmall H tire for less that a John Deere late A starter

6- The Farmall H works better on the mower anyway, some one should of got off their lazy backside and fixed the H tire BEFORE 1st cutting hay started.

7. Dad's almost as proud of the starter on the A as John Deere is, but he yells, John Deere just wants ungodly amounts of money.

8. Dirt and gravel from woodchuck den dulls you sickle bar mower pretty quick
 
1. When operating a JD 60 that tends to pop out of 3rd gear, standing up while plowing is a poor choice.
2. Putting on the seat belt in the skid steer while working rough ground would have been a good choice.
3. If you choose to b.s. with your Dad, you should hold off on pulling the pin between the baler and the wagon, especially if you are parked on a slight hill that leads to the big hill.
 
When headed down a hill, with a curve at the bottom in a CAT rubber tired loader, and the brakes don"t work, hitting the peddle on the other side that also applies the brakes....AND declutches it......isn"t going to do anything but make it speed up and make the ride even more exiting.

When the pendant control on an overhead crane is acting up and the crane won"t stop when you let go of the button, running behind it holding on to the controller and hollering WHOA, WHOA doesn"t do a lot of good. It did give the guys watching me a laugh though......
 
(quoted from post at 03:54:02 03/20/14)
(quoted from post at 23:12:22 03/19/14)
I won't tell you what I do to them or some peta nut that just loves wasps will get after me.
Click to expand...

Well, I'd like to know! As a trail rider (horses) that has run afoul of them yeller jackets too many times (once is too many), you won't hurt my feelings by telling'.
Click to expand...

Once they get settled down, I roll a fist sized rock (I grow them dang things around here, I could pick up ever rock in a 5 acre field and by the next month, it will grow just as many back.) over by the hole. When it gets dark, I go back and pour about 2 cups of gas in the hole and cover it up with the rock. End of bees. Peta and Epa would take my 71 acres if they knew that. :roll: I use to raise horses many years ago and I would not want to be on one that got popped by any kind of stinging insect. I would quickly conclude that God was angry at me about something. :shock:
 
how bout a hand crank tractor will always start on the first crank when it is in gear and has chance to run over something
 
When one of the linch pins gets poked out of the 3-point from corn stalks causing the plow to tip over completely on its back when turning short on the headland, it will do so right along busy hyway 14 during 5:00 traffic instead of on the other end of the field where no one will see you.
 
Randy,
I have to relate, my daughter was driving a 325 Steiger once when she was home from college break with a field cultivator and packer combination on it when she came to a wet spot.
She thought that tractor would go through anything. Just as it started to get soft the packer tongue came unglued and then about another 100 feet with the field cultivator raised all the way the tractor sunk. I would never get angry at one of my daughters but I can remember saying to her that I was spending about a hundred thousand dollars on her education and I couldn't see where it was working a bit. I had to explain to her that they will just go farther out in the swamp before they sink.
 
A Farmall A is a great cultivating tractor and is an economical choice
to pull a small hay rake with, providing you don't run it across a
hill side with the engine side down hill and drop the left rear tire
in a sink hole.

Farmall A's will run and stay in gear while laying on their side.

They're not very easy to stand back up on all four wheels.

Hay rake tongues don't straighten easily.
 
Swather crimper rolls make a shooting mess of a skunk.

Washed in dirt always looks dry on top.

There is a good reason swinging drawbars are used for drag type implements.

A 6 foot big disc one way(almost a disk plow) takes about 100 yard to stop the tractor running in road gear when the ground lift drops it. (dirt road)

Hydraulic hoses will not pull a 3-14 IH plow.

First alfalfa cutting of the year MAY have sinkholes. The factory front axle on a 59 460 farmall can spring back about 20 degrees and recover without damage.

Tractor steering wheels have a funny taste.

NEVER change the position of the spinner knob on your Dad's Farmall M's steering wheel. Never.
 
A neighbor back east had you beat.
Had over 300 horse hooked to his IH 240 and brushhog trying to get it pulled back out of his swamp in the middle of a drought.
His wife got home with her scout and pulled them all back out.
 
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