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Well, that is my stupid allowance for this year.

D

Dave H (MI)

Well-known Member
Getting ready to plow a field that never got planted this year due to rain. Wanted to knock down the weeds. Put the hydraulic lines to the chisel on backwards and pulled them to switch. Couldn't get them to go back in and, for some reason, decided it would help if the tractor were running. While standing on the bottom step, I reached in and turned the key and she fired to life...and I had left it in gear. I NEVER leave a tractor in gear and almost never start one without being in the seat. A fun 10-20 foot ride with the big duals banging me on the elbow. You want to see how fast a man can climb a ladder and turn off a key? My wife saw the whole thing from up in the yard. Seriously, if you must start a tractor from anywhere other than the seat...make sure it is in neutral. Better yet, haul your lazy backside into the seat and be safe. I would say lesson learned, but I already knew that one.
 
I always start from the ground but I also always never leave one in gear and I also always always check it?s in neutral before starting . Your lucky you aren?t reading this from heaven
 
The ONLY tractor I have ever (or ever will) started from standing next to was my little Pasquali 986. On both the gear and range shifters, there is a neutral position between each geared position, and it was super easy to make sure tractor was in neutral.
 
(quoted from post at 22:41:08 08/04/19) Getting ready to plow a field that never got planted this year due to rain. Wanted to knock down the weeds. Put the hydraulic lines to the chisel on backwards and pulled them to switch. Couldn't get them to go back in and, for some reason, decided it would help if the tractor were running. While standing on the bottom step, I reached in and turned the key and she fired to life...and I had left it in gear. I NEVER leave a tractor in gear and almost never start one without being in the seat. A fun 10-20 foot ride with the big duals banging me on the elbow. You want to see how fast a man can climb a ladder and turn off a key? My wife saw the whole thing from up in the yard. Seriously, if you must start a tractor from anywhere other than the seat...make sure it is in neutral. Better yet, haul your lazy backside into the seat and be safe. I would say lesson learned, but I already knew that one.
Click to expand...

Since the tractor is apparently new enough to have a hydraulic system and a keyed "ignition" switch it would seem likely there'd be a safety neutral start switch on the transmission shift mechanism or the clutch pedal.

Who "improved"/"farmerized" the system to allow it to start in gear or without the clutch pedal depressed, you or a P.O.?
 
I would get your safety switch fixed Dave, on my 986 I never checked it when I got the tractor and later in the year I had to work on it and found a jumper wire set up in the plug. put a new one on, years ago when I was much younger a guy in our area started one standing along side the tractor and I ran over him and I think from what someone said later that he lost part of the use of his legs.
 
I almost always start my tractor while standing on the ground. I also always park then out of gear but if I know some one else has been around or on one of them I check to be sure it is out of gear before I start it.
 
I do it sometimes but as you point out its not a good thing to do,although with my Fiat built and Japanese built tractors they can't turn over unless they are in neutral
or 'start' position.
 
You certainly used up your luck quota for a while. I'm happy to hear it didn't turn out worse; lots of folks have been killed or seriously injured in similar incidents.

I had a close call a while back. I had stopped my Ford 4000 and set the right hand parking brake. (Left hand brake pawl is stuck, and there was no attached implement I could lower.) When I stepped off, I stepped on the right brake pedal, releasing it. The tractor was sitting on a slight incline and took off. Not thinking, I started to jump back on board when I realized how dumb that was and let go. The tractor rolled to a stop about 50 feet away. I could have easily been crushed thanks to a couple of stupid mistakes. This reminds me to fix that left hand brake pawl. I'll do it TODAY.
 
I always step up on the footrest to start my IH, even if I'm out of position I won't get run over. I will probably die from a stupid thing but I don't want it to be my stupid thing.
 
I always tell people who complain about safety switches in clutches and seats that there?s a reason they are there!
 
(quoted from post at 21:39:33 08/04/19) I almost always start my tractor while standing on the ground. I also always park then out of gear but if I know some one else has been around or on one of them I check to be sure it is out of gear before I start it.
Click to expand...


old, it is a good thing that where you live no one could ever be around your tractor without you knowing about it.
 
You have been gifted one lucky day and luckily your wife didn?t witness you getting run over,I?m guilty of such things too,safety doesn?t hurt.
 
I will never start a tractor if not in the seat regardless. The sole tractors purpose is to kill the operator. You have to be aware of that fact and be smarter than the tractor.
 
Wow!

That could have easily gone the other way...

I vote for fixing the neutral switch top priority over everything.

Consider your experience as a warning to yourself and maybe the next person that might not be as ready to react as you were!
 
At least you are alive and able to tell the story. We have all done something like that but only a few of us are brave enough to tell the story. Years ago I engaged the clutch on an A Deere without checking to see if it was in gear. Lucky for me I was standing in front of the tractor and it was in reverse. It backed up over a plow before i got it stopped.
 
Glad to hear you are OK. To those posters who say they always start the tractor standing beside it, re read Dave's post.....he also never left it gear nor started it from the ground. None of us are perfect, and just one small lapse of concentration or distraction....we don't want to share your obituary on this site.

Stay safe!

Ben
 
I collected that same allowance several years ago. I was working on a neighbors industrial loader tractor. I don't remember the model. It was apparently a product of the Case/IH transition, as it was an IH tractor re badged as a Case. I hit the starter switch to turn it over, and it started, and started moving! I was standing right there in front of the rear tire, which was starting to grab me. I don't remember how I got it stopped, but do remember it was a close call. I stupidly assumed it was in neutral. Also, it seems strange a tractor that modern didn't have safety switches.
 
You are right there.A few years ago I was making hay on a river bottom no houses the least bit close by and my DB 78o was my raking tractor.The fuel cable stop had broken so I had to get off and go around to the injection pump to shut it down so the tractor had to be in neutral.Next morning I got on the tractor hit the starter and it took off,apparently someone had come sometime during the evening/night and put it in gear.So you never can be absolutely sure.
 
I have to have the tractor off and run the levers back and forth a couple of times to get my QDs to hook up regardless of what surprise is waiting on the implement side.
 
OMG, Dave, glad you are ok, I have had the thought of hitting the key on a tractor more than once from he ground, but I always hear that voice giving me hell for even thinking of it.
My wife is always harping safety so I don't do it. So glad you are ok, and it does help reminding us all that we always need to think first.
 
There was a horrible, horrible accident in my neighborhood last year. The man started a 4wd articulated White with duals using a screwdriver. He had to stand on the side between the fronts and rears to do it. He had done this many times before. It started in reverse, ran him in between the duals and drove through the barn wall in reverse. It proceeded across the field running him over and over until his son sped over to see why the tractor was running cross country in reverse. It was as gruesome as you can imagine. Put it this way, the fire department had them work up the path going out to the tractor with a disc, asap, to get rid of the trail left behind. Many in our area are still shook up.
 
A couple of my Kubotas you have to have the clutch in to start it. The other two you have to have in neutral to start them. Which is a pain sometimes but for the best. My old Farmall I always double check to make sure its in neutral but still doesn't guarantee I don't make a mistake.
 
I'll give my wife credit she always gets on the auger tractor to start it when unloading in the fall. Even tho all the safety switches work. Me I just reach from the ground in front of the rear tire and turn the key then push the PTO lever ahead.
 
I'm glad you're ok. Thanks for being brave enough to post. Some guys can never admit that they made a mistake. I'm guilty of doing the same thing last week when I was fixing the swing cylinder on my backhoe. Promise to self; never do that again. A couple of old sayings. If you don't do stupid things, stupid stuff probably won't happen to you. If you get in a hurry; you mess up every time!
 
Well just for grins: how would you start a 1937 A John Deere from the seat? lol Always wiggle the shift lever to check if in neutral because you were supposed to engage the clutch when idling...in neutral....so if somebody got cute and stood on the brakes to kill the engine at stopping...
of course there are the petcocks and choke and the fuel switch....ah yes it made that 1940 Case SC look like Cadillac. Leo
 
I'm glad you weren't hurt.

I was at an auction a few years ago, and one of the auction workers stood on the ground and casually fired up a WD45 with it in gear. It's amazing how quick they will start when you don't want them to. Everyone was bunched up around the tractor, ready to bid, but they parted like the Red Sea when it took off through the crowd. A young man who grew up on the old AC tractors was close by and knew exactly what to do. He had it shut down pretty quick, but it could have been a tragedy.
 
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