Loader safety

Hi SV

Made me feel sick to watch the video but it has a powerful message. I know of an older farmer here who died from a round bale pining him to the steering wheel, very sad. Here in Australia you now can't buy a new front end loader without it being a level lift, they are trying to reduce the risk of this happening. I always remember a sign in a tool fastener shop I go to, it reads "there is no right way to do the wrong thing" thanks for sharing.
 
I don?t think you can buy a loader In the USA that?s not a level lift except on a the compact and subcompact tractors . I had a 3x3 straw bale roll down the loader and pin me ln the seat one time luckily there was another guy there and he rolled the bale off and I didn?t roll clear over the top of me like In the video or I?d have probably ended up the same way . I was on a little compact tractor with a loader and had some home made forks but the forks weren?t for hay so I just had the bale sitting on the fork instead of stabbed
 
He was fortunate to have survived. We have all done dumb things and gotten away with it but it only takes one mishap to change or end our life.
 
Very sad. This was a good part of the reason my loader tractors have always had cabs, and we have always had bale spears. I could just envision one of my boys getting crushed under a bale. Things like this happen to adults, think how much greater risk a teenager would be. And say what you like, that darn tractor is too small too be handling bales of that size and weight.
 
I won?t let the kids run the big loader just for this reason. A cab is definitely safer that?s for sure at the newer ones anyway not sure the old tin cans like I would have would do much other than just give one more thing to have to you out of . I agree that tractor was way to small with a tractor large enough to do the job it probably would?ve never Happened of course we don?t really know what tractor he was using as this is just a Reenactment .whenever I lift anything now I make sure that if it does fall it falls away from me not towards me
 
SV,
No question leaders are dangerous. The higher you lift a heavy object, the higher you raise the Tractor's center of gravity. Unlevel ground makes it more dangerous. Google moving hay with loader and see how many deaths occur.

George
 
The guy is a moron on so many levels,tractor not big enough or heavy enough in the rear,labor intensive,dumb way to attach the bale.No one outside of a reality show would do anything close to the way he was doing it.Why not have a 3pt bale spear on the back for starters to double the number of bales hauled and for weight? Why is he raising the bale way up in the air anyway?
 
Almost always its not the equipment that is dangerous its the operator doing something unsafe that makes it dangerous.A machine is a tool used correctly for its intended purpose its fine.Raise something very heavy way up in the air and the loader turns over the loader didn't cause the problem the operator caused it.Saw a guy not long ago out in his yard cutting up a tree with his chainsaw,tennis shoes,no gloves looked like he didn't have a clue on how to handle a saw safely.If he cuts himself it ain't the saw's fault.
 
I totally agree with you. Gotta keep your eye on the ball. Too much can go wrong in a heartbeat and it could occur by accidentally hitting a control at the wrong time, in the wrong direction. Had that happen and it had started the tip when I was able to grab the control, remembering the right direction to move it back in my shock-excitement, and stabilize things.......all in a heartbeat!
 
A real buzz around tractor dealerships right now. Not the dealer but John Deer mother company just lost a jury verdict where a young man got killed on a compact tractor and loader. The damage award was ruled because John Deer failed to sell the tractor as it should be, ie nor ballast in the rear tiers. Lawyers pointed out John Deer knew it needed ballast because in the operators manual it says so. Now the question becomes should I sell a tractor with a loader without fluid or rear ballast. Not sure how this thing is going to play out but could become really costly for dealers quick.
 
Yes because it is John Deere we will sue never mind the owner should not have ever operated any tractor. Modern rule is people are not responsible for their actions just sue someone
 
I think the owners manual stated that the tractor needed to have have a certain amount of weight in the rear to be operated safely,so I guess in that situation it'd be considered something like selling a bush hog without a guard on the PTO shaft.Also considered too I guess is that tractor companies now are targeting homeowners with a few acres to sell their tractors rather than farmers that would probably be expected to have more experience in such things.Be interesting to see how it all plays out.If indeed the tractor does need the ballast to be operated safely
then the onus would be on the new tractors sellers to be delivered to buyer in what the tractor company states is with all equipment needed to operate it safely I would think.
 
Proof that education and intelligence does not mean smart. Not the first highly educated person who tried and failed at fairly simple tasks.
 
If remember the show "That's Incredible" there was a feature done on exactly the same accident. Guy was a doctor who owned a ranch. His back was broken and he stayed in that position for several hours till he was found.
 
that is just unbelievable someone would lift a bale that high with a small tractor like that,. I wont even lift high with my 2-85 white with a cab on it, not that it would help a whole lot. just craziness here. yes you cant see directly in front of you but your in a big field and you can see over the bale top. I always say professional book smart people even school teachers are not smart at simple task at times.
 
That was hard to watch. I learned the lesson 60 years ago, when you have a heavy load (any load really), only lift the loader as high as needed to carry the load. Dad and I feed silage to the cattle in the winter with a Farmall H and loader. One day Dad had the loader too high and drove over a small hill and the H went on its side, nobody hurt, but a lesson learned.
 
Lawyers sue everybody even remotely connected but they're really going after the biggest pocketbook which, in this case, was mother deere. For the manufacturer to furnish rear weight (at the cost of the purchaser) is nothing new. Allis Chalmers tractors used to come from the factory with 75% NaCl in the rear tires. You're worried about the dealers. Not me. I have to look out for myself. As a farmer, when I buy a tractor from you, I pay retail while selling my crops wholesale and paying the freight both ways to boot.
 
I think that supports my long held theory that we've educated too many idiots. All you end up with is an educated idiot. (;>))
 
My wife's uncle died that very way. He had a JD loader and he was always dropping it off or putting it on when he needed it , he didn't install the pins , raised the bale so he could see , hit a bump and bale and bucket came back on top of him. Everyone needs to be careful,risk management is important in farm operations
 
So I am really interested in your thoughts, Book says hey you need weights for this to be operated in a safe manner. You think that is not sufficient, you agreed and bought it that way yet when you get hurt you are saying hey you should have furnished the weights.

What it boils down to is following that thinking then ever tractor I sell has to have fluid or weights at an added cost.. May in affect come to that. Whole lot like the emissions things those folks want to live out there in California with billions of folks where the smog is so bad, yet the rest of the nation has been saddled with smog control, and yes it was needed so I expect the weight thing is headed the same way.
 
I have a friend who had a Kabota tractor with a loader. One of those real small ones. He had a bucket full of rock and had the loader up as high as it would go. He was driving along a hill side and yep it tipped over on it side. He asked me about how he should roun it and I told him load only as high as you need to have it to go from point A to point B then and only then lift it up only as high as needed to dump the load
 
I learned, from my Dad by being taught @ age 8, that you do not raise a loader so you can see under it until stopped as near as possible to the point of delivery of the load. Then raise to proper hight needed & move forward if needed. Never had a problem with a narrow front H with "bridge style" farm hand in 10 years stacking & moving loose hay around the farm. Horse sense & a great teacher keeps everyone safe.
 
I think it will come to that. Although a properly ballasted tractor is a more universal issue than a smog pump being needed only where there is smog. And, as I pointed out, it's been done before. Although I think Allis Chalmers did it more to improve the pulling ability of their tractors that might not have been the only reason as that was a mandatory feature they included (at the end cost of the customer) at a time when front end loaders were just coming into the picture. (post WWII=The Big One) Other examples would be ROPS and fenders on Fordson tractors.
 
Agreed , best thing ever happened was the ROPS, even back then some folks said "I DON<T WANT THAT DANG THING" we would have to get them to sign a wavier, but after several law suits go where could not sell one without ROPS, as it should be.
 
There was serendipity involved with ROPS. John Deere did the development on it and, I guess, acquired patents, but then offered the technology to anyone who wanted to use it because it was such an important safety item. This led to cabs on tractors. Two of my three tractors have heated, air conditioned, filtered cabs. The third, an M6800, is open station by my choice. It is a workhorse tractor used for anything and everything except heavy pulling of grain carts and heavy tillage equipment. Open station is easier to jump on and off when needed.
 
Who's fault is it really?

Salespeople have been building this bad reputation for decades, upselling people on unnecessary accessories, ineffective undercoating, worthless extended warranties. When they go to sell the customer the ballast package that goes with the loader, your average customer is just going to think it's another attempt at upselling. "You want how much for WEIGHT?"

Maybe it should be the dealer's/manufacturer's liability, even if the customer opted out of the weight package. If they hadn't been shafting the customer all these years, the customer might have been more willing to believe them when they said it was necessary.
 
Probably sold over 150 M 6800s for right what you are using that one for. Good thing it is open the air on the M68,82,& 9 thousands drove us crazy. Could not keep the area right behind the battery clean. Good talking to you and happy farming. Have you looked at the new M7 or M8 Kubotas
 
I've seen the M7 but not the M8. I believe the M7 is up to a Gen 2 now. The one I saw had bar axles and duals. A 171 I think. Quite impressive.
 
We ( dealership) has three of the 171s out now , one with over 600 hrs and so far all is well and folks really like them. Replaced John Deer at a large dairy operation.
 
there is a person who lives near me who ALWAYS has the loader it will go when moving big round bales then he goes down the road with loader as high will go. what is going to happen when he hits a bump and lands on a car?
I just bought a John Deere 1025 r salesman and trucker that brought said several times this tractor will not handle round bales. I didn't buy for that I got to clean barn I won't get on skid loader unless Tall Kid is home. I'm not as steady on my feet as I once was.
 
I try to never lift high enough that anything high enough that it could roll back towards me and with my old F11 that?s pretty high I also always stab the bale not just sit it on the fork if I lift it up very high because that?s a sure way to wind up crippled . Read below I did have a small bale roll on me one time .
cvphoto5074.jpg

The bale has to drop it would have jump 3 feet up to roll towards me
 
I agree . Especially for people that have no idea
about equipment. I bought a pan scraper from some
people and they had a little John Deere with a
loader and a backhoe they would fold out the
backhoe and drag it across the field like a plow!
 
It?s second nature for guys like us we?ve been around it and helping and watching dad from the second we could get outside and studying tractor and implement brochures instead of school books
 
I was taught many years ago the only safety device one can ever depend on is the one between ones ears but many people never learn that and that is why they get hurt. There is not one single safety device that will work 24/7 365 and work for as long as a machine is able to be used they all can and will go bad sooner or latter and that is why one need to be careful at all times
 
I agree old if your not careful all the time and thinking all the time about what you?re doing sooner or later you?ll wind up hurt bad
 
I'd have to say Deere was at fault in the lawsuit (and I'm a retired Deere employee). The issue boils down to the tractor and loader being "ready to use" when it left the dealer, in spite of the owner's manual saying that the combination needed more weight in the rear. According to the newspaper article, Deere said it _was_ "ready to use", but did not have the weight; and the owner's manual said it needed the weight. If it needed weight, and didn't have the weight, then it wasn't "ready to use".

Deere didn't dispute any of that, just tried to claim the opposite of what their own literature said, that the weight was not necessary; and that the operator wasn't wearing his seat belt.

https://www.stwnewspress.com/news/jury-orders-john-deere-to-pay-million-for-stillwater-man/article_163a6297-2a3a-523d-a2eb-f908bf052400.html
 
A brain is necessary before operating any piece of
equipment If had been wearing his seat belt he
would still be alive ! Reminds of a news story once
about some people who had bought new boots with
laces and the boot manufacturers got sued because
there was no warnings about the risk of wearing the
boots unlaced
 
They really are the ultimate death machine when you think about lifting a 2000 pound hay bale up where it can roll off and crush you
 
Man I know I?ve pulled my share of dumb stunts and I guess I just got lucky God doesn?t need me back yet
 
That would be terrible just for trying to save a few minutes by not putting the pins in ! And we?ve all probably done it
 
Even if he had a seat belt on he still could have been killed or injured.Anyway it wasn't about whether the driver could survive a roll over it was about whether the tractor was safe to use and the JD literature clearly stated it was not.All the tractor companies selling compacts these days are targeting customers they well know that have little or no tractor driving experience so that puts even more of a burden on the companies to make sure the machines they sell are reasonably safe to operate and use.
 

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