UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

With a hedgehog twist in the middle.

https://biggeekdad.com/2017/11/fun-driving-tractor/

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

--Bob

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I had a friend who did a wheelie on a tractor. It went all the way over and landed on top of him, crushing his chest. They airlifted him to a hospital. He spent 6 months in a medically induced coma and came out with several titanium ribs. Medical expenses exceeded $1million.

It was his fault. He did a dumb thing, i.e. trying to pull something heavy without using the drawbar. The drawbar is mounted below the rear axle and he had a chain attached above the rear axle. Pulling with the drawbar exerts a torque on the tractor pushing the front wheels toward the ground. Pulling above the rear axle exerts a torque that pulls the tractor over backwards.

I once had a tricycle tractor (single front wheel and two large rear wheels). The single front wheel could be turned past perpendicular to the frame. You could actually turn the tractor with one of the rear wheels stationary using the differential brakes. When I bought that tractor (JD model B) the first thing I did was to add a roll bar. JD would sell roll bars at cost to encourage people to use them. Although I lifted the front wheel a couple times by engaging the hand clutch too quickly, I never got it more than a foot up. The JD model B was built between 1937 and 1953 I believe, but in the '90s you could still get parts.

Tractors today have a top speed of 18 mph out of the factory. There are fools that bore and stroke the engines to get more power and re-do the transmission to get more speed and they race them. Given my experiences with a tractor I was never tempted to do that. 18 mph is fine on a road, but 5 mph can be way too fast on a field. The tractor, unlike cars, has no suspension. The only cushion from variations in the ground level come from the pneumatic tires.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

You can certainly get hurt on a tractor. When I was young, stupid and working on a farm, I used to plow/rake fields in 3rd or 4th gear and brake the inside wheel (brakes unlocked) to slide around turns. One afternoon when it was about to rain, I ran down the road to bring the tractor (an old, tall John Deere) and disk harrow in from the field down the road. There was no hydraulic lift on the harrow (which was loaded with some concrete blocks as well), so I took off down the asphalt road. After a bit, I noticed the pieces of asphalt flying off the harrow, so pulled it over in what I thought was a solid shoulder. Wrong! It was really a ditch with high grass, and as the tractor started leaning dangerously, I tried to jump off over the high side. I woke up under the tractor, which didn’t roll, and because I was in 4th, choked off before the harrow could roll over me, but the big rear wheel was across my pelvis, and when I tried to wiggle out, I could hear things gurgling inside - bad sign. As it was now raining in earnest and since the tractor was leaning dangerously and the ground was getting soft, I started digging with my free hand. Finally managed to squirm out and started crawling down the road because I couldn’t walk.

After about 100 yards of this, the farmer came running and got me in a car and to the hospital, where the orderly slammed the car door on my head and gave me a concussion (seriously). LONG story short, I got by with a broken pelvis and crutches after a few days in the hospital. I was VERY stupid, and VERY lucky to have survived. You have to be knowledgable and respectful with tractors. You can certainly “wheelie” one, and if you’re not quick putting the clutch in, you can end up like your friend.

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

It's a great commercial and hopefully most tractor drivers, myself included, have more sense than to try silly antics with them.

WJB Loc: Salisbury, MD

I enjoyed the video, especially the abrupt stop-thanks-a good chuckle!

joehel2 Loc: Cherry Hill, NJ

I loved that, I had a big smile on my face from the moment he came out of the garage. Thanks for sharing it.

Canonuser Loc: UK and South Africa

Very simply, when you pull from below the axle, the pinion in the rear axle will always try to drive the crown wheel in a circular forward motion. When an attempt is made to pull an immovable object from above the axle, the crown wheel remains stationary and the pinion climbs up it, actually driving the tractor up and over backwards.
I once had a cutaway video of this happening. It was aimed at convincing tractor drivers of the danger of pulling from a point above the rear axle.

Earnest Botello Loc: Hockley, Texas

randave2001 Loc: Richmond

Good one Mike. Enjoyed it.

G. Crook Loc: Linden, TX

Actually, most newer tractors have a "road" gear that allows highway travel up to 25 mph, New Holland WorkMaster 75 in my case. I do custom cutting and baling, most of the fields are some distance from one another but not nearly far enough to justify the time to load on a trailer for a mile or two travel. Common sense will dictate your speed in any case.

yssirk123 Loc: New Jersey

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Unfortunately the availability of common sense among the current population is limited.

Note that speed is only one of the hazards available to a tractor. They have hydraulics.

I had a project that needed a backhoe. I wanted to rent one but all the rental places I checked out wanted a certificate of training on hydraulics. So I bought one, and nobody asked any questions about that. The rental places wanted to be sure I didn't destroy their equipment. If it was my equipment they couldn't care less.

That's when I learned that whenever you have a new tool you find all sorts of uses for it that it was never designed for.

THIS IS NOT ME

redlegfrog

There are many such stories and I am glad to see them told in the hopes that young people will learn from them so they don't make stupid decisions of their own.

KTJohnson Loc: Northern Michigan

Now THAT'S farm to market fresh!

Loved it! Thanks for sharing, Mike. It put a smile on MY face.

Incidentally, I too have done some wheelies with my tractor (unintentional). You've got to know where that clutch pedal is, FAST!