Welcome! Please use the navigational links to explore our website.
PartsASAP LogoCompany Logo Auction Link (800) 853-2651

Shop Now

   Allis Chalmers Case Farmall IH Ford 8N,9N,2N Ford
   Ferguson John Deere Massey Ferguson Minn. Moline Oliver

Discussion Forum
Order Ford 8N Parts Online

8N Safety Question

Welcome Guest, Log in or Register
Author 
Don (8N 143633)

01-30-2000 19:55:03




Report to Moderator

First, being a novice tractor man, I must say that this board is fantastic. Great job people! My question today is this: How really necessary is it to turn off the tractor before dismounting as the manual suggests? How about connecting and disconnecting PTO driven implements? Can a tractor idling softly in neutral suddenly jump into gear or a PTO suddenly engage. I mean I love my 8N and I think she loves me. Would she really hurt me?

[Log in to Reply]   [No Email]
David

01-31-2000 16:24:34




Report to Moderator
 Re: 8N Safety Question in reply to Don (8N 143633), 01-30-2000 19:55:03  
I am a relative newcomer to tractors, being young and I grew up in the city. However I may be in a unique position to add to these comments. I work in family practice in a rural NC setting; with most patients being farmers. Ever seen old country people with disfiguring injurys? Most get them from equipment, a few from cows/horses kicking them but overall, equipment is the villian. Occasionally I fix a finger that is cut, or an arm broken but tractor injurys can be much more severe. Arms, legs, fingers and toes can be amputated easily by a bush hog or sickle bar mower; unforunately these are not usually reattachable as the limb is typically destroyed. (i.e. small, chips of flesh and bone that are not even identifiable) These are MILD. The patient can survive this, if the bleeding is stopped. The other frequent injury is the crush type injury. This entails flipping/rolling a tractor but also includes getting run over, or a tractor falling on you (jack slip etc) Best case: you are held under the wieght (unable to breathe from the wieght) and after 60-90 seconds you pass out and feel no more pain and die comfortably. Worst case: you can breathe and are pulled out but only after massive crushing injury to muscles/bones which can result in kidney damage and slow death from renal failure. (myoglobin released from crushed muscles is toxic to kidneys if anyone is interested) Don't forget the ever popular spinal cord injury that leaves you paralyzed! I have avoided all the in between parts but you guys get the picture. Most people who are injured are EXPERTS with many hours of tractor use and most say "I've done the same thing 1000 times and never had a problem" Tractors in my humble opinion are 90% fun and 10% fear. The fear will keep you safe! Apologies for the graphic content, but it is done in hopes someone will be a little more scared, and will not have to come see me at work!

[Log in to Reply]  [No Email]
tim 52 8n 467745

01-31-2000 22:03:59




Report to Moderator
 Re: Re: 8N Safety Question in reply to David, 01-31-2000 16:24:34  
the graphic is what a lot of us need to put us on the lookout!! remember the photos at the sheriffs tent at the county fair ?? i used to be extra cautious for a month or so after each fair !!lol but that's the reminder some of us need. maybe some of us need to do a 360 in a tank truck like i did last yearand then end up on their side in the median. thank God i was wearing seat belt . walked away ! others that week of bad weather didnt!! remember the pto and machine has more speed and power that a human. it will happen so fast you might not even know what happened . but your next of kin will !!

[Log in to Reply]  [No Email]
hey busdriver

01-31-2000 16:54:43




Report to Moderator
 Re: Re: 8N Safety Question in reply to David, 01-31-2000 16:24:34  
Thankyou very much for the posting, hopefully it will help people realize these dangers. I always try and be as careful as can, but I know I too can easily become a victim. I've worked with machines (forklifts) for 29 years before being closed down, and without any serious injuries, but have seen many almost fatal accidents by people who were as experienced as I, just by not doing the little extras. Thanks again for the posting, we can never be too careful or it brought to our attention too often. Stan

[Log in to Reply]  [No Email]
SandyB@TN

01-31-2000 18:52:32




Report to Moderator
 Re: Re: Re: 8N Safety Question in reply to hey busdriver, 01-31-2000 16:54:43  
David,
Along with Stan's thanks, I add mine.
Sandy



[Log in to Reply]  [No Email]
Nolan

01-31-2000 15:29:51




Report to Moderator
 Re: 8N Safety Question in reply to Don (8N 143633), 01-30-2000 19:55:03  
Don said: I mean I love my 8N and I think she loves me. Would she really hurt me?

If you're at all serious in what you wrote, sell the tractor, and hire someone else to do the work for you. You are going to die from those romantic views of one of the most dangerous machines made. It doesn't hate you, and it doesn't love you. It doesn't give a damn about you.

On the other hand, if you're simply being a bit silly in those words, but serious in the questions, yes it's a very good idea to operate the tractor according to the operators manual. Does that mean that each and every one of us here always follow those instructions precisely and always? No, it doesn't. And some of us have been hurt by it, others killed. And we still get hurt and killed even when operating according to all the safety instructions because...po-po happens, and tractors aren't forgiving machines. Especially old ones.

Does a pto shaft miraculously engage all by itself? It shouldn't. It probably never will. And if it ever does while you're screwing around with it, you're done.

Until you learn *real* well all the safety procedures, follow them by the book. In fact, take a 4H safety course on tractor operation. Yea, you're no kid, but you need the course! Once you become comfortable and experienced, then consider cutting corners. But always know, when you cut corners, accidents are more likely to happen. And that's why you need to be experienced and able to weight the decision and consequences.

[Log in to Reply]  [No Email]
MikeM (Tx)

01-31-2000 14:47:28




Report to Moderator
 Re: 8N Safety Question in reply to Don (8N 143633), 01-30-2000 19:55:03  
Your tractor does NOT love you and will kill you the first chance you give it. A tractor with the engine off is a safer (not safe) tractor.

Safety first,
Mike M (Tx)



[Log in to Reply]  [No Email]
steve

01-31-2000 09:32:54




Report to Moderator
 Re: 8N Safety Question in reply to Don (8N 143633), 01-30-2000 19:55:03  
another thing, if you live in a cold climate and wear those sweatshirts with draw strings for the hood be very careful with them. i always tuck the strings inside the zipper. there are so many places where the strings could get caught, if the strings get caught you get caught. many years ago a young fellow from town tried to clean the pto shaft while the bush hog was running, he was found hours later, tractor still running, pto shaft rubbed clean and him quite dead. be careful and use that most valuable of assets, common sense!!!
steve

[Log in to Reply]  [No Email]
Bill OH

01-31-2000 07:38:10




Report to Moderator
 Re: 8N Safety Question in reply to Don (8N 143633), 01-30-2000 19:55:03  
The stuff about PTO is right on the money, don't ignore it. Another item, ever jump off the tractor and have it roll away from you or over your foot. A friend got trapped this way many years ago, had to dig his own foot out to get free when it rolled back on him, he still walks with a limp! Best to shut it off, set the brakes and put it in gear. Nothing you will be doing or the time you spend is worth your life or an injury.

[Log in to Reply]  [No Email]
John (NL)

01-31-2000 01:53:19




Report to Moderator
 Re: 8N Safety Question in reply to Don (8N 143633), 01-30-2000 19:55:03  
If you're new at this, sooner or later you're going to try cutting grass or weeds or blackberry bushes or trees or whatever with a brush hog or finnish mower. I could tell you to be careful, but the following story posted by Nolan last year says it better than anyone else I've heard tell about it.

Posted by Nolan on March 31, 1999 at 06:48:25:

The weekend is but a memory. The scrapes and cuts are healing, though I still look like I tried to have sex with an angry blender. And I'm getting to where I can walk without those stiff muscle jerks and grunts.

I never bushhoged before in my life, and you all didn't warn me enough about it! Shesh. I had a raspberry cane come whipping across my face slicing my eyelid. I had a tree manage to jam not only my brakes but my clutch as well. And that was in the first few minutes. Then things got really entertaining.

The bruises on my legs and back where the hog would occassionally throw things at me are turning a very pretty yellow.

It's truly exciting when you enter into that big rose bush only to have it wrap itself around the pto shaft and beat you senseless with it's thorny carcass.

Or that tree that tied itself around the tractor's wheel and clunked me on the skull with it's root ball instead of going into the hog where it could be thrown at me in smaller pieces.

And lets not forget that exciting feeling as you turn on the slope only to have the hog catch on something and try to pull the tractor over on its side.

I survived. The place looks *much* better. We're ready for the orchard plants to arrive. And I sure did learn a whole lot!

I'm a pretty wild fella in many peoples opinion. But even I will have to suggest to novices of bush hogging, take it easy! The job's a whole lot hairier then I imagined.

(Originally posted by Nolan - Hope you don't mind my re-posting it, but it makes such an impression)

So, all you new commers, make sure you use an ORC and check out the article called Choosing, Mounting and Using a Bush Hog Type Mower in the General Tractor Information section of the Article Archives listed under Research and Info on the left side of this page. It should be required reading for anyone using a bush hog.

Be Careful,

John

[Log in to Reply]  [No Email]
Nolan

01-31-2000 15:16:53




Report to Moderator
 Re: Re: 8N Safety Question in reply to John (NL), 01-31-2000 01:53:19  
Add to that a new trick I accidently discovered a few weeks ago. A real handy way to flip the tractor bush hogging.

I was using the hog and an axe to chop down saplings in a neighbors woods. Leaving stumps about a foot or two high, none thicker then my wrist, and I have a small wrist. I was merrily hogging along through this stuff, encountering nothing worse then occassionally hooking a little stump down low and skidding a bit.

When all of the sudden, the combination was just right, and the the right rear tire *climbed* one of those stumps, lifting the tractor side about 18".

No big deal, all by itself. But I was flat land when it happened. I have hogged on slopes. It leads to the very interesting and real possibility of flipping the tractor on something I would have expected to bend over.

It's a matter of just the right (or wrong) height. Tall enough to catch a tread cleat before it got knocked over, and it jacked that tractor right up.

So cut them taller, or cut them off short, but don't go cutting them off at knee height.

[Log in to Reply]  [No Email]
Dennis N Tx.

02-01-2000 06:39:34




Report to Moderator
 Re: Re: Re: 8N Safety Question in reply to Nolan, 01-31-2000 15:16:53  
Your right on Nolan.
This past summer before I got my N running I was using one of my Father-In-Laws MF135's and while hogging some pine saplings a limb must have hit the quadrant lever raising the hog off the ground. I had some of them *knee high* trees to recut. (They will pop the heck out of your feet if your not careful.) Anyhow I was cutting and got into a bind and had to back up. Bad mistake...one of the *knee highs* had gotten between the block and exhaust pipe...when I backed up I heard a loud exhaust leak. When I looked down to see the leak I also noticed oil gushing out of the engine. The *knee high* had also cracked the oil filter mount.
It wasn't fun come-alonging the tractor onto the trailer, and explaining what I had done to my F-I-L.
Safe hoggin everyone!

Dennis
8N48II82

[Log in to Reply]  [No Email]
in a heartbeat...bg

01-30-2000 20:08:45




Report to Moderator
 Re: 8N Safety Question in reply to Don (8N 143633), 01-30-2000 19:55:03  
Tractors are unforgiving when it comes to mangling flesh and bone. Especially the PTO parts. Never try to hook up a PTO when the engine is on, especially with a transmission-dependent PTO like the 8N has. Install PTO shields and keep them in place. Turn the tractor off before dismounting. Don't start the tractor from the ground(even though we've all done it, it ain't smart) After you've hooked up a plow or push hog a few hundred times, you should be able to get the tractor close enough to an implement to hook it up with the tractor engine turned off.
If you want some scary stuff, go to the links on my Ford FAQ's page and read about the women who have been scalped(one actually lost her face) when their hair got wrapped up in the PTO shaft.
Any time you might save by leaving the tractor running has the potential to be converted into serious contemplation time in a hospital emergency room or funeral parlor.

[Log in to Reply]  [No Email]
SandyB@TN

01-30-2000 21:08:01




Report to Moderator
 Re: Re: 8N Safety Question in reply to in a heartbeat...bg, 01-30-2000 20:08:45  
Don,
Please listen to the man. The one common thing about tractors, (any brand), they have no brains.
They are designed to do ox work, and they will.
Tractor formality is not mere formality. The rules are there to keep you from becoming part of the landscape. Always think about what you are doing, and what the consequences are if it doesn't go as planned. Short cuts kill and maim.
Sandy

[Log in to Reply]  [No Email]
Frank W. Davis

01-31-2000 03:34:04




Report to Moderator
 Re: Re: Re: 8N Safety Question in reply to SandyB@TN, 01-30-2000 21:08:01  
Good advice on tractors and brush hogs having no respect for you. I've got an 8n that I've brush hogged with over varying terrain....won't go into detail,but I got off the machine more then once with my legs shaking.:-)Got smart and bought me a Dr. mower from them folks over in Vt. Does the job I want it to do...and ain't gotta worry about it eating me up.:-)Frank



[Log in to Reply]  [No Email]
Nolan

02-01-2000 11:21:14




Report to Moderator
 Re: Re: Re: Re: 8N Safety Question in reply to Frank W. Davis, 01-31-2000 03:34:04  
I love the looks of those machines, especially the mini-bush hog type model. Pricy though, and I never see them show up at auctions. Gravely units at auctions go for hundreds of dollars in beat up shape.

If you don't mind, it would probably be usefull for all of us here if you describe which model you have, and what your experiences with it have been. I know I'd sure like to hear it!



[Log in to Reply]  [No Email]
John (NY)

01-31-2000 07:08:00




Report to Moderator
 Re: Re: Re: Re: 8N Safety Question in reply to Frank W. Davis, 01-31-2000 03:34:04  
Just curious: What's a Dr. mower?



[Log in to Reply]  [No Email]
Ed Gooding (VA)

01-31-2000 08:43:51




Report to Moderator
 Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: 8N Safety Question in reply to John (NY), 01-31-2000 07:08:00  
Click below to visit the DR website and check out their products.

Hope this helps..... ..... Ed
'52 8N475798



[Log in to Reply]  [No Email]
John (NY)

01-31-2000 07:07:30




Report to Moderator
 Re: Re: Re: Re: 8N Safety Question in reply to Frank W. Davis, 01-31-2000 03:34:04  
Just curious: What's a Dr. mower?



[Log in to Reply]  [No Email]
Mason WV

01-31-2000 16:44:22




Report to Moderator
 Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: 8N Safety Question in reply to John (NY), 01-31-2000 07:07:30  
Not to strum the same old harp,But,Ive seen A lot of accidents. My uncle lost 2 fingers on right hand, he was right handed. I bought first oliver crawler-OC4 off an estate sale man was wound up in pto. Good friend of mine was killed trying to unwind barbwire from pto tractor was running rolled backwards pinned himfor about 5hrs. My friend did not die quickly. Tractor was removed he stood up, stood up went into shock heart raced he died.

[Log in to Reply]  [No Email]
[Options]  [Printer Friendly]  [Posting Help]  [Return to Forum]   [Log in to Reply]

Hop to:


TRACTOR PARTS TRACTOR MANUALS
We sell tractor parts!  We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today. [ About Us ]

Home  |  Forums


Copyright © 1997-2023 Yesterday's Tractor Co.

All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy

TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.

Yesterday's Tractors - Antique Tractor Headquarters

Website Accessibility Policy