the good, bad and ugly

up & down day yesterday. I sold my NH 469 haybine, got a fair price, less than I spent in new parts over the years, But fair.

Then latter on, I was driving the Ferguson to hook up the mower deck, got off to open the gate, the brake paw slipped and it started to roll toward me. Thinking personal safety, I stepped aside and watched her roll straight into the cultivator, denting the front grille in and putting a hole in the radiator. That was the bad and the ugly.

Gets your heart to pumpin doesn't it! Too bad it ended up with a dent. Last Wednesday I stepped out of the machine shed to the sight of my Dodge dually loaded with 70 bales of hay coasting down the lane toward the shed, and it was clipping right along. I grabbed the driver's door, flung it open and laid on the edge of the seat with my feet dragging on the ground steering it away from trouble. Note to self-check the parking brake adjustment. Jim

I watched my Farmall H roll down the hill and right into the bale spear on the 4020. I did the right thing and got out of the way.

eeesh - Reminds me of a heart stopping event several years ago with a rolling truck.

Went to visit family in my wife's truck - parked on a hill (automatic, never think about the parking break).

Got out - walked around to the passenger side to get my daughter out of her car seat in the back seat - truck starts rolling backwards down the steep driveway, heading straight into high speed traffic on the busy road.

Total panic - first instinct was to grab the vehicle and try to brace it - my feet started sliding.

Had to make a critical decision

do I run along and try to unbuckle my daughter and pull her out - do I jump in, and hit the brake by foot... where's the parking brake on this thing... do I dive in across the seats and try the brakes by hand - can I reach them in time - dive in it'll be the quickest option - not going to make it....

I dove in across the seat, suddenly the truck just screeched to a stop right before the road.

transmission finally engaged in park I guess.

Even though it ended well, I'll tell you - that half second of indecision will haunt me for the rest of my life.

It was a lot to process by surprise - but still a sickening feeling wondering if I had taken too long to think and react - had the transmission not caught.

You always feel like you'd be the hero in a situation like that - but that scene cast some doubt, knocked me down a peg. Even a tenth of a second of not knowing what to do is an ETERNITY when your own daughter's life's at stake.


Hate thinking about - who made me think about it? I'm changing subject back to rolling tractors.

Brake lock on my little super A is in a bad spot - it's right where you need to step to mount the tractor. Very easy to disengage it as you climb up, which is always fun when you're parked on a hill.

My son's pickup went rolling down the yard with park ratcheting away. The grain bin stopped it. The dent in the bin is still there. The pickup is long gone. Jim

(quoted from post at 03:07:32 06/25/13) up & down day yesterday. I sold my NH 469 haybine, got a fair price, less than I spent in new parts over the years, But fair.

Then latter on, I was driving the Ferguson to hook up the mower deck, got off to open the gate, the brake paw slipped and it started to roll toward me. Thinking personal safety, I stepped aside and watched her roll straight into the cultivator, denting the front grille in and putting a hole in the radiator. That was the bad and the ugly.

Click to expand...

Went to pull from being parked on the roadside onto the road on a slight grade with the cattle trailer, noticed the brakes on the trailer were locked up. Short in the trailer plug. Got out of the truck, went back to the trailer and wiggled the plug. Yup, that was it. I could tell because I left the truck out of gear and now I was standing in between the truck and trailer and the rig was rolling and picking up speed. Luckily the grade wasn't too steep, I had left the drivers door open, and I was a lot younger then than now and could still run pretty good. Turned out ok, I got in and stopped it, but I still almost died of heart failure...

reminds me of another hill event. Bunch of us haying on a very large hill - one hay wagon - fortunately only partially loaded.

got a flat tire. Friend was driving it up the hill, saw the problem, decided he'd leave the wagon there and go get some air...

Nobody was close enough to ask "what the HELL are you thinking???"...

He pulled the pin... ever so slowly the wagon started moving... You could see his panic as he suddenly realized his stupid mistake, but there was no stopping it...

slowly picking up speed - a little faster - a little faster... a LOT faster - FLYING - SCREAMING down the hill..

Finally got to the bottom, hit a stone wall and launched the entire wagon up into the air over the wall and off into the woods.

It was rather spectacular -

there wasn't a dry eye in the house from all the laughter at my poor friends expense.

Had to extricate the wagon from the woods with an excavator.

He'll never live that one down.

Reminds me of years ago when I was a truck mechanic. One day a driver came in telling me he had a bad brake valve on the trailer (semi). While he sat in the cab and did his book work, I crawled under the trailer and un hooked the airline going to 1 brake can (old style, no spring brakes). as the air bled off the trailer brakes released and the whole semi started rolling over me. The driver had not set the parking brake on the tractor, and I hadn't checked. The driver realized he was moving just as I got out from under that thing. I learned to always check all those things that might reach up and bite you.
Tim in OR