Stupid Tractor Related Injuries

I'm sure I'm the only one out there that's ever hurt themselves messing with these old tractors... What are some of your stupid, painful, unusual (usually completely avoidable) injuries? Simple cuts don't count. Grinders make beatiful messes too. Last time I cut my finger to the bone my wife suggested I get stitches. i told her, what are they going to stitch, all the meats splatterred up against the crankcase...

2 years ago, I needed a simple bracket to mount some switches to the steering post. All it was was a piece of 1/8" x 1" steel with a couple holes in it. Since it was a simple piece and I was in a hurry, I just held it with a pair of vice grips and used a 1/2" drill to drill the holes in it. Naturally, the drill bit caught when it started to break thru. This twisted the bejesus out of my left wrist. After a couple weeks it wasn't any better, so I went to the doc. Turns out I had a TFCC injury. Nothing a $20k surgery, excruciating pain, and a years recovery couldn't make "mostly better".

Tonight, I was unloading tractors from the trailer, misstepped and ran my leg thru the crossmembers in the ramps. Kind of like a racoon trap, it was. The angle iron that makes the crossmembers of the ramp make a perfect "funnel" to get your leg stuck in them. Foot was on the ground, leg was wedged in the ramp just shy of the knee. I measured the distance between the legs of the crossmembers - 3.5". My calf measured about 6" diameter (by measuring the other one) before I decided to run it thru the crossmembers. If you do the math, it becomes painfully obvious that the calf was not intended to be extruded thru a 3.5" wide opening. Came inside and iced it down, and elevated. Swelling was rediculous, whole back of lower leg was hard as a rock and huge bruise within minutes. Went to the ER to make sure I didn't have any serious muscle damage and get some painkillers.... Have to stay off of it for 1-2 weeks now. dumb dumb dumb

i have a good one for ya. when you are workin on a tractor together with your father, an you reach into the crankcase on a A john deere to feel the movement of the rods, you should make sure your father doesnt at that momment decide to spin the crankshaft over using the flywheel. just to let everyone know there is not enough clearence behind the castlenuts on the rods an the back of the crankcase for your hand to be there. Also your hand will stop a hand spun crank when it runs out of room.
i have never been really speachless before, an i think that is the closest i have ever come to peeing myself from pain. all i could do was point, it will turn your hand black an blue also, an puts nice circle cut on your palm.
there are many others but that is one that stands out the most.
johndeeregene

I have had my share. The last thing I did to cause me a lot of pain about a month ago, was: I was removing the drain plug from my tractor trans. Just enough room to lay on the ground to get at the plug. My wrench slipped and hit one of my fingers between the solid hitch and the rather large wrench. It hit my finger just where the nail comes out. Now you talk about hurt. That is the worst hurt I have had in a very long time, The nail is just tstarting to come back. That hurt doesn't even compair to cutting my finger with my chain saw. The time a rock flew out from my mower and hit my front tire, and bounced back into my eye smarted a bit also. Lets stop hurting ourselves. Stan

I have three ag related finger ones that stand out.

I built fence for about 12 years and only had a post driver droped on my hand one time.I broke three fingers and the end popped out of one.I know people that don't have as many fingers anymore because of post drivers so I'm pretty luckey.

I was trying to hook up a very heavy portable cattle chute to my truck once and this fat girl walks up and says would it help if I stand on the other end.So I think it sure looks that way and sure enough the thing shoots up in the air,she gets scared and jumps off.The chute lands on two of my fingers and they just kind of explode.I think it took 33 stitchs to fix that.

Then about two weeks ago I was cleaning a little hay out of the pickup on the round baler and shoved my hand in and shaved all the skin off the back of my finger to the bone on one of the razor blades that cut the twine.I should have known better because I had just put new blades in a couple days before that.

Not directly tractor related but the baler was hooked to a tractor. Was pushing a broken shear pin out of the baler flywheel when my friend gave the flysheel a spin. The end of my pointer finger was sheared mostly off part way up the fingernail. The upper half of the fingernail was on the finger and the other half was on the mostly sheared off tip that was was hanging on by a little hinge of flesh. Doctor sewed it back on and it grew back together. Spent several days walking around with my hand held up in the air. Jim

I have been hurt all that I want to be in my life, and I go out of my way to prevent any injuries, its taken me 59 years of pain to figure out that their is no hurry!

bought a little allis g tractor years ago. Had a decayed swelled battery in the battery box and the box has a roughly 4x4 opning in the bottom. So I tells dad to hold a 2x4 upright and I'll pound the battery box down on it to push the battery up. Problem, my middle finger was wrapped arount the edge of the opening. Pushed my full fingernail out from the knuckle. It was so long I didn't know what it was first. Looked like an inch long fake one.... that comes with cursing and near fainting

(quoted from post at 05:43:23 07/07/10) I have been hurt all that I want to be in my life, and I go out of my way to prevent any injuries, its taken me 59 years of pain to figure out that their is no hurry!

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That's right on the money. I don't hurry for anything or anyone anymore, all hurrying does is get you in trouble.

The ramps on our equipment trailer are similar. I always watch my footing when walking up one of them to get on the trailer. They make me nervous that I'll step wrong, trip, or like you, get my foot through one of them.

P.S. Some of you may remember that I broke my right wrist a while back. I was trying to drive a t-post with a sledge and that wrist still wasn't working very well. Smashed the beejeebers out of my left thumb. The nail grows a little crooked now.

Lesson - let James drive posts with the post driver.

(quoted from post at 12:27:55 07/07/10) The ramps on our equipment trailer are similar. I always watch my footing when walking up one of them to get on the trailer. They make me nervous that I'll step wrong, trip, or like you, get my foot through one of them.

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The really aggravating thing is that I always tell my kids to stay off the ramps, they might fall thru and hurt themselves...

25 yrs ago my neighbor and his wife both could a been killed when HE NOTICED the Crankshaft nut was loose AGAIN on a NICE but problematic 730 diesel Deere they were planting with ,.. rain was coming , battery was dead, no other vehicle with them ,, and he hated to run with that nut loose ,, SO WHAT HE DID was , idled the tractor to a very slow crank , TOOK THE BIG WRENCH AND TRIED TO CATCH THE SPINNIG NUT ,,. WRENCH CAUFGHT AND INSTANTLY THREW ITSELF RIGHT INTO THE NEW REAR TIRE. ...INSTANT BLOWOUT! .. BOTH WERE STANDING RIGHT THERE NEXT TO THE TIRE .... and are prosperous farmers today... By the GRACE of GOD ...

July 4th weekend 2005 I went to pick up an IHC tractor that I had not been able to ID 100%. It was from an estate and No One was happy about the will. Any way I got there at 6:30 am to get it and the party I was to meet was not there. 9am finally arrived with the heat and humidity. We could finally get to work gathering the components and assemble the tractor enough to load it. About 11am my buddy asked what I did to my leg. My response is nothing...Why? He pointed to my left shin and when I looked down nearly passed out. At some point I must have touched something hot. A hole about 3 to 4 inches around was on my left shin. There was no hair, no skin, nothing there where it should be. It was bad enough that when I flexed my ankle I could see the muscle and tendons move. All I can say is thank God for Diabetes and Diabetic Neuropathy. I dont feel much below my knees and am glad cause that would have hurt like hell. However it was a small price to pay for an International {W}400 diesel.

Many more times then I want to admit to I have done these strange things that hurt and cause pain. Then I sit back and say to myself.....self, you knew better then that and that was just down right stupid, too lazy to take a little extra time and caution. I guess you could say I spend a lot of time learning the hard way. Now for those who are recovering may God speed that up and to everyone else don't do as I do, do as I ask of you, be careful and be safe.

Good to see some honesty here.
Too many posters here are invincible immortals who
can take chances and never get injured.

I'm thinking this one is the unofficial champion.

well i didn't get hurt,but have been very easy.
my left knee hasn't came around after getting a knee replacement in april.
i neede 333 massey moved so i got on first since new knee got it to where i wanted it went to stop and couldn't get foot on clutch pedal getting to close to pickup for comfort so i turned off switch.

well i didn't get hurt,but have been very easy.
my left knee hasn't came around after getting a knee replacement in april.
i neede 333 massey moved so i got on first since new knee got it to where i wanted it went to stop and couldn't get foot on clutch pedal getting to close to pickup for comfort so i turned off switch.
i wouldn't have wanted to try getting between rear tire and pickup

Oh, I've got a few... But the one that comes to mind the most is this cacophony:

I was pulling the radar mounting bracket off of an older John Deere tractor - while I was underneath it on a creeper. I was using a standard wrench instead of a metric, and it slipped off (a bit loose), and popped me in the face. I instinctively jumped a bit and cracked my head on the underside of the frame. So, laying back down, I decided to just push off on the floor with my feet to kick the creeper out from under the tractor. Managed to tangle my hair up in the rollers of the creeper... Yowch. I also snagged my shoulder on a bolt attempting to maneuver myself out of that mess... It was just a really bad day.

The only other one that I think comes close...

I was pulling the hitch pin from my old AC WD pulling a 6' rotary hoe. The pin comes out, the tractor rolls forward, and the damned hitch drops right onto my big toe. It was black and blue for six days afterwards, and took several months for the weird looking bump on it to go away... :?

I know somebody who got popped in the face by the crankshaft on their old WD... :shock:

Ford 2N. Started without being on it. Run over my foot and squashed my old Schwinn bike with 2 speed back wheel. Totalled. Foot was okay after couple days. Don't try this at home. Dave

Yes, count yourself lucky. Word to the wise--ALWAYS, ALWAYS physically checking the transmission shifter for nuetral before turning on the ignition switch on any tractor is a habit that must become automatic for personal survival.

(quoted from post at 22:50:51 07/07/10) Yes, count yourself lucky. Word to the wise--ALWAYS, ALWAYS physically checking the transmission shifter for nuetral before turning on the ignition switch on any tractor is a habit that must become automatic for personal survival.

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I concur, this is very important. Also why I make sure I am on the tractor when I go to start it with the clutch depressed. Because I've had my old WD get "stuck" in reverse. So even though you can wiggle the shifter, it was still in gear...

I was bout 15 when at thelocal show a guy had a hayrack with wrenches and tools mounted on it. Me and my friends were seeing how fast we could spin the hand crank grinding wheels. I spun it and when I let go the crank hit my hand and managed to make my pointer finger go between the open gears on it. missing the corner of that finger now and the nail is funny, bu it got me out of typing class if you couldn?t guss that!

Oh wow, thats rough...

Thats something ill remember... If i ever buy a
trailer with angle iron ramps, ill weld a peice of
steel to the underside of the ramps, so it would
catch a foot on its way down...