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Sidebar: Tractor safety

The Small Tractor FAQ
Big Wheels

Tractor Safety

[Copyright 1988 by Ronald Florence]

Tractors look like a ball to drive, and they are. They are also powerful, potentially lethal machines. It is no coincidence that farm country is full of men with missing digits and crushed limbs.

Newcomers to tractors -- thinking perhaps of go-karts or bumper cars -- don't realize that a tractor doesn't handle like a car. Even a small tractor has a relatively high center of gravity and a narrow wheelbase, which makes it topheavy. The tremendous traction and pulling power of low gears, which enable the tractor to power up or across a steep slope, multiplies the potential for tipping over or doing a back flip, especially when pulling heavy implements or loads. Some tractors, like the John Deere Model B, are notorious for doing what kids on dirt bikes used to call wheelies; many of them have re-welded steering columns as souvenirs. Remember that it is not possible to repair a broken neck or back with welding equipment.

Roll bars ("ROPS" in the tractor literature) are a recent addition to many tractors, and are a good idea for tractors used on uneven terrain. Especially with four-wheel drive tractors, the traction on hillsides and gully banks is astonishing, right up to the moment when the tractor rolls over. If you have a roll bar, wear a seat belt to take advantage of the protection of the bar. If you don't have a roll bar, never wear a seat belt.

Correct ballasting will also avoid accidents, and improve productivity. Heavy implements mounted on the front or rear of the tractor require corresponding ballast at the other end of the tractor. "Suitcase" weights on a bracket are the usual weight on the front. For tractors with front loaders and no regular implement on the rear, a bracket for weights or a concrete weight with pins for the three-point hitch will level the loading.

The real danger from under or over ballasting comes not when the implement is lowered and working, but when you are running back to the shed with the rotary mower raised: six hundred pounds of mower, sticking five feet out from the back of the tractor, can be enough to bounce the front wheels off the ground every time you hit a pebble. The object in balancing front ballast is to make sure you have enough weight to keep the wheels on the ground, without so much weight that steering is difficult. To take advantage of four-wheel drive, the weight should be much more evenly split between front and rear than on a two-wheel drive tractor where the weight is concentrated on the rear axel to improve traction. Rear ballast, which can be done with liquid fill in tires or with wheel weights, is determined by wheel slip. Ten percent is a good goal for pulled implements like a plow.

PTO accidents account for most of the missing digits in farm country. The shields around the PTO make it inconvenient to connect and disconnect implements, and after a few sets of skinned knuckles from fighting with the universal joint, it is tempting to remove the guards and make the access to the PTO easy. DON'T! That PTO shaft turns at 540 rpm, or in the case of some garden tractors, at speeds as high as 2000 rpm. Without the guards in place it is easy to get a shirt sleeve, shirt tail, or finger caught in the whirling shaft. The results are rarely as gentle as a skinned knuckle. Even if the guards have to be removed for some implement, replace them as soon as the implement is changed, and be especially prudent with shirt tails and lengths of bailing twine while the guards are off.

Finally, the long hours of jobs like mowing, hay raking or discing make radios and cassette players tempting. A radio can relieve boredom on the most routine chores, but remember that diesel engines are loud, and that a tractor with a hand throttle doesn't stop if you fall asleep at the wheel.