HiLLs vs. narrow front end on farmall m

I didn't come up with this analogy. I think it was from George Willer.

Chris B.

When your Farmall M was built everyone was growing their corn in 36" plus rows, thus all of them were set at 72" plus. We had two narrow front tractors years ago. Used them in a farm woodlot, never had a problem. Safety will have more to do with you than a narrow front. I remember one of the first old guys to install roll over protection on a tractor in our area. I asked him one day how he liked the ROPS. He said it just allowed my boys to become more reckless. Therein my friend lies the key to your safety.

In the 60s and 70s I ran duals a lot on the newer 560, 656 and 1066. You get those big ones with the outside width up to 11' or 12' then you really have stability.

You are right on the money, those old row crops weren't very heavy up front, and it really didn't matter what make. There have been more farmers killed with front end of tractor coming up and going over backwards than there ever was from rollovers. In the area where I farmed I know of several deaths from tractors rearing up and going over backwards. I also knew of a couple of rollover deaths neither on narrow front row crops. PTO shafts also took their toll.

Speaking of row widths I see a very dangerous practice going on today in corn and bean country. They are running 100+ hp 4x4 tractors on 60 inch centers. Not so bad in spring when they have their duals on, but you see them going hauling gravety wagons 3 and 4 in a string. Some of those newer grain wagons are holding 400 + bushels. They are getting a lot of weight behind them and weight 3 and 4 wagons back is much worse than if its close to tractor. I can see a tractor like that coming off a field, making a 90 degree turn onto a gravel side road. I can see if tractor is in 4 wheel drive and those grain wagons start pulling a bit hard for several reasons. With those front wheels pulling and tractor set on 60" centers, I can see the side draft flipping that tractor right in the middle of a level road. I can also see it wouldn't be a very pleasant experience for the operator, as my guess is that tractor will go just like a slam dunk. When it happens it aint going to be pleasant, I don't care how much ROPS protection he has. I can not figure why they don't leave the duals on. You will get twice the tread wear from your tires on hard ground running dual as you will single. My 1066 peeled off a set of single tires in the first 1,000 hours. I put the duals on with all new tires and at 9,000 hours the 4 tires were still going strong. With todays farming forget your weight, get your traction from putting more rubber on the ground, it will cost you a lot less money, and may be your life..

Just in case anyone wants to question my credentials, I farmed for a number of years with as many as 9 tractors 4 trucks and 10 employees. Probably put 75,000 hours on those tractors and never had a lost time accident.

Be careful with row crop front end and loader.

JB

Operators of heavy construction loaders will tell you one of their worst fears is going to work in morning and finding a soft front tire on loader. With a bunch of dump trucks lined up, the big brass on the other end of that mobile communication will undoubtedly tell him to load the first round and they will have a service truck there to pump the tire. Many are tempted to refuse, however they also have a bunch of angry truck drivers hauling by the ton mile, as waiting companions. I have not done a lot of loading with , heavy loaders but will tell you this, you don't want any side elevation when you put as much as 10 ton 14 feet in the air. Those machines are not a lot wider than the old Farmall.

Most loader incidents on row crop narrow fronts have resulted with loader just a bit too high for conditions. In a lot of cases it has been tractor upset rather than tractor rollover. The tractor will land on its side, prevented from going further because loader was high enough to stop it from doing so. Most of those guys walked away with bruises, the worst one being their pride. Many of them hoped no one would ever find out and many times that was the case. I remember one old guy, had farmed in partnership with his brother for years. They were as far as the general public was concerned very careful farmers, the kind of guys that never got in trouble. His brother had died and one day he got in a mess and had to go to neighbors for help. Neighbor said," I thought you and brother Jim never did these foolish tricks." The old guy replied," We had our share you just never found when there was two of us."

If one knew and recorded the close calls that happened around farms, that statistic would be far more scary than the actual injuries and fatalities that have happened. While I staked my claim in previous post to having no lost time accidents, the close calls were indeed there. We were truly blessed. I did make a practice every time one of those close calls happened, to review why it happened with employees.

Remember this, every machine is as dangerous as you make it.