Re: Halloween Scary Stories

Posted by David Ransom on October 31, 2002 at 22:15:01 from (65.167.44.56):

In Reply to: Halloween Scary Stories posted by FREDDY on October 30, 2002 at 22:48:02:

I've already told this on the Case board, in a discussion about the sturdiness of DB tractors, but...

In the spring of 2002, I was taking manure spreader loads of loose hay removed from round bales to feed the cows. I was also tinkering with a John Deere 50. The John Deere 50 was in the cow fence about a mile as the crow flies from the house, or two miles along the road, from our house. So, I would take the manure spreader loads of hay over, park the David Brown 885, walk the rest of the way to the 50, and try to turn the flywheel or back wheels or try to remove the brake drums or whatever, then go back to the 885 and drive back to the house.

Some designer in Metham England made a wee mistake in the design of the David Brown model 885 thing like a tractor only newer, and omitted the hand start crank. Since the generator is unhooked and possibly damaged, there are four reliable ways to start the 885: Hook the battery up to a charger, jump start it, pull it behind a pickup truck, or coast it downhill. Obviously, only one of those options was present in this part of this cow pasture.

One time when I parked the 885, I made the foolish mistake of parking the tractor in high gear. (A David Brown 885 has a 12-speed transmission with two levers, the left one LS[1] L[3] H[4] HS[2] in that order; and the right one 2 R over 3 1 in an H arrangement. In this case, I put the 885 in H-3, or 12th gear.) I thought that the 885 wouldn't move unless I pushed the clutch, and it would only be able to turn the engine after picking up a little momentum, but to start it I would only have to press and release the clutch. Big mistake. I got off the parked 885 and went to the 50. After a while, my brother William walked over. While we were walking back toward our house (with where I parked the 885 along the way) the subject came up about where I had parked the 885. William hadn't seen it. We got there, and it was gone. Maybe my father had driven it somewhere? There were tractor type tracks going down the hill. Bad sign. The tractor tracks went over rose bushes and through a gap in a stone wall, a gap that had not been there previously, and down an extremely steep part of the hill. Extremely bad sign.

We found the 885 some distance past the bottom of the hill, against a hemlock tree.

Miracle #1: The tractor looked normal, instead of the expected totally smashed.

I got on and turned the key. Nothing. I walked back to the house to tell my parents that I owed my brother Tom (who owns the tractor) $5,000. My father is down the road spreading fertilizer(?). He and I come up, planning to take the chain and the truck over and tow it back to see if it can be salvaged. When we get up to the house, William is driving the 885 into sight!!!!!!! Seems the reason it didn't start for me was that the solenoid is not working perfectly and only when it wants to.

Damage to 885:
One terminal broken off one headlight bulb, headlight bulbs knocked out of place. The terminal may have already been broken. The lights never worked. The bulbs weren't broken; they were just knocked down in beside the battery. (A DB 885 has the battery between the bottom of the grille and the bottom of the radiator, with space on each side.)

Flat front tire.

No real damage!!!!

Miracle #2:The tractor hit the hemlock straight on in the middle. This was probably far less stressful than a hit to one front wheel? Definitely helped by front end weight, which makes an effective bumper. On the way, the 885 narrowly missed hitting other trees.

Since then, I have been careful to park the 885 in LS[1]-1 (first gear).

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