Antique Tractors: 3 Main Hazards. Antique tractors working on the farm. Antique farm machinery in operation on the farm. #FarmallFanatic #farmall #farmallm
All very valid points to remember as the operator of the older tractors. Plus the "Safety Sally" out there can also point out no passengers of any kind on the tractor. No fenders to keep the operator from getting caught on the rear tires. No guards around the belt pulley. Just some to mention & a numorus amount of others not mentioned when it comes to tractor safety. Stay safe.
Very grateful for all the comments here that could probably save my life just being aware of all the different ways I could get killed it’s a matter fact that I’ve gotten into getting a tractor just from watching this channel but on the same channel I learned how to save my life or be careful but there’s always prayer to protect me I was a heavy equipment operator at one point but a tractor is a whole different animal from what I can see ,there’s so many ways to get hurt or die I’m almost at the point now where I hardly want to get on it unless it has a lot of safety features Number one I got to get fenders on there it came without fenders and I have some ordered number two is some kind of roll cage apparatus number three is get the brakes serviced the brakes are terrible coming off the trailer when I bought it I realize that the brakes were shit.God bless and protect us all .
Excellent points you made very clear. These are just like any vintage machine, they demand respect. If you don't respect what that machine can and cannot do, then you will likely get hurt or worse. None of us want to see someone get hurt, but you have to think about what your doing......boom!!!!
First thing I did was relocated the battery. An added fenders. I drilled out under seat and got where you have to unlock a padlock under seat to flip it back. Roll bar in works. I want to enjoy and use it as safely as possible.
Thanks for the video . I have a super M and never thought about falling off the back I’ll definitely be holding the steering wheel with a grip . I have a 37 case sc I’m gonna restore over the winter . O and my M the battery is under the seat
my tractor is Fordson dexta I think of if not having R.O.P.S all the time as well that is a great point you are making. A lot of people that just start farming and didn't grow up on a farm have to be made aware vintage tractors can be dangerous I grew up on a farm and I was drilled by my dad. You have to be really careful
Don't forget the PTO I seen a safety film and a dummy's clothing was wrapped by the working PTO. Wow! Even the simulation was Gruesome. I spent many a time riding on the draw bar while transporting and discing. When I was 12 working on my Uncle's farm I was given a very thorough safety briefing on the Farmall "M". He said " Hang on" And " Be careful." If you are interested in more Farm safety look up " Farm Safety for Kids" program.
@@FarmallFanatic I'll look forward to that video. As the founder of " Farm Safety for Kids " said about agriculture. " We are the only industry that Kills Our Own Children." It's a very Serious and often Overlooked topic. Safety is an ongoing issue that constantly needs to be addressed. Safety needs to be a part of our daily mindset. I've been hurt on the job and let me tell you. Its thankless and not worth me taking risks to make others, or myself a bit more money. We as individuals bring our Safety to work with us or we don't. It's that simple. Great video! Keep doing what you are doing. Best Wishes from Montana! M.H.
For safety if falling off, install a ATV cut off switch. Very easy to install on old gas tractors like these . You have a lanyard attached to your wrist or belt. If you fall off the lanyard pulls a safety switch, shutting off the ignition and stopping the tractor immediately, so it will not run you over. Millions of ATV's and PWC's have these
Learned early on to never hook your thumbs inside the steering wheel. Hitting an object with one front wheel can spin the steering wheel enough to bend your thumb in ways it was never meant to go. Good safety reminders
@@FarmallFanatic Reminds me of the old Massey Ferguson we had way back. Thumbs, arms, legs, the whole thing wanted to adjust my anatomy. Also, reminded of the gasoline and the battery. I know it was rough, but I'd rather be riding it now than one of these half-plastic jobs.
Don't forget rolling over backwards. Brother tried to pull a stuck truck with a 8n and it rolled over backwards and landed on him. Busted couple of ribs. Lots of torque is transmitted to the wheels.
One more hazard. A friend of mine had a Ford tractor that we were using to drag trees to the house for firewood one winter (he's president of the procrastinator club). After we chained up a modest 12 inch tree trunk and started back to the house, the butt of the tree hit something and just plain stopped. In a split second the Ford pulled a wheelie. I was standing on the back and managed to hang on, and my friend was quick enough to stomp on the clutch before the Ford went all the way over, and crushed us both. In low gear those machines have more than enough torque to do a backflip. It was a sobering ride the rest of the way back to the house. When we got there I confess that I resigned my position and helper and left him to work (or die) alone. I didn't notice any kind of wheelie bars on your Farmall. A lot of owners build a welded steel ballast box on the back that is large enough to lift the rear wheels off the ground before the tractor can go all the way over. I'd definitely do bars or a box if I had one.
I operated a farmall when I was ten plus never had a problem because I was told what you can do and what you can't do and never had a problem. I think it is more common seance and i was taught that but yes I can see if your put some one on that type of tractor with no instructions or training things could happen.
An Army buddy taught me about the Three Points of Contact rule as we both are in our 60's and unsteady on our feet. Walking down stairs, keep a hand on the handrail! I practiced getting off my Ford 8N yesterday and Three Points of Contact is necessary or I'll hit the ground head first. Never JUMP off a tractor I learned that 50 years ago. You will break an ankle and you're out in the field all alone. It's a long crawl back to the house.
Another thing to be careful of is the PTO shaft. Most tractors have a shield which helps, but some of the older ones do not, or someone has removed it for some reason. You get any clothing on a spinning PTO...good night nurse. Thanks for sharing!
between rolling, running off while people tried to start them standing on the ground (not farmalls, all tractors), guys falling off of the axle on a ride along, standing on hitches, etc - everyone knows somebody who got themselves in trouble if not killed. Dad fell off an old oliver and lucky for him, in soft mud, the wagon pulling him ran him over and caused him to poop his pants, but no permanent damage. Another one years before (again, luckily in soft dirt) ran over his brother's head and ripped his ear off. Both of them were riding along on the tractor when they shouldn't have been, bumped off and the wagon went over them before anyone noticed anything.
I looked at several posts and no one mentioned “back turns” when ever you use an implement that brings a portion of that implement close to the back wheels like a side delivery rake any turn that increases the chance of the implement contacting the tires is a back turn. If you are Traveling fast enough and you turn hard enough into the implement the tires are Rotating forwards and can actually lift the implement onto yourself, especially without rops or fenders. Every time I’d head towards the H with the hay rake grandpa would holler “watch your back turns!”
Nice video. My pap told me a story about how they rolled the case vac while loading dirt with it. My great grampa jumped off and didn’t get hurt they pulled the tractor back over and kept going.
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the PTO shafts which run through a single stage clutch. A lot of old tractors, such as a 40 JD or a 601 Ford, had this arrangement. When bush-hogging, these tractors won't stop when you mash the clutch...the inertia of the blades keep driving the wheels until the blades stop turning! This has put many tractors in the ditch, or up against a tree!
Some good pointers. However, the fuel tank is not a fire hazard as long as it is not leaking, and especially not if it is full. The spark could only ignite what it can reach.
Yeh the ford n's which just fergusons were to light in the front and were known to lift the front wheels up and back flip. As for your battery box I'd just make a box /platform on the side of the tractor which ever side suits to keep the battery in the later models of that style of tractor had the battery box under the seat which works ok to
I was wondering why do U.S. old Trafford not have mudgards (fenders) as the driver is sitting between two fast moving wheels ? In the UK home I have seen any make of old tractor doing this .keep up the good work love your videos . 😀
Hey don’t forget rearing up and flipping backwards, daddy always said not to put a pole in front of rear wheels to get unstuck cause the wheels can seize and the tractor rotates upward very fast
I’ve owned around 4 dozen of these and other Farmalls. I used them for produce farming, cultivating, pulling wagons, plowing, disc, springtooth etc. one needs to be careful and no horse assing around and you’ll be fine! Side hill plowing is dangerous as hell! Had a neighbor roll one years back! Love working on em! They’re damn good tractors!
Sad to say I remember years ago when one of the farmers around had a round bale in his bucket and it rolled back over him, damn near cut him in half from the seat to. It never suprises me what can happen when you are not paying attention to what you are doing
Howdy man! I can think of two people who got killed on a row crop tractor. Safety wasn’t a big thing back in the day. That’s why the old guys were missing fingers and hands. Thanks for the video.
WE. Me myself & I. prefer the trike front end. Mys is a 52 m.the only thing I done like about it .the front-end is too lite .& like you said scary on side Banks. I use mine for cropping and logging plenty of power. And thank you for the videos. Matt 52
I wouldn't take a wide front end in the woods for skidding in fact I know a few guys that have these tractors and they pretty much require narrow front ends makes it a lot easier
I have a '38 H and have had to replace the intake/exhaust manifold twice because they crack and blow hot exhaust under the gas tank, literally boiling the gas in the tank.
Your discharge is caused by the points in you distributer. When you shut the tractor off and the engine stopped the points we're off the lobe (shut) and they were drawing power. This is why you were reading discharge on your amp gauge before you started the engine. It's nothing to be alarmed about as long as you don’t leave the switch on to long before starting. To long on with them shut like that and the contacts will burn and the points will be ruined. I have fixed a lot of people's tractors that have left there switches on and melted the points down.
I could think of many more dangers. #1 NEVER leave a tractor in gear #2 Road gear is road gear. Unless you have a smooth maintained roadway, don't use it. You cannot hold on that good. #3 Always lock the brakes before travelling in road gear #4 Never jerk a chain. #5 Respect the PTO. Entanglement is a big danger. #6 If tractor is equipped with a live PTO, shut it off before working on anything concerning the driveline. Live PTOs can creep or even take off. #7 Grab tightly on the steering wheel. Remember you have armstrong steering. If you hit a substantial obstruction with the front tire, It will come through to you. #8. Look forward when working. Erosion may in extreme circumstances pose a danger beware of fallen trees near a shelter belt. 9. On most tractors, and many old timers did it, but they operated the tractor standing up. The W-4, W-6 , and W-9 series tractors had a platform designed for standing up but you're only a few inches from the seat if you had to react. On a Farmall, it's a don't, and I don't recommend it on any of those tractors. Only operate from the seat. 10. Make sure your seat is in good repair, if it breaks, you will fall off.
Lol it just isnt charging happens when the gen gets brush material in the gaps. It going backwards means it was discharging. The most dangerous thing I've had happen is boiling gas off the manifold because I overfilled the tank.
When reading the tractor you need to link the brake pedals lest you happen to press only one. Differential braking is made for lower speeds in the field. Also the tractor can be flipped backwards.
HAD a good friend who was just 10 days past his 14th birthday when he flipped either an A or H John Deere tricycle front enf got to close to a ditch either he was going too fast or just not paying attention that was in Sepy of 1960 REST IN PEACE BUDDY WRAY
#5 was why I learned to hit both the foot clutch and thrown the range selector into neutral on our Allis Chalmers tractors (a D17 and some 100 series models - none had ROPS but all were wide front.) Learned it after a front outside wheel bearing went bad. I saw the front wheel wobble and hit the foot clutch and brakes but the Hesston hay mower pushed it long enough the wheel came off the axle.
Back about 20 years ago I ran a 1950 Farmall H and one of the first things I did was to add an "over run coupler" to the PTO. I never got pushed by the equipment after that. Best piece of equipment I ever had!
Another antique tractor safety tip Always be aware of your head height backing up I once got pinned to my steering wheel on my farmall m and a goose neck trailer. I was luck my foot didnt slip off the clutch and was able to get it in forward and out of the way. Just giving this info to help keep people aware of the hazards.
Our M's and Super M's all have narrow front ends with twin tires.The single tire on the front was good for stripping cotton with the 21 or 22 stripper.Good for planting cotton and cultivating. My rear wheels are set out for row cropping gives a little wider foot print.My tractors still have the old pan seats,your seat looks a lot more comfortable. Also the propane tanks are 40 gallons ,you can run a long time on a tank out here in rural west Texas.The tanks were manufactured in Lubbock Texas.To us they look factory because propane was cheap and plentiful.
You forgot about about hand starts kicking and breaking arms and sediment bulbs. My 45w Jd loader lives on my Jd 520 but i got it from a guy who had it on a Jd b and out raking hay with it and going to next field his sediment bulb broke and dumped a full tank of gas on the hot manifold and the tractor was a complete loss to him. Loader has some paint charred but undamaged
True story: When I was a toddler my parents owned a small farm in SW IL. When my Dad was working in the fields he would come in for lunch, shut the tractor down and then leave it in gear and come in the house. He would often take me for a short ride around the field after lunch until I fell asleep and then drop me off at the house. On this particular day he had been pulling a disc. I finished my lunch before he did and left the table. A few minutes later he heard the tractor start. He ran out of the house and there I was (less than 6 years old) on the seat of a running tractor. He ran across the yard, jumped onto the disc, across the disc, climbed onto the tractor and stopped it. If he had slipped the disc would have killed him. If I had fallen off it would have killed me. That was more than sixty years ago. I was too young to remember it, but my mother watched from the front porch and told me the story when I was grown.
Good tractor safety review man thanks for the public service message on old iron. Here in corn country there was a lot of claims made that the Deeres hand clutch were the #1 Killer of farmers here.. Guys would get off the tractor and use the clutch to inch back to whatever they were hooking to and many times got pined between tractor and implements
Not that it would be a great idea, but…..could you paint interior of battery box with the truck bed liner paint ( red if available) to reduce risk of arcing? Just a thought. On that same thought, current insulated safe tools are now being produced due to high voltage electric vehicles.
Great video on the 3 points of danger! lets add a few more and this goes with all old tractors with hand crank starts,learn how to use the crank you don't just whip it around you could get hurt I see people doing this all the time and it could hurt someone. one of the biggest dangers of any tractor new or old is the pto shaft a lot of people hurt and killed by the pto ever more than a roll over the first thing the old times did was take the pto guards off the equipment. If your using your pto and have to get off the tractor>> do not get off and let the pto running no matter what! make sure if i its in use keep a eye open for others getting to close. Also just to be safe always put the brakes on no matter what. I'm not a safety sally a lot of new people are getting into tractor restoration if any of this will help just one person it's worth it!
When I was a kid, a farmer neighbor stepped off his IH C with the PTO running driving a cotton picker. The PTO snagged the leg of his overalls. Lucky for him the overalls were old and heavily worn. The PTO snatched him naked and he had to walk up to a neighbor's house to borrow some pants.
Your warning a few weeks ago about bush hogging blades causing the tractor to keep moving after turning off the pto was a good example of extreme danger.
The first video of yours I'de watched. I finally put a Swartz wide front on my 50 M. I've laid one tractor over 11 years ago and broke my leg. My M has a 300 Dual loader and I mainly move round bales and square bale with it. It rides from place to place alot smoother also. Great video! MB BAR RANCH
When I was a teenager, I had some Farmall adventures. Just for fun once, I unhooked spark plugs one at a time to see if it would still run, got down to just one cylinder and it kept running, but I never tried to move it that way. Once when pulling a large water tank, the bank I was near fell in, stopped the water tank, and the tractor popped a wheely!....I don't know why it didn't throw me off...One other time I was moving the tractor forward pulling a spray rig, accidentally bumped the off switch with my foot, saw what happened and pulled the switch back on (engine still turning) and BANG!!! the muffler blew wide open, sounded like a hot rod until it was fixed!!!....I never thought that the equipment was trying to kill me. Those were still good old days!!!....60's on the farm as a kid!!!!
Filling up gas on a hot engine gas vapors can drift over to the muffler and explode her one guy by me got put in the er because of that with third degree burns or you can over fill and spill gas on the motor when I fill them I put my finger in the gas tank to feel when it gets full and try to keep the muffler up wind
Some years ago a neighbor was pulling logs with I think a wd 45 and hooked a stump or something and it came over on him and crushed him. Another young guy I knew pushing paddles cleaning the drops in the barn and they think his foot slipped off the clutch and the tractor went over in the pit and crushed him.I had the front end of my H bobbin a few times!
kubotas has there roll bars or cabs and seat belts on 100% all kubota tractors from there smallst T sries and GR to the M's wich why kubotas got quite a few of awards of saving lifes wich the deere company got into troubble after a 38 year old man got crushed under his 3220 deere tractor because they didnt put any roll bars or cab with seat belt wich the deere had to go to court because that wich the deere company had to pay out $15 million dollars the family afte r his accendent wich deeres denyed it wich thats why they have bad reputation
They were also built when operators had a brain to understand WHAT was dangerous and to keep away from either that operation, that hill/slope or an overload...(and before a buncha lawyers.. LOL) My uncle and others around here used Ms, Hs, Super-Cs and the various old JD 50s, 60s, etc... Oh, btw, you wouldn't happen to be THAT "Thomas Barnard" from the KQRS show, would ya? :) :)
You are so right. Those battery boxes are kinda dangerous even with the steel lid. The owners manual has good safety warnings in it. I urge anyone to find an owners manual and read it. Or Boom!
Very very good video. Everyone that has no experience with a old tractor need to watch this. My old john deere have a hand clutch and it was the number 1 killer on most farms. Anything old is a death trap. My old chevy you're farmall my john deere etc
