What's the stupidest thing you've done on your Tractor/Mower?

[MowHoward2210]

Well I've got a small arsenal of things like mowing with my deck in the "Install" postiion, which basically about drops the deck to the ground for removal or installing. Then there was the time that I still had the deck wheels turned out 90° (so you can slide the deck out sideways on it's wheels for removal) when I started mowing. :fing20:

But the best one was when I first started mowing my new acreage and there was some kind of discarded, flat, 1/2" wide cloth like tape about 100 feet long laying on one end of my property. The first time I moved it to one side so I could mow in that area with the idea I would discard it later when I had time.

The second time I was mowing the other side of that area. The tape was still there, but that end of the tape had not been disturbed, and looked like it was kind of embedded in the soil. As usual I was in a hurry, and I was also finish mowing at a high setting. I thought I could get away with mowing over it.

By the time I hit mower PTO switch it had wrapped around all three spindles on my 62" MMM. Not only were the spindles "mummyfied", but they were wrapped so tight that the wrap was rock hard and pretty thick. All I had was my Graber pocket knife to cut it loose. It was tough stuff. Don't know how long it took cut it all out, but I bet is was nearly a half hour.

A real case of the dumb-a$$ there, boys! :fing20: :bonk:

[chipmaker]

I just refuse to incriminaate myself with the stuff I have done! Nope just not gonna do it.

[Argee]

Pulling a spike tooth harrow into to tight of turn and the chain started wrapping up on the tire pulling the harrow with it. Caught it out of the corner of my eye and hit the brakes just as I heard the tire blow from a spike driven thru it. Better the tire than me. It scared me pretty good...whenever I pull the harrow now I watch it like a hawk.

That was just one of many stupid things I have done...I'll go along with Chip and keep a low profile.:D

[Fusion1970]

I'm with Chip on this one! ROF Can't think of many things luckily, but also did the string thing, only with my push mower. I had wooden stakes in the ground with string wrapped around them to "rope off" a section where I had just planted grass seed. I found the end of it, and then had my opportunity to cut the string from the spindle- or in this case, I guess it would be the crank. Kind of reminded me of my first (and last) attempt at flyfishing...Just as big a mess, only wrapped much tighter. :bonk:

Greg

[dirtybernie]

does driving a riding mower on top of a car clasify as stupid? ROF once during a party at my house i did this. then my dad came out with a puzzled look on his face and demanded we remove the mower from the car so my buddy backed it down and slid off the ramp causing the mower to tip over and the hot muffler hit the grass causing a small fire. my dad shaking his head walked back in the house and i fully expected a big reaming later but he never said another word about it. bernie.

[MowHoward2210]

That one's gonna be hard to top, dirtybernie! ROF ROF

[slipshod]

There was this time I rototilled a nest of bees that had built thier home in my garden. I do know one thing my John Deere can not outrun angry bees.

[freebird]

My brother was pulling a trailer full of firewood with my '56 lo-boy up a slight hill. The front came up and he hit the right brake and swung the front end towards a tree. He straddled it, both tires dug in and it stood the tractor up at a 45 degree angle, burying the fast hitch and then the motor died. You should have seen the look on his face!

[dirtybernie]

then there was the time my buddy wheelyd the same mower on top of an old boat. the plastic on the boat was gone and it was all styrafoam so he hit it with the blades engaged and it looked like a snowstorm ROF the mower died shortly after all the abuse as its 5hp tecumseh spit a rod. while we are all older and wiser now it scares me to death the thoughts of my kids pulling some of the stunts i did ROF bernie.

[draddogs]

Thats why they have big switches.....and little a**es :beatdeadh

[PatapscoPete]

"Stupid is as stupid does"

The first 13 miles of railroad track in the nation runs right near my house. So I'm riding my Simplicity Legacy near the Old Main Line ... on an abandoned piece of road next to the tracks. But did I stay on the road? No way ... I've got a Legacy. I chose to go in the high grass and weeds, for no good reason .. just because it was there. Then the Legacy starts to bog down. This can't be! A Legacy doesn't bog down in a little bit of high grass. It felt like I was dragging a boat anchor. It was about then I noticed I was dragging some wire. Turns out a piece of abandoned telegraph wire got fished through the tire chains, and began to get wound around the axel. I probably would have taken the entire length home with me, but the other end was still attached to the old telegraph pole ... which was, in turn, attached to the previous pole, and the previous pole, etc. I was lucky I didn't bring the ancient poles down on my head.

I wonder if Sam Moorse wants his wire back?

no applause, please....

[bontai Joe]

My stupidest was also my most dangerous.... I was loading a Deere 316 into a pickup truck using 2 x 12 ramps and it was raining. I was just cresting the angle between the ramps and the truck's tailgate when one rear wheel started to spin because of the wet surface, so I leaned over to that side, which apparently applied enough down force to the spinning wheel that it kicked the ramp right out from under me. :fing20: With my weight shifted to that side, the tractor fell right out of the truck, but thankfully did not roll over. When everything stopped, the rear of the tractor was on the ground, and one front wheel was on the tailgate and the other front wheel was hanging in space, and I'm holding on to the steering wheel so tight that my fingerprints should have imbedded themselves into the plastic. :eek:

[Barncats]

When I was a kid I was hauling a load of fruit on a drey back from a farmstand on the highway up in Ontario. Saw a cute girl who lived on the farm next door as I was going down the dirt road. Decided to impress her with how fast I drive the tractor. All I did was wreck a load of fruit and never did get the girl's attention :Tractor2: (actually was a Ford 8n)

[chipmaker]

Well why not...mine is akin to what Bontai did. I was "volunteered" to cut a ladys grass for her by my wife and son about 2 weeks after I just got my JD180. I had a Ford F250 with oversized tires and a 1 ton rear under it as well, so needless to say the bed wa up in the air a considerable height.

I had no loading ramp, I was high agitated that I got volunteered to go cut someones grass I did not know, as its bad enbough havin got cut your own, and here it was on my day off as well. I threw 2 2 x 10's up on the tailgate, and headed up the ramps, but on top mower deck did not quite clear top of planks, spun out one plank, JD180 flops off the side nearly doing a complete rollover, all before I knew what happened. I broke my shoulder, and busted the hood, and intake manifold, and bent up the steering wheel, not counting the cuts and bruises elsewhere....all on a tractor with less than 10 hours on it.

Turns out may son used to stand under this womans porch if it rained while he waited for the school bus. We used to have to cart him up the road a piece to get to where the "other" county bus did its turnaround at, as the school system in this county sucks, so we had been transporting him to the other county district. The old lady remarked to the boy that her grass needed cutting and would he be interested in doing it, so he asked his mother and they both volunteered me to help her out.........


Also slid down a muddy clay bank sideways with my Ford 1720 in high water in the stream and had to go quite a distance down the creek until I could get to a bank that I could manage to get out of..It was one of those freak days in Alabama, as it had been sleeting, and it was bitter cold and miserable out........It cost me a clutch as I was too darn cold to do much once I got it home, all I wanted to do was get a hot shower and crawl in bed.......worked the nexct couple of days, and when I went to use the tractor, all the clutch facing was stuck fast to the flywheel and pressure plate, which peeled away in the process of trying to get it freed up.........thats when I faced it with linings from a Fiat clutch disk.........as a new clutch & pressure plate was bout $1,400, and you had to buy the entire assembly not just the clutch plate

[BigorangeDan]

the stuidest thing i have done is the most recent thing i have done, i was driving my allis in a feild heard my cell phone ring i go to look at it and the next thing i know i feel a jerk on the steering weel i look up and thers a stump about 2 feet high the i end up with my allis's front in the air at bout a 90 degree angel i hit the clutch and then it was stuck. no damage luckily had to cut the stump out thou.

Orange Rules!!! :Orange_tr

[Ingersoll444]

Well I have done a few DUMB things. Used to get up to speed on an old Wards rider I had as a kid, and fly across a shalow pond we had, with the deck going. THAT was always fun. Nice way to clean the deck also.:D

[jdkubotamurray]

About 18 years ago, Started up a '64 Ford 400 that had been sitting in my barn for about 2 months without using. Clutch was rusted to the flywheel and it and me went through the back doors of my barn before I got shut down, knocked one off the slider, door weighed about 400 lbs. Tractor did not get a scratch, and it freed up the clutch.

[DYT4000]

I've dealt with that rusty clutch syndrome....makes for interesting events!! LOL

[wanna_be_farmer]

I am kind of new on this forum so not sure how to post a picture. Maybe that for the best anyway. I did my latest stupid thing tonight. I don't get much time to play in the garden so took advantage to till between the rows tonight. Finished the main garden uneventful. So went to the back where the old horse pasture was. Growing cukes amd melons where thay have plenty of room to do what they do..spread. It is a slight incline, and I am tilling with my Sabre 2554 and 30" attached tiller. First pass good turn around head uphill good the third row got me. Sunk to the frame. Chevrons and wheel weights just added to the sinking.

And I just lent my Kabota B6100 4x4 to the guy who sold it to me today till next week. I guess I needed a come-a-long anyway! Rory

[Ingersoll444]

Well the more that I think about it, the DUMBEST thing I did was when I was clearing my land when we first moved in. I had not gotten a tractor yet, so I was using my Mom's old JD 112. As I was mowing, I was not realy paying as much attention as I should have, and backed up, and for somereason my wife had walked up behind me. Granted it was pretty dumb of her also, but I should have been paying better attention. Well, luckly it was just a bump, and nothing happand, but it could have been much worse. If nothing else it tought me first hand how important it is to check before you back up. Its not just kids, and pets that come up behind you. Sometimes it's people that should know better also.

[LEOLAV]

I've done some stupid things with tractors and lawnmowers over the years.

Probably the first episode of stupidity was when I was 16 working at the local golf course. I was driving the old rough mower (5 gang reels towed by an old JD tractor) up a fairly steep hill mowing the rough in a light rain. As I was reaching the crest of the hill, the downhill tire slipped a little so I tapped the differential lock and the next thing I know, the tractor and the gangs were slidding around 100 ft. down the hill into a small ditch. Another 15 ft, I would have been into the pond. As I let things settle down, I looked up the hill and see that the whole outfit spun twice 360 degrees. I could still see the torn up turf from the tractors tires!!! My boss was a little upset.

My next biggest stupidity was to use my old MTD tractor as a ladder. I climbed up on the metal hood to change a lightbulb and next thing I know, I am on by butt with broken pieces of light bulb in my back. I neglected to notice that the subframe of the hood was all plastic and after around 10 seconds, it snapped and down I went. 12 stiches later I was as good as new.

My most recent bout of stupidity was just yesterday. I was using my new tractor and was looking behind me and instead of going in reverse to back up, I hit the forward pedal. Before I could react, I was running the thing through a pricker bush. The tractor was fine, but I was pulling thorns out for over an hour.

I have also run over a squirrel (pretty ugly scene in the mow n vac), a golf ball, a dog chain, barbed wire, and numerous stumps and stones.

[Steve (Magnolia, TX)]

I've got 2 3/8" log chains. One is ~20' long, the other ~14' long, plus a 3-pt boom pole (~6' long) and ~6' of 3/8" chain on it, so... I've got the potential of ~48' between the back of the tractor and... well, whatever.

So... One day, last summer, I head out to pull down some standing dead trees and figure "aw, there ain't but a couple of 'em and they ain't very big", so I just head out with the boom pole (and its 6' of chain). And away I go. No problem... until I decide to get this one more tree... it's about 15' tall, or so, and I hooked that chain up about 6' high, or so. Gave 'er a good tug, and... :fing20:

Well, luckily I actually CAUGHT the end of that tree, in my right hand, right beside my right ear (I'm lucky the danged thing didn't land on my empty head). :bonk: :00000060:

I decided, about then, that I'd best head back to the barn and get my other 2 chains, to finish pulling down standing dead trees....

[chrpmaster]

my stupidest tractor moments weren't of the dangerous kind just stupid :fing20:

One summer I went to fire up my new/old grasshopper to do some mowing and it wouldn't turn over no matter if I jumped it or not. At first I thought it was the switch so I replaced that and various other parts over the next two months. (I used my Gravley walk behind during this time) Finally the light bulb went on just before I called the dealer to come and fix it. The last time I had mowed I never turned the mower deck switch off!!! :banghead3

The next thing was recently I was mowing with my Gravley though it hadn't been running very well since I first started it in the spring. No power and I couldn't keep the engine from racing at times and stalling at other times. finnaly today I looked at the governor linkage and compared it to my other gravely. It was rubbing a little on the fuel line but I never thought much about it. Needless to say after I rerouted the fuel line the tractor ran perfectly!! :bonk:

Andy

[Carl]

When I was about 8 or 9 I was driving the old F-12. Just after the drive had turned from spring mud to hard again. The F-12 was a narrow front and when those wheels caught a rut the steering wheel got away from me. Unfortunately it happened right in front of the old 2 by 4 stand with three 55 gallon drums of gasoline on it. Before I could get the tractor stopped I knocked the gas stand over. I sure learned to hang onto the steering wheel better after that!

Got into an argument with a neighbor boy over whose tractor could pull the most. Their WD45 or our JD B. Hooked them drawbar to drawbar with a 12' chain.

Just the other day was clearing between the garden and the fence. Using a branch shear for the small stuff. My chain saw for the bigger stuff. Found one stump that had lots of suckers growing from it. So I used the chain saw on the big stuff, and the shear on the smaller stuff. Then moved the shear and saw to the side of the garden.

Then used the old cultivator on the MTD to pull out the brush and nut grass. Unfortunately some of the debris rolled off the side of the cultivator and covered the saw without my noticing.

Then found a 3" diameter grape vine that was crying take me too. So got the TC24DA and started pulling the grape vine out of the ground and the trees. While pulling I just happened to look down and right where the front tire had just past was this orange colored plastic thing barely visable in the grass. I knew instantly what it was! Leaped off the tractor and pulled it out. I had just missed it because the blade wasn't across the tractor track! Things like that make me feel so stupid at times. :00000060:

[draddogs]

Well guys I just pulled the biggest boner of my life.. Our wedding ann. is today and I was out looking at an old tgarden tractorand completely forgot myself and was reminded when I returned home as to what day it was when I saw the card and a my gift on the table (portable dvd player for our trip out west this summer).. Now I have to grovel and kiss a** to make amends and its not working.. She said that she will find something for me to buy her.. I think the silent treatment is going to be the hardest for me as we always talk and now its so quiet that its deafening.. I would have rather roller her car than forget this date.. Damn idiot I am for not paying attention to the details.

[dirtybernie]

i think we have a winner! ROF you better do some serious kissing up.

[jodyand]

:omg: Hey thanks for the reminder Ernie mines next Saturday :fing32:

[Argee]

Man....I can't believe you broke that rule brother.....

[Ingersoll444]

Ernie,

MAN dude you be in it DEEP!!!!!!!!!

You should count yourself lucky you lived through it.:D

In my house its the other way around. The wife is normaly the one that forgets the birthdays, holadays, and annaverserys. So I am always like "Ahhh do you KNOW what yesterday was?"

[dirtybernie]

paul. so your telling us that your actually reminding a woman of her faults? wow your a brave man!! ROF bernie.

[Ingersoll444]

well as they say theres a fine line between bravery, and stupidy. :D

[draddogs]

Well guys $70 for a dozen long stem red roses $58 for dinner at out back and my head up my arse priceless........... ROF

[Mower_Man42]

I use to mow for these two ladys and they had a blueberry bush out behind the house and I was mowing the outer edge and all of a sudden that blue bush tryied to jump me :bannana: The ladys had bought that black netting to keep the birds from eatting the berrys. Well I didn`t see the stuff and a little part of it must have been on the ground My mower deck snagged it and the blades wrapped them selfs up tight. Was I pi$$ed they set up a booby trap, about ripped that bush out of the ground. I couldn`t raise the deck because it would have messed up the bush.I got out a set of hedge shears and freed the tractor. Took and hour to rip that stuff off the deck, blades and gage wheels :banghead3 . I left a note saying that I wish they had tied some bright colored string or yarn to the netting so that I could have seen it. They told me that I should be more carefully and to replace the netting. The thing that got me was the never picked the blue berrys just covered them up, for what reason, I don`t or will ever know why. Now that is dumb :fing20: They got new netting and just this year I gave them up, I had one really big lawn and that`s the only reason why I did theirs. The owner sold the big place and the new owners did that lawn them selfs .

[alan627b]

Well, I rolled a 37 ton (empty, which this wasn't) Caterpillar 627B scraper stripping weeds off of a 3 to 1 highway slope. Didn't hurt me or the machine much, or get me fired, but I sure felt stupid for doing it. Seems like every time I try to do a good deed it bites me in the @ss.
You guys want to see the pictures?
So, do I get the prize, or do I have to tell another tale of my exploits?
Let's be careful out there!
alan627b

[MowHoward2210]

Well that's certainly going to go down as the biggest mishap so far, Alan! :D Glad you weren't hurt.