Whew! Glad you were able to recover before things went sideways... literally! Thanks for the reminder!

 

Glad we were able to read your review of it! Safety has to be planned and sometimes we don't!

 

Thank you for the heads up. I wouldn't have thought of brush as being that heavy and probably done the same thing. Now I know better.

 

It isn’t so much the weight of the brush, but the height of the stack, it tends to sway a bit, and it’s so far out front of the machine.

I agree on the need for ballast, but that applies to all equipment of all sizes - not just an SCUT.

Whenever possible, I try to do loader work in 2wd, at least when I’m in transport mode (bucket is loaded & clear of the pile) or not heading down a steep hill with a heavy load. I can often catch if the machine starts to tip (rear wheel lift), because the machine tends to lose forward speed if one wheel is in the air spinning, so it brings me awareness of the imbalance pretty quick. 4wd can “hide” the tippyness.

 

It isn’t so much the weight of the brush, but the height of the stack, it tends to sway a bit, and it’s so far out front of the machine.

Whenever possible, I try to do loader work in 2wd, at least when I’m in transport mode (bucket is loaded & clear of the pile) or not heading down a steep hill with a heavy load. I can often catch if the machine starts to tip (rear wheel lift), because the machine tends to lose forward speed if one wheel is in the air spinning, so it brings me awareness of the imbalance pretty quick. 4wd can “hide” the tippyness.

Steddy - You're absolutely right. The 42" forks, when clamped to the bucket, acted like a lever that exaggerated the weight imbalance.

And sure enough, I was in 4WD at the time. Cal

 

I've had my tractor on 3 wheels more times than I can remember. It's dangerous, but also exciting!!! I try to avoid it of course, but sometimes it happens because it's so rocky where I live. I'm always ready to drop the bucket at a moments notice.

 

We all make mistakes. Sharing the things we do wrong is probably more important than posting about what we do right.

I wanted to move some large brush piles into the woods today so I hooked my 43" clamp-on pallet forks to the loader bucket of my little SCUT. I could have used my nice ballast box for rear ballast, or I could have used my nice heavy rear blade, but I already had a little 100 lb ripper on the 3PH, so I just left it and headed off into the woods.

I picked up a nice, large load of brush, and was moving over uneven ground when something felt wrong. I looked over my shoulder, and the right rear wheel was about 6 inches off the ground! I was on my way to rollover, but leaned hard to the right and lowered the bucket in time.

Obviously, 43" clamp-on pallet forks make a SCUT unstable. Obviously, moving over uneven ground makes it worse. Obviously, a heavy load of brush requires substantial rear ballast. But sometimes we don't think about the simple stuff.
Just wanted to share and remind folks about the obvious. Cal

Were you moving forward with the bucket with forks up in the air? I notice a lot of people doing that.

 

The bucket & forks were about 3 feet off the ground, and the forks were pointed up by about 30 degrees.

There was a heavy load of wet brush on the forks, and I had almost no rear ballast. These were clamp-on forks, so the weight was far forward.

I was also in 4 wheel drive, so the tractor would continue to move forward even if a rear wheel was raised. And I was moving over uneven ground.

Basically, I was doing everything wrong. Cal

 

The use of any forks, and especially the clamp on style, automatically moves the center of mass of a payload well out in front of the normal position in the bucket center. Shortcutting on rear ballast is an invitation to disaster.

If anything, you want more ballast than normal when using forks.

I've been in the position of having one rear wheel in the air. It took 2 hours to straighten out the ROPS.

 

We all make mistakes. Sharing the things we do wrong is probably more important than posting about what we do right.


I got married once!

CCMoe

 

Right after I bought my bx I tried mowing with the loader on (mostly because I was too lazy to take it off). Flat land wasn't a big deal. Then I tried to cut one of the smaller hills in front of the house. I felt the rear tires start to come up and I guess my auto reflex was to punch the loader stick forward. The loader hit the ground and the rear went back down. I straightened the steering wheel out and raised the loader slightly and got off that hill. Last time I did that. Pretty sure my heart stopped for a couple of seconds that time.

 

Every year I have my back tires off the ground more than once...

 

We learned quickly at the junkyard when your hauling a car on a forkloader ,to leave the forks as close to the ground as possible without them scraping or digging in..
Even a 10 ton loader with plenty of counterweight will do chineese wheelies pretty easy with a full sized car on its forks..

Same goes for any loader,when moving,you want to only raise the bucket just enough to clear the ground and any obstacles that it might hit if the tractors wheels go in a depression in the ground..

I see so many people pick up things with a loader and leave the bucket WAY up,and then they wonder why it tips over..its even more dangerous if you use a chain on the bucket to lift a heavy item...the item starts swinging,next thing you know the tractors rear tire on one side is lifting off the ground and could well flip right over..

I had this happen on my 641 Ford tractor,I was taking a 55 gallon drum that was cut in half and filled with cement to be used as a rear counterweight for the 3 point hitch on the tractor,off the back of a flatbed truck..

I had to raise the bucket up almost as high as it would go,before the chain picked up the barrel,and as I backed away from the truck,the barrel started swinging side to side..
The first swing,I felt the tractor lurch..second swing,the rear right side tire came about 2 feet off the ground!..

I then managed to "un-freeze" and hit the loader control and dropped the bucket just in time--swing # 3 would have been the one to flip it over!..

I had a heavy straight six AMC Jeep engine on the back of the tractor's 3 point hitch sitting on a pallet for a counterweight too,it was like nothing was even there..!

That barrel full of cement weighed probably 600+ lbs,but even with that on the back of the tractor for a counterweight,it was scary using the loader--I had to get the rear tires refilled with calcium,I had to replace one tire and rim,the other side got a puncture and I had to put a new tube in-- and thought I'd get away without filling the rear tires back up with ballast..nope!..it was scary enough with them filled..but felt much safer than when they only had air in them..

 

Wow, thanks for sharing all this guy's. This is a great thread for veterans and newbies everyone needs a reminder.

I pretty much keep my dirt scoop on all the time unless I need to use another three-point implement and then I fill it with heavy blocks.

If you don't have a ballast box go out on Craigslist and find a cheap dirt scoop.