Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction Tractor for maintaining small places

Or at least it would be, except the implementation of seat switches on riding mowers was intended to protect others...not the dufus in the seat.

That's what I'm thinking also. Hopefully, will be dry enough this weekend to play, I mean work, with it.

I think you must be clairvoyant to know that?

Actually, I used the Accuweather app on my phone? Looks dry right now..

Referring to the purpose of the safety shut off as "protecting others".

"The purpose of these switches it to prevent personal injury while operating a lawn mower tractor."

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/lawn-tractor-safety-switch-basics

I have no problem with manufacturers installing the switches or with operators bypassing them if they interfere with practical operation for their use.

I know what you meant, just couldn't resist.

"The purpose of these switches is to prevent personal injury". Agreed. But personal injury to whom? If you read the article in the link you posted, it goes on to mention bystanders as needing protection. That's my point, the innocent need the protection.

I wouldn't have as much problem with operators unhooking safety devices either, provided they were prevented from suing the manufacturer when an accident occurred that was directly related to having the switch unhooked. In addition, I want to see the manufacturer able to sue the owner for improper use, and possible loss of revenue due to biased media publicity.

Also, if an innocent bystander was injured, then criminal charges should be brought against the operator.

You do know that bystanders can already sue machine operator's and prosecutor's can already press criminal charges... right? If it happens or not is another story.

Your wanting a manufacturer to be able to sue an owner for "improper use" is amazing. There is no damage to a manufacturer for improper use. If this was actually possible, and extrapolated across all industries, we'd have people sued for using hammers incorrectly.

Your want for regulations, for your causes, on all of us so that you can stop a possible accident seems to know no bounds except those as deemed by your opinion as "going to far".

Again, if saving the "innocent" is what matters to you then you have a lot of regulations to get passed. Using that thinking would allow for no one to even pour their own gas, ride a motorcycle with a passenger on the back, have a passenger in a car, use propane in your home, own a firearm, own a pond without a giant fence... the list goes on. There will be no end to regulation because we will always have to consider the "what if".

The above paragraph illustrates why the federal government is not allowed to make such regulations and is not enumerated these powers in Article 1 Section 8 of the US Constitution. States have a check on them and can make these laws. If a state becomes a giant nanny then a person can move to another State that they deem less intrusive. This competition for freedom is what the Founding Father's sought.

None of this matters though. I'm having a polite argument with someone who does not value the Constitution therefore we have nothing in common.

Personally, I would like to see us go back to the regulatory environment of the early 1970s. We had enough regulations then. In the meantime I will bypass any so called safety switch as I see fit, but if others might use the equipment I will not.

As an example of unneeded regulation: Look at any of the new fuel containers. I got one on sale a few weeks ago, and it is unusable as it is due to the EPA regulations promulgated since 2009.

A friend commented to me that we have a legal system, not a justice system. I too find the new gas cans frustrating. The real problem is having reasonable regulation. We just seem to go from one extreme to the other as the pendulum swings which is how I explain our current change in DC.

So if you bypass the reverse switch, and seat switch, and clutch interlock switch, do you then have to spend time hooking them all back up when your grandson gets on the mower?

As pond owners, we teach, or should teach, our kids to swim. We do that to enable them to take care of themselves, and be responsible for their own safety. But does this eliminate the need for a rescue flotation device on the dock, or close at hand?

My son and I are going to look at a 1961 military pickup truck tomorrow. We do not plan to retrofit it with safety switches.

I noticed yesterday that the new 2017 MTD ZTR mowers have the same reversing switch on them as the Cub Cadet lawn tractors. You turn the key to the middle (yellow) position, press a button for two seconds, and are good to reverse. Better than holding in a button like with the 10 year old John Deere riders.

Interesting debate.

Given a scenario where a guy is out mowing with a bushhog and has a heart attack and falls off the tractor.

If I understand the sides of the debate....One side of the debate thinks the tractor and bushhog should keep right on going after the guy falls off. The other side thinks the tractor should shut down when he falls out of the seat.

My side thinks that I should be able to stand up while bush-hogging in brushy areas to see better where I am heading. I don't think that my decision should be made by you, or that your decision should be made by me.

John, the Deere's didn't require you to hold the button in either. Once the tractor started moving, you could let up.

The one my Dad had must have been malfunctioning. I had to hold the button in or the PTO would stop. I tried not to ever back up if I could help it. He put over 900 hours on it before he passed.

I tend to evaluate the idea's merit, rather than its source. To me, a good idea is a good idea, no matter who came up with it. I think some struggle with that notion.

Yes, it was malfunctioning.

A few little things I do to my small tractor to make it more handy. Some of these add-on's would not be approved by the manufacturer and I am not recommending anyone do them. Use my ideas at your own risk. I'll put them in separate posts so the pictures will be easier to follow the explanation.

First is a hitch I added to my box blade. Since my box blade hangs on the back of the tractor most any time I am not using another implement, the drawbar was not accessible for the occasional trailer I needed to move. This solved the problem. I find I use the hitch to put my boat trailer into the water, my wood hauling two wheel trailer, and my log splitter. I also have three different trailers that need to be moved to mow, and this makes it where I can move them without even getting off the tractor. I usually don't even need to mess with the jack on the trailers, as I just lower the box blade, back up, raise it up under the hitch, then latch the latch without having to jack anything. I don't latch the latch if I am just moving a trailer a few feet to mow.

I welded a long receiver tube so I can put different type hitches as needed, but the drop hitch pictured is what I use most of the time. I can easily take the hitch out of the way if I want to do some serious dirt pushing. The 3/8 grab hook welded to the tube is very handy when I use a chain to pull brush away from a tree or some other job involving a chain.

Welding grab hooks on a loader bucket I find invaluable for moving stuff.

If I need to move a log with my bucket on, simply slip each end of a chain around two places near the middle of the log, the two loops approximately the width of the loader bucket hooks apart. Then tip the bottom of the bucket at a 45 degree angle and move the tractor up against the log with the cutting edge at ground level under the log. Pull the slack up and hook the chain onto the two grab hooks welded onto the bucket. Roll bucket back and log rests against the two side plates supported by the two chain halves. Very easy to move a large log or corner post.

The hooks are also handy for pulling T posts and any other lifting. But this is NOT an approved application so I do not recommend doing it. We have at least a dozen loader buckets around the farm on various tractors and loaders. They all have these hooks welded to the buckets right above the quick disconnect as pictured. The one that does not have any welded has large factory loops in that position. The grab hooks work a lot better because you can easily adjust chain length.

First picture shows hook on loader bucket. Next two pictures show grab hooks welded to my fork lift frame. The chain hooks are handy when using the forks with something bulky that might fall off the forks while transporting.

For a purist, they do make regular weld on hooks specifically for welding onto something. You have to get them from a specialty place that handles industrial stuff. I just use the hooks pictured and use the "high test" quality. I do not use the Grade 70 hooks because I was concerned about the alloy not welding correctly and I also do not use the low grade ones. I have never broken one or had one break loose in the 30 years been doing it this way.

Looks good......I have been meaning to do that.

This is an idea I will share, but will admit I rarely use. It seemed like a great idea and for some uses it might be, but the reality is I never use it........ at least yet. I will use the grab hook welded on occasionally.

It is a 2" receiver hitch attached to the center of the bucket. It is bolted on so I can take it off if wanted.

The idea was the same drop hitch pictured on my box blade above could be used with this receiver to move trailers or to put my pontoon paddle boat into the pond. I think it would work fine for that, but the reality is I just use the box blade.

A person needs to be careful welding a grab chain hook in the middle of the bucket. It is handy, but if a person has a particularly stout loader he could bend the center of the bucket as this position is not near as strong as where the bucket attaches to the loader.

Additional toolbox. My small tractor came with a small tool box in the fender. I keep my gloves there. But it was not nearly sufficient for the tools I like to carry. I can't stand doing any kind of work and not have at least some rudimentary tools with me. What a waste of time to have to go to the shed because I do not have a simple wrench or screwdriver.

You can see I made a tubing bracket and attached a large tool box, the same one we use on all our field tractors. It has a top tray, enough room for an assortment of tools, and is quick attach bracket equipped if for some reason I want to take it off.

At a minimum I keep a 10" and 12" adjustable wrenches. Phillips and flat screwdrivers, WD40, Vise-Grips, a short alignment bar or spud adjustable wrench (adjustable wrench with alignment bar used in metal building construction), Zip ties, various hitch pins, diagonal cutters, pliers, hammer, tape measure, some baling wire and probably some stuff I am forgetting. That usually covers about anything I need to keep me from going to the shed. If it is more involved than what those tools can handle, then I probably just need to get my service truck.

Another thing I really like is a quick hitch. It makes hooking and unhooking a breeze. I find that if attachments are easier to hook and unhook, I am more likely to use them when I may only have a small need, rather than just not using them because I don't want to go to the trouble of hooking them up.

Quick hitches are a pain in the rear on Catagory 1 (small) 3pt hitches. If you get up in the big tractors with cat 2, cat 3n and cat 3 the stuff has been standardized for a long time. But because few people use them on catagory 1 (small) implements, lots of manufacturers did not keep their implements to ASAE hitch standards. So if you have five implements, but two of them will not work with the quick hitch, it is almost not worth having it because then you have to remove the quick hitch to use the non-compliant implements. That was a problem when I used this QH on my JD2520 that I traded in for the JD3038 I have now.

So I made it a point to make everything be able to use the quick hitch when I traded tractors. This involved some welding and cutting moving pins and lengthening the pto shaft on my rotary tiller. On the 5' rotary mower it involved buying a flexible linkage to allow the mower tail wheel to float (without a quick hitch it would have floated at the top link connection).

Now I have everything that hooks up to this tractor will work with the quick hitch. Some will still not work with the upper hook, and in the picture you can see I use a pinned linkage at the top instead of the hook. I do not find this to be a big problem because this pin is easily installed by using the 3pt hydraulics to raise or lower the lower links a little to align the pin.

Not suggesting everyone would appreciate or needs one of these. But having used them on larger tractors for years, I like a quick hitch. They do have some down sides. The implement compatibility is one obvious one. The other thing is they do extend the implement about 3" further to the rear. On my 2520 that was a good thing because it had very short lower links. On this 3038 tractor it has long links to begin with so it puts the implement further back than it would need to be. This affects control and turning with heavy implements.

But all in all, I like it. Mine is a cheapie after market one.

One thing I have not done on this tractor that I want to is add a chain box. I have one on my JD5083 tractor, but have not got around to making one for my small JD3038.

I can't get along without a 5/16 grade 70 chain on a utility tractor. There is always something to lift or pull. So if it is not with me it is a trip back to the shed. I hate that. Consequently right now I have a smaller, lighter chain that resides behind my left foot on the floor board. But I do not like it there.

My intention is to build a small expanded metal chain box just large enough to hold a 20' 5/16 chain. I think I can mount it on the loader frame right below the tool box pictured above. On my 5083 tractor I have not only a chain box but also a shovel holder so I always have a shovel and chain with me. I find that very handy to have on a utility tractor with a loader.

Need to get it done this year! I ain't gettin no younger.