Almost Flipped Her!

japollner

Member

Equipment
BX2380
Jul 23, 2018
58
4
8
GREENFIELD
Whelp! Had my first “super-pucker” moment this past weekend. My butcher (Dan) came out Saturday to slaughter the last two hogs of the year. It was gross and rainy out so rather than drag the pigs on a sled with no snow, we figured we’d get them on the gambrel and just drive them over to the garage where we’d gut, skin, and half em. While backing down the side of the garage and around the corner, I cut it a little close to the grade sloping away from the foundation and got the rear tire up in the air, about a foot. Dan waved me off and I stood up to look. Crisis averted, but now we had a pig hanging/swinging at full height and a teetery-tottery BX. I ended up hanging off the left side of the fender/ROPS and got the tire on the ground. Dan dropped the bucket, and got the pig on the ground... needless to say we dragged the other pigs in the sled.

Really reinforced the notion that it can happen in an instant. I had moved the big male the same way the previous weekend and didn’t have an issue. This time I was complacent and almost ended up with a big problem. I never even felt the rear tire come up, but a 250lb hog hanging at full height was enough to get things tippy on a super mild side slope.

Be careful out there folks!
 

johnjk

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
B3200 w/loader, Woods RC5 brush hog, 4' box blade, tooth bar, B1700 MMM,
Apr 13, 2017
1,252
819
113
West Mansfield, OH
Glad you are OK and it didn't tip. Make sure you always have that ROPS up and your seat belt on. I'm always leery about traveling any distance with my FEL up past the height of the hood on my B3200.

Now I'm thinking about those hogs and some cracklin's, boudin and stuffed pork chops.
 

William1

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
BX25D
Jul 28, 2015
1,080
263
83
Richmond, Virginia
I always like it when a lesson learned is done so with out harm. I too and I imagine just about everyone has 'played with gravity'. :eek:
Glad to hear all are unscathed.:)
 

tiktock

New member
Jun 27, 2018
225
3
0
Plaistow
I'm so paranoid about flipping that I have gouges in my property from where the bucket dragged the ground as I keep it literally as low as possible without contacting.
 

beex

Member
May 21, 2019
312
5
18
on my bx
yea, i don’t move much with the bucket higher than the hood. To get a sense of how tipsy it is, in flat pavement, put the bucket at full height, and from the side pull on it with your hand. It feels like you can pull it over by hand. oN soft ground, slightly angled, much worse.

I added wheel spacers, made huge difference, lots of weight in ballast box helps a lot too


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japollner

Member

Equipment
BX2380
Jul 23, 2018
58
4
8
GREENFIELD
I added wheel spacers, made huge difference, lots of weight in ballast box helps a lot too


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
I’ve been meaning to pick up spacers but never got around to it this summer. The rears are loaded, but I’m going to look for an implement, maybe a rake, maybe a blade, that I can put on the 3pt for ballast.
 

tiktock

New member
Jun 27, 2018
225
3
0
Plaistow
yea, i don’t move much with the bucket higher than the hood. To get a sense of how tipsy it is, in flat pavement, put the bucket at full height, and from the side pull on it with your hand. It feels like you can pull it over by hand. oN soft ground, slightly angled, much worse.

I added wheel spacers, made huge difference, lots of weight in ballast box helps a lot too


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
This video basically demonstrated how much force it takes to tip a BX and how effective spacers and wheel weights are (at least on perfect, flat ground):
https://youtu.be/O3wxJJBgRHA
 

totitan

New member

Equipment
L2501, loader, field mower, back blade
Jul 19, 2019
10
0
1
Kiowa, Colorado
Ive had the rear tires of my L2501 off the ground a few times just like of large machines. There are two things you need to automatically do if you start to tip over....1. turn into the downhill side which is the direction these always want to go, and 2. drop your bucket and blade instantly. Even though Ive had the tires off the ground Ive never felt like I was in danger of actually going over.
 

beex

Member
May 21, 2019
312
5
18
on my bx
The test in the video is consistent with my gut feel. The wheel weights don’t help much. The spreaders do more. It would be interesting to repeat the test with a ballast box and lots of weight, I’m pretty sure it works much better. With spacers and the BB, the bx feels stable, you can feel it by pulling in the top of the ROPS with your hand.

But a lot of times it’s the momentum that will roll you than static balance, but either way, lower CG is the best.



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beex

Member
May 21, 2019
312
5
18
on my bx
This video basically demonstrated how much force it takes to tip a BX and how effective spacers and wheel weights are (at least on perfect, flat ground):

https://youtu.be/O3wxJJBgRHA


For some reason I was thinking about this video today and realized it’s misleading. This video is trying to indicate how much wheel weight and spacers affect stability. But it’s quite incorrect, so wanted to bring back the thread.

It’s safe to assume wheel weights and spreader improve stability, but not in proportion indicated by the measurements.

The measurement method doesn’t at all indicate tip over stability.

The assumption in the thread is that the more force it takes to lift a wheel off the ground the more stable and safer the tractor is. That is not true. A more extreme experiment makes it obvious. If you put 1000 lbs on top of the ROP, it would require more force pulling on the ROPs to lift a wheel and flip it. But you wouldn’t need to lift it much at all to flip it, or it wouldn’t take much of a side hill to flip it. But if you stripped the tractor down to make it really light, remove ROPs, fenders, no fuel, loader, hood... and put 5” wheel spaces on, it wouldn’t take much force to pull a wheel off the ground but it would be much more stable on side hills.

Stability is determined by geometry, the position of the center of gravity relative to the outside edge of the tipping pivot point, not the weight value of force to pull it over. Adding weight below the current CG makes an improvement, adding above makes it less stable but both will require more lateral force to lift a wheel.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

beex

Member
May 21, 2019
312
5
18
on my bx
This video basically demonstrated how much force it takes to tip a BX and how effective spacers and wheel weights are (at least on perfect, flat ground):

https://youtu.be/O3wxJJBgRHA


For some reason I was thinking about this video today and realized it’s misleading. This video is trying to indicate how much wheel weight and spacers affect stability. But it’s quite incorrect, so wanted to bring back the thread.

It’s safe to assume wheel weights and spreader improve stability, but not in proportion indicated by the measurements.

The measurement method doesn’t at all indicate tip over stability.

The assumption in the thread is that the more force it takes to lift a wheel off the ground the more stable and safer the tractor is. That is not true. A more extreme experiment makes it obvious. If you put 1000 lbs on top of the ROP, it would require more force pulling on the ROPs to lift a wheel and flip it. But you wouldn’t need to lift it much at all to flip it, or it wouldn’t take much of a side hill to flip it. But if you stripped the tractor down to make it really light, remove ROPs, fenders, no fuel, loader, hood... and put 5” wheel spaces on, it wouldn’t take much force to pull a wheel off the ground but it would be much more stable on side hills.

Stability is determined by geometry, the position of the center of gravity relative to the outside edge of the tipping pivot point, not the weight value of force to pull it over. Adding weight below the current CG makes an improvement, adding above makes it less stable but both will require more lateral force to lift a wheel.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

BigG

Well-known member

Equipment
l2501, FEL, BB, Rotary cutter, rake,spreader, roller, etc. New Holland TL80 A
Sep 14, 2018
1,950
774
113
West Central,FL
For some reason I was thinking about this video today and realized it’s misleading. This video is trying to indicate how much wheel weight and spacers affect stability. But it’s quite incorrect, so wanted to bring back the thread.

It’s safe to assume wheel weights and spreader improve stability, but not in proportion indicated by the measurements.

The measurement method doesn’t at all indicate tip over stability.

The assumption in the thread is that the more force it takes to lift a wheel off the ground the more stable and safer the tractor is. That is not true. A more extreme experiment makes it obvious. If you put 1000 lbs on top of the ROP, it would require more force pulling on the ROPs to lift a wheel and flip it. But you wouldn’t need to lift it much at all to flip it, or it wouldn’t take much of a side hill to flip it. But if you stripped the tractor down to make it really light, remove ROPs, fenders, no fuel, loader, hood... and put 5” wheel spaces on, it wouldn’t take much force to pull a wheel off the ground but it would be much more stable on side hills.

Stability is determined by geometry, the position of the center of gravity relative to the outside edge of the tipping pivot point, not the weight value of force to pull it over. Adding weight below the current CG makes an improvement, adding above makes it less stable but both will require more lateral force to lift a wheel.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Beex you are correct that adding the weight to the top of the ROPS will make it easier to roll the tractor once you get past the balancing point. However the weight added up high is also raising the center of gravity. That is where the problem occurs. Take that same 1000 pound down low and place it on the draw bar and now the tractor becomes very difficult to roll. You would need to tip it much further before gravity would finish tipping it over. Lower and wider make the tractor safer when it is below the center of gravity. The angle that the tractor will tip over increases with the weight being at a lower level. Thus it is safer for tractor work.