FORD TRACTOR SAFETY RULES

The recent fatal tractor rollover accident the other day inspired me to remind all farm tractor and implement owners/operators to remember these general safety rules. These are from the OEM Ford Manuals but apply to every make and model of machine. SAFETY IS RULE #1!

FORD TRACTOR OPERATOR SAFETY:

GAS CAP EXCHANGE PROGRAM FOR VENTED CAP:

Gasoline boiling in tractors has been a serious issue in recent years and one major reason is the OEM gas cap on early models was not vented and thus could cause a vacuum in the tank. FORD offered an exchange program to switch your OEM non-vented cap for a new vented style. This is the service Bulletin that covered that.

Tim *PloughNman* Daley(MI)

Tim, thanks for posting this safety information.

It's hard to imagine these kinds of tragic events still occur in the present time, and they are still numerous every year.

In the last 10-15 years I can think of 3, one a neighbor to the far side of my property here, on a 640 Ford with a rotary mower, got bounced out of the seat and was run over and through the mower, one a cousin with an N series towing on a small bulldozer or something, flipped backwards and another, a good friend, pulling on a stump or tree or some darned thing with a Farmall, went over backwards. Now when I sit at the bar to grab a bite and a quick beer with it at my favorite local craft beer place, I get to look at his photo on the wall there, reminding me of this. He was their master brewer, a career long occupation for him starting at entry level, a terrible loss to his family and community.

One of the reasons I upgraded to a more modern tractor for all the general purpose work, was that is has an OROPS & a seatbelt.

It's a 4630, and one thing that stands out to me with it, that an operator could easily fall through either side while in the seat if not utilizing the seat belt and of course having the fold down OROPS upright and correctly pinned in place.

Safety is imperative to avoid these tragic fatalities, I sincerely wish there was a way to reach every operator and instill in them the rules of safe operation to prevent any more of these kinds of fatal events.

It never hurts to be reminded about safety.
On the other hand, we kill about 35,000 people a year on the nation's highways.
Yet, when we jump in our cars to go to their funeral no one harangues us to drive safely.
Accidents happen. They always will.

This is true, the odds are stacked against us and even the best of us can misjudge, get into something unforeseen, or just make a bad decision through the complacency that comes with age and experience. I think that is what happened with my friend, bad call that day, cost him his life.