Be careful out there guys

[Bsmith]

So this morning my father and I headed out to a local restaurant for breakfast.

While we were eating, I looked out the window and noticed a man across the street backing up a pick up truck into the back yard of the house.

He got out and lowered the tailgate and placed some ramps on it, and then headed into a shed that was there.

This truck was a 2011 Silverado with about a 4" lift on it. It was parked in a level spot of the yard so the ramps were at a pretty steep angle.

He came out of the shed driving a Wheel Horse garden tractor with a mower deck on it.

I told my dad that there was no way that was going to make it up on the truck without getting hung up on the deck.

This man started driving up the ramps nice and slow and when the deck got to the tailgate it got hung up and stopped. I was glad to see him back down the ramps safely.

After this things went bad. He decided that on his second attempt he would go faster and force that deck over the hump. Again it got stuck. He pushed in the clutch and the tractor started to roll back down the ramps. He panicked and let the clutch back out and that tractor stood straight up and rolled over backwards down the ramps with the him on it. When it landed I saw him start to crawl out from under it and try to stand up.

We left the restaurant and headed across the street. By this time he was on his feet. I asked him if his was ok and he said he was, he was just a little shook up. After he calmed down we helped him flip the tractor back over on its wheels.

I explained to him that there was no way that tractor with the deck on was going to make it up the angle of those ramps. He would need to take the deck off or better yet back up to a bank on the other side of the yard to lessen the angle of the ramps.

He thanked us for the help and said that he was going to let the tractor sit a while for the oil to drain back down before starting it again. I was glad that he was not hurt and hoped that he learned a valuable lesson from this.

I know in our hobby that we load and unload tractors regularly from trucks and trailers. Please use caution and don't take anything for granted. Witnessing this really opened my eyes as to how quick and violent it is when the tractor flips over. Don't take chances and make sure you do things as safely as possible.

[ReicheP]

Co worker of my son did the same thing but broke his neck. He's ok and still riding the same tractor.

[chzuck]

Thanks for posting. It does not hurt to be reminded of the dangers of loading and unloading the tractors we like. Very fortunate this story had a happy ending!

[davis2]

Thanks for the heads up, Brandon. It never hurts to reinforce safety.

[dag1450]

Wow! Thats some story...and u did a good job telling it too Brandon! Must have really shakin u up watching that unfold...cause u sure did a lot of typing....maybe the adrenaline rush Glad it had a happy ending.