Go BottomKubota B7500 accident
 | vermontpaul
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 12 weymouth, massachusetts 
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2002-11-10 44824
I recently purchased (10-12-02) a b7500 hst, w/302fel, and 54" mmm, for my property in Vermont.
Not having any experience in owning and operating the tractor or any tractor, other than a lawn tractor, I had a serious accident.
The unit was delivered and the driver took it off the truck, spent 5 minutes showing me how to start and shut off the tractor and pointed out the various controls. I took the directions and read them thoroughly. I put 4 hours on the unit and then on 10-15-02, I made my first attempt to empty a load of material into a hole on my property.
First, admittedly, I forgot to fasten my seat belt, but probably saved my life, got to the edge of the 90 degree hole, raised my bucket, and unconsciosly thought I was stepping on the brake and hit the forward pedal sending me over the edge. the tractor went down approx. 20 feet and stopped on some ledge and fallen trees and was in a perpendicular position from level. I was sent flying another 15 feet straight down, where I hit a four foot piece of ledge breaking my shoulder, a couple of ribs, 2 lumbar vertabrae along with a gash in my head.
The concensus was that if I was seat belted that i would have sent the tractor over and would have crushed me. believe me this not a message that you should not use the seat belt.
I had the tractor taken out of the hole by a neighbor, while I was in the hospital, by some heavy equipment using slings, and the only damage to the b7500 was a broken steering wheel and a dent on the bucket.
What I want to convey is a message that get experienced on these units as the pedals are different than on a car and you have to go slowly and be able to change your motor skills between your tractor and a car. hopefully my experience can save someone from doing the same thing. I am lucky to be alive, but can't wait to get back on my b7500.
I still can't believe that this unit stood up to this accident. I am a believer in the quality and strength of this machine!
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| DavesTractor
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 148 Red Bluff, California
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2002-11-10 44826
Our prayers are with you, get well soon!
Thanks for sharing the event, it may just keep someone else from having an accident.
Dave ....
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 | jeff r
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 428 burton. michigan
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2002-11-10 44828
Holy tractors BATMAN, That wasn't a hole...IT WAS A CANYON....Glad you survived it, it could have been worse. I have always believed operating a tractor is sometime like playing a drum set, both feet and hands are all doing something different. ....
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| Guest
Join Date: Aug 2017 Posts: 0
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2002-11-10 44854
OUCH!!! OUCH!!! OUCH!!!! You sure had a hard lesson here. It is so easy to make a mistake working on machines. I had a motorcycle fall and am still working out the kinks on my body for over a year now. There's been a few close calls on the tractor but so far THANK GOD FOR FOUR WHEEL DRIVE, AG TIRES AND HST. ....
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| TomG
Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 5406 Upper Ottawa Valley 
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2002-11-11 44857
Yes, hope you get well soon and there's no lasting impairment. Sound like you were very lucky.
Something to keep in mind is that this wrong control problem never really goes away. Human systems just aren't very reliable and it's fairly common for the wrong hand or foot to get the signal. When that happens to me a couple of times within a few minutes I know it's time for a break, and I take one no matter what. A couple of summers ago I put in long-hours at our camp and then hopped in the 1/2-ton to drive home. The TX column shift is on the left-side and I commonly put started out by putting the 1/2-ton in reverse by signaling for a left turn. Brains and bodies just work like that.
The main thing experience seems to do is give operators a sense of what mountain climbers call exposure (how far it is to the bottom). Climbers use more technical techniques for high exposure situations. On tractors, with a good sense of exposure, the wrong controls still get pulled, but fewer accidents result. 90-drgree drop-offs are high exposure for anybody and there's always going to be times a person lurches forward when they want to stop or reverse. Many industrial punch presses have interlocks that require both hands to operate before punch will operate. I've been a percussionist (even a paid one sometimes) and wrong notes do happen. The exposure there depends on the personality of the singer or dancer. Some are very high exposure situations.
....
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| vermontpaul
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 12 weymouth, massachusetts
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2002-11-11 44862
JUST WANT TO THANK EVERYONE FOR THEIR SUPPORT. I JUST WISH THAT A 57 YEAR OLD BODY CAN BE AS RESILIANT AS MY B7500. ....
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| Patriot
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 7 Fuquay-Varina, NC
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2002-11-11 44870
I'll second that "our prayers are with you", I hope you recover soon. A horse once thru me the same way, like the Kubota, you gotta get up and ride her again! ....
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| jeff r
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 428 burton. michigan
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2002-11-11 44872
Patriot,
I said the same thing about a former girlfriend after I asked if she was as "GOOD " as her sister, but the "riding her again part wasn't going to happen. "IF YA KNAW WHATTA MEAN VERN". LOL ....
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 | Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2002-11-11 44873
As a kid growing up on a farm which had been (and still is thankfully) in the family for MANY generations I often heard "Experience is as expert & stern a teacher as any you will find, but the lessons will stay with you a lifetime, but the 'detentions' often last MUCH longer."
You learned two important lessons my friend, 1) Be careful, the most innocous situations can turn deadly in a heartbeat where equipment is involved, and 2) It is important that we teach others so that they may be spared our tough lessons themselves.
Best of luck. ....
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 | Peters
Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 3034 Northern AL
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2002-11-11 44883
You may have noticed that I have been very tough on the 750-790 JD's dry brakes. I had a hard time keeping the brakes in the tractor.
One day I was moving earth up to the edge of a steep bank I had on my property in KY. I stepped on the brakes and very little happened. The tractor when over the edge and picked up speed. I road the tractor down the bank 30 ft down and the bucket dug into the edge of the pavement of the road below. Thankfully it did not flip. No damage done to anything but my pride. A useful lesson. I removed the brakes for repair. ....
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| drgavin
Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 19 Minnesota/Western Wisc.
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2002-11-11 44886
The moral of this story is:
Stay away from 20 ft. deep holes when LEARNING.
I've got 30 hrs. and haven't even left flat ground.
Hope you heal well my friend. ....
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