One rollover is enough, help me avoid another!

[bbushnell]

I have been mowing, towing, pulling logs and working with an IH Cub Lo-boy for over 30 years with never a problem......

Last season I picked up a 1972 IH Cub. This past weekend I make a huge mistake and rolled the new cub over. Luckily, I was thrown far enough away, and rolled fast enough to avoid injury. And now I am asking myself a lot of questions about this taller tractor, my small plot of land, and trying to figure out how to make sure that never happens again!

What I did, was drive the cub at an angle up a slope (dumb), pulling a small drag unit (dumber) with maybe 150 lbs. of garden waste. It was a slope I swear I would have safely maneuvered with my cub lo-boy, but then again, maybe not. The cub I rolled is new to me, has no wheel weights, the front axles not adjusted to any extra width, had no attachments on at the time (no belly mower on at the time), and the rear wheels are installed the way I got it, with the hubs pointing in, the narrowest setting between the two rear wheels. I am thinking I should do the following list of things, can you help me figure out if these help reduce the risk of rollover, or not? I just took the safety quiz and scored 93%..... I guess I got the rollover questions wrong. Anyway your thoughts appreciated.

1. Put on front and rear wheel weights to lower center of gravity?
2. Turn the rear hubs around and get more width between those rear tires?
3. Widen the distance between the front wheels with that adjustable front axle?
4. Keep the belly mower on whenever possible to lower center of gravity?
5. Don't tow stuff on a hill (dummy)! I got that one.

I am one very lucky guy, oh and the tractor survived just fine, the steering wheel was bent, the steering wheel post was bent but easily straightened, and the newly installed headlights were no longer pointing forward. Other than that she rolled right over and started up. The property I have has about 3 acres of lawn and 13 acres of field. I want to use this new cub with the belly mower and a sickle bar. But it is a hilly piece of property.

[offrink]

The lower the gravity always the better!

[Bus Driver]

Imagine that the contact points of the four tires with the driving surface constitute the corners of a geometric figure. On a slope, this figure is smaller than when on level.
Imagine also that a plumb bob is suspended from the center of gravity of the tractor and is free to swing as it will. The plumb bob almost touches the surface below under all circumstances.
The center of gravity for a Cub is probably somewhere in the engine block, probably not quite halfway up the engine vertically and offset slightly to the right. I stand to be corrected on that.
So long as the point of the (imaginary) plumb bob stays within the geometric figure, the tractor will not turn over. When the point of the plumb bob goes outside one of the (imaginary) lines of the geometric figure, the tractor goes over in that direction. One of the Laws of Nature.

[Boss Hog]

keep the right hand side of the cub on the down hill side!! They will turn over very easily when the left side is down hill

[DieselDennis]

Well you say you've already got #5.

I'd do #2 & #3 because they're free (and that's the way I have mine). If you have a mid mount sickle mower, then you won't be running over any uncut grass with your back tires while you mow anyway.

#1 would definitely help, especially on the rear.

#4 would theoretically help as well, and it would be free. I think you'd get more effectiveness out of #1, #2, & #3 though.

[bbushnell]

So I can get rear wheel weights and add them, but you suggest that rears are more important than front? Help me understand that? The front wheels are lower to the ground, have a smaller circumference and it seems to me would benefit greatly from some added weight? If the fronts matter less, than it would save me a lot of work and $ in trying to find them. Also my sickle bar mower is a center mount rig.

[bbushnell]

Thanks for the advice on which side to keep down slope. When I rolled it I had the left side down hill! Ahh the power of a little knowledge.

[Posco]

I've got a rather steep hill in my back yard I have to climb when I take the tractor down there for a spin and it always gives me the willies climbing back up. I have one set of weights on the rear awaiting a second set once I pick them up from my father-in-law. I've been considering front weights but thought they might make the tractor harder to steer. What's the consensus on that?

[Don McCombs]

They will not make the Cub hard to steer.

[Eugene]

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=54463&hilit=weight

Above, a previous discussion on adding weight to tractor's front.

Additional weight on tractor's front will not make it harder to steer. One issue is that adding weight to the front of the tractor will help keep the front wheels on the ground when driving up steep inclines.

I have a 120 foot elevation rise from the bottom to the top, center, of 36 acres. Steep, steep, steep. Tractors go straight up and down the slope, but never across the slope.

It may not be a practical solution. I had a neighbor who rented a hi-lift for a month to mine gravel from an adjacent stream. I paid him to cut a tractor road up and around the steeper portion of the slope. My out of pocket for the tractor road was under $300-.

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

Don't forget, the front axle pivots. Front weights will not come into play on a sideways rollover till the rear has tipped far enough for the pivot stops to strike the axle tube. At that point it is usually too late for the front wheel weights to make any difference. Front wheel weights will help with going front high, and also give more traction to prevent sliding sideways on a slope. Of course all this is just my opinion, and not worth much.

[Matt Kirsch]

In short, the reason front weights are of limited help in a side rollover is because of the center pivot on the front end. By the time the front end reaches its articulation limit, and has any hope of helping with tractor stability, the tractor is already tipping over.

CRAP! John and I were typing the same thing at the same time!

[Stanton]

Good advice here. Hope it's heeded.

Just want you to know that we're glad you didn't seriously injure yourself. There are a few people in tractor roll-overs that don't get a second chance. Please be very careful, whatever you do.

[Scrivet]

........and it always gives me the willies climbing back up. ...........

My advice is if ANYONE is doing ANYTHING on a Cub that gives you "the willies" you ought not be doing it! That little voice in your head is usually smarter than you are (at least mine is ) you just have to be smart enough to listen.

[Dennis]

Something like one of these (http://www.tiltmeter.com/basic_models.html) might take the guess work out inclines...

I'm so glad you were not hurt. Someone was looking out for you.