only roll I ever experienced was using a sickle bar on the side of my pond and it caught on a hidden stump and before I could respond I was leaping as hard as I could into the pond to leave the 1/4 rolled tractor behind. I actually heard my dead father's voice calling out instructions to me -- something he'd actually said about ladders. He said "If you start to fall...jump" and boy did that advice come in handy. I jumped. Luckily all I got was wet.

Consider me demystified. I just bought an L4400 HST and am selling my L2350 (you sold me a lot of quick attach for both). I DID NOT KNOW that I could just click the lever on my 4400 and the PTO would come on until watching this video. I was like "whoa. What hath God wrought."

I need to be santa clause to myself. 😂

I have a grey-market L1501DT (4wd) with an aftermarket loader AND backhoe. It has some substantial frame reinforcement as well. The L185 is the closest reference I can find, but a lot of the dash controls are still different.

Get your Tractor Caddy and mount it on your ROPS upside down. Then place the light on the base of the Caddy just where it clears underneath your horizontal bar of your ROPS? More elevation for better visibility.

Sissy

Capital follows the path of least resistance. Work Stoppages.

chain to the large branch.... and on the tow bar.

well said Sir! I have been trying to “think through” this for a few years now and have concluded many of the same points you already mentioned. Thanks again for sharing your experience. What I would say to my loved ones - “ Go slow and don’t take chances without carefully evaluating your situation.”

Hi Mike, your stuff has been helpful. 200h on a BX here, loaded tires and spacers. My yard is 15° with some 40° ditches. I start to get antsy at 15 and don’t go past 20. I do the ditches vertically. I have the gauge, mounted on the dash which works well. My garage has about 1/4” ROPS clearance, so I built a cover below the top and keep them up with my seatbelt. I go slow and am working on more leveling with the box blade. Thanks for the info, it’s a hard topic to research due to the liability.

Common sense goes a long way, if it feels uncomfortable "Don't do i". See how easy that was.

I'm retired with a 1974 Kubota B6000 (it's my first Tractor) that's tried to kill me twice in 18 months. Most of my land is vertical except for the gullys (which it's obsessed with). A roll-over bar would have prevented both of my live-saving para-rolls over the mud guard. Though I may invest in one of these slope gauge things.

16 degrees is a lot. It represents approx. 28 percent slope when a steep road should not be more than 15 percent (say a garage ramp).

I have had one just like that on my tractor 🚜 for a few years. When it gets to 10 degrees i start being very careful and i wont go past 15 degrees. Mine is mounted on a bar i installed between the front mounts on my Canopy.

Put this exact inclometer on my kioti when new but you dont know the tipping point,thought about strapping it to a tree and jacking it up to see how much angle it would take to tip it and then subtract from there.

Well mike I have to agree and disagree with you. The TiltOmetr is a great device. i have one for the mountainious terain I live in, in nothern NH. So I agree with that. As for if someone making a devise to tell you if you are going to tip over there is most certailnly is someone that makes a devise, and that is the ALL MIGHTY GOD. He gave each one of us a devise that lets us know when we are about to get in over our heads no matter what the situation is. It is widly kwown as THE PUCKER FACTOR. When that devise puckers so hard that it hurts or causes a cramp it is time to stop what you are doing and reasses your options.. From Wayne whom is visiting Cabu Philippines with his darling wife. So now Mike if not before you are INTERNATOINAL/ or INTERCONTINENTIAL................. BE WELL & Take Care back over there. Wayne

I got one built in my butt.

Howdy Mike! 5 years ago when I first got my tractor, my pucker factor was good to about 5 degrees or when I ran over a 3 inch rock with the rear tire. Now I can run over a 4 inch rock without being to scared 😂. I don’t know the tipping point of my tractor, but my comfort level is way better nowadays. Thanks for the video..

I’m a new tractor owner. Love your channel.

I actually installed mine to help let me know when the loader is level side to side. Then I watched your first video and now this one. Thank you for sharing this information.

Hi Mike. I installed one of those a few weeks ago. I think I bought the wrong one as it goes to 15 degrees. But at that angle pucker factor starts anyway around point 😅

People roll vehicles and tractors over on flat ground....an inclinometer don't do any good when you get people out there that are doing things they shouldn't be doing. Driving too fast for conditions, taking corners too fast, etc....with a tractor, on flat ground rolling one over isn't that hard to do if you have a load in the bucket without the proper ballast, load way too high, and make a tight turn for example, just might tip the tractor over. It all comes down to common sense, which as we all know seems to be lost in recent years. If you don't feel comfortable, or it don't look right, avoid that hill, simple as that. Like you said Mike, plant some flowers there, or whatever so you don't have to try mowing it....same as people who think they need 4WD to mow their yard....if you need 4WD to mow your yard, you need to change your landscaping LOL.

I've been using that exact "Lev-O-Gauge" product for 30 years on the two Kubotas that I have owned. I mow the exact same terrain over and over again, and I'm intimately familiar with any irregularities (there are basically none). When I'm on the pond bank and backside of my pond dam, I mow e-x-t-r-e-m-e-l-y slowly, with my loader almost touching the ground, in 4-wd, and with my brakes separated from one another, giving me the chance to "persuade' any correction that might be necessary. Although I can't say it's comfortable, I see 30° routinely. Your previous video gives an excellent account of all the variables that may affect stability.

Used one for nearly 65 years on our sailboats. Of course on a boat if you capsize you just get wet. Thanks for all your great advice. My construction equipment operator father in law always talked about the bubble in his butt when talking about 'feeling' grades...

I loved this video as it confirms my comfort level / pucker factor. Thihs gauge says to me between 15-20 Deg. That feels like my limit too. My wife will drive our UTV up and across slopes that are steep and never blink. But when I put the tractor on them and try to drive across....i quickly back up and find the straightest way down the slope. I will even slide the bucket on the ground just to make sure it is low. And as I said last video. The only time I almost rolled the tractor so far is when I was on a slope and doing fine but was too close to the edge of the ditch. The bank caved in tilting me to over 45 deg. Only my prompt bucket work prevented the roll over.

15° is a substantial angle. On submarines, we would occasionally do high-speed maneuvers: turns and depth changes that would result in 15-20° angles. That's about all I've got tolerance for at any speed.

Ventrac makes a mower for hills, but very expensive. However it's much better than getting hurt!!!!

I have a hill field and I mow it up and down. Takes longer but when I’m done I can eat my wife’s supper not the hospitals supper. Thanks for the videos.

Degree of slant is useful if you know the max slant safe for your machine. But no tractor maker is going to tell you that, because lifting the implement changes the slope to tip over. I am regrading the slopes that I feel uncomfortable mowing going across the slope. Just one 50 ft section left to cut the top back 2 ft and take out dirt tapering down to the roadside ditch.

Those department of highways operators have two things going for them. One they have tons of recent experience and know what their equipment feels like. Two, they aren’t paying for it (financially) if it rolls. At the beginning of the year it’s hard to get off the flat. By the end of the year you’re on 3 tires 😅 Thankfully I’ve never rolled my equipment but I have come closest on days when I am either in a hurry or worse when I am tired. If I start to feel tired now in the evenings I make myself quit.

Roll overs anywhere are scary, but near water is extra terrifying

An inclinometer is just as useful as a compass, clock or radio channel you are listening to in preventing a rollover. Unless you know the data that dictates what is safe or not… what implements you have attached, accounting for your weight (or added weights on your tractor) you have no idea what limits you have… or are exceeding. Might as well be reading tea leaves when you are out working the terrain.

if you think you need a slope meter you need a set of dual rear tires.

Mike, I have to date not had a roll over experience. I have responded to a few to help. My personal experience of close to roll over is 2 fold. 1) was trying to pull a root wad, and had a rear tire lift off the ground. Not a biggie, as sitting still, so only need was to remove the attempted lift. The other was much scarier, I was brush cutting, not going real fast, but moving 2-3mph as best guess. It was unfamiliar ground so part of the reason for not a lot of speed. No side slope, but a slight down hill. Loader bucket was close to ground (thank the Lord) as otherwise I may have gone over. As I turned out, I ran over an unseen log and then ran into a hole. If the had bern at hood height or higher, I believe to this day it would have tipped, as it was it was a very scary ride for maybe 10’.

I am with you Mike. Why chance a rollover and all the stuff that goes with it. 😮

i've got the same exact meter on my 3series John Deere. Been to 30 degrees with it while box blading a ditch but i'm like you Mike, 15 is my pucker factor and i try not to push it more than that

Weenie🤣😂( I can’t blame you)

I have a JD 4020 and a JD 3038e. All my acreage is on a hilllside that ranges between 5% (5 ft. Vertical for every 100 ft. Horizontal) up to around 20% slope. I have beet juice in the rear tires, and often put lead bands (50# each) from an abandoned 20” pipeline on the 3 point and inside the loader bucket. There is NO WAY I would trust an inclinometer. There is no way in hell I have any standardized conditions to know what is safe. Maybe if I measured empirically (trial and error) by exceeding safe limits and drafting the results.. rolling my tractor and noting where it was when I rolled over… would I ever have the practical data as to what was safe… and not safe. Then do it again for every implement I may have on my tractor in the first place doing work. Post hole digger, brush hog or just hauling off wood from a downed tree. Too damn unpredictable. Too many variables to be certain! Just.. common sense…. Best solution for me. To me, trusting an inclinometer is like trusting your speedometer about how fast you can safely drive… on an interstate highway or a windy, gravel dirt road with blind curves driving off a steep mountain with no guardrails.

Excellent couple of videos on operating tractors on slopes. Mike I’m with you when it comes to slopes, I’m a weeny too. I have operated tractors for 55 years and have never even come close to a roll over and I never want to. I’m a very conservative tractor operator and I’m proud to say that. Thanks Mike for making awesome videos.

I have had one on my tractor for a couple of years and while I don’t use it to know the limits of my tractor on a slope, I feel more informed about the slope I am on.

Speed in turns is yet another way you can kill yourself on a tractor. How much speed? You won't know until you roll over due to the points you just mentioned. So, be damn careful about complacency and letting young kids drive that tractor. I sweat it out anytime I allow my grandson to run my tractor simply because he has shown some ignorance and lack of respect for machinery. He needs to learn, but not by getting hurt or killed. Tractors should be slow moving machines and never pushed up to do things faster. Slow and steady wins the race, and keeps you alive. By the book, or buy the farm! Operate according to the manual or common sense and never beyond the capabilities of the machine or operator.

Would th bottom hole be for a snowblower?

I think the unions have gone too far over the years, I’m sure people working in the same business without the union are probably making more money in their pockets providing the management is treating them fair, and the business is probably making more also without having to pay all those dues.

I have some hills on my property and a big ravine. I am very careful around the ravine and take it super slow on the hills. But, I've been flying EMS helicopters for about 6 years and I haven't responded to any tractor rollovers. I have responded to several ATV and side by side rollovers, probably because they tend to drive faster.

Excellent advice, thanks for sharing.

Worked ground for dad with a WD Allis back in the day with rear mounted plows.. i was 7 years old and could do tricks with it ... Yep.. i learned by experience lucky i didn't kill myself... 🤔🤔🫣

What I wonder about is when you go from 540 to econcomy 540 your rpms drop . At least on my tractor it plainly on my tractor to keep RPMS 2000 or above but the E 540 runs at about 1500 RPMS . I was told by the dealer that if you run the tractor below 2000 RPMS it cause clogging of the DPF system and problems in the regen system . So I run my 540 pto at the recommended 2500 RPMS and if I use the E540 Which recommended is around 1500 RPM I do not run it below the plainly labeled not to use below 2000 RPMS while working I run the 540 E at exactly the 2000 RPMS which 500 RPMS above 540E RPMS marked on the tractor. I see it as problem but a split the difference to stay away from DEF and REgen problems while using the 540E . SUGGESTIONS

Mike, the reason going slower has a more fundamental cause/effect. Speed is directly proportional to reaction time/distance traveled. (RxT=D) Assuming you know the proper corrective action, your available time to both recognize the need and perform the correct counter-measure(s) is negatively inverted against you. I call it the "Evil Kenevil" factor.😂

Excellent info! Thanks!

My heart bleeds for little Johnies bad publicity. It's just st so, so unfair. Too many college grads. Is why they can't pay for their super high ( yeah some partying too) housing and tuition loan? They can't afford to take a "low" paying factory job? How much was tuition to vo-tech?