From an Old Tractor website

[chris dawe]

Originally Posted by edgarspencer

http://www.yesterdaystractors.com/cg...oard&th=106697

While I found this amusing, it is pathetic how old legends hang on, and how many people still believe them.
Perhaps it's not surprising these guys are primarily Tractor guys who own guns, as opposed to me and many of my friends who are gun guys who also use tractors.

I wonder what camp the guy sleeps in who was expounding the dangers of the Farmall Cub, at a recent event. He said more people have died using the cub because "All you have to do is drive over a rock with your right wheel, and they flip".

the old man almost flipped his ...but it was may more than a little rock ....use have me ride the right axle to keep her down ...man o man do I miss that ...still got the cub...nicknamed it "old lobster eye "

[edgarspencer]

Mills, Great picture. Looks like an F-12
Wayne, I had a BR (wide front end) I stupidly sold.
Chris, There were a bunch of overly restored Cubs at the engine show 2 weeks ago (the 38th year of our 4 day camping in NH) My son wants me to get one for his yet to be determined offspring. I agreed, if it's a boy, he'll have one. Wont be the one I cut hay with for years, as a kid, but we won't tell him.

[Richard Flanders]

The farmer next to our farm in Michigan hitched a JD trike up to a big rock with a pretty short chain and tried to pull it. Bad idea. The JD did a wheel stand and went over backwards, pinning(mushing really)him between the steering wheel and the rock.

[Kevin McCormack]

Richard, a friend of ours was nearly killed years ago while pulling a long section of downed tree trunk with a log chain. He was apparently going at a pretty good clip on the tractor when the facing end of the log struck a rock embedded in the earth. The log stopped dead, the torque forced the tractor to rotate upwards and back over the rear axle, and pinned him against the steering column by his pelvis and upper thigh. He narrowly missed losing that leg and spent weeks in the hospital with surgical pinning, etc. to save it.

[Jeff Christie]

I own a 1953 Farmall Cub and have never heard this legend. My neighbor owns 3 Cubs and I never heard him mention it. I'll ask him when he returns to his cottage. He's harvesting now. Not with a Cub- hobby tractors. Mine is a mower.

[Southpaw]

If using some common sense it is safer for your butt on a tractor seat than probably in a car driving down the highway. However if splitting hairs it is older men on old tractors where more accidents occur. I guess old fools and their toys.

Still remember watching my 80 year old gran-daddy bush hog a pasture on the side of steep hill on the old family farm in central Kentucky using his old tractor. Portions of that hill hit 45 degrees. He never rolled a tractor but he came close. He was ornery. Still remember my exasperated grand mother giving him what for about mowing that hill. For the record though that hill had been a pasture for probably over 100 years so it was doable but you had to know your stuff and it was not for the faint of heart.

I guess knowing what your doing on an old tractor is the same with shooting old guns if done right.

Here is some non tractor specific info.

Abstract

Farm tractors have historically been identified as the leading source of work-related farming deaths in the U.S. While data from the National Safety Council show that tractor-related deaths and fatality rates have decreased since 1969, current surveillance data indicate that an average of 218 farmers and farmworkers die annually from tractor-related injuries. Of these deaths, approximately 120 are associated with tractor overturns. Most of these deaths occur to tractor operators 65 years of age and older. Roll-over Protective Structures (ROPS) have been identified as the single best method of preventing tractor overturn-related deaths, yet only 38% of all tractors used on farms in the U.S. were equipped with ROPS in 1993. A major issue associated with increasing the use of ROPS on farm tractors is the cost of retrofitting ROPS on older tractors. The average cost to retrofit tractors with ROPS in the U.S. was estimated at $937, and a cost of at least $4 billion nationally in 1993.

Doing the math that means there are about 4.2 million death traps out there.