(ET) This deck died for your sins....

[Chris Zach <cz alembic crystel com>]

I'll be honest: In about 10 alternate realities I am dead, and no longer 
posting on this list. In this one however I merely have a banged up leg, 
so I thought I would write up my error such that others do not repeat it.

Spent the day mowing leaves and hauling the bags up to the curb with my 
E20. It's a pretty heavy tractor; several hundred pounds plus batteries. 
The brakes needed adjustment, but they would hold it at a stop, so I put 
off getting them adjusted till later. Besides, the motor in regen mode 
can stop the tractor easily, and it doesn't go too fast.

After taking the last load up the hill I turned to the driveway to go 
down and back into the yard. My driveway is pretty long, about a 30 
degree slope, and the tractor can get a good bit of regen. This time 
however when I went down the tractor popped out of L.

First reaction was to hit the brakes. Nothing, the tractor was speeding 
up and was basically freewheeling. Could not get it back into gear so I 
thought about bailing out. At the bottom of the hill are 4 cars: 2 
porsches, a minivan and an older electric. By the time I decided to hit 
the cars, it was too late to angle for the electric and if I hit the 
minivan I would probably go through the rear hatch. So the Porsche it 
was, with the thought that I would go over the top of the car and deal 
with things later.

At the last second I realized there was another option: A hard 90 degree 
turn into the woodpile. There was one that was only 10% full, so I 
turned the wheel and prepared to go off the side. The tractor turned, 
dumped me, slammed into the woodpile, and the deck took the force of the 
blow as it was retracted up.

The deck is now bent like a cruller, it's kind of neat to see. Granted 
it was old and rusted but I think I will need a replacement. I went off 
the side, bumped into the minivan, and was quite oddly fine with the 
exception of a badly bruised and cut up leg.

This could have gone much much worse. In fact it's pretty much 
impossible that it went as well as it did. The moral of the story is 
this: Adjust your brakes on your tractor. Never drive it if they are not 
ready to stop it. Been doing this for 20 years, and I really almost 
bought it this evening.

Noted for future reference.