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

[Mike Finck <mikefinck rocketmail com>]

Wow, what a story. It was probably over in 2-3 seconds but so much went 
through your mind, you kept your wits about you and mitigated the outcome. 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Nov 18, 2018, at 4:53 PM, Chris Zach <cz alembic crystel com> wrote:
> 
> 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 blow as it was retracted up.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.
> 
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