We All Do Dumb Things....

[mattd860 162]

Or is it just me?

Two years ago I was working underneath my Dodge Durango and managed to drop the large wrench I was using onto my front teeth and chipped a large chunk out of my left front tooth. Got the tooth fixed (crowned) - no big deal.

Well, yesterday I was leveraging a screwdriver trying to get the front wheel dust caps off my 520-H and somehow the screwdriver broke free and came flying back at my face and chipped the OTHER tooth! Now I gotta go get that fixed today.

Cost me ~$200 per tooth! All I need was a darn tire tube that shouldda cost me $6 bucks but now it's $206!!

My wife says i'm the most accident-prone person she's ever met.

[AMC RULES 37,132]

Hey, poop just happens sometimes Matt.

Stop beating your self up over it, concentrate on feeling better instead.

[mattd860 162]

Hey, poop happens Matt. Stop beating your self up over it, concentrate on feeling better instead.

LOL - oh I'm not beating myself up over it. I'm just having a good time laughing at myself

I'm also interested in hearing other 'dumb' stories like this one.

[AMC RULES 37,132]

OH, you mean like the multiple emergency room visits for the fish hooks in your fingers type of stories?

[mattd860 162]

yeah but bodily damage as a result of working on your wh tractor(s)

[AMC RULES 37,132]

OK then, a non-tractor related discussion about working on tractors kinda thing? :scratchead:

[mattd860 162]

yeah but bodily damage as a result of working on your wh tractor(s)

Ok fine - anything goes then :handgestures-thumbup:

[DoctorHfuhruhurr 137]

It could be worse. At least you didn't shoot a nail into your brain like this guy......

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-01-20/news/chi-man-shoots-318912inch-nail-into-brainand-lives-20120120_1_nail-gun-care-center-brain

[SousaKerry 501]

Several years ago my Dad was hooking up a peice of equipment to the 3 paoint hitch of the International 706. This particular peice of equipment (a mechanical transplanter) required a hydraulic cylinder to be used in place of a standard ajustable top-link. For those of you who are not up on International tractor designations this is a 1968? full size farm tractor 70 horse without cab. Entry to the operator platform on this style tractor is from the sides of the tractor in front of the rear tire and involes two steps. Not a small tractor. So Dad hooks up the lower lifting arms by himself (no small task as it is not equiped with a quick tach system) then he tries to attach the hydralic cylinder and it is retractd too far. Dad then reaches from the rear of the tractor beside the seat to grab the hydralic lever to extend the cylinder, with his left hand holding onto the cylinder to guide it in.

Now two things you should know about these older Internationals with the age of the tractor the hydralic levers were quite stiff and did not work 100%. The levers have a two stage locking feature so that if you push it down half way it will be a momentary center return action. If you push it down farther it locks in the on position so that you can run hydralic motors and such. This feature had been problimatic for several years and the handle if I recall Correctly had been welded once or twice.

So back to the story, dad reaches up to grab the lever and has his left hand on the cylinder, the lever gets stuck in the on position and procedes to over extend (gore warning) severing his thumb comletely save for a small sliver of skin.... It does not end here. At the time Dad did not have anyone working on the farm who knew how to release the cylinder pinning his hand to the tractor. Somehow he manages to jerk the lever the other way to release himself. He then picks up what is left of this thumb walks arround shuts off the tractor and walks to the house with the thumb barely attached wrapped in a rag. Mom being the tough woman that she is quickly rushes him to the hospital where Dad goes under resorative surgery.

Today Dad has full use of the thumb fortunatly it sheered the thumb instead of crushing it....Lucky huh??!!

[rmaynard 15,525]

Back to the teeth. You must have some good dental insurance Matt if you are only paying $200 for a crown. Last crown I had cost me 5 times that amount. I learned long ago that when working on my back, under a vehicle, keep eyes and mouth out of direct line of droppage. Invariably, if it's not a tool that hits you, it's oil or dirt.

[mattd860 162]

Back to the teeth. You must have some good dental insurance Matt if you are only paying $200 for a crown. Last crown I had cost me 5 times that amount. I learned long ago that when working on my back, under a vehicle, keep eyes and mouth out of direct line of droppage. Invariably, if it's not a tool that hits you, it's oil or dirt.

I don't have any dental insurance actually - but it was just a small chip. My company offers full health and vision but no dental. I'm actually researching the possibility of buying my own dental insurance but here in CT, every company that I call requires me to buy health insurance too --- but I already have that!!! So frustrating.

Also - the dentist I saw this morning told me to wear a mouth guard when working in the garage LOL. Not gonna happen.

[CRE1992 135]

Also - the dentist I saw this morning told me to wear a mouth guard when working in the garage LOL. Not gonna happen.

or a helmet with a full face mask.. The worst I've ever done working on a car or tractor was cutting my hands all to hell, smashing them a couple times, burning myself on something hot, got gas in my eyes when a fuel line exploded and dropping some heavy items on my feet... Though in high school I was working under a car and friend happen to put a very large and heavy! 1 3/4 wrench on the fender above me. The a kid preceded to bump the car from the other side causing the wrench to fall off of the fender and down on to a part of my lower body.... which wasn't underneath the car... Causing me to throw my head up and hit it on the frame rail... When I came to my senses and was able to get up I let both of the kids have it with the same wrench... NOT COOL.

[AMC RULES 37,132]

:ROTF: :ROTF:

[c161rat 185]

My stupid moment was featured on a post here a while back. It involved a front tire on my neighbors Crapsman tractor. I couldn't get the bead to set on the rim so I tried a trick that I saw on the internet where you spray starting fluid in the tire and then light it. The explosion of the starting fluid expands the tire at a rapid pace and sets the bead. Well in my case I didn't have starting fluid but I did have a can of Butane lighter fluid. That was my first mistake. My second mistake was using a regular cigarette lighter (a long stem grill lighter or fireplace match would have been a better idea). The cigarette lighter placed my hand flesh roasting close to the explosion and resulted in 3rd degree burns on my thumb and index finger. Also cinged most of the hair on my face (including eyebrows which take a real long time to grow back). People tend to look at you funny when you have no eyebrows!!!! They know somethings wrong but cant quite put their finger on it. Needless to say the explosion that removed my eyebrows and rendered my right hand useless for several weeks did not set the bead on said Crapsman tractor........I would not recommend this method of bead setting!!!!!!

[KC9KAS 4,741]

I could write a book on stuff that should have hurt or crippled me, but I have always been fortunate to not get hurt too bad....

Here is a short Wheel Horse accident story.

I was pushing one of my WH tractors backwards out of the garage to make room to work on something else.

While pushing with 1 hand on the back of the seat, the seat pan lever tripped sending me rolling in the gravel.

It sure hurts a lot of parts on an old body when it falls!

[Rollerman 290]

My worst Wheel Horse misshap-attack...I was putting a set of loaded tires on while the tractor was up on jack stands.

Don't ask, I know now it would have been much easier to lower the tractor & roll the tire/rim into place.

To learn that the hardway I got the tip of my finger caught between the hub & the rim when the tire & wheel slipped off before I had it secured.

Instant black fingernail & the throbbing pain was pretty bad for just a bruised fingernail!

After about a day of keeping it under ice it wasn't feeling any better...I ended up calling mom for advice (former ER nurse...fortunate for me).

She told me to put a hole in it....so I drilled it & after the pressure was relieved it felt loads better.

After the fingernail dropped off it never has grown back in "normal" looking.

That was my worse with the Horses that I can remember, but I have an endlist list of misshaps through out my life & not planning, but sure there will be more. :hide:

[Jake Kuhn 1,555]

I will till you my dumbest wheel horse related story but it was not much,my brother had his crapsman stuck so I took the rj and tryed to pull it out. 5 seconds into it the front end was 3 and a half feet off the ground. If wouldn't have cut the motor off quick enough it would have landed on me. I have had this problem when plowing too when I hit a root lol Jake

[whc160 74]

Well I am sure I have hurt myself working on my horses, nothing major. I am a diesel mechanic & work on semi trucks. My 1st year of diesel collage was working for a company in the evenings. Well I was adjusting a clutch & checking the clutch brake. At that point the guy I was working with pushed the clutch in with my finger between the thru out bearing & clutch brake smashing it. The other thing almost lost me a finger in high school. The company that I worked for was parting out an old R model Mack truck. When pulling the engine out we forgot to take the extenison off of the engine host. So as I was holding the engine straight & it came off the input shaft for the trans & the engine went down. My finger got caught then by the engine & frame rail. Luck had it that it just tore the skin open.

[Docwheelhorse 2,670]

As long as the subject is teeth..... I had several teeth knocked out/broken in a hockey fight in high school (no I didn't start it.... and yes I got my butt kicked) fast forward ten years after having several crowns and implants etc... I'm working on the Wheel Horse and one of the larger hitch clip (pins???) is arguing with me real bad. I just get the thing started and I'm gritting my teeth in that peeved off smile that we all do towards our beloved tractors now and again and I pick up the hammer and I'm going to smash that little bleepity bleep bleep bleep home..... I grit my teeth and smash the clip which instantly recoils and flies back and hits me dead in the tooth and knocks the crown off. That was a $500 day..... yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy I'm an idiot !

Tony

[hm12460 53]

You guys crack me up!

[can whlvr 993]

ive hurt myself lots of times wrenching on the girls,but one story that comes to mind i was pulling a rock (probally weighs 600 pounds,i got it 1/2 the way down the yard and the rock hooked a tree root,before i could hit the clutch the tractor was on top of me with the wheels spinning with v bar chains,the lift lever impailed me in the ribs and i was out of comission for a few days,thought i broke some ribs,crushed my fingers under my shop(ya the shop,i was lifting it to put cement blocks under it and it fell off the jack with my hand under the sill plate,my buddy rescued me or it could have been bad

[wh-jason 32]

all i can say is always wear a helmet when riding atvs, i always wear a helmet, except this nite. my friend and i were out for a quick ride one evening and decided we werent gonna be out long so we left our helmets at home. all i remember was riding a 4th gear wheelie, then waking up laying in a field. apparently we collided, still to this day dont remember what happened or how long i was unconcious. a $200 crown was far cheaper than the hospital bill i got from that nite. i had a skull fracture, severe concussion, and broken teeth. ill even include a pic that was taken at the E.R. so maybe somebody can show their kids what can happen if they just one time dont wear a helmet. (by the way the pic doesnt do the knot on the side of my head justice...it looked like half a baseball stuck under my skin.)

[Docwheelhorse 2,670]

Holy Cow..... so what did the other guy look like?

[wh-jason 32]

Doc, he was unconscious too but other than that not a scratch.

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