I'm an owner / operator that grew up on an old Allis HD 11 EP that my dad built for clearing. There was no way you could fall out of the cab ( it took what seemed like two minutes to get into it " very tight space" ) now I run a D4H with OROPS and sweeps that is fairly open. What I am curuios about is how many operators wear a seat belt with an open cab? Is this a fairly common to wear seat belts, espically if you're an owner / operator? I do not know how to do a poll, what is everybodies real world experience?
I alway's wear my seat belt, It takes two seconds to put on, and if can keep you from getting thrown out, I feel it is a good Idea.
I always wear mine.
I wear a seat belt in every machine I run. I'm a bit lacked when it comes to my pickup though. I have tinted windows so the Belt-Nazi's cant see if I have it on or not! As far as on equipment, the main reason I wear a belt is to hold my butt to the seat. On rough ground, weather its a dozer or a loader it will keep you from bouncing all over the cab or ROPS like a rubber ball. On a scrapper, its not even a question to wear a belt. The high speeds and rough ground encountered, you would be a fool not to have a belt on. I ride a scrapper like a cowboy rides a bronc- right foot flat on the throttle and the left on the sissy bar, standing up in the seat, left hand on the steering wheel the right on the bowl lever. The belt is there to keep you from flying out of the cab! A blade is a different story. I spend so much time jumping out of the cab to reset the hubs I rip out of the ground, I don't even bother putting it on, unless the safety guy is on the job!
I can say I never wear my belt I do a lot of fine grading and run excavator and never put it on. I do wear it on a scraper pan when I run one which is not very much . I guess I should wear a least on a dozer it would be a good habit to get in to.
i pulled one stupid mistake taking my loader over large log. i wound up hugging the hot exhaust. i was lucky. for my own reasons i had modified the throttle so one had to control it with ones hand. it immediately returned to idle. that was about 9 yrs. ago. if i move it more than a few feet i ALWAYS fasten seatbelt.
I always always were a seat belt on everything I operate. You are really stupid if you dont. It doesnt matter if I am getting in and out of a machine every 10 minutes either. It takes less then 2 seconds to get a seat belt fastened.
When I first got my dozer, I did not wear a seat belt Because it didn't have one. I never operated a dozer before, so I was practicing pushing up a mound of dirt, being a newbie (moron), I decided to crawl over the mound. BIG SURPRISE as I teeter tauter-ed over the other side. I flew out of the seat into the steering levers. The mound was only a foot high, and I was going like what 3 miles an hour? After that incident I installed a seat belt right away and wear it all the time now. Since then I have learned the following about dozer's - 1. They have no suspension, 2. They have tracks and not wheels, so they tend to crash over the other side of the smallest of "speed bumps". 3. Parts prices are ridiculous. 4. Owning one for personal use....... priceless. Larry
a-men on priceless for personal use. mine is a track loader but have managed to build a decent road up the hill behind my house
I wear mine at work on slopes or if Im working near a verticle bank or pushing of a highwall. I also wear it on slopes and when I load it on a trailer. WIth my recent accident Im glad I wear it loading, Id have been toast without it. What happens in a roll esecially loading on atrailer if it slides off when the track hits the ground to will throw you off andyour gourd ends up under the rops. One of my friend lost his uncle that way. I dont wear mine in the truck though I cant stand the fact that I am told whats good for me.
I wear mine. More so on rubber tire equipment. Hardly ever on excavator. Depends on what i'm doing with it.
It's a bit silly not wearing a seat belt in a machine fitted with ROPS. What's gonna happen in a roll over? You're gonna bounce around in the cab (or get thrown out in open cab models) and get your head smashed. My nephew got thrown from a fork lift when he tipped it on it's side and got his leg badly crushed and probably came within an inch of losing his life, might have been different if he had his seat belt on. However I must confess that I never put a seat belt when driving ag machines, just too uncomfortable when you have to twist your body from side to side all the time to check the implement behind you but the one time I wished I had ROPS and a seat belt the tractor was that old it had neither, this was doing a 6 foot firebreak right around the property and there where some places that where a bit too sloped for my liking.
Everytime, no matter what equipment i run!
My dozer's dont have any seat belts but they do have alot of grab handels & foot holds.My excavater dose have a seat belt and I use it when loading or unloading on the low boy in the event that I slide off the side I wont be thrown out of the cab.Sometimes hauling the equipment is more dangerous than using it.
The dozers I cut my teeth on were a Allis HD 11, a straight shift HD 6 and an old ex army straight shift cable blade TD 20. None of these had seat belts or places for them, but the cabs were "homemade by local machine shop" and were built with the ideal of running in the woods, very small openings. Now running the little 4H with the factory OROPS i guess I feel more at risk with the cab being more open than what I used to. So I am starting to wear my belt.
I wear my seat belt all the time. My D4Es all have enclosed cabs. The mojority of our work is in the hills discing fire breaks. Our D4s are all ag cats, no blades. Several years ago, there was a owner oporator who grew up on the hill. He had an open rops. He must have been in his 60s when the accident happened. He had been discing the same fire break for many years, then the last fire break of the day, instead of loading the dozer up on the lowbed he decided to take a short cut. Well he didnt make it. He rolled the tractor, He was not wearing his seat belt. He was thrown from the seat. The canopy cut him in half. I never wore a seat belt until that day. Which family member would you like to have identify you body? Kinnda blunt. We still disc that same fire break every year. It is something you dont forget.
An allis chalmers hd 11 ,hd6, and International TD 20 fall in my top ten list of favorite dozers to operate.I think when we get older and more experienced ,we get more cautious because we have more to loose.We no longer have the confidence of youth.It's a good idea to wear a seat belt.
Boss I used to work for, worked on a farm in the 1960s always told of finding the farmer after he got thrown off a td6 and run over by the disc's it was towing lost his legs but survived. more recently know of a couple of fatality's in log skidders working in steep Hill country where the operaters were not wearing belts, Rops undamaged but operators thrown and tumbled about in steel cab . coroners report in both cases would have survived if wearing belts
The ROPS is designed to protect you in case of a rollover, but if you are not planted in the seat, it will likely cut you in two. Anyone who says they can just hold on is full of it. The forces in even a light rollover are too much. Buckle up and the life you save will be your own. I have been around a lot of accidents, and if you are not buckled up, the results are almost alwats much worse. Also just controlling the machine when you go over even a small bump. The machine can pitch you out of the seat and onto the hood, or even clear out of the cab where the tracks will get you. I have known operators get bounced against the roof hard enough to break their neck or their back. I have also known many who have died when the machine is unhurt, just because they got thrown out, and the machine landed on top. Anyone learning the trade, the first thing is to buckle up, even on flat ground, and especially when loading and unloading from a truck.
In a dozer, I always wear a seat belt. I usually don't wear one in the ag tractor, and rarely in the combine. I do wear one in the combine if I'm going down a main road, mostly because of the unpredictability of the drivers around me.
For years I was never a big one on the seat belts, but looking back at how many close calls my grandpa had as well as others gets a guy thinking. Not to mention seeing first hand what happens in auto accidents when a person in a bad wreck isn't wearing their belt. Now that said, in the car or truck ALL the time. On a dozer, only if in timbers, hills or at the quarry(which is most of the time for me now). Excavator and loaders, most of the time and haul trucks yes(never know when them things will tip over, somtimes think you look at one wrong and it might, although I've never tipped one). As far as guys saying with cabs its no big deal, think of someone just shoving you up into the windshield(thast about how fast you are tossed even on a slow moving machine) It will most likely hurt. Too each their own though, if you choose not to and it does not effect my safety then go for it. Trbo
I have started to wear my seat belt, I just grew up on dozers that did not have them and around people that did not wear them. It's the safe thing to do and the smartest. Like 25C mentioned as you get older you get wiser.
I try to always wear my seat belt. I am continually digging them out of under seats. I try to remember to keep the ends up over the arm rests or at least easily accessible for the next guy. I don't know that I like the retractable kind so much they can either get caught too tight or wont hold you in place sometimes. A lot of the hoe work I do I gotta have the seat belt on tight just to hold me in place . . .
seat belts on dozer: and every thing else: Ok... I'm going to post an opinion... Which I seldom do, because, usually they involve some degree of argument. Not that it's bad or good... that's just the nature of an "opinion"... in my opinion... lol I'm just not that enthused about arguing back and forth on the forum... unless it's good natured banter... which I'm all for. (probably too much. lol) My opinion: If it's got a seat belt... you should use it. I'm definitely lacking in using it on our dozer... It a pain when backing up. And I've got a lot of hand and foot holds to use. Enough said... He's 100% right. I don't even set in our excavator with out my belt on... every hand hold, or foot pedal... causes it to "do" something. So, that doesn't work too well...lol There... that sums up my opinion. Thanks every one... you made it easy... :thumbsup OCR...
Old topic that I will resurrect. My D4D doesn't have a seat belt, but I think I'll go to the junkyard tomorrow and get one for it. Don't let laziness get in the way of your safety!
That's why seat-seat belts are there,Your choice, It costs you nothing to put it on,your life choice 2. RIP Non wearers 1 day.
I always wear a seat belt on any thing that has one or moves. I used to never think I had time to buckle up till a close friend got killed for not having his on, now it is just habit and I don't even think about it.
I ran a D4H back in the 90's that was bought from the family of the guy that owned it. The owner was not wearing his seat belt and was launched forward at some point while operating. He ended up getting run over by the tracks
2 seconds to fasten a seat belt. Possible injury for life. Death is forever. It's a no brainer. ROPS will protect the operator only if they are buckled up. Chances are the replacement operator that gets in after attending the funeral will wear it for a while at least.
A seat belt on my D3 probably saved my life. Dropped it over the edge of a sileage pit, for a pretty good drop. My face ended up hitting the bar over the top of the dash, busting 4 of my front teeth, putting countless small fractures in my upper jaw, and a nice 1" hole clean through my lower lip. If it wouldn't have been my face, probably would of atleast broke a couple ribs, or possibly a broken neck as I ate the back of the blade. I was pretty good about wearing a belt, but now, I don't care if I'm putting across the yard, or working flat level ground the belt is a always on.
When I was still a kid, not that I'm not now, I got thrown out of a case 850G. I was about 18yrs old at the time and had only been running dozers about 2 years. I was working on clearing a clear cut where the land owner wanted to build a pond. Long story short I had a ledge cave off and I slammed it in reverse, the dozer teetered foward hard and threw me from the seat out onto the hood and I caught the breaker before I hit the exhaust pipe. It was in reverse so it kept backing up, once it got back on flat ground I was able to get back in the seat. The first thing I did after thanking the good lord for watching out for me was put that seat belt on. I'm 28 now, I have put one skidsteer and one dozer up on its *** end and laid one dozer on its side, I had my belt on each time and came out with out a scratch. There was a guy from around here that rolled a dozer 7 complete times off the side of a bluff, when it stopped it was on its roof. The doors wouldn't open but he managed to break the back glass and open the cage and crawl out. He was a little bruised up but thanks to his seat belt he was still alive. I knew another guy that rolled a log skidder only once landing back on the tires and he wasn't wearing his belt, it's had a closed cab so he stayed in but he had a concussion, broken collar bone, and a fractured wrist. It's to easy to put it on and well worth it.
Not a dozer but we had a guy drive a Cat 769 D haul truck off about a 45 foot face loaded. He was able to walk away. Had to find a new job but at least he was able to go home that night.
Had a work mate about 25 years ago in Townsville, 19 years of age left us and went to work for a earth moving mob operating a roller, apparently went 2 close to an edge,rolled,was not wearing seat-belt, and chopped off both his legs, he was a top bloke,smart as a whip, but.............
Seatbelt believer Two months ago I needed to grade a dirt road, about 500 yards long, that was badly washed out. Thinking that it would be easier to do the grading from the top down, I proceeded to crawl the dozer up the steep road. I had to straddle a washed out ditch that was about four feet deep to get up the hill. I was traveling up the steep grade on my D4E dozer confidently with my seat belt on. When I got turned around at the top of the road I had to step out on the track to pee. I then began to straddle the ditch on the way back down. The ditch was too deep to fill with one pass so it took some backing up and multiple passes. All was well until the ground gave away under my right track and she went down on the right side until she rolled on to her right side. My right elbow, was resting on the hydraulic tank touching the ground. I glanced down and noticed that I had failed to re buckle my seat belt at the top of the hill. I had little time to think and no time to waste, with the engine still running and tracks still spinning there was no way it could have been pumping oil! I quickly locked back the main clutch on the direct drive tractor. Somehow the spinning track on the ground of the sinking dozer moved the machine just enough that the track caught the edge of the ditch and spun the tractor 90degrees to the right and the rear of the track sunk down in the rear enough that the machine righted itself with the rear of both tracks in the ditch. I was then looking at the sky and holding on to grab bars with both hands as the dozer slowly climbed out of the ditch towards the sky. When the breakover came I almost left the machine over the instrument panel. I thanked the Lord, buckled the belt and went back to work. Never again will I forget to buckle the belt. Second chances are too hard to come by. I had a cardiology appointment a few days later. The doctor was examining the strip that was stored in memory and then printed from stored information that my pacemaker/defibrulator had recorded for the passed three month period. He said," I can see here where you had some really fast heartbeat episodes a few days ago", "what was going on with that". I grinned and said, "oh that must have been the day that I turned my bull dozer over"! He is the same cardiologist that told me last year to stay off of the dozer after I shut the machine down, stepped down to the ground and died right there. Had my defribulator not gone off that day and shocked my heart to start it again, I would not have been able to post this. More is posted about the heart failure of that day on HEF's track loader forum in the thread "951C in my sights" posted by Nitelite.
Nitelite your episode is why i took the the spring assembly out of the throttle on my D75S. one has to hold the throttle back by hand. get fussed at about it but heart attack or what ever what will stop it at max throttle. years ago if i had not done this no seat belt and almost hugging hot exhaust down in a steep gully i would not be here. bucket on the ground and engine went to idle and it stopped