When preparing a field with ground contact implements (in my case a 6’ two row serrated disk); drive like tractors are finicky buggers. Because they are. Align the tractor in the direction you want to go (like a “row”), lower the implement to engage the ground, drive forward doing all sorts of ripping/tearing/flipping as needed, then at the end of the row lift the damn implement out of the ground. You may be tempted to take the turn with the implement engaged. Don’t! Turn around with the implement safely in the air, aim up, then drop it and start tearing the soil again.
It’s slow and boring but tractors are God’s way of teaching us patience. From now on I’ll try to be more Zen while disking.
The good news is that the damage was minimal. A small pinned bracket on the 3-point harness got bent. All I had to face was a frustrating delay while the parts were acquired (they weren’t too expensive) and a few minutes to drive the old mangled pin out of the old bent bracket. I replaced the bracket, slid in the new pin, scraped my fingers installing the cotter pin (every mechanical job requires a small blood sacrifice), and was ready to roll in under 15 minutes. Well, it was 15 minutes if you ignore the week of downtime. Anyway, it’s good as new and I feel redeemed.
Lesson learned. Actually less like a lesson than proof that bad choices have consequences. I already knew what I ought to do. Now I’ve learned to fuckin do it. It could have been worse!
It’s amazing just how many people are unaware of the mandatory Blood Sacrifice.
I used to charge extra for that.
I bleed fixing your crap, you pay.
Dearly.
The advantage of growing up country & Southern was that I never had to make the mistake myself. There were threats of sufficient violence to make me not want to fuck up that badly.
If only you’d posted this a couple of days earlier….
Yeah, turned around at the end of the row with the rotary tiller down and spinning, because it’d save practically a whole minute.
Good thing the soil was pretty loose (this was a weed-control operation, not breaking new ground), so nothing actually got damaged. Just left a big ugly gouge in the ground.
Notably unlike the time I raised the implement with the rollbar in the fully-down position, or the time I tried to drive into the barn with the rollbar up. Those were the more expensive sort of learning experiences.
I suppose it happens to everyone sooner or later. I’m glad you didn’t trash an expensive tiller!
This is why I forbid anyone else in the family to use my 1958 Ford 600. I just tell them that there are too many ways to break it, I’ve learned most of them, and they are not going to learn them at my expense.