Greeting the Grim Reaper

Whoopsie, almost died a little…

Another beautiful Wednesday morning, and I really wanted to get into the field to finish up the last little bit that was left over:

This was unfortunately the hardest parts to do, which is why I left them for last. It was all basically bog or very very bumpy/hilly.

When I started trying to do the hill, I immediately knew something was wrong, I felt like I was maybe seconds from tipping the tractor over.
Instinct kicked in and I did my best to point the nose down into the direction of the tip so that the momentum would push me forward not tip me over to the side.
Thinking this was just a bad mistake and inexperience with hilly terrain, I moved onto the boggy area.

Of course I immediately popped a shear pin in the bog, but I’ve gotten so quick with the hammer and replacement I was back rolling along in a few minutes.

Thats when I nearly rolled AGAIN, in the bog, not even on a hill.
Whats worse was I was having trouble keeping it from rolling like before, even as I would correct into the roll, it would still try and tip.
Stopping wasnt an option because I was mid possible roll, so I had to navigate the bog while making sure I didnt full tip over.
After about 30 very heart stopping seconds, I was clear and turned the tractor off to go find out what was going on.

AND THAT BRINGS US TO TODAYS LEARNING PROGRAM!

Apparently the sway bars and hitch on a tractor need to be calibrated, whoops.
I knew from the youtube videos that they had to be adjusted and the pin placed.. buuuut apparently I didn’t quite grasp HOW.
The sway bars have pin holes you pin to secure them.. what I didnt realize is that you cant just pin them when the implement is lined up.
You have to actually MANEUVER the sway bar slider until it is TAUT and THEN pin it:

My implement and sway bar was constantly hitting the tires as I turned or bumped, which basically made me almost flip because the implement wanted to go under the tire.
ADDITIONALLY I checked the top hitch and realized I hadn’t tightened it with the rotating tightener , and so it was just kinda loosely on.
In a hilly area, this was basically a death sentence.

After fixing both of these issues.. the implement stayed squarely between the tires behind the tractor and I had no more issues.. SORT OF.

I still almost died a whole bunch more on that hill, and have decided, yea, hills are bad for tractors.