Fired up the D4 today to redo the ditch so hopefully the water will go down the ditch and not the road. Found some frost too. And a shot of some Safety items too. Hope you enjoy. John

The ear muffs are a good choice however the seat belt would scare me. If she ever tried going a#$ over tin cup I don't think you could get unbuckled and off in time with being pinned. By the way good looking tractor.

Hi John,
Looks like a long way to go for firewood. LOL
Always tough to grade/bank those inside curves with straight blade dozer, looks like ya got it down pretty good.

Thanks OM and Toolbox. Hard to do with a straight blade just takes a little more time and right on the firewood. Don't use the belt on a hill side I put it on there after nosing over a little ridge and it through me into the exhaust stack and now have a 2 inch scare on my right forarm.

I have a ROPS canopy on my D4 7U dozer and I keep my seat belt fastened all of the time while working in my gravel pit or in the woods. My D8 14A's seat belt gets well used too. There have been too many times that while not wearing it, I have been pitched over the air cleaner of my 7U. My neighbor had his scalp ripped loose while skidding logs with his JD dozer. After being pitched forward, he did not clear the ROPS canopy and it pealed his head like an orange. He now wears his seat belt all the time too. With the seat belt on, I find that it is physically easier to work the Cat's controls because the seat belt holds on to you as you pull the steering clutch levers back. At a low RPM in a hard pull, when my D8 is about to stall, the hydraulic assisted steering clutches become manual clutches (read near impossible to pull). With a seat belt, I can still quickly pull them both back at the same time to keep the engine from stalling out. Without a seat belt on, the levers' hard pull would pull me right out of the seat. Those of you that have a D8 14A, know what I am talking about.

Hi SSsssteamer,
Ya left out the most important part on the late 7U:D
Those of us that are a little more portly and like to slouch in the seat need that seat belt to get the required clearance around those levers that aren't quite bent in the right place:eek:

But the difference is you have a canopy for protection. Granted it may not be rated for the weight like an OEM unit but it would slow it done and provide some protection if it went over. John's tractor has no provisions for this. I do understand why he uses it and is smart in not wearing it on slopes. I don't know how many times I have almost ate the precleaner and windshield on my 7U from going over berms.

According to an operator's manual (John Deere?) if the machine has a ROPS you are supposed to wear a seat belt, but if it doesn't have a ROPS you are supposed to not wear a belt so you can get out of the seat, in the event of an accident.

Thanks for the info, and I do have a canopy to pickup in KC in May. Might try and rig it up to the mainbody. But if nothing else I will have shade. John