[iontheball]

At the tender age of 8-years-old, I asked my farmer grandpa what the weights were for on the front of his John Deere... Shortly thereafter, I could have told this 63-year-old anesthesiologist why what he was doing could result in death...
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Front weights are helpful, but making sure the load is attached to the factory installed draw bar is the key. The center of pull must always remain below the rear axle or the front of the tractor will wrap around the drive axle and go over backwards when the drive wheels do not break traction first. It all happens in a split second.

[IYAS9YAS]

The center of pull must always remain below the rear axle

Yes, that, too. I remember some footage of an old steam tractor versus a new tractor, they were in a pull-off.

The were hooked together at the hitch location on each, but the steam tractor was so much higher off the ground that it just pulled the load off the back of the diesel unit, leaving it with no weight over the rear wheels to get enough traction to do any good.

[T-Bird45]

“The center of pull must always remain below the rear axle or the front of the tractor will wrap around the drive axle and go over backwards when the drive wheels do not break traction first.”

Exactly as I learned it in 1969 at age 14 in the Tractor Safety Certification course taught by the county extension office. It was brand new law/regulation at that time. When I read the article description of the accident, I knew this was the cause. The man killed was exactly my age so I’m sure this course was available to him, too. Perhaps familiarity kept him from following good safety practice. It certainly happens that way in industry, too.

[Neoliberalnot]

You Gotta be dang quick on the clutch. I can’t remember how many times I’ve had a tractor rare up on a steep incline.