Quoted: Quoted: Oh dear.... Thats what 50-70,000 dollars down the drain.. I'd guess more than that.  New tractors can run upwards of $120-200,000.

Naw...50-70 sounds about right.

Now if we were talking newer low hours used JD combines it'd be close to 200K...in this area anyways.

Quoted: You guys are REALLY slow tonight. AHEM!!! See pic 6 I'd hit it  - like a playing card on bike spokes, like a stick on a picket fence, like a riding crop on a racehorse, like....

Thinkin the same thing

I'd dump my front end in her and leave a bigger hole than in the pics, for sure.  It'd look like a total wreck, worse than the pics when I got done.  

my conclusion:

looks like the gooseneck broke.

eta: ...but there ain't nuthin wrong with the radeeeeo.

Knowing nothing of the real story, I'm going to vote for the tractor towed on a trailer version of the story.

Reason:  The tractor when from a speed great enough to fold it in half to zero in the distance of about 12-16 feet.  If the driver was not belted in, I suspect he would have been folded in half over the steering wheel or thrown though the windshield.  I see no damage to the windshield or steering wheel and nobody the in the pics looks like they just sent Pa to intensive care.

    I would have to go with he was pulling the wagon with the tractor.   There is hay or straw on the bed of the trailer that is visible.   If he was going highway speed that would of blown off.   If you look at the hitch it does not look like it would go high enough to hook to a 5th wheel of a pickup.   It appears that the downward neck of the hitch would sit level with the draw bar of the tractor.   There is no visible sign of the hitch digging into the black top to stop the wagon,   just free wheeling that wagon should rolled into the back of the tractor.    It also looks more like a rig for hauling bales than a rig for hauling tractors.

If anyone can make out what the model is on what is left of that tractor, www.tractorhouse.com  can give a pretty good idea as to its value.        

I am sure we will buy him a new one.

Talk about stepping on your Johnson....

Quoted: It is hard to tell from the pics but there is some kind of bar/hitch on the back of the tractor.

It's a very bad feeling to have your trailer pass you

Lol, just sent that to our Ag & Forestry dept here at the college.

Quoted: Knowing nothing of the real story, I'm going to vote for the tractor towed on a trailer version of the story. Reason:  The tractor when from a speed great enough to fold it in half to zero in the distance of about 12-16 feet.  If the driver was not belted in, I suspect he would have been folded in half over the steering wheel or thrown though the windshield.  I see no damage to the windshield or steering wheel and nobody the in the pics looks like they just sent Pa to intensive care.

1) How does the tractor end up in front of the trailer?
2) If, assuming the tractor went off the front of the trailer, why didn't the tractor land on the vehicle doing the towing?
3) Why wouldn't the tractor do an "end-over" if it came of the trailer at "great speed" and the bucket dug in?

The tractor doesn't have to be going fast, if it's towing the trailer, because the trailer is very heavy looking. Momentum is speed and mass. The trailer has mass, even a low speed means it has a lot of enegy.

It also means, assuming the trailer is hooked up, when the bucket hits the ground, instead of the tractor flipping, the trailer keeps the tractor on the ground, maybe even pushes the back of the tractor down, while continuing to travel forward.


FYI I saw picture 6, I see what looks like the start of a "dunlap".....................

You people are really grasping at straws to explain something that is obvious.

The trailer has a converter dolly on the front of it- wheels in front and wheels in back.  It was not being towed by the pickup in the picture.  It was being towed by the tractor.

The "fifth-wheel" looking hitch is not a fifth wheel hitch.  It is too low, has no length for proper swing radius around the bed of that pickup, and it is not the proper size or strength for  a load-bearing fifth wheel gooseneck.

Ever shoveled snow?  Ever dig in the front of the scoop on an expansion joint and caught the handle in your grollies?  That's what happened.  Bucket on the tractor was too low and nose down and it dug in.  20,000+ pounds of mass at 20mph or more folded the bucket right under the tractor.

-p.