Accident...or?

[M29since14]

This is really a sad, but completely understandable, story. I'm sorry the OP and his family has been burdened with the uncertainty all these years. Sometimes it really is best to just let things go and understand that bad things often do happen to good people. I've certainly seen my share of it, as probably most of us here over the age of fifty or so have seen. I hope the assurances of your friends here will help you put this to rest.

 

[CH4]

The summary is lacking way too many details to develop a WAG.

 

[tops]

Just like a WHEELIE on my Honda ...

Bekeart

I had a Big Red to come all the way back. My legs were strong enough to keep it in the air and push it over my head. Larry

 

[dmar]

If someone was looking to murder someone, there are much easier and more efficient ways of doing it than the circumstances that you describe. As discussed above, unfortunately, freak machinery accidents are not rare.

Sorry for your loss. The death of a sibling, or son, is a very difficult thing to live with, especially when they are young. My friend, who truly was like a big brother to me was killed in a construction accident when I was 17. Still think about him every day. He also left behind a young wife and an infant daughter. Ruined my friend's father, and family, they were never the same. There's more tragedy to this story, but I'll leave it at that. Wishing you peace as you continue to sort through all of this.

 

[WardenRoss]

I was bush hogging my F-in-L's acreage once. Somehow I snagged a stump hidden in deep grass. The front of that tractor, a Ford model, was 5-6 feet in the air in a heartbeat and climbing. Only a quick stomp on the clutch pedal prevented that tractor from flipping over on me.

Been there, done that before. Same story.

The old Massey Ferguson's had a long-stem, hair throttle. Pull towards you to increase. I had (more than once) a tree branch catch the throttle. A sudden, full throttle, WFO, could throw you clean off the thing. Or at least snap your spine from the forward-surge whiplash.

,

 

[Telecaster]

Having previously been part of a family whose older uncle was the "dodgy sheriff" of a county in Iowa, I'll take a stab at how this works.

Your brother has an accident with his tractor and is killed. Some time later a car pulls into a field with a couple on board looking for a spot for some "liaison". The couple spot the overturned tractor in the field and drive up to see what's going on. They find your brother, and giving them the benefit of the doubt, I'll say they find he has passed.

Trouble is this "couple" shouldn't be. They are either married to other people, or underage, or any number of other circumstances that would outrage the locals and frighten the horses in rural Kentucky. They go to the sheriff, on the strict understanding that their names are kept out of any public discussion. However, the sheriff is in a bit of a bind because he really has to document what he knows.

So, the sheriff goes to the local judge, explains that a full reveal is just going to create unnecessary grief locally. He asks that the judge agree that the report can only be released by a local judge's order...which of course will never happen.

There you have it. Good luck getting the court order. Before possibly wasting your money, I'd suggest checking on all the family names of the local judges and law enforcement and see how many align from 1971 to today.

Kind of like The Carroll County Accident.

 

[Pisgah]

Here's a term that will make sense to any motorcycle riders on the forum -- "whiskey throttle". Trust me -- a bike is not the only critter that can kill you with whiskey throttle.

 

[twodog max]

Having spent many thousands of hours on many models of tractors it is very easy to let a tractor get out of control. Sometimes the slightest bobble can produce rapid loss of control.
I would be more likely to believe accident than homicide. Hard for me to imagine how someone could have staged this event. Especially with all the time that has elapsed anything else is pure speculation.
I have seen the aftermath of a rollover fatality and these happen quickly to very experienced operators especially in the pre ROPS days which this was.
Let it go IMO

 

[glowe]

Narrow front-end John Deere 630 in high gear full throttle down the road between farms. The front tires hit some unseen trash on the road and sent the tractor into a 6 foot ditch. Driver ended up between the front-end of the 6000 pound tractor and the ground. He only survived by the fact that it was early spring and the ground was soaked and wet. Took over an hour to get the help needed to lift the tractor off my best friend. It happened along the road on the farm I was born on and we were both teenagers at the time. His father was working our farm along with several others in the area. Had it happened in the summer, he would have been dead.

My guess is that narrow front-end tractors cause many more accidents than than any other design, but they were required when used with a two or 3 bottom plow. Rear wheel in the furrow and the other three up on the stubble.

 

[MDF4]

Having spent many thousands of hours on many models of tractors it is very easy to let a tractor get out of control. Sometimes the slightest bobble can produce rapid loss of control.
I would be more likely to believe accident than homicide. Hard for me to imagine how someone could have staged this event. Especially with all the time that has elapsed anything else is pure speculation.
I have seen the aftermath of a rollover fatality and these happen quickly to very experienced operators especially in the pre ROPS days which this was.
Let it go IMO

I have nothing to gain in opening an old wound by going down this path and have let go. After reading the many comments on how a farm tractor can easily get out of control is enough for me. Thanks all and best wishes...hal'

 

[kmyers]

My mom's entire side of the family were/are farmers. I have three on the property here, one is entirely owned by my uncle the other two were ones my grandfather bought in the 1950s and 1960s. Like others posting above point out and what granddad always told us too many variables, too many possible things to spell disaster and the numbers of people injured and killed that had decades working the land and something just went wrong just like the picture from Glowe of the John Deere 630, hit trash that was unexpected and...

 

[tops]

I will agree that Tricycle tractors are not as stable and are really unstable with a front end loader.
In this part of the world we can use wide front end tractors for 2 and 3 bottom plows. Just put the 2 right wheels in the furrow. I've also used a wide front end 2010 JD with a rear mounted 4 row cultivator. Larry

 

[jrm53]

My Dad lived to 80 years old, a few years before he passed he was backing a Super C Farmall tricycle tractor out of the shed and there was a side deliverly rake setting behind him and I guess he forgot it and the rear wheel backed up the over the frame of the rake and flipped the tractor over, it threw him clear and he wasn't hurt, I asked him why did he not clutch it? He says it happened to fast a second or so and it was over. Jeff

 

[pharmer]

I thought maybe a "pinch", too tight a turn with too heavy a load. Joe

 

[Old Arkansawyer]

I bought a place out in Okla. that the owner had been run over with
his bush hog, messy death. It was deemed an accident.

 

[venomballistics]

Say its not an accident.

How do roll a tractor over onto someone deliberately?

depends on exactly what made the vehicle tracks.
We are missing some stuff we would require for honest evaluation.

 

[sigp220.45]

depends on exactly what made the vehicle tracks.
We are missing some stuff we would require for honest evaluation.

In order of likelihood:

#1: The guy who called it in made them, and the story evolved to this version to make it more mysterious. Why would he not go check?

#2: A passerby saw the overturned tractor, drove out to take a look, and split. No cell phones, so maybe this guy went to tell the cops, who already knew. Or just didn't want to get involved.

#367,412: A murderer in a tractor-tipping vehicle drove out, rammed a tractor onto its top without leaving evidence other than an apparently normal set of tracks, and left.

When you hear hoofbeats, expect horses not zebras.