Berkeley Engineering and Research is located in the San Francisco Bay Area, geographically adjacent to California's agricultural central valley. Because of this proximity, and San Francisco's status as a legal center, our engineers and agricultural economist have worked on a large number of litigation support cases related to farm equipment and farm evaluation.

Tractor Bucket drops unexpectedly

Farm vehicles and farm equipment are engineered to perform very specific tasks. In ordinary use, these machines and their operators are safe, reliable and durable. Combines, Harvesters, Tractors all have clear safety rules, but safe operation of farm equipment happens in a real environment with weather, slippery surfaces, and uneven grading.

The most common failures with farm equipment are rollovers and collisions of different kinds due to human error. But in a recent case BEAR engineers identified the failure of a fitting on a hydraulic hose that resulting in the drop of the bucket and crushed the farm worker.

In the picture above, a load cell was used to determine the stress exerted on the fitting.

In the picture to the right, a universal testing machine was used to determine the exact stress and load exerted on different fittings.

BEAR engineers determined that brazed fittings on critical parts are not suitable and that forged fittings need to be used instead. Only a well working team of engineers and metallurgists can determine with certainty such failures.

Stan Huncilman, Videographer at BEAR