I have a GX335, and I can tell you that you are very very warm.

Thanks, Kerry

Thanks...

macguy@insightbb.com

I was wondering how long it would take for someone to say something like that!

My 4 year old rides on the tractor with me every time I cut the grass (with ear protection). It would be physically impossible for him to fall off in front of the tractor where he could get caught by the blades. There is about a one in a million chance that something bad could happen. We can't protect ourselves from everything.
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The emergency rooms of local hospitals are where people with your mindset often end up. The sad part is that the party who needs the medical attention usually isn't the person holding the child but the child themself. The same holds true when it comes to defeating the safety switches. Every year, thousands of people end up in the hospital as a direct result of lawn mowers and lawn/garden tractors.

Try Googling "lawn mower injuries" and then explain to me why, in spite of the 652,000 hits relating to this topic, you think that you're smarter then everyone else? That's your child. His safety is paramount. Tractors have ONE SEAT for a reason. They're designed to have only one person on them. They aren't a toy nor a carnival ride.

Click on the link below and read how these injuries are on the rise. Every year, links are posted on this site that tell about someone backing over or running over a child.

If the unthinkable happens and your little boy gets hurt, tell me what you will say to your wife and your relatives while he's in surgery.

In order to have a level playing field for everyone that makes lawn/yard/garden tractors, a law gets passed that makes it mandatory for all manufacturers to install certain safety devices on their tractors. Emergency rooms often keep statistics on the injuries they treat and how those injuries happened. You might not like some of these safety devices but there is often sound reasoning behind having them there.

It wasn't that long ago that cars came with deep-vee'd steering wheels to help prevent people from dying due to impact with the actual steering column. Now, we have air bags to help absorb the impact. I don't see anyone yanking out their airbag equipped steering wheel and replacing it with one from a 1962 Ford just because that's the way they did it when they were younger.

There are two things I'm in 100% agreement with: 1) kids should be nowhere near a mowing lawn tractor, and 2) The RIO switch on the GT series probably doesn't do anything to promote safety. I've found myself in the same situation as Jimbo, where having one hand on the wheel and another on the switch limits your ability to twist around and clear the area. If you're backing up a long distance you can release the switch once you're moving, but it's usually no more than a few feet that I back up. I've also caught myself getting so programmed to pull the switch from muscle memory that I forget to even look behind me. So now it's nothing more than an inconvenience.

Too bad they don't have a laser safety switch (sourced from the garage door opener parts bin) which would kick off the electric PTO when something large passes through the rear tires, ditching the RIO for good. But I guess that wouldn't do much if you only partially ran over someone.

Best defense: keep the kids inside while mowing.

jcjustus@j2racing.com

Thanks

bj196987@yahoo.com

But while investigating the how I was amazed at how much time and expense JD had gone to in engineering that RIO; they meant it to last as long as the tractor would, and it will.

But I would never loan that tractor to anyone, or sell it, with the RIO disabled. It is just as easy to enable as it was to disable. So don't do anything to it that you can't easily put back the way it was.

I hope you all remember this.