Below are pictures of the results of a 9-1/2" diameter cast iron Kohler flywheel when spun well above 4,000 rpm in a garden tractor. This was a very serious accident that could have been a life-threatening tragedy. Remember: a well-constructed and precision-balanced steel flywheel is cheap compared to hospital bills, rehabilitation or funeral costs and not to mention the seemingly never-ending lawsuits!

The guy (name withheld) had just recently bought the Pro Stock motor. He already had the clutch setup on the flathead kohler twin he was running. According to what a friend of his told me (that also has a Pro tractor) the guy called him and asked would it be ok just to start the motor so he could hear it run. He was told not to turn it over 3,000 rpms. There is no question the guy knew he needed a steel flywheel and safety shields on the tractor before pulling it. I am confident those measures would have been on it before he pulled it the first time. There "was" someone standing by the tractor - the guy that owns it. He was working the throttle standing right in-line with the cast iron flywheel. You can see what it did to the air filter. Apparently it hit the carburetor and filter on its way to hitting him. It wasn't his leg that got the brunt of the piece of flywheel!

He just got too eager to find out what he had purchased and made a bad decision. It's an injury that will be with him the rest of his life. The point of putting these pictures on this site is so other pullers would not make the same mistake. I'm confident he is embarrassed by his actions...but he didn't have to share those pictures, ya know. I admire him for sharing these photos, and he's still suffering from the accident.

- Ron Ethridge