Must Tractor ROPS Be So High?

[ptsg]

You guys just need to buy a Kubota M5111 Low profile and your ROPS height issues will go away. The ROPS on this particular tractor, will actually slide up and down with an assist of a gas spring, instead of folding backwards or forwards. Just set it at whatever height it fits on the garage and it's all good.

Man, it's fun spending other people's money!

 

[Oaktree]

ROPS are designed to a standard by a team, not some engineer on a doodle pad. No ROPS are safer when not in use or altered. If the height is an issue, the operator is using it wrong or in a wrong location and a better equipment choice should be considered. As for table saws, no cut is SAFER without the guard, it is merely easier. Again, if your hands are that close to the blade where the guard is in the way, you are using the wrong equipment. Convenience is never an excuse for carelessness.

All well and good, but if a "safety" device makes a product harder/less convenient to use, there's gonna be a strong temptation to bypass or remove it.
The ROPS on my tractor folds, so I have no need to shorten it when I put it in the garage, and it's almost always up when I'm using it but there have been times that I've bypassed "safety" switches, etc. because they've made a piece of equipment or tool harder and potentially less safe to use. An example that immediately comes to mind is a trigger lock-out on a chainsaw. The seat switch in my rider mower is another.

I don't blame the manufacturers, I blame the government agencies that create regulations without thinking them all the way thru.

 

[Jstpssng]

I don't blame the manufacturers, I blame the government agencies that create regulations without thinking them all the way thru.

Save some of that blame for the lawyers who make those regulations necessary... and the people who do something stupid, then are willing to enable the lawyers to make a frivolous lawsuit. They should be required to be honest; "Your Honor, we're here because my client was STUPID ENOUGH to try to clear the mower deck while the blades were engaged..."

 

[Billrog]

Oaktree I thing the lack of common sense and the lack of the general publics willingness to accept responsibility for their actions . This results in law suits giving manufacture's no choice but to protect there a_ _ the best way they can.

 

[MossyDell]

As I said, my tractor will squeeze under my door with the ROPS up but tends to catch slightly on the lip of the door going out. The weird thing is that my tractor should not be able to get in the garage at the height Kubota lists for it. That must have been taken with ag tires. I got R14s.

I'm sure some on here know about this aspect, and I haven't bothered to actually measure yet. But for those shopping, an inch or two taller or lower because of the tires might make a difference in your situation.

 

[NoPlugs]

Haha, i just watched my neighbor slam into the header above his garage door the other day with his ROPS. Made a pretty good mess.

 

[Dennis59]

All well and good, but if a "safety" device makes a product harder/less convenient to use, there's gonna be a strong temptation to bypass or remove it.
The ROPS on my tractor folds, so I have no need to shorten it when I put it in the garage, and it's almost always up when I'm using it but there have been times that I've bypassed "safety" switches, etc. because they've made a piece of equipment or tool harder and potentially less safe to use. An example that immediately comes to mind is a trigger lock-out on a chainsaw. The seat switch in my rider mower is another.

I don't blame the manufacturers, I blame the government agencies that create regulations without thinking them all the way thru.

It is more the lawyers that sue the manufacturers when someone is stupid and gets hurt then demand millions.

 

[John_Mc]

I don't blame the manufacturers, I blame the government agencies that create regulations without thinking them all the way thru.

Save some of that blame for the lawyers who make those regulations necessary... and the people who do something stupid, then are willing to enable the lawyers to make a frivolous lawsuit. They should be required to be honest; "Your Honor, we're here because my client was STUPID ENOUGH to try to clear the mower deck while the blades were engaged..."

Oaktree I thing the lack of common sense and the lack of the general publics willingness to accept responsibility for their actions . This results in law suits giving manufacture's no choice but to protect there a_ _ the best way they can.

I'm with Billrog on this one. Unless the manufacturer is guilty of shoddy design or is covering up a known shortcoming, I put the blame all on the part of idiot users. (Unfortunately, every one of us does idiotic things from time to time.)

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Shhh. This justified my pole barn. I think the height is just fine

 

[Bill Guenthner]

A ROPS has to be high enough to keep the tractor from ROLLING as in “down hill, like a snowball headed for hell” as the song says. It has nothing to do with keeping the operator from hitting his head on the ground. Cutting your roll bar is a very bad idea if you operate on anything but flat ground.