RTV ROPS - beware

[bdog]

We rolled our 1120 today. Driver was not seriously hurt. He as thrown from vehicle which probably was best. The ROPS didn't fare too well. A buckled in passenger would be in bad shape.

 

[KiotiKowboy]

But the tires are nice!

 

[bdog]

They are nice. We have three RTV's with them. Cumulatively they have about 9,000 miles. We are very pleased. They are not cheap but are worth it if you are prone to flats / sidewall cuts and can't afford downtime.

 

[KiotiKowboy]

I hadn't seen these on anything but military vehicles. All I know is - I get really tired of airing up the tires on my Cub Cadet!

 

[bdog]

A lot of commercial guys around here have them on zero turn mowers. I bought them pre covid for $600 a piece. No idea what they cost now.

 

[Langanobob]

Sorry about the rollover. Are you going to repair it? Did they call that frame ROP? Seems like sometimes they make a point of calling them names like light bar.

 

[Torvy]

A lot of commercial guys around here have them on zero turn mowers. I bought them pre covid for $600 a piece. No idea what they cost now.

My classroom currently overlooks a construction project on campus. The rental telehandler they are using has the same type.

First, let me say I am sorry that happened and am glad no serious injury resulted. Hopefully, that will help us all be more careful. How old is the unit...was the steel pre or post covid? Structural integrity of a rops should be better...not like designed collapse on front end impacts. Yikes!

Warning, attepted humor follows; continue reading at your own risk. Using the reactionary approach, Kubota needs to be out of business. At the very least we need to require 30 hours of classroom training and licensure before allowing operation of these devices. Also, annual retraining. Before all of that we will need a committee to study it and confirm my solutions as vitally important. To prevent rollovers in the future we need to have out riggers attached to all off-road vehicles. Or would that be cultural appropriation? We'll form another committee to study that.

 

[Diggin It]

If that's really intended as roll over protection and not just a roof/canopy support, 'Bota corporate needs to examine it and see why it failed.

 

[RoyJackson]

I hadn't seen these on anything but military vehicles. All I know is - I get really tired of airing up the tires on my Cub Cadet!

They're optional on Deere zero turn mowers...maybe other mowers too. This is the first time I've read about other uses, such as a UTV

 

[RoyJackson]

If that's really intended as roll over protection and not just a roof/canopy support, 'Bota corporate needs to examine it and see why it failed.

Yeah, that shouldn't have collapsed like that
Looking at the first pic, looks like the frame is bent too...probably only good for parting out at this point