Building a ROPS?!

Vas · Dec 7, 2005

Wow, you guys are awesome. I searched and searched and couldn't find a ROPS to buy, called Case-IH, etc and within a day got a ton of good information. I should have come here first. I truly appreciate all the advice, appropriate caution, and information. I'll check out Laurin, Feric, bare-co and see what I find and post the results.

Vas

cleatus · Dec 8, 2005

Ken, by the same token I wouldn't expect the same from the factory ROPS, as the ability to sue manufacter would not replace any human.

OldMcDonald · Dec 8, 2005

Cleatus. I have to ask. Have you ever tested a homebuilt ROPS by purposely tipping a tractor whilst you are in the driving seat? If not, how can you be so confident in your ability to build a satisfactory ROPS? I am not trying to belittle you, or saying you cannot do it, but factory built ROPS are tested on the machines they are designed for, and you cannot make the sort of statements you have unless you can prove your homebuilt is also as good. Old McDonald.

EddieWalker · Dec 8, 2005

If he can find a factory ROPS for his tractor, that's fine. If one doesn't exist, wouldn't a well built, home made one be better than nothing at all?

There is no system out there that is 100 percent for every situation. My dozer has a factory built Full ROPS on it, and it's not rated to support the tractor in a full roll over. Just a side roll or to offer some level of protection from debri falling or hitting it. Same with my Full ROPS on my backhoe. Both of these are full sized, commercial machines.

And for those who say roll overs happen so he should have a ROPS, I will point out that more people are ran over and killed crossing the street than in a roll over. It happens, and even with a certified factory system in place, there is still no gurantee that it will save your life every time.

Eddie

cleatus · Dec 8, 2005

Thanks Eddie, you said it better than he tought I could. You made the points that I was trying to get across.

kenmac · Dec 8, 2005

For those who want to put their own lives at risk that's ok with me. The reason that car manfactures install seat belts in a vehicle instead of letting an indivual make their own is because they have a way to test seat belts to make sure that all the bolts are of the correct strength & installed correctly. I know that seat belts, like ROPS don't save lives in every case.Motor cycle don't save lives in every case, but I would rather have a certified one than one that was home made. If you chose to make your own rops & take that risk that's your business. I've never been one to play Russian roulette. Good luck to you.

bobodu · Dec 8, 2005

Then I guess I have no business building a trailer,or my barn,or doing my own wiring (passed inspection) or building my whole freaking tractor.

kenmac · Dec 8, 2005

If you read the end .I said that's your business . & Good luck . Like you said you had your bldg. inspected & it passed.I don't know about where you live, but here you have to have a title for a trailer & when you get the tag, they inspect it.

bobodu · Dec 8, 2005

Here in Indiana...the trailer was inspected and titled.

Taylortractornut · Dec 8, 2005

Vas Theres a Machine shop here that fabs rops for tractors all after market. I have built several roll bars on my own machines and many friends machines a few years ago. I also worked part time for a fellow that built rops and such for tractors. I welded on the rops and fops with out certification. All the ROPS and FOPS had to be precertified, and engineering company would look over their designs and a fifnished model then wed take a tractor and a fork lift and roll the tractor over onto its side. well not all the way it had to strike a 2 foot tall steel saw horse type stop. In 3 years I cant remember one failure. We even made rops fr offset Cubs and A Farmalls.
Just use common sense and look around at similar rops. Try to find an older 9's model Mahindra they made spare parts for IHC and later used their old castings to make Mahindra tractors. They had a really nice Rops.

OldMcDonald · Dec 9, 2005

Eddie, No, I would rather have none at all than one I could not be sure would stand the weight of a rollover. But, as already said by another poster, if people want to take the chance then that is their business. I wish that was the case in Europe. The faceless beaurocrats in Brussels have turned the whole continent into a "Nanny knows best" situation and any homebuilt ROPS would have to be tested - probably to destruction so that you would have to build a second one if the first one passed the test! Old McDonald.

cleatus · Dec 9, 2005

With what I said before, if I choose to build my own rops I would defently be willing to be belted in and be rolled not only on side but completly over in any direction, as I have no reason not to trust from past experence.

EddieWalker · Dec 9, 2005

( Eddie, No, I would rather have none at all than one I could not be sure would stand the weight of a rollover. )

Manufacturers build to government specifications and that's about it. They also have been known to put out products with known problems with the realization that it's cheaper to be sued than it is to build it right.

Can you say Chevrolet side gas tanks?

I don't trust the factory ROPS on any tractors regardless of manufacturer. I don't know what the standard requirement is for factory ROPS, but there isn't a manufacutere out there ovebuilding them or putting any more into them than they have to.

I think that I can build one that would be much stronger than factory, and there's an aweful lot of folks on this site that are much better working with metal than I am.

I respect your choice, but think it would be a mistake to limit your options to what you can buy from a store only. Sometimes you have to build it yourself!!!

It's the American way. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Eddie

RonR · Dec 10, 2005

Eddie,

I used to work for an ag manufacturer that wanted to import foreign tractors and sell through their dealerships. While I agree there are standards that the ROPS and cabs had to meet, I know this company, and I doubt any other reliable company, would purposely sell the products that they knew did not meet the standards.

This company imported many test tractors, which were production models from other countries, and the company's test lab performed all the tests required by the standards. Each of these tests were videotaped and the test results were documented. Whether they were "sent in" to some agency, I don't know, but my guess is they were to get "approval" to sell them in this country.

With all this proof out there, it would be financially stupid to knowingly sell a line of defective products. Sure, in the mfg process, some items might have flaws in them, but no way could a company survive selling a known defective product.

Once it comes out that there is a product flaw, and then it becomes clear that the company knew, the lawsuits will fly. I don't think most companies want that kind of liability hanging out there.

Just my two cents.
ron

JerryG · Dec 10, 2005

There is another thing to consider all. I don't know the site now, but the gov. has a site that shows and tells all about farm accidents. On this site it shows the tractor, axle and place of incident. One incident showed a ROPS that the dad had built. He did a very good job on the ROPS. BUT, there was still a problem. His attachment was faulty. When the tractor rolled in the ditch with his son, the axle flanges broke where he had attached it. His son is dead now.

bobodu · Dec 10, 2005

"With all this proof out there, it would be financially stupid to knowingly sell a line of defective products."

How about Firestone and Ford??
Law suit

mark777 · Dec 10, 2005

( ....On the rear of the axle housing there is a flat spot on each side two ~3/8" tapped holes. I'm thinking this is where the ROPS should/would attach. My first and only weld job is MIG welding a lumber rack for my pick-up.

Has anyone made a ROPS? Any advice? )

Vas,

There are some great responses here, and many concerns about your own safety. We built or own ROP's. I felt it was a well thought out, safe and clean installation from the mounting points to the tabs for a canopy and Simpson lap belt.

When finished (including paint), we mounted the ROP's onto a 6" piece of heavy wall pipe at the base and took it and a weight (18"x24"x24" - 1/4" thick plate, filled with concrete and rebar) to a friends place. Setting the ROP's on his gravel drive way, he used his very large JBL excavator at full horizontal swing speed and hit the ROP's from one side and then the same on the other side. Each time, using a tractor to push it back into position. The weight (approx 600+ lbs.), loaded into the excavators bucket, was dropped from about 8' onto the top of the ROP's.

When we brought it back (the damage looked significant) and stood it up on our original template, the vertical supports spread the base 4" (1 1/2" on one side and 2 1/2" on the other), and the right side vertical support bent almost 3" out of center. With the impact scars and the appearance as though someone rolled it off a mountain, it faired quite well.

We built another, identical one and installed it on a Yanmar. I used the tractor for three months, removed the ROP's and seat belts and sold the tractor. BECAUSE of the liability issues, it was not worth including the ROP's in any sale. Someone, somewhere may injure or kill themselves and I would be responsible. That little ISO or federal certification shoulders all the liability issues along with the manufacturers costs at resale.

Sorry, I have no pictures that were backed up and lost everything in a hard drive crash last year.

ym2610 · Dec 10, 2005

Ok by what I'm reading on here, I have a Yanmar without a ROP, I can't build one and the one you buy built for it will get me killed, so I need to sell my tractor and don't buy another one, because it will come with a unsafe ROP too. sorry I'm new to the tractor thing, but this is what I'm getting out of this post. someone please tell me, has anyone been killed on a tractor with factory installed ROP or after market built for them. I know of one here close to me, but he went off a cliff backwards, I don't think a full cage would have saved him. I'm not trying to start anything, I just want to know before I spend $800 on something that will not do the job it was made for. Thanks Robert

MarkStewart · Dec 10, 2005

I don't think so. The ones they are selling now for the grey market Yanmars have been OSHA approved from what I read Here.
That would likely mean they have been tested etc.

EddieWalker · Dec 10, 2005

( Eddie,

. . . I doubt any other reliable company, would purposely sell the products that they knew did not meet the standards.

With all this proof out there, it would be financially stupid to knowingly sell a line of defective products.

)

Ron,

First off, I'm just voicing my opinion based on my own experences and information available to me. I don't think company is purposely building substandard ROPS. I also agree that would be stupid.

The question was weather he should build his own ROPS or buy one due to saftey concerns while operating an older tractor on hilly terain.

I strongly believe that any of us here on this site who is competent with a welder and basic design can build a ROPS that is just as safe or safer than factory.

I don't know what the rules are on new tractors and what is required for factory ROPS, but to imagine that the manufactures are building ROPS that will exeed these minimums isn't realistic in a price driven ecomony. Why put an additional $100 or more into it if you don't have to?

If they really wanted to protect you, they would have at least 4 points of attachment, not two. My dozer has six points and it's only rated for a light roll over, but not a drop of any kind.

To imagine that a factory ROPS found on any modern CUT will protect you in anthing but a basic sideways roll over or lay-down isn't realistic. Look at race car cages. They are the best that has ever been designed for protection and they still didn't save Dale Earnhardt. You can plan for every known or imagined accident, and the one you miss is what gets you.

Of course, many have saved people from injury and worked as they were designed. Having one is better than not having one.

Eddie