Have you ever heard of a defective ROPS responsible for injury?

[greggyy]

I'm a live coward - the buzz word is "live". ROPS is always up and seatbelt fastened, wear a helmet every time I ride a motorcycle, always fasten my seatbelt in a car.

Yeah this stuff can be a PITA sometimes, but when there's an "Oh sh*t!" moment, you don't have time to put up the ROPS/put on the helmet/fasten the seatbelt.

It may be a cliche but better safe than sorry, and WAY better safe than dead. Always remember, Darwin is out there and is always looking for new recruits. Don't help him.

The roll over protection really is not a bother, I do have some trees and low lying stuff and it helps remove some of it, you just have to watch out for what springs back, some branches do not break (do not ask me how I know).

Seatbelts on tractors, mowers, etc etc is overkill IMO, anyways mine do not have them and I do not want them. I resent having to put on a helmet on a bicycle as I grew up with more freedom, but on a bike yeah it is a good idea for many reasons, i.e stops sunburn too ! I also have an old truck that never had seatbelts, but they made me put in a lap one, almost useless, but in a car, yes I do not mind.

I see much of this stuff for the ppl who either do not think, or are very thick or have evil Knievel tendencies.

 

[jyoutz]

The roll over protection really is not a bother, I do have some trees and low lying stuff and it helps remove some of it, you just have to watch out for what springs back, some branches do not break (do not ask me how I know).

Seatbelts on tractors, mowers, etc etc is overkill IMO, anyways mine do not have them and I do not want them. I resent having to put on a helmet on a bicycle as I grew up with more freedom, but on a bike yeah it is a good idea for many reasons, i.e stops sunburn too ! I also have an old truck that never had seatbelts, but they made me put in a lap one, almost useless, but in a car, yes I do not mind.

I see much of this stuff for the ppl who either do not think, or are very thick or have evil Knievel tendencies.

You’re not making sense. Seatbelts on tractors are extremely practical with a ROPs. The ROPs prevents the machine from rolling completely over, and the seatbelt keeps the operator from falling out of the seat and being crushed by the machine. Without a ROPs it’s better to not wear a seatbelt and being lucky enough to jump far enough away to avoid being crushed..

 

[eco88]

So at the beginning of this year I dove under a an overhang by accident with my 2yr old kioti dk45 still on the flatbed trailer (parked in reverse)
Forgot to fold the ROPS.
Very slow speed, creeping under the overhang. As soon as I head the crash, I stopped.
The overhang part I hit is made from tonge and grove pine boards, about 1/2 thick, 5 inch wide. One 5 inch board was crushed, the next one splintered a bit, mostly intact though.

2x3 framing. And aluminum flashing covering the face. So if you were to kick that, you'd probably bust through.

The impact bent and folded the ROPS forward about a FOOT like it was made of clay. The bend started all the way from where it's bolted into the transfer case, and then in the middle, halfway to top, it folded, bent like with a pipe bender.

The amount of damage to the ROPS, compared to the damage to the overhang, BLEW MY MIND.

I still can not believe how a couple of half inch pine boards could have caused so much damage to something that is meant to save your life by keeping a ton or 2 of weight away from crushing you to death if you flip over.

There is no way that they would do anything to prevent any sort of injury, if they fold like this from a simple push.
2yr old tractor, no modifications or holes or anything. All stock from factory.

Worst part was having to wait for 7 months for kioti to get me new ROPS. The 2 vertical bars cost $1500 up here in chinada

 

[Brendanspapa]

Never heard of a failure of a ROPs, except failure to use correctly. I have lost a family member due to rollover of an older tractor without a ROPs, so I won't use one without, and make the effort to keep tree limbs cut high enough to clear my cab in areas where I need to go.
I have seen a tractor overturn in flat, level driveway, so I know there's no "safe" slope. I would not use a seatbelt on a tractor without, or with ROPS folded, since it will inhibit ones' ability to escape by jumping off (you're trapped).
Only you can decide how much your live is worth, and how much risk to take on your equipment and property.
On a job site where others' are responsible, they will decide how much risk to take, or not.

 

[Rustyiron]

I'm curious about the situation where a tractor rolled over on a flat driveway. Not questioning the story, just very curious of the rest of the story.
Some folks can't make it though the bank drive through.

 

[sunandsand]

Greggyy, I don't like to be told what to do either, but the problem is that seat belt laws (and helmet laws, etc.) are passed for the lowest common denominator, not to aggravate people who are careful and responsible.

The "average" driver in Florida is a danger to themselves and to everyone around them. When it rains, they speed up to get home faster. They either tailgate mercilessly at 85 miles an hour or drive 45 miles an hour in the left lane of the interstate (with their blinker signaling left for mile after mile). No matter how fast you go, somebody always wants to go faster. Worse, now that Florida allows anyone to carry a firearm - with no training, nothing - some of these idiots are armed as well as dangerous.

Want to know how bad it is? The ATM machines in the drive-through lanes at banks have Braille on the keys . . . they know their market.

I want seatbelts in my car(s) because when some mouth-breathing moron runs me off the road because they are simultaneously texting, screaming at the (unbelted) kids in the back seats of the hulking SUV, trying to eat their happy meal and oh, yeah, aiming a 5,000 pound missile which hasn't EVER been safety inspected (Florida has no mandatory vehicle inspection either) more or less down the road at 85 mph, I want to live to sue the b*stards.

Qualifiers:

I support the Second Amendment, but I feel that carrying a firearm implies quite a bit of responsibility, and some (at least minimal) training might possibly be a good idea so they understand how to handle a firearm safely and FULLY understand how much trouble they are going to be in if they use that firearm in haste or anger. (Famous last words "Is this thing loaded?")

Florida did away with vehicle inspection decades ago because in addition to being wildly unpopular, a study showed that of the top 50 causes of automobile accidents, the kind of defects that vehicle inspections found (and prevented accidents) were number 49 on the list. Vehicles are much better now than 40 years ago BUT since they are now much more expensive than even five years ago, the average age of the cars on the road here is up to something like 12.5 years, which is higher than it has been. Spot checks for equipment violations are very occasionally done by State Troopers, but they have more important things to worry about than mis-aimed headlights.

Braille on the ATM keys - yes this is good for a joke, but it is easier for the ATM manufacturers to simply put Braille keys on all the machines instead of having two different sets of keys, one for drive-throughs and one for other locations.

Be careful out there. Don't be paranoid, but be aware that things can be more dangerous than they appear, and familiarity can breed contempt - or carelessness.

Best Regards,
Mike/Florida

(Wonder if I can get Kevlar fabric to replace the cloth top on my convertible?)

 

[Chiefwebb]

Sounds like everything has been said on this topic, but I'll risk adding more. I'm a peace officer in my rural county. Several years ago two brothers from a large nearby city purchased some country land in our county and purchased a tracked mini excavator. First day of ownership one of the brothers were operating the machine without wearing the seat belt. The machine flipped over and the operator jumped from his seat and was caught by the ROPS and crushed to death. I made the scene and took the report. The brothers assumed they knew what they were doing and ignored proper operating procedures and safety devices.

My second story involves my ex-brother in law who lived in Alaska. He was clearing a mountain trail with a very old bull dozer that had no ROPS or even a seat belt of any kind. He was very experienced. A felled tree got caught in a track and it quickly leveraged the dover over to its side and down the mountain crushing my brother in law.

After my brother in law died my wife made me promise her that I would wear my seat belt on my tractor. I do but with the condition that it I have to temporarily fold the ROPS due to low trees, etc..., I do not wear the seat belt.

 

[dnw64]

The impact bent and folded the ROPS forward about a FOOT like it was made of clay. The bend started all the way from where it's bolted into the transfer case, and then in the middle, halfway to top, it folded, bent like with a pipe bender.

The amount of damage to the ROPS, compared to the damage to the overhang, BLEW MY MIND.

I still can not believe how a couple of half inch pine boards could have caused so much damage to something that is meant to save your life by keeping a ton or 2 of weight away from crushing you to death if you flip over.

There is no way that they would do anything to prevent any sort of injury, if they fold like this from a simple push.

That is not what the ROPS is designed for. As the acronym says, it's a ROLL OVER protective structure. 180° different force than what you applied to it.

Additionally, driving in reverse - the highest amount of torque available in a motor vehicle - has the ability, even at low speed, to put an immense amount of pressure on something.

Lastly, even pine has a fair amount of compressive resistance. Eastern White Pine has a Janka rating of approximately 380 lbf. The Janka rating measures the force required to embed an 11.28 millimeters (0.444 in) diameter steel ball halfway into a sample of wood. This method leaves a hemispherical indentation with an area of 100 mm2. So to crush a 5" wide piece of pine demonstrates that a considerable force applied.

 

[dnw64]

I'm curious about the situation where a tractor rolled over on a flat driveway. Not questioning the story, just very curious of the rest of the story.

I do not have the back story, but can imagine one. Unloading a pallet from a truck or trailer, which exceeded the capacity of the loader, lifting the back of the tractor off the ground whereupon it pivoted sideways on the front axle tipping the tractor over. I can imagine this because I once started to try lifting a mower out of the back of my truck which may have exceeded the capacity* and I imagined it then. Hence a call to my neighbor with a bigger tractor...

The mower wasn't ALL that heavy, but at the time I had only bolt-on pallet forks and the mower was end on because it was too wide to fit crosswise, so the COG was way out there.

 

[Dr_Zinj]

I use the ROPS and seatbelt always. The only time it gets folded down is if I have to bring it inside the garage for some reason. I've read dozens of instances where the ROPS and seatbelt did their job. I have never seen an instance where the proper use of the ROPS and seatbelt led to death or greater injury. Mid or back mount doesn't seem to make much difference; although it appears that a mid-mount has a greater chance of preventing an FEL roll-off of injuring the operator.