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

[CalG]

I run the ROPS on the two tractors fitted in the folded position. So many trees and low branches etc.
I do sung up the seat belt on the hilly stuff. (keeps from de-activating the operator presence switch)

But

I have seen SO MANY admonishments not to "VIOLATE" the ROPS structure with drilled holes etc.

But, I've not ever heard of any ROPS failing it's intent. Or for that matter, a ROPS "saving " someone.
Of course, the news never reports the survival , That is just a trivial incident.

Anyone have any real life experience other than the safety cops . "ROPS are designed to protect" or
"don't do anything because you don't have a structural engineering degree" ?

 

[mikester]

Safety is always somebody else's problem and "Common sense" is an oxymoron.

 

[ptsg]

Back in July, a man was using his New Holland TCE40 on the top of a 10 ft tall embankment and ended up rolling the tractor and falling from that 10 ft drop. He sustain minor injuries exactly because he had his ROPS up. It was a mid mounted ROPS too, which I had people telling me it won't protect the operator as good for some reason.

We've a lot of tractor accidents resulting in deaths here in Portugal. Almost one per week in this small country. 99% because the ROPS was down or the tractor was old and didn't have one.

Despite the mandatory "How to safely operate a tractor" course, a lot of people still think the ROPS is there to annoy them and not to protect them. They do keep post pone the mandatory part of this course though.

Sadly, a lot of people who think that way, are not here to tell their story anymore, and this is happening on all ages. One would think the old stubborn guys were the worse, but not, even some young guys think the same way which is a shame really.

I too run the mid mounted ROPS folded since I work on orchards a lot but only because I know for sure I can't flip the tractor in those areas. Otherwise, it would be up which I do once I'm done with the orchards. I work in places I couldn't even have a rear mounted ROPS because it just don't fold low enough.

Well, as usual, I digressed a lot from the original question, sorry about that. But no, I haven't heard anything about a ROPS failing. Only from the ROPS not being up as it should. It's so easy these days too, they put gas struts on the ROPS of new tractors, so you can literally lift that thing with the tip of the finger.

 

[WranglerX]

Then there is this guy in another online forum...

 

[oosik]

I ran my M6040 with the ROPS folded for the first couple of years. Hey - I know where all the "bad" areas are on my property.

Then I got a canopy - now the ROPS is always up.

 

[SmallChange]

I'm a big believer in keeping the ROPS up and not drilling into it.
The ROPS stays up and the seatbelt stays on because I really get how effective a safety system that is -- and because I think 99% of accidents happen to people who expected whatever they were doing to turn out OK.
As to not drilling into it, I think there are lots of modifications that would turn out just fine. Stringing a small wire for lights up through the ROPS tubing is one example; bolt holes for a tool box mount is another. HOWEVER, I'm not going to own the machine forever, and I bet there's an entire category of sales issues that come up if they can't check the box saying the ROPS is in original manufacturer condition. I see this as a courtesy to my heirs.

 

[5030]

I removed it from my F series mower simply because it kept getting hung up in the trees but my big tractors they are always up, well, the cab unit don't have one, the cab structure is the ROPS.

 

[Locoweed]

Lots of people want to control your life. How you react to that is your decision.

 

[dfkrug]

Of course, the news never reports the survival , That is just a trivial incident.

Anyone have any real life experience other than the safety cops . "ROPS are designed to protect" or
"don't do anything because you don't have a structural engineering degree" ?

I have a ROPS survival I have not posted about.

We had a 50y event here in FEB 2023, which left 6+ inches of snow on the ground for a week. I probably lost 100 larger trees on my 19 acres. Still cleaning up 1.5y later.

I was in my carport (tractor-port) the morning after the snow, surveying the damage, and while underneath the roof of this structure, a tree fell on it, and caused it to collapse. I had a split second to decide whether to run out from the carport and risk getting hit by a branch, or staying inside and counting on the tractor and ROPS to protect me. I chose the latter.

This building is all-steel, with no walls. Designed and built by me in 2014.

The tractor ROPS held up the roof until I was able to take it apart piece-by-piece, as it was screwed together. Took about a month. A month without use of a tractor. :-(

No damage to the tractor, me, or an ATV inside at the time. Freaky.

BTW, my ROPS is heavily modified, and shortened about a foot. It really stood up well, with nothing more than scratched paint. It is not folded 99.9% of the time.

 

[RjCorazza]

That's certainly a tractor survival story like I've never heard before! Kinda sucks that it made your tractor unavailable though.

 

[Rustyiron]

Then there is this guy in another online forum...

View attachment 929891



View attachment 929892

Flatter than a pancake also.
BTW I've never folded my rops.

 

[flyerdan]

I think that one of the reasons that manufacturers have such a hard-on against ROPS alteration is they have to consider the lowest common factor, the mouth breathing troglodyte who'll cut a big notch out for something without reinforcement, or shorten it and refasten with TEK screws instead of welds.
Properly done, any mods will be far superior to the factory work, and it isn't hard to match angles and cut the same amount from each leg to lower it and use the factory mounts. Welding in threaded inserts for mounting stuff would in no way compromise integrity; a piece of round tubing welded into through holes on square or rectangle tube will negate the drilling and prevent collapsing when bolting through. It just takes a bit of fussing to do it right, it's not that big of deal.

 

[ultrarunner]

Without folding could trailer in my enclosed trailer or park inside… folding feature important to me.

A large tree just happen to choose the precise time and moment of my passing on the trail below and hit exactly over the operator seat of my D3 Dozer.

I would not be here had the ROPS not protected me.

Had a hard time extricating myself and had to get a chain saw to free the dozer

 

[dfkrug]

I think that one of the reasons that manufacturers have such a hard-on against ROPS alteration is they have to consider the lowest common factor, the mouth breathing troglodyte who'll cut a big notch out for something without reinforcement, or shorten it and refasten with TEK screws instead of welds.

True enough. I certainly see the manufacturer perspective.

That's what happened with the infamous Kioti loader issue 15y ago. FELs were breaking, and the fix, provided by the maker, really needed to be welded. Who was going to weld it well enough? A certified shop? Well, that was going to be tough to arrange, so a factory-designed bolted-on compromise was offered, and sent to owners. Sometimes. I never got mine, but have not needed it.

Can't really count on the quality of those troglodyte welds.

 

[CalG]

That's certainly a tractor survival story like I've never heard before! Kinda sucks that it made your tractor unavailable though.

it's a good thing to have more than one tractor, just in case something like this would happen.

;-)

 

[number two]

Hey,there's always a reason to have more than one tractor!

 

[jyoutz]

I run the ROPS on the two tractors fitted in the folded position. So many trees and low branches etc.
I do sung up the seat belt on the hilly stuff. (keeps from de-activating the operator presence switch)

But

I have seen SO MANY admonishments not to "VIOLATE" the ROPS structure with drilled holes etc.

But, I've not ever heard of any ROPS failing it's intent. Or for that matter, a ROPS "saving " someone.
Of course, the news never reports the survival , That is just a trivial incident.

Anyone have any real life experience other than the safety cops . "ROPS are designed to protect" or
"don't do anything because you don't have a structural engineering degree" ?

I do know of a few people who have tipped their tractors on the side and walked away without injury. The ROPs prevented the machine from rolling completely over and they land on the side. Wearing seat belts prevented the operators from falling out and being crushed.

 

[Rustyiron]

I do know of a few people who have tipped their tractors on the side and walked away without injury. The ROPs prevented the machine from rolling completely over and they land on the side. Wearing seat belts prevented the operators from falling out and being crushed.

I think this is exactly why the rops towers several feet above the operators head, seemingly unnecessary and requiring the "folding" aspect to their design for the consumers storage convenience.
Imagine being belted in and rolling multiple times vs just laying it on its side.

 

[CaptPat]

The only time I've folded my ROPS was to fit the tractor into the garage. I trim everything up so I don't hit it with the ROPS or now the cab.

 

[HayFarmer]

My ROPS became a FOPS when a tree fell on the tractor while I was on it. Crushed the canopy down to the ROPS, but I didn't get squished. Was hard to get off it after!