Zero turn fatality

[dodge man]

On my JD the ROPS has a forward lean to it and is pretty tall. I’ve just cut all my trees high enough so it doesn’t catch any branches. The big problem is I have to lower it every time I put it away since it hit my house soffits.

 

[scootr]

Folding ROPs should be a thing of the past. Too easy to put it down and leave it down for convenience sake.

 

[tacticalturnip]

Folding ROPs should be a thing of the past. Too easy to put it down and leave it down for convenience sake.

No thank you, I like being able to store my machines indoors, while still having a ROPS that when up is taller than I am.

 

[scootr]

My Kubota MX5200 is the first folding ROPs I have owned. It is the first of it's kind I have owned. All the others had real ROPS and yet they all fit in the barn 8ft door.

 

[tacticalturnip]

My Kubota MX5200 is the first folding ROPs I have owned. It is the first of it's kind I have owned. All the others had real ROPS and yet they all fit in the barn 8ft door.

Ayuh, well we don't all park our machines in a barn, and I've smacked the ROPS into my garage enough times to know it doesn't fit.

 

[BigBlue1]

ROPS can be dangerous too. John Dee in the UP of Michigan was involved and it turned fatal during an accident on his ZTR with the ROPS up. He hit a tree and flipped it. Damaged his internal organs and he died at the hospital due to the injuries. Stuff can happen in an instant. We demo'd a ZTR a few years ago and it had the ROPS up. Was driving it near a tree and caught the branches somewhat with it. It did have a pop up incident and that was enough for me to determine you gotta be careful with the safety equipment too.

That's not actually what happened. His lowered ROPS caught an apple tree branch which pulled down a larger portion that hit him in the back of the head. Broken vertebra and minor brain bleed. He had long-term heart issues which ultimately took him something like 5 weeks later as he was going through the pre-transplant process. I'm not saying that I know the incident wasn't somehow contributing, but the ROPS wasn't up, the mower didn't flip, and he didn't pass away in the hospital from injuries.

 

[mikester]

ROPS and vertical muffler stacks seem to be tree branch magnets.

Even if you make the ROPS permanent someone will find a way to injure or kill themselves. You can't 100% idiot proof anything.

 

[RandyT]

Making the ROPS permanent would be a good way to get them cut off or removed entirely. I have seen a few permanent setups and my issue is some of them are very tall, a lot taller than they need to be. No reason to have the rollover bar 3 feet above the operators head.

 

[scootr]

Industrial and commercial grade equipment have permanent ROPS. Only homeowner grade grade equipment has folding ROPs. There will always be people who cut off the ROP and buckle the seatbelt then get in and sit on it...Operate at your own risks.
My friend was dragging an I beam with an old tractor that had a manual gearbox and no ROP system. The I beam got caught on a rock and the tractor came up and over breaking his back.

 

[tacticalturnip]

There are many things that could have prevented that, to include the ROPS; while it's a terrible and unnecessary death it's no reason to dictate fixed ROPS. At some point personal responsibility comes into play.