Installing taillights on the inside of the ROPS

[mhalla]

<font color="green">For the second time now I have broken one of the taillights off my 2210 when mowing close to trees that border an area I mow. This time after the taillight fell off I couldn't find the bolts or the knurled nut that makes a friction fit inside the lamp housing.

It dawned on me that when I re-atttach the taillight I could place it within the ROPS instead of outside. That way I will be less likely to break the taillight off in the future.

Has anyone else done this on their tractor, not necessarily on a 2210? Does this make sense to do? Any advice?

Thanks,

Mike </font>

 

[JimR]

Weld two small pieces of angle iron on the inside of your ROPS. Drill a hole in them and mount your lights.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

It is very likely that welding your ROPS will void your warrenty and will transfer liability of any future accident by any future owner to you, should an accident occur.

You could easily mount some lights to a piece of angle iron that you epoxy to the underside or back of your ROPS. Use marine grade expoxy, it is 100% water proof, has between a 2500# and 5000# burst strength (depending on brand used) and will not void the warrenty on your ROPS.

I used this method to mount 4 lights to ROPS. I have also used the same epoxy to mount a 12 volt outlet to my tractor. The epoxy seems to be as rigid as a metal to metal weld.


Link to ROPS lighting with Epoxy

 

[bigpete]

Mike,

Makes sense to me. No welding, slimmer/trimmer passage through the brush. I wasted two (both) rear light assemblies on my 2210 and fixed them both before I traded. If you were using the tractor commercially, I would advise against it because the location inside the ROPS vs. ouside the ROPs could cause personal injury if you rolled or were jounced around violently. For mowing and most domestic purposes, you should be fine. Please don't send me a picture of a knot on your temple or a bleeding ear if you do move them inside the ROPS. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[mhalla]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Weld two small pieces of angle iron on the inside of your ROPS. Drill a hole in them and mount your lights. )</font>

<font color="green">With the 2210 it looks like no modification to the ROPS would be necessary. The bolts that attach the taillight go all the way through from one side of the ROPS to the other. There is also a hole for the wiring on each side of the ROPS too. As such it should be easy enough to reinstall the tailights on the inside although when something seems too easy there is often a gotcha you don't think about until you try.

I am not sure for example if inward mounted tailights would get in the way of the operator. I have seen some postings here on TBN warning people about placing worklights on ROPS that might pose a physical hazard to the operator.

Mike</font>

 

[dltimmons]

You might check with your JD dealer to see if guards are available for these lights.
I have ordered the guards from my dealer for my 4310, I think they were around $35 - $40.00.
I haven't seen them yet, so I can't say how effective they will be.
I looked at remounting my rear tail/warning lights on the inside of the rops also, the holes go all the way through, so it would be easy to do, but, I have a BH and they would interfere when I am sitting on the BH seat.
Best thing I have found for mounting work lights or other items to the rops, are large stainless steel hose clamps from NAPA. No drilling, welding, or glue, they work great.

Have fun,

DT

 

[stuart]

Mike: I took the lights from the outside of the ROPS and moved them inside. No problem. You do have to reverse the lights from the side they are originally on. Then just run the wiring back down for each one. I have not broken a lens since I did this 2 years ago. I have a JD 4300.

 

[GaryK]

I solved the problem easily, I just took the %%&&*** things off! I thought of how often I used or needed them......almost never...... unless you drive around all the time on public roads.

 

[mhalla]

<font color="green">Thanks for all the ideas everyone. The use of marine grade epoxy sounds like a great solution for mounting things to a ROPS without drilling holes.

It turns out that it was my son the day before who broke the taillight off when he was mowing a different part of my property.

I don't know how I could have not seen that the taillight was already dangling when I first approached the tractor. If I had noticed sooner or my son had told me about the taillight I could have saved myself the time I spent looking for bolts along the edge of the woods where I was mowing. ARRRRGH.

Looks like I need to do a better job of a "pre-flight" or in this case a "pre-mowing" inspection of the tractor as mentioned elsewhere on TBN in another discussion thread.

I will need to check into the availability of guards as one person suggested or turn the lights inward. Some tree trimming would certainly help too!

For now the taillight has been reattached using Red Green's favorite solution to all repairs or construction projects - duct tape.
Mike </font>

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Mike
Keep the Marine Epxoy idea in mind for future uses. I have also used it to mount 12-volt recepticals to my Kubota and my New Holland tractors to run sprayers. It is amazing stuff and easier than welding in many applications. For absolute gorilla strength maximum holding power, you need to grind off the paint on the surface you are going to epoxy to (which is what I did when I rigged up the light bar to my ROPS) but for other applications there is no need for that.

See this thread where I installed the 12-volt outlets to 2 of my tractors: TBN thread regarding epxoy installed 12volt recepticals