ROPS Modification and Lights

[Gomer]

Thought I would show you how I modified my ROPS and added some spots.

OK before anyone sends the ROPS police after me let me explain the reasoning.

I could not leave the ROPS up and drive into my garage. So either leave the ROPS down all the time or take it off because I just know at some point when I put it up I'm going to forget it and destroy my garage and/or tractor. Sooo.. I cut 10 inches of it off and now I can leave it up which is probably safer than taking it off or leaving it down. I could always buy the top half to bring it back to original.

I included a picture of the rubber ROPS grommets that had the blinker wires just stuffed undreneath them(bugged the heck out of me) and how I modified them.

 

[LHoyer]

Do you always wear your seatbelt?

 

[Glowplug]

That actually looks pretty good. What kind of tractor is it? Does your head stick up above the ROPS horizontal beam? Do you wear your seatbelt?

If you answered "YES" to the last two questions. . .Is your life insurance policy paid up?

Just kidding. Does look good.

 

[Gomer]

Tractor is a B2630, no and no, I'm vertically challanged

 

[Glowplug]

Tractor is a B2630, no and no, I'm vertically challanged

Good to hear. Not that you're vertically challenged. I am too!
If your head doesn't stick up above the ROPS you can go ahead and wear your seatbelt.

The B2630 is a very nice tractor. I like it a lot! If I had an unlimited amount of money I'd get the B2630 with 60" MMM and 5' 3ph brush cutter to go along with my upcoming M7040 as its little brother.

Could you post some pics of the whole setup with full view of the tractor?

BTW, welcome to the forum!!

 

[Gomer]

Here it is, just waiting for the snow to hit.

 

[Toolguy]

Nice job! I have a B3030 and asked the dealer to change the folding ROPS to the shorter non-folding style. I also knew that I would probably keep it down all the time and it would be useless. Well, they forgot to do that and delivered it with the folding ROPS. I could not get in or out of my barn without propping the 8' overhead door up with a 2X4 to get the extra clearance needed. There was no way it would fit in my attached garage without folding it. I had the dealer just bring the short ROPS to me and I changed it myself. Before I installed it I repainted it (it was scratched pretty bad) and added some lights by drilling and tapping some holes in the underside. The only problem with lights on the ROPS is the glare you get with the lights behind you. Really bad if you wear glasses like I do. Otherwise, it does help a lot as the stock lights leave a lot to be desired.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

I could not leave the ROPS up and drive into my garage. So either leave the ROPS down all the time or take it off because I just know at some point when I put it up I'm going to forget it and destroy my garage and/or tractor. Sooo.. I cut 10 inches of it off and now I can leave it up which is probably safer than taking it off or leaving it down.

Somewhere there is an old thread here on TBN. It was a newpaper report about a guy who cut down the ROPS cage on skid steer. The logic was the same. He could not get in a doorway so he cut it down. He rolled over a died. The death was ruled accidental but preventable. His family is fatherless.

 

[Dascro]

All paranoia aside, if your head is below the ROPS top horizontal bar and you wear the seatbelt, I don't see an elevated safety issue as compared to the OEM configuration. If anything, (assuming head is below top of ROPS and seatbelt is worn) I would think it would make the ROPS more rigid in a rollover situation.

What am I missing here???

 

[Bob_Skurka]

All paranoia aside. . .

What am I missing here???

ROPS = Roll Over Protection System.

People who only consider the ROPS to be the big bar that is over their head are considering the entire ROPS system to be that bar. Those people are occasionally tragically mistaken.

It is an issue that can best be illustrated by drawing a triangle. The rear axle is the bottom point of the triangle, a few inches below the top of the ROPS in the second point of the triangle and front of the tractor hood (crushed down as it would be if upside down) would be the 3rd point. The area inside those points are protected by the ROPS.

The logic provided to me for those 3 points.

• Rear axle is used because if the wheels are knocked off in an accident the bottom of the wheel/tire is no longer able to support weight/impact but the axle is far more difficult to dislodge.
• The crushed point of the front of the tractor, this is something below the hood level, depending on the tractor model, the crushed level could be as low as 6" below the hood level.
• A point roughly 3" below the ROPS level because the weight of the tractor will rest upon the ROPS and the ROPS will likely be pushed into the ground. Further, in the situation of a ditch rollover the drivers head must be held above water level. Further, a body in a rollover flails around and a person's head must be protected well forward of the ROPS so the ROPS BAR is part of a SYSTEM that works with the front crushed point of the tractor to make sure that a line between the two points is above the level of your head.

Take a string and tie it to your ROPS, tape the other end to the front of your hood. Imagine a parallel line roughly several inches below that line, and that is approximately the line of protection provided by your Roll Over Protection System.

See the attached image. It shows my daughter on one of the tractors. She is sitting well forward and her back is not even close to the seat back, but the overlaying triangle of coverage clearly illustrates the above points. You can see that her head is OUTSIDE of the area of protection because she is sitting forward in the seat. Lowering the ROPS bar will dramatically alter the area of protection.