Replace clam shell fenders for safety?

[ALFisher]

Per my other thread, just received a family member's 1978 John Deere 2130. Am having it tuned up now. I noticed that it has the old clamshell-style fenders. I have been told they aren't safe. Seems to me if you wear your seatbelt, they would be OK. I could replace the fenders with better ones, but thought I'd see what the consensus is. Thanks.

 

[murphy1244]

Nothing wrong with them imo.

 

[CliffordK]

I think they should be fine. Just use caution with youngsters around.

Don't use a seat belt without a full ROPS installed.

 

[sixdogs]

Agreed, lots of worse risks out there than clamshell fenders.

 

[ALFisher]

I think they should be fine. Just use caution with youngsters around.

Don't use a seat belt without a full ROPS installed.

Won't be used with young uns around. I have never heard of a full vs. a "partial" ROPS though. The one I got looks like this:

 

[Soundguy]

Per my other thread, just received a family member's 1978 John Deere 2130. Am having it tuned up now. I noticed that it has the old clamshell-style fenders. I have been told they aren't safe. Seems to me if you wear your seatbelt, they would be OK. I could replace the fenders with better ones, but thought I'd see what the consensus is. Thanks.

probably 95% of my tractors have clamshell fenders. OR NO fenders..

clamshells are fine.


anyone can get hurt if you reach around a fender and dangle your hand in a tire.

I assume some moron along the way did that.. then started telling people that clamshells were unsafe.

probably has a brother missing fingers that tried to trim hedges with a push mower.. and now we have those lil warning labls on mower decks telling us not to reach under the deck while the blades are moving

 

[sixdogs]

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probably has a brother missing fingers that tried to trim hedges with a push mower.. and now we have those lil warning labls on mower decks telling us not to reach under the deck while the blades are moving

I saw a brush chipper recently that had a warning not to put your hands or feet into the chipper while the blades are chopping. Aww, shucks... I was planning on doing that.

 

[Mace Canute]

I think that before you can make a claim about the safety of clam shell fenders you have to take a few things into consideration such as the tractor they are installed on and especially the size of the fenders themselves; some clam shell fenders are reasonably large and some are quite small. Some tractors have the operator sitting centered between the wheels and other tractors have the operator sitting offset towards the right rear wheel and on a smaller tractor the RR tire might be significantly closer than it would be on a larger tractor. How close the operator gets to that RR wheel is also affected by what tire track width the tractor has and even the tire size itself. Even the terrain that one drives the tractor on has to be factored into it too. Is it smooth or are there unexpected and hidden obstacles to bounce you around? I think you'll find that the same clam shell fender that would be considered perfectly safe on one tractor might be somewhat less so on another tractor. I believe there's just too many factors that enter into it to be able to make a blanket statement one way or the other regarding the safety aspect of clam shell fenders; it would probably be best to make a case by case evaluation.

OTOH, fenderless tractors scare me!

 

[Soundguy]

fenderless tractors don't scare me. I learned not to touch moving parts.. if you are in mud or poop.. waer a slicker though!

common sense here.. but id you are on a large tired tractor.. and the clamshell is the same size as a food take home container and does not shroud tire.. there is a problem.

my previous comment presumes a clamshell fender sized CORRECTLY to ward a tire.

offset or not would seem to make little difference if the tire is covered.

in my truck i drive to work in.. i set closer tot he left front tire than the right front one. I'm protected from both by the cab.. so distance to a warded tire seems to make no difference.

 

[Mace Canute]

fenderless tractors don't scare me. I learned not to touch moving parts.. I learned how to safely touch moving parts but that's not what this thread is about. If you accidentally get bounced towards a tire, a full fender is probably safer than a clam shell fender because it covers most of the top of the tire as well as the side of the tire while the coverage of clam shell fenders vary greatly between makes and models and the protection they offer varies also. if you are in mud or poop.. waer a slicker though!

common sense here.. but id you are on a large tired tractor.. and the clamshell is the same size as a food take home container and does not shroud tire.. there is a problem. Why do you say a very small clam shell fender would be a problem when you aren't scared of fenderless tractors? Common sense would say if you aren't scared of fenderless tractors you shouldn't have a problem with small clam shell fenders.

my previous comment presumes a clamshell fender sized CORRECTLY to ward a tire. What's "correctly sized"? What the manufacturer installed or what the individual thinks is correctly sized? That would be a totally subjective call...different people could have quite different opinions of what's a correctly sized fender when considering the same tractor.

offset or not would seem to make little difference if the tire is covered. How much of the tire is covered is the question. It varies greatly from tractor to tractor and between makes and models.

in my truck i drive to work in.. i set closer tot he left front tire than the right front one. I'm protected from both by the cab.. so distance to a warded tire seems to make no difference. A truck cab has absolutely no bearing on the topic of this thread. On a tractor however sitting closer towards one wheel means there is less distance traveled before you are against the fender and possibly the tire also whereas the same distance on a tractor with a centrally located seat will likely not bring you into contact with the fender. On some tractors with an offset seat, the operator sits almost overtop the tire.

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