Would you feel comfortable operating this skid steer???

[Mace Canute]

my point is i would not use a seatbelt if there was not a rops or fops. otherwise you are asking to be pinned to a machine if it upsets. with no rops and no seatbelt at least you have a CHANCE to get off if it upsets. if you are belted in and it upsets.. and no rops.. you have MUCH less of a chance to get free in time to get off.

I'm not sure it makes a difference on what specific type of machine it is from ag to industrial.??? crushed is crushed?

I've rarely seen a machine actually upset but I have seen a few skid steers and wheel loaders that have gotten into a bucking situation that was enough to thrown the operator out of the seat. I look at what's most likely to happen and address that before i worry about the things that are down the list.

 

[Soundguy]

I've rarely seen a machine actually upset but I have seen a few skid steers and wheel loaders that have gotten into a bucking situation that was enough to thrown the operator out of the seat. I look at what's most likely to happen and address that before i worry about the things that are down the list.

I don't disagree with ya.. Having been on many flat open platform industrial machines I see it both ways. have operated plenty of rollers, articulating rollers and articulating pans with no rops and no seatbelts. on 2 occasions I was actually in a near rollover situation due to an embankment giving out ( pan, dropping dirt on a building pad ).. and on the roller, a void opened up along a WRA i was rolling ( vibratory roller ). was a but tightening feel in both cases. both machines were open platform. roller was a hyster or raygo.. can't recall. pan was an old deer. the roller self articulated as it started to fall down the slop after the void opened. I was literally slo mo surfing on the machine as it slid downt he very big wra. a dover operator in a 4h saw me.. and walked upt he side of the wra and stopped the slide, and allowed me to turn down to get to the floor, then i started aiming up and he walked me outta the wra as the roller had no hope of climbing out on it's own. on that one.. the machine had rolled 45' and the dirt clump it was pushing / riding was the only thing keeping it from going all the way. I was ready to jump to a side at any moment. on the pan. an embankment gave out leaving me listing about 30' with a full 13?cy bowl of dirt starting to drag the rear off as the embankment subsided. I chose to drive off the short end of the pad.. was only 13' tall, and about a 45' angle but felt real bad. belly of pan of course shaved off a good 3-4 of the edge of the pad.. and the dozer op on site was giving me dirty looks as he had to reform up the embankment. on that one... i was in a bad position. engine on the pan was to the right.. i was leaning left. i wound have had to crawl out over the engine and drive tire if it rolled. I probably would not have made it. seatbelt or no seatbelt.

had it had a fops and a seatbelt.. I'd have been much, much happier. MUCH happier.

 

[JasG]

my point is i would not use a seatbelt if there was not a rops or fops. otherwise you are asking to be pinned to a machine if it upsets. with no rops and no seatbelt at least you have a CHANCE to get off if it upsets. if you are belted in and it upsets.. and no rops.. you have MUCH less of a chance to get free in time to get off.

I'm not sure it makes a difference on what specific type of machine it is from ag to industrial.??? crushed is crushed?

That was what I was taught in a safety course many years ago.

Back when I was young and ignorant (13-14 years old) I ran a skidsteer very similar to the one in the picture of the OP. It was a deere I believe from the 1970's.

I would never run a skidsteer like that one again without ROPS or a seat belt. A good machine maybe depending on the application I would run. This one though was an old pile of junk. The levers had a very short range of motion. Every now and then it would get bouncing and tend to throw the operator back and forth. This would cause you to move the levers front to back and it would amplify the bouncing and I could see it flipping very easy. I had it happen once to me, I would still agree I'd rather not have the seat belt. We also used it to push load our manure spreader off an over hanging dock. Again if it went over the dock I would rather jump than be under it.

The farmer got a different one the 2nd year I worked for him. Much better one with ROPS and a seatbelt.