hawkeye08
Elite Member
I wonder if you could bolt a 5gal bucket on the autoROPS and use it to launch pumpkins?
Do ROPS' work when UP? Do they work when folded?
- Thread starter beppington
- Start date
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I wonder if you could bolt a 5gal bucket on the autoROPS and use it to launch pumpkins?
Danno1
Veteran Member
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That's been on a Porcsh/BMW/Audi??? convertable for a few years now.
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That's been on a Porcsh/BMW/Audi??? convertable for a few years now.
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LostInTheWoods
Platinum Member
WOW! I don't think I have ever seen such a bizare back-and-forth on TBN. Which, naturally, draws me into the fray
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I hadn't even looked at this post until today because it seems pretty starightforward..."Do they work when folded?". No. End of story. About three posts, and case closed.
Then I glanced at the number of posts in this thread. HOLY CRAP! What could they possibly be discussing?!?
So, do they provide some protection when folded. Sure. Wholly inadequate protection, but protection nonetheless. Three walls of a square cage would provide some protection from wild mountain gorillas...
I'm no genius, and I'm no engineer. But the physics isn't too hard even for me to understand. Arguing about who's right or wrong based on absolutes seems silly to me, but I've probably been guilty of dumber things in my life.
I feel supremely confident that ROPS up and seatbelts on is the way to go. I do not see how anyone could justify not using them and not recommending to others using them this way. If the environment around you doesn't allow you to use the ROPS as intended, then alter the environment instead of lowering your ROPS.
I would almost pay the 700 bucks for an autoROPS that launched pumpkins, however:laughing:. Especially if it could accurately target mountain gorillas.
.I hadn't even looked at this post until today because it seems pretty starightforward..."Do they work when folded?". No. End of story. About three posts, and case closed.
Then I glanced at the number of posts in this thread. HOLY CRAP! What could they possibly be discussing?!?
So, do they provide some protection when folded. Sure. Wholly inadequate protection, but protection nonetheless. Three walls of a square cage would provide some protection from wild mountain gorillas...
I'm no genius, and I'm no engineer. But the physics isn't too hard even for me to understand. Arguing about who's right or wrong based on absolutes seems silly to me, but I've probably been guilty of dumber things in my life.
I feel supremely confident that ROPS up and seatbelts on is the way to go. I do not see how anyone could justify not using them and not recommending to others using them this way. If the environment around you doesn't allow you to use the ROPS as intended, then alter the environment instead of lowering your ROPS.
I would almost pay the 700 bucks for an autoROPS that launched pumpkins, however:laughing:. Especially if it could accurately target mountain gorillas.
hawkeye08
Elite Member
Get a load of pumpkins in the FEL bucket and have an ammo supply for just those cases.
Practical use, if the ROPs up and down was a simple push button, would more folks that have to fold down to get into garage put them up when they come out of the garage? Maybe a sensor on the ROPs could detect before it wacks the door or header and sound an alarm?
I know that if I had to put mine up and down every time I got the tractor out, it would get old fast.
Dr_Zinj
Veteran Member
A ROPS is a tool. Now I've always been told from my high school shop teacher all the way up to the department foreman that if you're using a tool the way it was intended, it's a safe tool. If you're not, then your tool isn't safe. So if your ROPS isn't up and you're using your tractor, you're not safe.
And arguments that a folded down ROPS provides X% protection is just another form of absurd reasoning. 50% crush protection is still likely to be 100% dead.
Roll overs are bad. I've got places on my property where I break out in a sweat just thinking about it. But a deployed ROPS also protects during flip backs; which usually happen a lot faster than a rollover.
And arguments that a folded down ROPS provides X% protection is just another form of absurd reasoning. 50% crush protection is still likely to be 100% dead.
Roll overs are bad. I've got places on my property where I break out in a sweat just thinking about it. But a deployed ROPS also protects during flip backs; which usually happen a lot faster than a rollover.
Dr_Zinj
Veteran Member
I spent a day at the Deerfield Fair this weekend and looked at all the various tractors there: Massey Ferguson, John Deere, New Holland, Bobcat, Kubota, etc.
I checked out every one of their hinged ROPS, and the hinge point is too low to have the uprights provide any protection during a roll over with the top hinged down. In all cases, the tractor is going to rest on the seat pan.
'Nuff said?
I checked out every one of their hinged ROPS, and the hinge point is too low to have the uprights provide any protection during a roll over with the top hinged down. In all cases, the tractor is going to rest on the seat pan.
'Nuff said?
OP
beppington
Elite Member
jml755
Silver Member
Neat .pdf you referenced. But....... there is a limit switch that signals when the ROPS is raised and the author cites it as a trouble point in the system prototype. So, how many tractors with these would have them bypassed the first time it doesn't work? You can't legislate against human nature.
Heck the neutral safety switch is bypassed on the Ford 3600 I recently bought and I see seats tied down all the time to defeat the seat switches. All this auto-ROPS would do is increase the cost of a tractor and be another government intrusion on our daily lives. Remember the days of the automatic seatbelts in cars?
Interesting discussion,though. And I only saw one poster who could attest first hand about a rollover. Plus, I wouldn't be smiling while the tractor is rolling over thinking I'm safe with a ROPS. A rollover COULD be a violent, unpredictable event over uneven terrain, strewn with rocks, logs or other stuff that kicks up and whacks you in the head. Heck, the muffler could snap off and burn you or kill you.
In any case, you're safer with a ROPS and seatbelt, but there is no substitute for careful safe operation in the first place, no matter how many safeguards the government mandates.
Heck the neutral safety switch is bypassed on the Ford 3600 I recently bought and I see seats tied down all the time to defeat the seat switches. All this auto-ROPS would do is increase the cost of a tractor and be another government intrusion on our daily lives. Remember the days of the automatic seatbelts in cars?
Interesting discussion,though. And I only saw one poster who could attest first hand about a rollover. Plus, I wouldn't be smiling while the tractor is rolling over thinking I'm safe with a ROPS. A rollover COULD be a violent, unpredictable event over uneven terrain, strewn with rocks, logs or other stuff that kicks up and whacks you in the head. Heck, the muffler could snap off and burn you or kill you.
In any case, you're safer with a ROPS and seatbelt, but there is no substitute for careful safe operation in the first place, no matter how many safeguards the government mandates.
OP
beppington
Elite Member
I just noticed that Kubota's Grand L brochure says "For your safety, KUBOTA strongly recommends the use of a Rollover Protective Structure (ROPS) and seat belt in almost all applications."
Just about as vague as my manual's "Fold the ROPS down only when absolutely necessary and fold it up and lock it again as soon as possible."
Vague as in: Wonder what applications Kubota thinks it's OK to not use the ROPS and/ or seatbelt.
Just about as vague as my manual's "Fold the ROPS down only when absolutely necessary and fold it up and lock it again as soon as possible."
Vague as in: Wonder what applications Kubota thinks it's OK to not use the ROPS and/ or seatbelt.