Folding ropes..

[CurlyDave]

And what is your point?? He is not modifying the attaching point, or how the ROPS is attached to the tractor.

Well, I will make the point that the story proves that unexpected and unforeseen things can happen when a ROPS is modified. No one other than the engineer who designed the ROPS in the story would have believed the failure could have occurred.

In the same way, I think it is foolish to do a home-made modification of this ROPS. If you want a folding one, you can buy that at a dealer. Sure this one looks plenty strong, but a lot of things that look strong have unexpected failure modes. I sure wouldn't drive a tractor with a home-made ROPS.

And despite great temptation, I have not modified the ROPS/FOPS on my tractor. In fact, I won't even attach anything metal to it with a nylon wire tie. If you roll over and a fire extinguisher causes the metal post to buckle because it got trapped somehow you end up dead.

"I did a good job", "it looked stronger than the original", etc., do not trump dead.

 

[jd2305cd]

You guys are a trip! Its not magic, it's STEEL. Not even harden steel, just regular old steel.. People have been making roll cages for a hundred years, its nothing new.

I am sure you guys all get in a car and buckle up, even in the back seat? Or never go over the speed limit? You are 1,000,000 times more likely to get killed by a drunk driver than killed by rolling your tractor over.

 

[jd2305cd]

My point is,,,He is in fact modifying the ROPS with a folding attachment that wasn't added by or approved & tested by any manufacture or testing agency... From what I've been told by people that have had ROPS devloped & OSHA tested , that ROPS aren't made from regular grade steel. They have also been tested in a roll over situation by mechanical means. IE, Not tested by a real live person being tossed around by a 3000 - 5000, LB etc,,,,,Tractor to see what happens...Will it work ?? I have no idea... Would I bet my life ??...Not a chance !!.... Hey, he's grown & it's his life .. Like I said ....... Good luck

Have you checked the torque on the bolts of your rops since you got your tractor? How do you know it wasn't made on a Friday when some worker was only thinking about his happy hour beer! Or that the steel tube that was made in china was made from inferior metals or too much of a certain alloy was added and screwed up the batch..

Its not magic, its a big steel tube, bent into a giant U... Nothing more..

 

[jd2305cd]

Heading to the geeerage to work on my Magic "steel" force field..

 

[WilliamBos]

Heading to the geeerage to work on my Magic "steel" force field..

Same here. And once we are done our home made roof, I will post pics for all to see, and they can flame all they want about the magic steel, and how it was modded!!

 

[cowboy357]

Once again its Nice to see the Safety Police on their toes looks like a good plan to Me to take care of the Problem Your facing . But Then again I,m no Engineer .

But After all it is YOUR Tractor , Looking Forward to see how it Works out for You . I Dont even have a ROPS on either of Mine & Really Wished I did at times , Just haven,t figured out how to build one Yet Due to very Limited places to Mount it to . So I Find it an interesting thread , Thanks & Best of luck. Bob

 

[LBrown59]

I would change the door not the Ropes - er ROPS

 

[LBrown59]

This will not be received well, but I think it looks terrible-just being honest here. Those hinges look very weak for the intended application.

You should of at least copied the way JD does it on theirs to make it more professional looking and not just welded on some cheap barn door hinges.

Flame suit on...

I still wouda changed the door not the roll bar.

 

[jd2305cd]

Update...

So I was able to finish up the brackets today, then started to tackle the issue I created. When you cut the bar they have a bit of spring to them. So the were about an inch wider than the post.

To fix this I had to cut about an inch out of the top of the bar as well. I was going to just use some of the same bracing i used to the hing brackets. But found this 1 1/2 in steel bar. fits perfectly inside the tube. So now i can weld, grind it down and you should barely even tell i did anything to it.

Brackets welded on:

Still need to weld it..

The dogs:

Up close:

Test Fit:

The roll bar goes all the way down in the bracket untill the hing and the bottom one comes all the way up to the top of the hing.. That's the stopping point for the day....

 

[LBrown59]

Just a guess!
I think his point is that modifying the Rops could/ might be considered a fools errand by some. Yes, you are all a very smart bunch of fellows, but do any of you really have a clue as to whether or not this modification will fail?
*Some things hardly seem worth the risk.

*not worth it to me.