(FOPS)FALLING OBJECT PROTECTIVE STRUCTURES

[SpringHollow]

One day, I was in my tractor sitting still when all of sudden clang!!! and a tree has crashed down the length of my tractor. The tree was about 15" in diameter. Fortunately, I had a FOPS and so there was just a small dent in the hood from a branch that was held mostly off by the FOPS. If I had just had a ROPS, the angle of the branch was such that it would have hit my head. It was perfectly calm at the time and I was sitting on a gravel road. A tree about 20' away snapped halfway up and fell on the tractor. A few days prior, we had 45 MPH winds and it did not fall. Go figure. Prior to this incident, the first thing I ever purchased for any used tractor I bought was a FOPS because I was worried about trees in the woods. I never expected something like this. I have had 2 post and 4 post FOPS. The 4 post was home made by the previous owner.

Ken

 

[Denwa]

Dennis the rear tires on my B21 have had ballast for over 10 years now. I used anti-freeze and water without tubes. It is a very doable thing for an owner to do. There is a special valve that you can buy for about $10 that has a hose fitting and a way to bleed off air as it is displaced by liquid. Napa, Tractor Supply and some tractor dealers sell them. I used a drill operated pump ($15) to pump in anti-freeze and the garden hose to add water. With the valve stem located at noon, when the liquid reaches the valve you have filled to the proper level. My one caution would be to use environmentally friendly anti-freeze. Regular anti-freeze does terrible things to animals if you ever get a leak.



My experience has been that ballast helps with all aspects of stability and traction. You can still move the tractor around with the backhoe. I jump ditches without problems. I suspect you will find that the tractor moves around much less as you gain more experience on the backhoe. Have never had any issues with the stabilizer bending or lifting the tractor so I feel they are plenty strong. As far as stumps go I think what you see is just the nature of the the beast. I have dug stumps with full size commercial backhoes that have caused problems. A small backhoe sure beats a shovel though.

MarkV

Mark,
Thanks for the input and reassurances. Guess I'll start looking to the bulk enviro friendly anti freeze thing. And, I'll keep torturing stumps.

Regards,
Dennis

 

[creekbend]

I haven't been following this thread closely but I don't believe you can legally call your canopy design a FOPS unless it is certified as such. That means at has to meet federal safety regs for the class of vehicles it's installed on. That generally means that you have to demostrate that it will take so many ft-lbs of energy from a falling object installed on the tractor without failing. Welding big chunks of steel to an existing certified ROPS doesn't make it a FOPS and it could invalidate the ROPS certification. Most people don't have the expertise and the money to design and certify these types of devices. That's why it's left to the manuafacturers of these vehicles. Google FOPS Regulations if you want to see what they are.
The other issue is using the equipment in a way that it was not designed to be used. Most FEL's I am fmiliar with come with warnings to not use the bucket to lift objects that can roll back on the operator( logs and large round bales etc.). Round bales should be hndled with spears or grapples and logs with forks or grapples. Why should a manufacturer issue those instructions and then provide a device to protect the operator if they violate the operating instructions? I'm talking Ag equipment now. Construction equipment has an entirely different operating scenario and different design philosophy. Whether that design philosophy should be adopted in the design of Ag equipment is another argument.


Then there's Murphy's Law. There will always be somebody that will find a way to hurt themselves with the very same safety technology that is supposed to protect them. I call this "Darwinism in Action".

Well done. The input was informative and thought provoking. Happy Tractoring.

 

[rustythread]

Henro:
As a newbie with the intent to work in the woods when I decide on a TLB, I've been reading up on various forums. A belated thanks for your documenting the build on the FOPS and hood shield. A welding course is on my list of things to do as soon as I can get retired from my day job; your example is another good reason to bump the welding course up toward the top.

 

[Ltcmikesr47]

I learned so much reading through these forms, it’s unbelievable knowledge out there!

 

[CliffordK]

I think most of the modern dozers would qualify for FOPS. Mine came to me with a cab, and almost every window was broken. So, perhaps a mesh over the windows would have been better.

The roof does have heavy sheet metal that could potentially be punctured, especially if it was used around steel high rise construction. But, an accident such as above with a tree falling across the machine would largely be safe.

 

[EdwardL]

Klein makes a digital angle gauge with a magnetic base that I've used to see the angle I've been on. Generally when you get to around 16 degrees, your close to rolling. I think the OSHA says 22 degrees, and the Army manuals say 20 degrees.

Spacers help. On my little Mahindra I was often reaching for a grab bar on it, until I put 2 in spacers on the rear and 1.3 in spacers on the front. Now I don't reach for it.

 

[rScotty]

My buddy and I were walking around his property last summmer when a tree - a big cottonwood - we had just walked past dropped a limb big enough to squash a person or small car.
There was no wind or warning, it just dropped.