Is the ROPS really needed?

[MHarryE]

No law requires you to keep your ROPS on. It's up to your judgement. In the accident investigation part of my job the first thing the covey of lawyers I was always with and I look for is ROPS integrity and seat belt usage. No ROPS, no seat belt used, no liability. Person with ROPS removed taught me a term I never saw up north - Oklahoma police report said the driver who was crushed was DRT. I asked a lawyer what that meant. He told me it was Oklahoman for Dead Right There. I have never seen that on any other fatal accident report.

 

[Scooby074]

Flat land, no loader, mower only... your pretty safe without the rops.

Any slopes, loader, ditches etc.. and things change. Ive had mine on 2 and 3 wheels more than once.

Issue is a BX is very heavy,, if anything goes wrong and you end up under it your dead.

As an aside, the Euro B is available without ROPS.

 

[Marauder92V]

Hello All. New to the forum, not new to farming though This thread caught my eye and I felt compelled to reply since I just laid my BX25 on its side.

I am an experienced, retired grain farmer from upstate NY and have driven everything from 8Ns through Steigers in my day. So, to say I was a little shocked to see my new "retirement home" tractor roll on me, was an understatement. Especially since I have never rolled anything in 45 years of farming.

What was even more amazing was the small amount of slope I was riding on and the fact a 6 inch hard clump of dirt on the uphill front wheel was all it took. I was lucky that I was moving slowly and the roll was slow enough for me to move these old bones fast enough to clear the tractor.

The ROPS was folded (just pulled it out from the garage) and I was unbuckled. My mistake(S)? Too much experience with heavier tractors that didn't translate to this small tractor, bad placement of the hoe and being an idiot with a capital "I".

My reason for joining the forum was to seek out some advice on how best to configure the tractor for the kind of yard work I want to do (mostly FEL). I will search the forum first and start a thread if I can't find what I am looking for. Thought I would share my experience. My gut tells me if that I was going faster, I would not have been able to get off the tractor. And take it from someone who lost friends farming, anything to put the odds in your favor is worth keeping on the tractor in my book.

 

[Shutesbury]

Thank you. Sobering advice.

 

[Crownvic55]

Hello All

I am new to the forum and new to having a farm. Well, it's really a lot of acres for a hobby. Here's my 20 cents worth.

Coming home on leave from Germany I got a chance to spend some time on our place we recently bought in Central MO for my retirement this year.
Our place is hilly with some terrace. After moving some rocks around (Missouri) with my front end loader I decided to take a slow lap around our place on the tractor. It was one of those great evenings about an hour before sunset. I have a Kubota 6800 that is very stable to me anyway. Well I learned three lessons in about .25 seconds this perfect evening.

As I moved along one of our very wide terraces about 4 feet extra on each side of the wheels going about the pace of a slow walk the terrace had about a 20 inch hole from erosion that could not be seen due to the tall grass. I didnt see it because I was dodging a locust tree branch covered in thorns. Well' the side to side jar I got was nothing spectacular except I lost my foot off the clutch in order to stop forward movment. I could have easily gone over and almost did since I could not get my foot back on the clutch pedal and brakes soon as I would have liked. (Short Legs)

Lesson one. There is no time to recover and jump off.
Lesson two. You may not see it coming. (Distraction)
Lesson Three for me but also off subject, so be kind and bear with me. The thing that got me was that I had my 4 year old Grandson with me. When I heard "Whoa Grandpa that was scary"
I decided I will never operate a tractor without ROPS or with another person on the vehicle. We shut down, got off and made the long walk to supper together. That was a long walk of shame for me for what may have been.
Glad I learned these 3 lessons without tragedy this one time.

I lost a lot of sleep that night. I will never take the rops off. Hope you keep it on. You can grow another peach.

A little preachy I know but...Good Post great responses by all.

Crownvic

 

[Lostalot]

For me I left the ROPS on and put the finishing mower out the back so I tuck it under the branches backwards, you just don't get enough time when things go "teats up" in a roll over....regards

 

[Redneck in training]

ROPs can be dangerous too. Well it is not ROPs it is inexperience. Our property is not only hilly but also has lot of scattered trees. When we got our new tractor my wife was bush hogging under the trees when the ROP hit a pretty thick branch and the tractor did a "wheelie" almost tipping back wards. I think it was the bush hog that stopped the motion.
Would I take ROPs off? Sure. Use common sense. It is you who takes the risk.

 

[OrangeRidge]

As an aside, the Euro B is available without ROPS.

............ but with a rear-view mirror in France ......

 

[ccsial]

It's hard for those killed to raise their hands.

YMMV

Ken

Does that mean the ROPS does not save lives?

 

[teg]

If you have a FEL (and/or BH) you would be nuts NOT to have the ROPS... but the OP doesn't have those (also he removed the 3ph linkage, IIRC) and is just using it as a lawn mower... just so we are comparing Orange to Oranges.

Working and having riders is a no-no in my book. Driving them around on the lawn, shoot even letting them drive it themselves, in a controlled area, is fine by me. BTDT. But not when you are working...

On Edit... after re-reading this, seems I forgot to mention that I'm stepping off the soap box.

.

 

[k0ua]

Well everyone has an opinion. Here is mine.. Prune the stupid trees, keep the ROPS on. I have never turned over a tractor yet, I am on my 5th one in over 20 years. BUT, I have come close a couple of times. Yes this was with a loader and not mowing on flat ground. I have turned over a lawn tractor on my self (flipped over backward, uphill and hit a rock).. It happens almost instantly. I just threw the little tractor off of me. You can throw a lot off of you when you are full of adrenalin. But I don't think you are going to throw a BX off of you. I think you are going to be squished. Good luck in your decision, but again I say prune the trees, and keep the ROPS, stuff happens.

James K0UA

 

[Scooby074]

............ but with a rear-view mirror in France ......

:thumbsup:

 

[Ken45101]

Does that mean the ROPS does not save lives?

No, I meant it the other way: those who have been killed without ROPS can't raise their hands.

I have a friend who was an asst. fire chief in a semi rural area. He has responded to too many rollover fatalities.

The best safety 'equipment' is using one's equipment in a way that doesn't ever put you in a situation that any form of ROPS is necessary.

How will we ever know that for sure? Keep the tractor in the barn and never start it? How much of a hill is too much? Kubota doesn't put safe operating slopes in the manuals. Not all of us have farms that are table top flat. As mentioned, a hidden rut on the downhill side or a clump of dirt on the uphill side can make a sudden, critical difference.

The first year here, my neck was stiff for two weeks after I bushhogged about 8 acres by backing down the steeper hills. Now I feel more confident but I never know if there will be a hidden rut or clump of dirt.

Even slightly low air pressure in a tire can make the difference.

Ken

 

[tractchores]

I personally would get a folding rops. Even folded it offers some protection. The problem isn't mowing, but when you do something else without putting it back on because it's too much work. Roll overs can happen in an instant in the safest looking circumstances. I've had a few close calls with wheels off the ground and would never take off my rops. It's just not worth it.

 

[ccsial]

You really can't ask anyone to advise you on this issue since they don't know the lay of your land and what your mowing.

I would say that since you will be using only as a riding mower you may not need the ROPS, but that depends on if you have hills or dangerous areas to mow.

I have a JD X748SE that I use for mowing my smaller yard, about 2 acres. It did not come with a ROPS. I guess JD does not consider a ROPS necessary for riding mowers. I'm sure they have a large staff of lawyers and really deep pockets so if they don't think a ROPS is required for a mower.....

 

[Ken45101]

You really can't ask anyone to advise you on this issue since they don't know the lay of your land and what your mowing.

You are right about that.

I would say that since you will be using only as a riding mower you may not need the ROPS, but that depends on if you have hills or dangerous areas to mow.

^^^ What he said. In OUR yard, I want ROPS for mowing. I used to use a B2710. Now a ZD23 zero turn. Both have a ROPS and I wouldn't do otherwise in our yard.

OTOH, at our previous place, 10 acres of table top flat land, a ROPS probably wasn't needed.

Ken

 

[BroBro]

Just remember :
You can skydive without a parachute ONCE !!!!!!

 

[soulasphil]

Trees and rops really don't get on well. Repairing granite arches over my barn doors costs a fortune. So my ROPS stays folded most of the time, except when it interferes with some implements or when I seek protection from falling limbs.

 

[Big Wave D]

How will we ever know that for sure? Keep the tractor in the barn and never start it? How much of a hill is too much? Kubota doesn't put safe operating slopes in the manuals. Not all of us have farms that are table top flat. As mentioned, a hidden rut on the downhill side or a clump of dirt on the uphill side can make a sudden, critical difference.Ken

You are correct. To be TOTALLY safe, park it, and never venture forth, and yes, we cannot foresee all possible scenarios.

What's the say, "Bad things happen to good people."

What I am talking about is when you are doing something that is sounding that alarm in the back of your head that says "maybe this isn't the brightest/smartest/safest way to try and do this". All the while, you are experiencing some pucker factor while attempting to do whatever. Continually ignoring that inner preservation system and you will get to see how well your ROPS and seat-belt work.

When your time is up, it's up. No amount of safety equipment is going to save you. If the 'perfect storm' strikes, those doing the investigation will say that they've never seen anything like it ever before.

 

[Scooby074]

That picture of the Deere illustrates a HUGE problem with the BX folding Rops.... It Doesnt fold down flat behind the tractor!!! The darn thing sticks out like 3' behind the tractor.. Its a huge PITA I'm thinking about modifying the hinge to make it fold flat like it should.