Mounting work lights on the ROPS

Red_rider · Aug 27, 2004

Working my "paying" job until 5PM each day gives me a late start on getting the "real work" done with the tractor. The daylight is fading earlier each day /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif, but the work is still there. I want to mount a couple of work lights on the ROPS to improve visibility after the sun sets. Anyone out there have any advice on placement and type of light to use?

SHIFTY · Aug 28, 2004

Another option is to purchase a canopy,The canopy will mount to the ROPS with clamps and you could mount your lights to the steel square tubing which is under the canopy and that way you wont risk chance of weakning the ROPS with drilling or welding tabs to it. I have seen lights secured to the ROPS with self taping screws

sassafraspete · Aug 28, 2004

I bought my tractor last Dec and was in the same boat as you...getting home after dark and needing to clean snow off the drive , needed better lights than the headlights. My solution was quick and dirty. What I did was get a couple of 55w fog lights. I assume your rops is the same as mine...it had 2 tapped spacers welded on the outside of the upper part of the rops (these are already there, so no drilling) . Anyway, I found a couple of bolts that fit those tapped spacers and just mounted the lights to those. Starting on the left side , ground one wire of the light to the mounting bolt, then splice wire on the second wire and run up across the rops to the right side to the second light (use wire ties to secure to rops). On the second light, ground one wire to the mounting bolt and splice the second into the wire from the first light and then run that wire down the right side of rops. I bought a small plastic junction box at Lowes and a waterproof toggle switch. I mounted the junction box to the panel directly behind the right side of the seat (using an exsisting screw) and mounted the toggle switch to the junction box. To get power to the switch, I ran a wire out of the junction box to the piglet that you already have on the branson directly behind the seat. (need a tester to find out which wire is hot). Anyhow, that took me about 45 minutes to do. My only issue is having the lights outside of the rops which will take a beating if you go thru low hanging limbs, however if you are out in the open....no problem. I admit, this is quick and dirty, and not elegant, but works fine for me. Also, I did not drill or put any new holes in the tractor....plus by using the piglet already there, I am tapped into the fuse box.

Red_rider · Aug 28, 2004

I thought about mounting mine on the spacers, but low-hanging limbs are a common thing on my property. I was thinking about making some sort of clamp/mounting bracket that would fit around the top of the ROPS and mount the lights under the top part of the bar. Also thought about welding spacers similar to the ones on the side to the underside of the top bar.

Of course I want to do this as easy as possible, but not so shoddy that the lights will fall off from the normal use and vibration of the tractor. I assume the piglet you are referring to is the one directly under the SLM emblem.

The lights I plan to use are 55 watt, trapezoid beam. Would like to mount them so I spin them 180 degrees and use them for FEL work as well as BH (plan to purchase in Nov.) work.

sassafraspete · Aug 29, 2004

Yes, I think fashion a couple brackets out of aluminum that you can clamp/bolt to the top of your rops would be good for hanging the light inside the rops. I intended to do that, however what I have now seems to be working ok for me. If I do hit the light with some brush, it just swivels back and all I have to do is reposition it.

Here is a picture of one of my lights positioned on the spacer.

sassafraspete

sassafraspete · Aug 29, 2004

Here's a picture of the junction box with waterproof toggle switch. It is made of heavy plastic or fiberglass, not sure which. I just drilled a hole in the back of the box, and used an exsisting screw from the panel behind the seat to mount the box.

sassafraspete · Aug 29, 2004

Here's a close up of the wire from the junction box being plugged into the pigtail that is below the slow moving vehicle sign...so probably a foot and half of wire from box to pigtail. Just fashioned a connector that would plug into the hot lead.

hope this helps....was quick and easy and worked for me.

Bob_Skurka · Aug 29, 2004

I also mounted my lights under the ROPS for protection from branches. I took a piece of angle iron and epoxied it on the back of the ROPS so that it gave me a flat surface to drill into. By using marine epoxy I avoided the possibility of voiding my warrenty that would have occured if I had drilled or welded the ROPS. The epoxy has a 5000# shear strength and is weatherproof. I stripped the paint off the ROPS before I epoxied the angle iron bracket onto to ROPS so that it would have a clean surface to bond to.

If you go to the PHOTOS section of TBN you can look at my photo gallery and you will see a picture of the lights I hung under the ROPS.

Also there is a thread that showed what I did if you want to run a search for it. It is from last summer.

Red_rider · Aug 30, 2004

Looks like a better solution than the brackets I planned to fabricate. Guess I didn't realize the warranty issues of welding something to the ROPS. Thanks to all for the input/ideas. As usual, it is always best to seek input from others. There is almost always someone out there that has come up with the solution to any tractor problem. Guess the only limitation to the number of lights is the capacity of the charging system.

Bob_Skurka · Aug 30, 2004

I mounted 4 lights, but used 35watt PIAA brand fog lights becuase I didn't want to overtax the electrical system. I also have a factory supplied 55watt rear facing aux light on the rear bumper. When using the rear facing lights, I light up the 2 rear lights on the ROPS plus the factory rear aux light. When mowing in the evenings, I use the front facing 2 lights on the ROPS. You can draw down your battery if your alternator isn't up to the task of recharging the system. So under the worst situation, I run 3 lights (1x55 watts + 2x35 watts).

As far as warrenty, there is debate to drilling & welding the ROPS. Generally put, some people don't care, others are totally **** about it. I live on hills so I didn't want to risk anything. There is also a future liability issue, again some don't care, others are **** about it. But in theory, if you weld or drill your ROPS, and someone else is using your tractor, or you sell your tractor, and they are injured, then they can sue you.

What I do know for fact is that the ONE TIME that I almost flipped my tractor it was when I was using the FEL and working on flat smooth asphalt and not even messing with the hills. So I guess NOW it would be safe to say that I fall into the **** category of drilling & welding. Before my near roll, I would have been an advocate of not drilling or welding, but that was because of my fear of rolling on the hills. When I learned that tractors can be just as dangerous on FLAT land is when I decided that I would not risk my life or my family's future just because it would be easier to drill into my ROPS. JMHO.

The angle iron I used was about 20" long and I got it for free. The 2 part marine epoxy cost me about $6 or $7. A can of black spray paint set me back about $3. The epoxy took overnight to set up. So for my efforts, I spent about $10, and I clamped the angle iron ot the ROPS one evening, hung the lights the next day. Not too much expense or grief to eliminate the warrenty & liability issues and to keep my piece of mind.