'Nother new guy here

[deepNdirt]

Hello Bud and welcome aboard, :welcome: I also bought my first yanmar about 9 months ago, actually it is my second tractor, the first being a Kubota,
I owned the kubota for 11 years, was a very dependable tractor, I hope our Yan's will give us the same service and dependability :thumbsup:
I to bought my Yanmar with no ROPS, and knew this would be the first thing I need do to the tractor, my wife Uncle was killed from a roll over and pinned under, so its kind of a must for me, I research purchasing a ROPS although as a poor-ol-sole could not afford the 800 the dealerships were charging, so I ventured out with ideas of building one myself, But during the off season of not using the tractor thru the winter months I thought this would be good time for building the ROPS.... so I started scavenging the salvage yards to find the materials to build it, Is when I came across a couple of Fork lifts that had Rops on them, I started taking some measurements and getting ideas on how to make one fit
the real incentive to give me the push to use this was when I found out I could buy the Rope for only the cost of steel weight, which I think was around 30 bucks what I paid for it plus a small amount of materials to convert to fit my tractor, it turned out be very strong and added some much needed weight to the rear of the tractor, approx 100 lbs. the way this forklift ROPS is made provides protection from overhead and also a platform to throw a shade over from working out in the Sun, the bad part is I built it a little to high and now it barely will fit through my 8 ft door with only 1/2 inch clearance :thumbsup:................
Now back to building your ROPS from scratch.. I search the web through for plans / Blueprints to build my own and none to be found, it looks like to me that if the Saftey police were so much concerned to us having a
"ROPS on our tractor" then someone would provide a aftermarket Blueprinted Plan so we could make them or at least take the Print to a certifide welder and have him make it up .......... and another thing! Not to say one would skimp on and build A weak ROPS ... but just how stout should one be built for a small Cut Tractor? Certainly no need as for a larger tractor 10 times its weight...........
as has been mentioned many times here before having some kind of ROPS is better than Not having one at all..... $800 for a factory built is not much when compared in terms of saving your life but people tend to put off the saftey aspect when they have no funds to buy, although I think if the price were down around 400-500 people would buy them instead of trying to build them and then everyone would be Safe & Happy:thumbsup:

 

[clemsonfor]

That guy that rolled the (i think green yanmar) tractor several weeks ago and posted his pics in the album i think had a homeade ROPS and it did not look like it deformed any, may just be luck or it was over built but he was fine. Cant remember his thread title but you had to link to his name to get the pics out of the yanmar album, then i put a link to the album in the thread to save a few clicks for others.

 

[Smoody]

making a ROPs isn't that difficult for a fabricator that knows what he is doing, just look at the design of a OSHA approved ROPs and build it better.

 

[kenmac]

As long as you want to be the test dummy. Go for it. It usually isn't the ROPS that fail. It's where the adverage person attaches the ROPS to the tractor not knowing if the attachment point is strong enough to withstand the forces. A good seat belt ( when used) is also a key player in the ROPS system. While I'm not an engineer, I would think that the roll bar of the system would be designed to give somewhat

 

[Smoody]

Kenmac i agree, but all things can fail, even the OSHA approved ones, likely no, possible yes. Just saying if I were to buy a ROPs for my yanmar and see how/where it was designed to attach, I got a list of locals that could build one to mount up exact if not better for less then half of that cost.

Would I do it? probably not, if I felt I needed one i would bite the bullet and buy it from a dealer.

Just pointing out that it IS possible to have a ROPs built that is safe, dealers want this board to think otherwise.

 

[Bud in WV]

Whee - didn't mean to open a can of worms here! Thanks for all the info, though! I'll put it to good use and BUY an approved ROPS and seatbelt.

Hey Smoody - what part of SC? I grew up in Florence.

 

[careyo63]

Bud
Motgomery I will be heading to our property in Nicholas Co. in a few. I had a Metal Shop price the cost of building Rop's at 1/3 of the cost and a guarentee of better quality than a UTDA sample. I just don't need them here in GA. my land is flat as a pancake and way to many tree's.We have owned the 8n since the early 50's in WV. without any. I'm keeping it all org. getting to be a rare model. Are they good Ins. to help prvent a roll over YES! IMO it won't take much to make your own just look at the way approved ones are made and mounted. Doubtful it will roll copletely over and if they break or something who do you have to blame. Wraping a Rope around the rear drive wheel to pull a post out is a poor example for a roll over but a good one for something not to do.

Carey

 

[YanmarFever]

And when you lend your tractor, or sell it to someone and they have an accident with your garage made rops , the lawyers will be circling around your house like sharks in a feeding frenzy !

That cad designed, engineered roll bar with the osha sticker will start to look cheap after the lawyers are done with you!

I own a fabrication shop - welding shop, and I still buy the osha approved roll bars, I guess I have to much to lose.....

Later

 

[deepNdirt]

And when you lend your tractor, or sell it to someone and they have an accident with your garage made rops , the lawyers will be circling around your house like sharks in a feeding frenzy !

That cad designed, engineered roll bar with the osha sticker will start to look cheap after the lawyers are done with you!

I own a fabrication shop - welding shop, and I still buy the osha approved roll bars, I guess I have to much to lose.....

Later

So who gets sued when you loan your tractor out without having a ROPS at all? and the person turns it over and cripples himself for the rest of his life..
you think his lawyer is going to give a call to simply apologize for his client having turned over and totally destroy the tractor Not! the liability still falls back in the hands of the owner of the tractor if with OSHA approved ROPS or Not
You talk as though OSHA is "fail proof", so as long as the sticker is on an item you will not be injured or not be sued, if people really think that they can put 100% of their faith into an OSHA approved equipment and think they cannot be injured then these folks have no business using equipment, on the flip side of this sticker reads Warning: can cause injury or death if altered or misused"
Really I'm not wishing to argue the point of safety, I think everyone should use safety precautions (((Always!))) but to be so narrowed minded to only think its got to be an OSHA ROPS or No ROPS ... only has one thinking Hmmm! maybe I should not own a tractor at all if it does not have a OSHA approved ROPS........ but all this set aside, Bud has already stated he is going to get a Factory built ROPS, this is good, But some of us like do have tractors but cannot afford 800 bucks "Factory built ROPS" we do what we got to do.....:thumbsup:

 

[Smoody]

I own a fabrication shop - welding shop, and I still buy the osha approved roll bars, I guess I have to much to lose.....

Later

aside from liabilities, are you telling me you could not build a ROPs similar if not better then the ones you sell?

we both already know the true answer.