Rock 'n Rolling ROPS

[Mike_Dumond]

Re: Rock \'n Rolling ROPS

Sorry to hear about your ROPS, but I had to chuckle when I found out you were planting Poplars. (We call them popples up here). I spent the summer removing about a thousand of them. If I had known, I could have shipped them to you. Wonder if UPS or Fedex would ship 80 foot trees?

Keep the greasy side down.
Mike

 

[hayden]

Re: Rock \'n Rolling ROPS

Boy, I cut them down every chance I get. They're regular weeds where I am. Very often the first generation of trees to dominate a field that is left to grow back. Then they die and the hardwoods take over. Birch often plays a similar role.

 

[PaulT]

Re: Rock \'n Rolling ROPS

Don,

I am one of the 2710 owners with the same problem who posted a while back. I have a foldable ROPS, but I believe the problem is the same. In the end, I determined that the tolerances between the reinforcing plate inside the top ROPS section and the outside of the bottom ROPS section were to large. My remedy was to use some flixible magnet material - like what removable car door signs are made of, or promotional fridge magnets (I used red cross promo magnets about 2 inches around, 1/16 inch thick) I put one on each side until the top ROPS would just fit over the bottom ROPS, then I got out my BIG wrenches and my BIG torque wrench and tightened the bolts to 120 ft lbs. That is REALLY tight! Its also the spec (maybe its 112, but its in that neighborhood). THis sort of crimped the whole thing together and now it does not move at all. I don't plan on removing anything, so thats OK. Just be sure the lights are where you want them, otherwise you'll have to fight those bolts you just tightened so much/w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif. BTW - this is one of the few problems that didn't yield a satisfactory answer from the board, so I figure there are very few of us with this problem.

PaulT

 

[Don_Curley]

Re: Rock \'n Rolling ROPS

Paul,

After a couple of tries of searching the archives, I found your thread back in the May timeframe on this subject last night. This prompted me to call the service manager at my Kubota dealer about the issue. Here is his response ... he said that for many models and years of past Kubota tractors, that the ROPS connection at the subframe and ROPS itself was very tight. It was apparently so tight, that when certain specific service and repair operations required the removal of the ROPS, it was almost impossible for Kubota service personnel to get the two parts separated. When BFH's didn't work, he said that they would use a forklift to forcibly remove the upper ROPS loop (sometimes lifting the rear of the tractor in the process). Apparently, enough Kubota service personnel complained about this condition over the years, Kubota initiated a design change that purposely provided more slop at the interconnection. Good news ... the ROPS was routinely more easy to separate for their service personnel. The bad news ... now a lot more play allowed the ROPS to pivot and lurch back and forth when bumpy conditions were encountered. At this point, he said that almost everyone notices the problem and complains about it. Furthermore, Kubota service personnel are again (ironically) complaining to Kubota that they went too far in this "improvement". He says that this problem is extremely common. When I asked about putting shims or rubber in the excessive space between the parts, he said they (and other owners) had tried a number of things. Rubber did not work out, because it just worked itself back out due to the constant motion. From what he said, shims seem to work better.

Frankly, your solution of using flexible magnetic material sounds great. I am either going to try that or some form of metal shims and then gronk down on the ROPS bolts to the higher torque setting you mentioned. With a metal canopy bolted to my ROPS, I am simply NOT going to allow the whole ROPS structure to beat itself to death ... independent of whatever design approach Kubota has decided to take in this regard. Thanks much for your input and ideas Paul.

Don