RTV ROPS - beware

[Diggin It]

I would not be surprised if the ROPS is designed for limited dynamic loading, meaning it could probably take a couple simple rolls, but if this RTV rolled 4+ times on the way to the bottom of a big hill, that is a lot of speed/energy building up. It's clear the lower frame bent too, and that tells us this wasn't a gentle flop. So it may have been beyond what the ROPS is meant to handle.

Yeah, I was trying to figure out how to word it. They may be designed to handle a single roll to the side on onto the top, or prevent a full roll. But once gravity takes over downhill, each roll would be more aggressive with more velocity. The force of the second or third roll while already in motion would be beyond design.

But the metal still seems awfully thin in what we can see in the pictures.

But hey, lets blame the manufacturer.

Nobody said that. We want them to see it to help them understand what's possible and maybe make changes.

 

[riptides]

Frame cracked too...I say all bets are off with the ROPS.

Yeah, I would send info to Kubota. You never know, they could engineer the heck out of a future ROPS and the accident you had may save someone else in the future.

 

[stevewarner1957]

Kubota should want to look at this failure. I look at the front passenger side post failure and wonder if the welding process didn't create a stress riser that caused the tubing to break clean at the level of the weld. The cracked frame appears to indicate the ROPS transferred the load to the frame as designed causing the fracture. Just my observations

 

[ruffdog]

In the end, the person didn't get hurt or killed so people can live and learn to see tomorrow.

 

[BleedingOrange]

A question for the OP. Is the vehicle insured ?

 

[PuffyC]

Seems Kubota did the bare minimum to meet some spec. That metal was so thin I wouldn't expect it to do much of anything.

 

[bdog]

It is insured against theft but not sure if the policy covers an accident or not.

A question for the OP. Is the vehicle insured ?

 

[ruffdog]

The kinetic energy of the 2000lb RTV going 10mph at the time of impact (while flipping) is over 9000 lbs.

(It only takes a free fall of 3.3ft to achieve a 10mph velocity.)

Depending on the actual speed and angle of hit(s) the ROPS took, it is not surprising the damage the RTV sustained.

The extent of the damage to the frame emphasizes the force induced into the structure.

 

[Little Red Tractor]

My classroom currently overlooks a construction project on campus. The rental telehandler they are using has the same type.

First, let me say I am sorry that happened and am glad no serious injury resulted. Hopefully, that will help us all be more careful. How old is the unit...was the steel pre or post covid? Structural integrity of a rops should be better...not like designed collapse on front end impacts. Yikes!

Warning, attepted humor follows; continue reading at your own risk. Using the reactionary approach, Kubota needs to be out of business. At the very least we need to require 30 hours of classroom training and licensure before allowing operation of these devices. Also, annual retraining. Before all of that we will need a committee to study it and confirm my solutions as vitally important. To prevent rollovers in the future we need to have out riggers attached to all off-road vehicles. Or would that be cultural appropriation? We'll form another committee to study that.

Love the humor--you surely must be, or have once been--a government worker; likely at policy-making level.

 

[6string]

They are not, really just a place to attach a roof.

I have seen Kawasaki‘s fold up like that too. The wall thickness on the tubing is closer to exhaust tubing than what is used for roll cages, made from DOM mild steel.

I have a 4010 Mule and you can tell the ROPS material is not very thick. As heavy as the 1140 is, one would assume(wrongly of course)that the ROPS to be made of thicker stuff.