RTV ROPS - beware

   / RTV ROPS - beware #44  
The way I read "between the lines" about the accident is......I rolled my modified RTV off basically a cliff , and its open cab was destroyed, ....I now want to blame Kubota for it not surviving . (Of note though, surprisingly it started and drove still after multiple rollover)
 
   / RTV ROPS - beware
  • Thread Starter
#45  
It wasn’t a cliff. The trail it was onwe created with a dozer last week. The Kubota drove down it two times before flipping on the third. The slope wasn’t straight down it had a slight sideways tilt to it. I think what happened is a front tire fell into a small hole and the rear end starting coming around and that was it.

I certainly don’t think the machine should escape something like this unscathed but I would expect a rops to hold up better. The driver got up and worked the rest of the day. If he would have been belted in I bet he would still be in the hospital or dead.

Attached are some more pictures. The roof tore off some more due to the wind in the drive home.
 

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   / RTV ROPS - beware #46  
It wasn’t a cliff. The trail it was onwe created with a dozer last week. The Kubota drove down it two times before flipping on the third. The slope wasn’t straight down it had a slight sideways tilt to it. I think what happened is a front tire fell into a small hole and the rear end starting coming around and that was it.

I certainly don’t think the machine should escape something like this unscathed but I would expect a rops to hold up better. The driver got up and worked the rest of the day. If he would have been belted in I bet he would still be in the hospital or dead.

Attached are some more pictures. The roof tore off some more due to the wind in the drive home.
I'm no metallurgist, but it sure looks the wall thickness on the ROPS tubing is thin (less the 1/8th)
It looks like the wall thickness on my Gator's ROPS is around 3/16" (.187") thick
 
   / RTV ROPS - beware
  • Thread Starter
#47  
I wouldn’t really call it modified either. It had a sun shade canopy and the tweels both were added by the dealer at the time of purchase. Modified to me would be if we had a lift kit or welded something on to or drilled holes in the rops. We did not. The canopy was clamped on.
 
   / RTV ROPS - beware
  • Thread Starter
#48  
It is very thin. To me it looks about like 14ga.
 
   / RTV ROPS - beware #49  
   / RTV ROPS - beware #50  
...also, the standards for tractors are different than the ones for UTVs.
 
 
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