Thinking of building a ROP for my tractor

[bpattie]

Go for it DeepNDirt. Beside the safety improvement they make a nice thing to attach things to for carrying, lights, etc.

 

[GE222]

For those in need of a ROPS. Buying from the manufacturer is usually the best way to go if possible. They have been tested and have a safety rating. Also almost every manufacturer sells them at their cost to minimize their liability.

 

[deepNdirt]

For those in need of a ROPS. Buying from the manufacturer is usually the best way to go if possible. They have been tested and have a safety rating. Also almost every manufacturer sells them at their cost to minimize their liability.

Thanks for the advice, and as much as I would like to yeild to your advice, 600 bucks just isn't in my budget at the time, I do need to start using the tractor,and in need of a ROPS , besides I already have the materials to build one just laying around, probably have a total cost of 100 in it when completed

 

[kennyd]

Thanks for the advice, and as much as I would like to yeild to your advice, 600 bucks just isn't in my budget at the time, I do need to start using the tractor,and in need of a ROPS , besides I already have the materials to build one just laying around, probably have a total cost of 100 in it when completed

Your plan looks great-but I have one question...Does your machine have a seatbelt? If not then the the ROPS won't do you much good.

 

[schmism]

something is better than nothing.

mitered is ok, but if it was me id have something bent up out of some DOM. 2" if the guys had the dies but likely only have 1.5 or 1.75. id go 2ply if it was 1.5.

 

[dex3361]

Actually, I was referring to DeepNdirt's design, but yours looked plenty stout for the 424. I am certain you could pick up my tractor as well by the Rops and not do any damage.

My narrow focused mistake.

 

[deepNdirt]

something is better than nothing.

Kind of the way I look at it.... although never really thought much about a seatbelt I suppose having one might be of some safety but doubt that i would use it, lot of times when I had the kubota and would be bushhoging 3-4 ft tall field grass I would stand up to watch over the hood to see where i was going or watch out for stumps etc, I also used to do quite a lot of bushhoging in woods thining of undergrownth and would need to moved a bit one way or the other on the seat to dodge thorns, I mean I can think of many reasons to not wear a safety belt, But only just 1 reason to actually wear it, ((( Safety of a potential injury ))) so I may go ahead and install a seatbelt for same circumstances as to having a ROPS
I actually never think about Rolling the tractor over while I'm using it,but then again who ever does? it does however give peace of mind knowing one is there just in case

 

[bpattie]

Kind of the way I look at it.... although never really thought much about a seatbelt

I never had a tractor with a seat belt until this Spring. It is hard getting used to it but have found it much like in a car. once you start it becomes habit. I questioned the Seat belt/ROPS combination myself a few months ago. The replies were basically that without ROPS, no seat belt and if rollover happened you bail. With the ROPS wear the seatbelt and trust that with the seatbelt keeping you in place the ROPS will protect you. With the second option being a more reliable process, since there are many things that can happen to make bailing harder to do SUCCESSFULLY.

 

[2manyrocks]

How do you plan to mount this rollbar to your tractor? I've got a YM226D and the factory mount doesn't look too easy to duplicate. Yours may be easier. I remember seeing a homebuilt ROPS failure in the safety thread a year or two ago where the ROPS was fine, but the castings on the tractor broke when the tractor was being used to pull a post. Seems like a kid got killed right in front of his Grandfather who had built the ROPS if I remember it right.

 

[deepNdirt]

Well At last! I have a ROPS on the Yanmar, Not exactly something you would see everyday on a Cut tractor, But I'm sure its much safer now then not having one at all,
as Y'all know I started out several months ago with the idea of building the Rops from scratch, however about 1 month ago I was in the salvage yard and found a factory built ROPS from a Standup Forklift, I took a few measurements and then my mind was at work, This ROPS had a top over it and I thought why the heck not?
so I scored the Forklift ROPS for just the cost of scrap iron ( $35.00 ) plus cost of welding supplies for the total of 45.00 I've been working on fitting it to my Yanmar until today, I finally finished it up and got it mounted, when I was adding to the height, My plans were to keep it tall enough that I could stand under it while needing to see what is just ahead of me when bushhoging, although at being 6-2 I think it got a bit too tall, when I'm sitting down it is approx 14" over my head, I wished I had not been so concerned about having it tall enough to stand under because now it looks funky to say the least I may cut it down 6" but for now I got some work coming up and just glad to have the ROPS, this wasn't some lite weight steel, it weigh in over 100 lbs so I am also getting a bit added weight to the rear tires which was needed, I have it mounted on top of the fender pads that are held on with the U-bolts there was over 1" more of threads left to the U-bolt so I could start securing it at this point, I then weld a cross pc from one side to the other at the bends to help sturdy it up, I weld in another 1/4 thick steel approx 8" up from the bottom that aligns at the factory mount holes and the ROPS is bolted on here as well, I then drill holes through the double support of the fenders and into the 2x2 uprights of the ROPS and put in 5/16 x 2 1/2 bolts, so now there is 3 point of mounting, its definitely not coming off, here is the overall picture after mounted,
laugh if you must but I feel better now knowing I have one on my tractor,