What Is ROPS??

No matter how you cut it, if the rops canopy parts company with the machine in an incident, you've lost your protection. And if you don't have the mounts to cope with it, a parting of the ways is highly likely.

On top of this, yeah, sure, any decent mechanical engineer oughta be able to deign a rops, mounts and all. However, if you read all the posts in this thread, you will know that a rops has to be tested and proved before it can be called a rops. Who is going to want to risk partially or completely destroying their machine to test and maybe prove the design? And if the machine in question does not have adequate mounting points available upon which to mount the newly-designed 'rops'(?), some degree of damage or destruction is highly likely.

Unlike you, I'm just a mug amateur who would operate a machine without a rops and I would be no more careful on the non-rops machine than on a rops-equipped machine. You see, I have this very strong fear of falling, especially where many tons of machine can fall on me after I've fallen. But then I've only been operating ALMOST ALL types of earthmoving equipment for a mere 40 years. Maybe with a bit more experience, I'll get over this fear, do you think?

It is great to see that you are safety conscious and I hope that all our readers are so inclined. However, a healthy dose of realism is also needed here and the reality is that many older machines are just NOT viable propositions for fitment of a rops. For mine, it is better to have NO rops than have an inferior structure giving a false sense of security and which may break off and cause operator injury in the event of an incident.

You have a wonderful day. Best wishes. Deas Plant.

One. A ROPS must be certified. Actual testing with side, rear and vertical loads. Since steel gets brittle below -20F, steel must be cooled to this temp for testing. A sticker is then placed on production units stating it passed ROPS test and is approved for certain models of equipment.

Second. You may also see the acronym FOPS, which stands for falling object protective system. These are tested by droping a bullet shaped steel mass from a perscibed height onto a FOPS. Sticks in my head this one did not need to be done with the cold temp. The deflection of the FOPS must not hit a DLV (Deflection Limit Volume) which is a boxy shape approximating an operator. If the structure had hit the DLV, the test failed because the "operator" was hit and would have died. Again after passing, a sticker certifying the structure as FOPS approved is put on production units. Most cabs with integral ROPS are also FOPS.

FYI

John

Specifically designed and engineered to displace the weight of the tractor, and not collapse in the event of a roll over, also provides some heavy overhead protection. Remember, many older machines have non factory, "homemade" type structures on them, they are not engineered, mounted on areas of the tractor that may not displace the weight properly and fail in the event of a rollover, or something falling from above. Certified ones are engineered and the loads calculated to withstand forces applied to provide protection needed, mounting points must displace the load applied as well. If you were to build one strong enough to withstand the weight of a tractor and mount it to the fenders, it would fail unless the fenders were reinforced to displace the load. Many "homemade" ones are sufficient to provide protection from brush, falling limbs in the woods, and to provide some weather protection, but that is all, also for a R.O.P.S. to be effective, you need a seatbelt and have to wear it, if you get tossed out of the seat, odds are you are done.