Rops structure on tractors.

[BargeMonkey]

 I love to come on here and joke, B.S and talk about iron. I'm sure alot of you do have a rops, I'm sure some guys don't, a very well known local logger was killed here the other day when his tractor rolled over, 2nd logger in a week who I know who was killed. Maybe take a minute to evaluate what iron your running and if it will stand up to a roll over. 👍

[Onthesauk]

A number of years ago had a friend roll his excavator down a ravine.  Not wearing a belt and died.  Another fellow I know rolled his multiple times down and survived but changed careers. 

[mjeselskis]

I was just thinking tonight about something to add to the standard roll bar on my tractor. I've had a few trees or big limbs come down hard on the roll bar while pulling out wood that made me wish I had a roof.

[Ianab]

  A couple of years back a a track gave way on a local guy and he and his digger rolled ~900ft down into a gully. Luckily it was fully "bush rigged", rops / fops etc, and he was wearing a seat belt. Apparently it took him about 3 hours to find his way back up to the track. The digger is still down there....

But the cage and belt meant he wasn't seriously injured.

[Skeans1]

I'm pretty sure I heard about that during a safety meeting up here from some NZ guys crazy pictures.

[Loghauler86]

I knew Jake from the Brockway truck show. What a shame, he was a real nice guy.

[lopet]

But the cage and belt meant he wasn't seriously injured.

You can still bang your head pretty good even if you're buckled up.

No ROPS  is a no go for me.  I backed up to a log with a tractor many years ago and bumped into a dead elm with my loader arms. Baaaaamm, there was a 8" limb on my roof. Just saying, I love cages but always have a escape plan.

[Crusarius]

My fibergalss one will be going away for a 14 gage steel one I will be building. Being a volunteer firefighter you see enough ppl stuck under equipment you think alot about it.

This was one I built for a friend who is also a volunteer and a sheriff.
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,95864.msg1478924.html#msg1478924

[Oliver05262]

  You don't have to fabricate your own ROPS; in fact I wouldn't recommend it if there is a certified one available. There is a program that has gone nationwide now that will help you purchase and install a certified, engineered, ROPS on your tractor.
https://www.ropsr4u.com/
Check out the website, or contact your local extension office. When I applied, the program reimbursed 70% of the cost of the kit and the installation labor, up to a reasonable limit. I put my own on when I worked at the dealership, so I didn't get any labor reimbursement. The kit from John Deere cost a little over $700, and I got back a check from the program for a little over $500. Depending on funding, there may be a waiting period, but once you get it on and send in your paperwork and receipt, you will get your money.

[Skeans1]

A lot of the equipment is being required 4 point harnesses like here the guys shovel logging are required to have them

[mike_belben]

Sorry to hear about your friends, guys.

[Southside]

Sorry to hear about your friends Barge.  Great point and if I can add - FOPS are just as important.  It's amazing how hard a dead stick will hit the top of the cab and make a 48,000 lb machine bounce.  Last summer a homeowner was pushing over a yard tree a few miles from here with his Kubota, it had a ROPS but no FOPS.  I don't recall exactly how it happened but he ended up with the tree pinning him to the seat over his shoulder and it killed him. 

[BargeMonkey]

Sorry to hear about your friends Barge.  Great point and if I can add - FOPS are just as important.  It's amazing how hard a dead stick will hit the top of the cab and make a 48,000 lb machine bounce.  Last summer a homeowner was pushing over a yard tree a few miles from here with his Kubota, it had a ROPS but no FOPS.  I don't recall exactly how it happened but he ended up with the tree pinning him to the seat over his shoulder and it killed him.

Exactly, machines come with forestry guarding /fops for a reason. 👍 it's sad, I can go down the list of all the guys who have been killed around here in the last 20yrs, most of these accidents where preventable. Local guy got killed here skidding with a track loader, log hung on the stump and it cantilevered over getting him, another one 5yrs ago hung up a drag behind the farm tractor, no rops /fops, somehow when he jerked on it a top came around and smashed him face first into the steering wheel. All preventable accidents.

[Skeans1]

I'm seeing a big common denominator here use the appropriate tool for the job, a farm tractor is not a skidder or a forestry cat no matter how much guarding ect.

[BargeMonkey]

I'm seeing a big common denominator here use the appropriate tool for the job, a farm tractor is not a skidder or a forestry cat no matter how much guarding ect.

I've seen alot of nice tractors set up for the woods, skidder is hard to justify for small scale. We have a TC35 we use with a grapple when cutting locust, pretty slick for what it is but it's got a rops. The guy who runs our pit has a 440C deere which the prior owner was killed on, took a stick in the cab, no perfect answer just see alot of stuff that's preventable.

[Ianab]

Rops / Fops / Guards / Grills just improve the odds of surviving a mishap. Like seat belts and airbags in a car.

Ideally you don't want to be in the position where you need to test them, but if you do, your odds of surviving are 10X better.

There is always going to be that freak accident that might take you out. But at least reduce the odds of that happening.

[chevytaHOE5674]

I had the joy of riding a JD 644 end loader onto its side once. I was not wearing my seatbelt and got pretty banged up inside that cab, but was alive. From then on if I'm doing anything remotely sketchy with a piece of equipment the seat belt goes on....

[starmac]

I rode a loaded TS14 scraper off a 12 or 14 foot cut bank one time, the foreman kept yelling for me to jump, but no way was I jumping off the down hill side. Anyway as soon as it hit I killed the front motor and climbed out and had to lay on my back and squirm under it by the back tire to kill the rear engine. By the time I got it killed the boss and a dozer hand had gone down to where they could get down off the bank and got there, just as I started to get out from under it I heard the boss breaking up saying how did he wind up back there, I told him to jump and just carrying on. I laid there as long as I could before I started laughing, when I did each one of them grabbed a leg and about jerked them off pulling me out from under it.

[mike_belben]

Barrel rolled off a rock ledge in a caged rockcrawler toyota once.  That floormat whooped me right across the face about 3x.  Lotta sand in my mouth but it beat getting nailed by the highlift or impact gun. Cage folded over a little but we landed on the rubber and did it again. 

[maple flats]

I used the   https://www.ropsr4u.com/  site and added a ROPS on a tractor I no longer own. At the time the program paid $700, I've seen lately that they have a max. $ that you pay, and the program picks up the rest. When I added the ROPS I wanted to install it myself so I'd know no corners were cut, but the program insisted the ROPS be installed by a certified equipment dealer. I never tested the ROPS, but the peace of mind to me (and my wife) was priceless.

[Pclem]

I'm seeing a big common denominator here use the appropriate tool for the job, a farm tractor is not a skidder or a forestry cat no matter how much guarding ect.

I've seen alot of nice tractors set up for the woods, skidder is hard to justify for small scale. We have a TC35 we use with a grapple when cutting locust, pretty slick for what it is but it's got a rops. The guy who runs our pit has a 440C deere which the prior owner was killed on, took a stick in the cab, no perfect answer just see alot of stuff that's preventable.

Barge, what do you have for markets for locust? Just firewood??

[BargeMonkey]

I'm seeing a big common denominator here use the appropriate tool for the job, a farm tractor is not a skidder or a forestry cat no matter how much guarding ect.

I've seen alot of nice tractors set up for the woods, skidder is hard to justify for small scale. We have a TC35 we use with a grapple when cutting locust, pretty slick for what it is but it's got a rops. The guy who runs our pit has a 440C deere which the prior owner was killed on, took a stick in the cab, no perfect answer just see alot of stuff that's preventable.

Barge, what do you have for markets for locust? Just firewood??

I don't like giving anyone much locusts in a load of firewood, in certain spots it grows here, sometimes you've got to hunt it down. Sell it for fence posts, if we get any that's real decent we will saw it. Had a project a few yrs ago and sawed alot for the watershed for a manure facility, locusts and tamerack.

[John Mc]

I'm seeing a big common denominator here use the appropriate tool for the job, a farm tractor is not a skidder or a forestry cat no matter how much guarding ect.

Well, I certainly wouldn't use a farm tractor for some of the stuff you guys might be cutting in the Pacific Northwest. However, a farm tractor is a general purpose tool. Properly set up, it works fine for smaller scale logging in the Northeast, and I'm sure in other parts of the country. It's certainly not a skidder, and won't keep up with one, but it can get the job done. As always, an operator needs to know his/her limitations, as well as those of the equipment they are using.

[Skeans1]

I'm seeing a big common denominator here use the appropriate tool for the job, a farm tractor is not a skidder or a forestry cat no matter how much guarding ect.

Well, I certainly wouldn't use a farm tractor for some of the stuff you guys might be cutting in the Pacific Northwest. However, a farm tractor is a general purpose tool. Properly set up, it works fine for smaller scale logging in the Northeast, and I'm sure in other parts of the country. It's certainly not a skidder, and won't keep up with one, but it can get the job done. As always, an operator needs to know his/her limitations, as well as those of the equipment they are using.

Out here you couldn't run one out in the brush if you wanted to OSHA would have you shut down and fined before you could say start. I'm not sure how some of your guys rules are everywhere else but I would double check all of them I'd bet a guarded tractor isn't legal.

[John Mc]

I'm not using it commercially, so OSHA doesn't apply. However, One of the more highly respected loggers in my area (retired a few years ago) made extensive use of a tractor (modified with FOPS, full cage, belly pan limb risers, etc.) pulling a forwarding trailer.