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Re: Questions about Roll Over Accidents and ROPS
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Posted by B.C. on November 05, 1999 at 19:04:33 from (209.190.32.6):
In Reply to: Questions about Roll Over Accidents and ROPS posted by Kim Hartshorn on November 04, 1999 at 09:03:11:
The consequences of a side roll or a back flip are a function of what part of the tractor pins you to the ground, assuming that no ROPS is in place, and how firm the ground is. There are some pretty nasty ways to go, but again people have lived through this by luck or whatever. I knew one guy who had a Ford utility roll over on him. He got the steering wheel rim between his upper and lower jaw. He lived, but he had quite a memorable grin. Also a pretty bad limp. Up in Wisconsin some years back the university extension would have rear flip demonstrations at county fairs. They would hook to an unmanned tricycle tractor at a hitch point well above the factory drawbar, put it in gear and let it happen. Appropriately, they used a two cylinder John Deere. More modern machinery has as others have noted Roll Over Protection and this is described in the SAE handbook, as previously discussed. Another quite good reference is ANSI B56.6, which maybe a library can help you find. This is a standard for rough terrain forklifts, and it gives design guidance for FOPS - Falling Object Protection. Like stuff falling off a loader bucket. On a more immediate note, you might want to have some sort of relief valve plumbed between the butt end of those loader lift cylinders and whatever reservoir you have so as to limit the pressure available to lift loads and thereby avoid the nose dip again. This would be like adding a "port relief" function. An alternative approach would be to put a bunch of ballast on the rear end of your tractor, but that will adversely affect the rear stability of it. Remember that anytime you move that thing with a load raised the center of gravity of machine has shifted upward from what you're used to. And mind those sideslopes or turns all the more.
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