Roll over protection?

[Darwin T]

Not quite the same, but, while running trotlines for catfish with a friend we were driving down the side of a canal in his truck to pick up a 35# bluecat that we pulled up on shore. when we started down the levee along the canal he rolled down the windows. i asked why he did that because it was raining. he said "incase we flip into the canal we can get out of the truck!". all i could say was "thanks".

jumping is only good if you can jump out on the uphill side, the down hill side you would have to out run the truck rolling down after you.

 

[mendo]

jumping out sound like a good plan

until the truck rolls right onto you.

old school construction guys used to think that they were safer jumping out of the equipment, they figured out that was wrong, now all has ROP and seatbelts. I would rather be inside of the compartment than under the truck.

Bottom line is that it is each person's decision how he feels the safest. I am planning to put a rollbar on the goat this spring.

 

[emr]

not mine or dont know who's it is but heres a roll bar for ya

I also had trouble finding roll bar... looks like it may be an amphib though

 

[Prankster]

Temper, Temper

I have had a wee bit of trouble snapping grade 8 bolts in twain. The harder the metal the more brittle it becomes. I really like the holding strength of a grade 8 bolt, they are ultra strong. However, I do not trust them when they take a hit from the side. I have snapped way too many in a flat flange using them to run a prop shaft on a boat.

It seems there is no real answer that is 100% true, and blue. Using both hard, and soft bolts could be the answer. In all my life I have never snapped a brass bolt. They stretch, and bend into something almost unrecognizable, but I have never broken one.

Would I use a brass bolt to tie down a roll bar?
Yes, but only side by side with a grade eight.
I like calling it insurance.
A soft steel bolt might be a better bet along side a grade 8 but they are not as pretty.

ROPS frame brackets should be solidly mounted with grade 8 boltts or be hot riveted, of a shelf design and built so as to incorporate gussets, and be out of 3/8" or heavier material.
There's no such thing as "over-built" when it comes to protecting your hide-- or that of family or friends.

 

[jesusgatos]

Somewhat delayed, but here they are..

This one replaces the first bow on the bed and have approximately the same profile.
The bow is made from 80x80x5mm sqare tubing and is placed on top of the bed. The side plates is boltet bo the top and bottom flanges by 8 tigh tensile bolts each side. There are also 4 bigger bolts in the bow itself.

I’m sorry I don’t have any pictures of the bow mounted on the truck at the moment. I had a little computer crash some time ago so a lot of my pictures are unavailable at this time.

Below are a few pics I found of the M621 with the rollbar in place. They were apparently part of a food relief program.

I think this design is about the best you are going to get without drastically re-engineering the truck. It's not going to save you in all situations as any forward or backward force could easily collapse the single bar. The pics of the fire trucks are not going to do much for you either since the tubing is so small, not reinforced enough and is tied into the body too much and not the frame. The weight of the truck plus all the gear and water would be more than enough to collapse the cage around the cab. They are more to protect the truck from brush and trees than to protect the occupants in an accident.

As for the tubing, I agree with what was previously stated and will add that it should be a heavy wall seamless tubing like DOM or similar. It will require a special bender to prevent deforming of the tubing and weakening it during the bending process. We have a JD Squared Model 4 bender that bends very well but is limited to a maximum tubing diameter of 2".

They don't really claim those are for rollover protection do they? Look more like headache racks. Can see how they might be useful and could protect the occupants in the cab if something were dropped on it, but there's no way something like that would hold-up to any sort of violent rollover-type accident.