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SWMN | As far as I Know, several years back, around the time ROPS became standard, the major manufactures (Deere, Case-IH, New Holland, AGCO) were involved with ASABE ROPS requirement and IIRC they agreed to sell ROPS at cost to encourage farms to install them on older equipment and this is why you can buy a 240 lb ROPS for $805 from Deere and the canopy is over $1600 (non ROPS component and thus not sold at cost).
As far as the rebate program, the program that I used was through MN Dept of Ag for any tractor used on a farm that did not have ROPS. All brands are eligible. They did provide a lift of ROPS suppliers for my tractor including both OEM and aftermarket options were you can purchase them. I chose to use the OEM solution since I liked the factory looks of the Deere ROPS. ROPS for IH (OEM or aftermarket) will qualify and IH should sell them at cost, but like some Deere dealers they might apply their standard parts markup so just casually remind them that the they are to be sold at cost. I had to have my dealer look in Deere's system to find the note that dealers were to sell at cost and dealer adjusted price per Deere note.
Here is the link to ROPS R 4 U
https://www.ropsr4u.com/
ROPS are designed to meet the requirements of ANSI/ASAE S478.1. Several different loads are applied to the ROPS structure during testing, several of which require the ROPS structure to deform a controlled amount to absorb energy, much like the crush zone on a car. Over built components can cause other parts in the ROPS system to fail which in turn compromises the "clearance zone". This is why ROPS is a system and the roll bar is a component of the system. As an engineer, considerations are made to choose correct bolt size, plate thickness, gusset size, etc, etc. Bigger is not always better since larger diameter bolts are more rigid and thus may not be suited to absorb energy that may be necessary to project another component in the system.
FWIW some companies out there do build canopies and canopy supports, these are not ROPS certified and thus do not qualify for ROPS rebate programs since the programs require certified ROPS be installed. ROPS certification is not cheap and most of those companies chose not to do the testing and these often do not include the seat-belt which is critical to ROPS success; the seat-belt is essential to keeping you in the clearance zone. Some of these aftermarket cannopy supports may be dimensionally the same as a factory ROPS, but they are not ROPS since they are not certified by the manufacturer. I looked at a couple of these for my 3020 before I found the program and figured that the $100 savings was not worth the risk: 1) no seat belt = worthless in roll over 2) I noticed they were missing an internal gusset which I believe if needed for ROPS (why else would Deere have used the brace if it was not critical to passing a ROPS test since it cost them more to added it)
All in all I am proud of the fact that I installed a ROPS on my 3020 and I am proud of the fact that I use the seat belt. The seat belt is a pain when raking road ditches (old NH 56 rake), but like I said in the previous post : though of my daughter growing up with out a father makes me put the seat belt on every time I get on the tractor. I will admit that I do not use the seat belt in the yard while backing wagons in the shed and driving around in the yard (our yard is flat with the only slope being in the road ditch by the house) | |
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JD 4020 ROP
