Click on “Download PDF” for the PDF version or on the title for the HTML version.

If you are not an ASABE member or if your employer has not arranged for access to the full-text, Click here for options.

The Agricultural Industry has one of the highest fatality rates of any industry in America. This death rate is largely due to deaths caused by roll over accidents while on agricultural vehicles. The addition of ROPS (Rollover Protective Structures) has aided in lowering these high fatality rates on full-size tractors. However, there are still a large number of older tractors that do not use ROPS, due to the difficulty of designing and creating a mounting structure onto pre-ROPS tractors. To aid in elimination of this difficulty, an evaluation of the use of engineering plastic as a mounting structure on pre-ROPS vehicles was conducted. The use of engineering plastics around axle housings could prove to create a uniform mounting style, as well as, lower costs of aftermarket ROPS for these vehicles. Various plastics strengths were examined through shear testing and scale model testing. Once a material was chosen based upon strength and cost, full scale testing of the plastics strength on axle housings was conducted. Finally, the mounting structure was tested in a static ROPS test done in accordance with SAE Standard J2194. From these tests, the usefulness of engineering plastics could be determined for mounting ROPS to tractors.

Initial tests reveal that the torsional strength of the ROPS mounting structure is higher than the axle housing alone. The ROPS mounting structure was successful in withstanding the forces applied during the static longitudinal and lateral ROPS tests.