How safe are excavator rops cabs from falling/penetrating objects? We have purchased a mountain forest 40 acre lot which has overgrown logging roads and flat areas I want to clear and improve with an excavator. Pulling stumps from the larger trees we chainsaw, pushing over trees up to about a foot, and widening roads with a 15 ton machine is the plan. Buying an older machine makes sense rather than renting. I want a one owner machine with good maintenance record and a thumb. I rarely see excavators for sale with cages and screens added so it can't be a deal breaker. I wonder if one should be added. If so, any advice on older machines?
Most if not all excavator cabs are not ROPS rated because excavators don’t overturn very often. Instead they are generally rated FOPS aka Falling Object Protective Structure. I would imagine that the primary reason that you don’t see excavators with added cages is because unless the cage design plus the mounting to the machine is all engineer-certified and signed off then it will be of no use whatsoever if something hits it and the person inside the machine dies.
Thank you. When I researched new models from major manufacturers and compared specs, they all state ROPS for their cabs, so I figured that FOPS was an upgrade that may or may not be available for older models. If it is not an OEM upgrade, then I am relieved to not pursue this.