ROPS bolts

[mdhughes]

I just took delivery of my L3901DT this morning and till I move things around I have to fold the ROPS to get it under roof. The bolts that hold the ROPS in place were very tight. I had to use a wrench almost all the way. Are they suppose to be that tight? I will have to lower and raise it for sometime and was wondering if there was something that can be done to make it easier. I don't want to just leave it in the down position.

 

[Leyland]

I assume you backed them all the way out.. We're they cross threaded?

Great looking tractor by the way! Congrats on the new toy

 

[JR4AL]

Nice looking rig! Try to "wiggle" the top of the rops as you turn the bolts. Grease them and they will get easier with time. The two holes are not perfectly in line which is likely causing the tension. It does get aggrivating but it is new metal! Moving the top of the Rops (even just a little) can make the bolt(s) bind and not turn or it can line everything up and they come out and go back in with ease. There is a sweet spot! Enjoy your new machine!

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

First thing I would do is apply a good coat of grease to the bolt and the hole, you'll be amazed what it will do.

 

[85Hokie]

I just took delivery of my L3901DT this morning and till I move things around I have to fold the ROPS to get it under roof. The bolts that hold the ROPS in place were very tight. I had to use a wrench almost all the way. Are they suppose to be that tight? I will have to lower and raise it for sometime and was wondering if there was something that can be done to make it easier. I don't want to just leave it in the down position.

When I got my BX - I too had to fold the ROPS - those bolts were very tight. Had to loosen the bolts and wiggle back and forth for a bit just to make it fold. On the BX there are two hand wheel bolts that are used to keep it in place ONCE you free up the pivot points. Please dont ride around with it DOWN !

 

[KBinCT]

The ROPS bolts on my L3901 were really tight too. I just loosened the castle nut a little bit and put in some new cotter pins. Now I can fold it down easily but it's still tight enough that it won't drop if I let go of it when folding it.

Nice tractor

 

[mdhughes]

I will have to work on it this weekend to see if I can't get them to turn easier. I do want to be able to unfold the ROPS before I use it each time.

Thanks for the comments on the tractor. I put a little over an hour on it Tuesday after it was delivered. Found out that you can't lean to the right very far before it killed the engine. Took it killing the engine a couple times to figure out what was going on. It doesn't kill it right away and that was making it harder to figure out why it was dieing. I looked under the seat and the switch is on the left side.

 

[mdhughes]

I was able to hand screw one of the bolts back in when I raised the ROPS back in place, but the other I had to use a wrench. I tried wiggling the ROPS, but that didn't help any. The bolts will turn really easy when the ROPS is down and I'm just putting the bolts through the one hole and into the nut that is welded on the other side. I have the two bolts that act as stops almost all the way out just to make sure they weren't the problem. Can I fill the holes in the holding part of the ROPS without causing problems?

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Can I fill the holes in the holding part of the ROPS without causing problems?

Clarify please.

 

[mdhughes]

Clarify please.

Sorry.

Can I file the holes on the folding part of the ROPS.

I can't believe I miss type two word in on sentence.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

No sorry needed I was just a little confused!
Oh yea I would ream the holes out so it bolts easier!
Sometimes it just takes a little paint relocation to make it much easier.

Another trick is if it seams the bolt is not being threaded in square to the hole, put a bolt in the back side of the welded nut and hit the end of the bolt on the edge that it rubbing to align the nut with the hole.

 

[Benhameen]

Mine were really tight too, I have to fold my ROPS down every time I put her in the garage. They loosened up after a while. I did find that sometimes I would have to realign them. The two pieces weren't exactly lined up causing a little extra friction, thus making it harder to turn the bolts.

One more thing to watch, i don't fold mine down all the way. There's been a few times while messing around with something on the 3pt that I've banged my head on them. Luckily I don't really have neighbors within hearing distance.

Good luck with your new toy! I love mine.

 

[rodburner]

I have to fold mine down after every use to put it in a shed. I replaced the two bolts you have to remove to fold with clevis pins.........Snap.

 

[mdhughes]

I have to fold mine down after every use to put it in a shed. I replaced the two bolts you have to remove to fold with clevis pins.........Snap.

I thought about doing that, but I would think that the bolt is there to keep the hing area from spreading, where a pin wouldn't do that as well.

What do others think?

 

[elmer4413]

Mine were really tight on my L3800 as well. It was pretty frustrating at first until I took a dremel to the folding part of the ROPS and reamed it out a bit. Now the bolts go in pretty easy. Must be a pretty common issue with that tractor.

 

[mdhughes]

I used round file to file a little on the one side that was really tight and I can now put them in and out by hand. I guess they put the holes in the ROPS pieces before they put them together and the holes don't match up 100%.

Thanks for everyone's replies.

 

[CaveCreekRay]

You probably could file them with no ill affect.

One question I had for my dealer last week was regarding the ROPS with my nifty roof panel. (You gotta get one of those! Keeps you out of the sun and mostly out of the rain.) With nearly 200 hours on the machine, the ROPS hinge is fairly loose and when you hit a good bump. the ROPS jiggles as the roof bounces forward and back. Kind of annoying.

The tech showed me there are threaded sockets in the joint where you could screw short bolts into the inside of the joint and tighten up the ROPS. Unless you have a roof, you probably will never notice.

As for the "Lawyer switches" under your seat, I used to kill my engine every time I leaned over to check clearance on the wheel. The simple solution was to bend the bracket the switch is on so the switch arm made better contact. Now, I can wiggle around and not kill the motor. Try this simple fix if you want to keep her running.

 

[Fro65]

After reading this thread, I had to go see if I had the same problem. I hadn't tried folding the ROPS yet. Yes, they were VERY tight. I took a tap and a die and cleaned up the bolt and hole threads. Sprayed some silicon in the brackets and now they are as smooth as silk...Thanks for the heads up.
Would have been frustrating if I would have run across this the first time I needed to fold it.

As far as the seat switch goes, I can dismount the tractor with it running. Is this because I have the BH77? Do they wire it differently? I bought all of the WSM's for my rig (Kubota is pretty proud of them) but I haven't had the time to read through them.

Thanks for the wealth of info guys.

 

[mdhughes]

Fro65,
On the DT, if the forward/reverse lever is in neutral you can get off the seat without the engine stopping. If the PTO is in-gauged, you have to put the seat in the up position within 5 second (I think) after getting off the seat.

I only have the problem with the seat when leaning to the right to see how close the bucket is to something. I saw thinking of doing what CaveCreekRay did, I'm sure I wouldn't have to bend it to far to stop it from killing the engine.

 

[CaveCreekRay]

MDHughes,

Only takes a quarter of an inch to solve that problem. Bracket bends by hand. The real problem is the seat: It's flimsy and twists when you lean over.