Hondaman900
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2006
- Messages
- 45
This is a great question. I have a 600, all the manuals, but am learning how to use it as I go. I've used rental hydrostatic Bobcats before, but the mechanical clutch system in the M-600 is different.I have to agree, a bobcat or any skid-steer these days MUST have a ROPS, which makes them a lot safer. Most of your old tractors had no such thing. If you rolled over you were in serious trouble. I do see most of them these days coming out with a bar that would help, but on a machine that would weigh in the order of 5 + tonnes, i can't see it doing much to save your life.
I have never had a close call, but i know someone that took a tumble down a hill in his, the ROPS surly saved his life. I heard of a guy that took his rops off to work under a house that was just moved. He was cleaning up before the stumps were put in and he hit a support and it came down on him. A rops would have saved his life, the moral of the story is NEVER use your machine without your ROPS attached.
My property is mostly sloped to various degrees. I know the "protocol" of going up and down the hill, and never sideways or turning on the slope. The problem I have now is that I want to cut into the slope and grade a level pad for a shed. However, with the weight on the back end, my 600 doesn't bite into the ground while trying to dig uphill as the front end is too light, and it has a tendancy to tip backwards. I had a scary moment yesterday when it started tipping backwards, I let off the gas and it dropped back down, but bounced around and when it settled I was sideways on the slope. Not a happy moment.
If I cut from above I can't get the flat pad I need. Any suggestions on how this is done safely?
Thanks,
Stephen