Learned a painful lesson on the importance of 4WD on steep hills. I had been mowing straight up & down a steep hill wiithout any problem. I took it out of 4WD to mow on the flats for awhile and then forgot to put it back into 4WD for one more pass down the hill. Th wheels started skidding (the grass was a little slick) & since I was headed towards the power transformer you can see in the photo, I turned the wheel and the tractor rolled over. I had the roll bar up and the seat belt on, so I was fine other than a slightly bruised shoulder since it had hit the ground. It's nice to know the ROPS works.
It cost me almost $1000 for the wrecker to get it off the hill + repair the damage. The engine cyliders were full of fuel, and it would not crank, so the injectors had to be removed. Also broke a rear light.
It cost me almost $1000 for the wrecker to get it off the hill + repair the damage. The engine cyliders were full of fuel, and it would not crank, so the injectors had to be removed. Also broke a rear light.
) . Once the sliding starts there is no stopping it, he cannot hit the brakes, that's the problem now, too much braking resistance and not enough traction because the front wheels are freewheeling. he didn't have a bucket to drop and add drag, so the speed will just keep on increasing until the wheel drag and the angle of the ground levels out and traction is restored. Obviously when he cranked the wheel at high speed, well that is when she flipped. If he had the tractor in 4wd it would have NEVER happened. He also knows this because he went up and down the exact same slope in 4wd many times without incident.. This is a good lesson in why to keep your tractor in 4WD. I learned mine about 3 years ago.. No flip, but I did need new underwear.