Mowing State Rules 4 Mowing Slopes...Anyone?

   / State Rules 4 Mowing Slopes...Anyone? #11  
I've also seen that box setup here locally, and many of the tractors with it will have the ar,/mower combination for mowing extreme slopes. Like you saw, many of our mowers here in Florida are NH's or MF's.. and use hydro-powered mowers, etc.

Soundguy
 
   / State Rules 4 Mowing Slopes...Anyone? #12  
The other side of the wing mower..half of the tractor??..for it could be the hyd tank w/ hoses for the mower,and if so the operater does use the extra weight to balance the tractor on steep slopes.
 
   / State Rules 4 Mowing Slopes...Anyone? #13  
Frank,
The ones that I have seen had the oil tank on the opposite side of the tractor (helps to offset the mower weight) from a mower attached to a long arm. This arm allowed the operator to mow at odd angles and quite a distance from the tractor i.e., the edges of a bridge abutment where no one could get to ... they also would use them to cut very steep slopes.
 
   / State Rules 4 Mowing Slopes...Anyone? #14  
Well I called my state garage and put the question to them, they stated that they now use what they called the "3 in 1" rule 1 foot drop for 3 feet out this is determined by the operator visually.They also told me that they set them wide and low as possible and that they use a special mower like a powertrac for the bad angles.He said that typicaly the tractor will slide before rolling and that the 2 or 3 rollovers since the new rule has been when the unit would slide and then hit something abruptly stopping the slide.btw state is Ohio
 
   / State Rules 4 Mowing Slopes...Anyone? #15  
The 1 foot drop (or rise) in 3 horizontal feet calculates out to 18.4 degrees and is an easy way to estimate a practical limit. If it were a 1 foot drop or rise in 2 horizontal feet, the angle would be 26.6 degrees which is too much for tractors that have not been specifically set up with wide tread spacing, duals, etc. for slope operation.

Jack
 
   / State Rules 4 Mowing Slopes...Anyone? #16  
Sounds reasonable to me ... I have had tractors almost turn over (in my wilder younger days and they did not have any ROP) and that is not fun ... Forntunanely someone up there was taking good care of me but, I think I was pushing the point ... I think that the guidelines by Ohio are good ...
 
   / State Rules 4 Mowing Slopes...Anyone? #17  
thats one of the things i like about this forum. ask a question and some one will be sure to have a good ans. thanks for the info. great way to figure the deg.of angle.
 
   / State Rules 4 Mowing Slopes...Anyone? #18  
Thanks for the info on the 1 in 3 rule. This is why I value my
tilmeter, and my puckermeter. I have found the tiltmeter to be a great tool recently on a job that required many trips with rocks and fill dirt(30 tons of rock & 50 yds fill) on a slope that sometimes exceeds 20 deg. Value judgements re the slope, load, speed etc had to be made constantly, and on virtually every trip I would cross reference my judgement with the tiltmeter. What I found was I could do more with my tractor
than I had anticipated. But when loaded, and the tilt exceeded
15 deg, I would slow or stop and evaluate my direction, and decide to continue or not. I think with the tiltmeter I was more comfortable working, as there were times when 10 degrees seemed scary, but I knew I was OK. And then when I became more comfortable with the many trips, the tiltmeter
helped me not be complacent, as referencing the meter kept
my concentration where it needed to be. I know there are comments about not needing more than a puckermeter, and generally I agree, but I have learned the hard way that my
instincts and guesswork are not as accurate as using a measuring device, be it a tape measure, transit, or a level.
Just my thoughts.....on another tool to help me work.

PR
 
   / State Rules 4 Mowing Slopes...Anyone? #19  
<font color=blue>The wheels will slide on the slope before the tractor will tip. </font color=blue>

Just a side note on your observation (another one of my "war stories")...

One of the times I almost turned my tractor over was when I crossed a slope that was wet (that I routinely mow across with the grass dry). The 3-point hitch mower wanted to go down the hill which caused my rear wheels to start sliding down the hill. I raised the mower slightly off the ground, which put additional weight on the rear wheels and stopped the sliding, but the sudden stop of the downhill slide almost caused the tractor to rollover.

Kelvin
 
   / State Rules 4 Mowing Slopes...Anyone? #20  
<font color=red>I raised the mower slightly off the ground, which put additional weight on the rear wheels and stopped the sliding, but the sudden stop of the downhill slide almost caused the tractor to rollover. </font color=red>

In the motorcycle world we call that a high side. Not fun, and you do not want it to happen.
 
 
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