I think you're dead-on right Messmaker! I have the same situation as Texasmark that I've been trying to deal with. I'm mowing with a Husqvarna 54" garden tractor mower with filled tires AND 50# weights on both back wheels. That doesn't even come close to keeping the mower from flipping if trying to mow sideways on my 25 degree bank ponds.
And to totally mow up and down is on the brink of a flip-over. On places where I can turn around and not quite as steep, I can lean over the hood to keep the front tires on the ground. But I have one area that is a weed-eater situation as far as I've seen.
I have seen the county using Kwik-Kut mowers with dual wheels all the way around mowing a wide open speeds - no matter if up and down or sideways. Those babies look like they're glued to the earth! The only drawback on having one of those mowers is the $50K admission ticket
The ATV snow tires Texasmark talks about sounds like a great idea as far as traction goes on the up and down mowing. I'd like to give that a try for sure. But for now, the weed-eater will have to do.
Thanks to you both for your observations.
I'm replying to this because of your apparent use for what I have to say. You didn't say if your mower was a ZT or not. I know what my slopes are because one day I took a couple of yardsticks out there and measured the width and height over that width, applied a little trigonometry and came up with the numbers since I haven't had a Protractor for years. For a piece of information, I just put a new BS V twin on my Husq. to replace the POS Kohler single that vibrated it's self to death, literally, and in the instructions it said that the pressurized oiler is good to 30 degrees.
I can't mow up and down because half the area is right against woods. Besides, trying to reverse course on that steep of a slope is a real mess as you may already know. As I said before and somebody either on here or Yesterday's Tractors showed a picture of the slope of the pendulum with respect to CG and slopes. I said and he showed that as long as your CG vector doesn't go outside the rear wheels you will not flip. Other thing is that the higher the apex of the pendilum (vector) the wider the stabilizing point (tread) has to be from the center.
If I were sitting straight up in the seat like you would have to do on a ZT on the 25 degree angle, there MIGHT be a possibility of a roll over, especially if I were doing 90 and hit a bump where all bets are off. But I'm not, more like 2-3. I weigh 250 and my machine I think weighs around 400. I guarantee you that with my 250 sitting almost directly over the up hill tire that machine can't flip so that is of no concern to me. Obviously If I thought there was even a remote chance I would change something.
I tell you what is a hazard, and that is sliding down the hill sideways because you can't get traction and hitting a rock or dry spot and flipping over that way. Now THAT is a potential problem and I have encountered slight degrees of such and that is what led me to pursue traction as the solution.
I went the weight route but weight does absolutely nothing if the tread can't grip the turf. Weight does assist in the problems associated with breaking traction; you do down hill faster and hit harder. BTDT
As stated I thought bar lugs (R-1) would be the answer but after buying 2 sets for 2 ZTs and fabricating weights for the front and rear, they could not hold when mowing horizontally.
I realized that I needed traction and the right machine was the conventional rider that was light weight and I could adjust my body position for comfort and proper balance.
After a lot of thought and browsing tire catalogs, I came up with the ATV idea. Makes sense that ATV tires ARE made for traction in all kinds of terrain. I shopped the designs and decided on the staggered X snow studs as they had the individual gripping points which would grip in any position on the slopes....which they do eloquently.
I put a pair on the back and was thrilled. However since the tractor was 2wd, steering was still a problem with the OEM turf tread. Trying to maintain steady steering on the hillside or, if I came upon a big root and had to go around it, I would steer up hill, but the machine would just slide sideways or slip down.
Initially I figured a thin, hard tire was the answer, kind of like the single rib tractor tires on old Ford N series tractors which was designed to dig into the dirt in making turns. So I bought a couple of wheel barrow flat proof tires. They worked pretty good but were a riding nightmare. Beat me to death because they were too hard. So I looked for something better.
Installing the same tread design as the rears was the solution and the little sucker is just a dream. The little 20 BS V twin has plenty of power and I can go anyway I want on the hills and she just tracks like a mountain goat. On going down hill flipping isn't even a consideration. On up hill I naturally lean forward for personal balance but remain in the seat. Don't know if I need to or not and really don't want/need to find out.
As stated otherwise, the only available ATV tires having the rim size and overall diameter required to fit my mower were about 1" on the rim narrower than the OEMs. This meant that I had to squish them out to get the air seal at the rim and get them to take air. This was not a problem as I took a strap of plumber's metal...the stuff they use to hold up drain pipes under the house and a length of all thread, placed it in the center of the tire and tightened until it squished out far enough to make the seal. Additionally i sprayed the sealing rims with some V belt dressing i had on hand to make it sticky and hold the seal better with the 10# of air I run in them for a very nice soft but firm ride.
HTH in making your decision.
Here's what I mow and what I use:
Mark
