Mowing Side Hill mowing . . . favored angle ??

[AxleHub]

Greetings,

I've cut lawns on a riding machine of one sort or anither since I was 6 years old. But none of that cutting was ever just flat easy city lawns . . those were always push or walk behinds.

But especially it seems like my lawn mowing rider cutting (lawn tractor or scut) has always had some challenging sidehill slope cutting . . . which cettainly includes "operator leaning" and attention to grass wetness

But I've always noticed that for some reason I can cut much steeper and more confidently when the low part of the angle is to my left and the higher part of the angle is to my right.

Many riding mowers and now a massey scut . . . all the same scenario. But it isn't because I'm right handed . . because I'm ambidexterous in many ways.

Its that seat-of-the-pants gyroscope that senses balance lol. Its also true in motorcycling.

Its quite a different comfort level and angle steepness even though I can " lean " into the angle equally on either side. Is that just my quirkiness or are mowers and tractors like that because the chute is on the right side or blade spin or do others notice the difference too ?

 

[dieselcrawler]

I have the same issue/orientation. Likely due to growing up on dad's mf135 with the left tire all the way wide, and right tire all the way in, for sickle mower clearance, we just always left it like that. Which ment keep the downhill side on the left. Even now, operating station layout seems to promote 'right side focus', left hand on steering wheel, right hand on loader or 3ph controls, making it easier to look at the right side, or over right sholders to the rear. 30-plus years of twisting like that, and I seem to have better range of motion to the right!

 

[kevin37b]

When farming I always preferred looking over right shoulder , seemed more comfortable .

 

[Xfaxman]

My favored angle is right side up.

This 20 year old TORO is made with the seat offset to the left and the deck offset to the right, to be able to mow under and around trees better.

I haven't noticed any preference for low side on the right or left, because it slides downhill the same going either direction. With the heavy deck, I don't think it would roll over.

 

[TheMadOne]

When farming I always preferred looking over right shoulder , seemed more comfortable .

I wonder if part of that is that we in the US look over our right shoulders when we're in our cars?

 

[RaydaKub]

Not sure if the right-side-look came first or if the left-side clutch, but it is a lot easier to turn right if you need your foot on the clutch (like hooking up implements).

 

[Jim Shooz]

I wonder if part of that is that we in the US look over our right shoulders when we're in our cars?

Don't think so. I have never driven a left-hand drive car or driven on the wrong side of the road and I always favour looking over the right shoulder. And with the right side uphill.

 

[Sportsman762]

I do not have a preference. I grew up in the hills so I got pretty acclimated to mowing on a slope. If the mower is offset I like the longer section up hill. If its really steep I often will go straight up / down with a tractor or sideways with a zero-turn. It depended on the tractor if I went up or down. 2wd loader tractors I preferred to go up hill with.
There was one small section of field that I would mow up/down, when going up you steered with brakes because the front end was just skimming along the top of the ground. This was with a Ford 8n without ROPS. This is why I keep the brakes split unless doing lots of loader work.

 

[Thomas]

I tend to favor opposite from any control lever/sticks speed pedal which happen to be on right hand side...maybe being right handed has something to do w/it????