I mow I break ribs, I mow I total mowers, I weed eat I land on my head, NOT ANYMORE

[real57vetteguy]

Hi all,

I used to frequent the forum years ago, I had my experiences importing Yanmar's and Jinma's, I moved on to other things haha. I built my personal house 5 years ago, almost all of my yard is comprised of 30% or steeper banks. After flipping a riding mower and luckily walking away with some broken ribs, Rolling down these slopes while trying to weed eat, hiring someone at 75.00 per week etc etc, I decided to attempt to figure out a better way. I have a very close friend that has a rather extensive machine shop. We spent some time brain storming, he had some genius ideas, we put it into motion and here goes........
MEET BLADEZILLA

Remote control lawn mower - YouTube

Remote control lawn mower - YouTube

Bladezilla, 4wd remote control lawn mower - YouTube

Bladezilla, 4x4 remote control lawn mower - YouTube

 

[Bird]

I don't even have any steep slopes, but it really would be nice to sit in the shade with a cold beverage and mow the yard with a remote control.

 

[real57vetteguy]

I don't even have any steep slopes, but it really would be nice to sit in the shade with a cold beverage and mow the yard with a remote control.

I do agree! haha

 

[swick1]

Nice work! I have dreamed about one of those for years. I'm about to settle with a backhoe mounted unit though. Be safe!

 

[AchingBack]

The grass is there for a reason. By scalping the earth, you are losing your erosion control. Some people think every blade of grass should be cut down to a carpet. I'll never understand why. It is unnatural.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

Can you tell us how it's built?

 

[real57vetteguy]

The grass is there for a reason. By scalping the earth, you are losing your erosion control. Some people think every blade of grass should be cut down to a carpet. I'll never understand why. It is unnatural.

I appreciate your comment but your obviously not aware of my particular situation. The mowing deck is set at 4-1/2 inches which is hardly scalping anything. I have been in the erosion control business for 20+ years and understand 100% what I am doing. Those banks are located inside city limits and regarded as my personal yard, the city has ordinances pertaining to uncut grass and tall grass. My intentions are to continue cutting the grass at 4-5 inches about every 2 months while over seeding the banks with the intention of growing a thick plush stand of turf instead of the blotchy patches of grass that I have now!

 

[Lou66]

I am with Bird it would be nice to set and mow than push or ride.. nothing better than someone with a desire to improve... good luck.. Lou

 

[Renze]

My intentions are to continue cutting the grass at 4-5 inches about every 2 months while over seeding the banks with the intention of growing a thick plush stand of turf instead of the blotchy patches of grass that I have now!

In natural environments, sheep and deers would clip the grass, making the carpet denser. no one likes sheep **** on their driveways so this mower is replacing the natural grazing.

Anyways, you might be better off with crab steering when working on slopes. as soon as you start to skid steer, it either slides downhill a bit, or it just spins one side and stops moving.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Neat! I only watched 1 video where it is side slipping along the road. I guess that is your max angle which looks maybe steeper than 45 degrees?

 

[GolfAddict]

I want one!!! :cool2:

 

[Ted Summey]

If it would do automatic "indexing" to make passes side-by-side like a regular mower. Mow-turn 180 degrees-mow-turn 180 the other way-mow and so on, THAT would get my interest. Otherwise, standing out there controlling the mower by radio is like sitting out there riding the thing.

 

[GolfAddict]

... standing out there controlling the mower by radio is like sitting out there riding the thing.

Not with those slopes! :shocked:

 

[Ted Summey]

Golfaddict, well sure if the scope of the work for a remote control mower is only slopes as pictured, I agree. I don't have slopes like that to mow. I'm thinking more along the lines of lawn mowing rather than maintaining embankments.

You know that whole 1950's thing ....... "All the automation in the future will give us more free time we'll be living a life of leisure." We are living the future and I'm trying to find that life of leisure.:laughing:

 

[GolfAddict]

Golfaddict, well sure if the scope of the work for a remote control mower is only slopes as pictured, I agree. I don't have slopes like that to mow. I'm thinking more along the lines of lawn mowing rather than maintaining embankments.

You know that whole 1950's thing ....... "All the automation in the future will give us more free time we'll be living a life of leisure." We are living the future and I'm trying to find that life of leisure.:laughing:

Yep, I sure hear that! When does the leisure part start??

I have some really nasty slope that I mow just a few times a year because they are so nasty. I'm able to navigate them with a small Cub Cadet ZForce I have, but it is really precarious, and to be honest I should find an alternative to trying to keep them mowed.

Unless I had one of those cool remote jobs... :licking:

 

[creekbend]

Innovative. :thumbsup:

 

[real57vetteguy]

it would be pretty easy to build a 2wd mower for yards and slight slopes, I do not have a use for a 2wd, but I do feel pretty good saying... If the 4wd version won't mow it then it doesn't need to be mowed! LOL

 

[PILOON]

What I have seen used on slopes is the FLYMO which is basically a mini hovercraft.
The last version used a 2 stroke motor and a plastic deck. The operator would be at the top of the slope and haul the mower up, step sideways lower, sideways raise etc etc.
The mower blade had sufficient warpage or twist to create the hovering or lift.
I believe that they were banned as fools would grab from the skirt and naturally lose 8 fingers in the process.
I actually tried one (on flat surface) and they worked very well.
Commercial production with all the safety requirements like dead man switches dual clutches noise reduction etc would make production prohibitive but a home made unit with today's engines would be awesome.
I could see about 8-10 HP, 2 stroke on 32" fiber glass base as a real hill mower. Of necessity it would be noisy as weight is the enemy.
Heck with electronic gyros you could probably even design it remote control.

If I am correct they were made by Lawnboy at the time. Lawnboy specialized in 2 stroke mowers.

 

[Scooby074]

Flymos so are still available.they are used a lot on golf courses,like around bunkers. Eastman mfg. from maine is still making them

 

[6011Artist]

I remember going to the NC Mtns when I was a kid on vacation. We were taking a tour of the backroads, the scenic tour. We came up on an old guy walking down the road just a mutterin' n fussin'. Dad stopped to ask if he needed a ride. He said no, he only lived around the curve and up the hill, but he was getting tired of doing all that walking back home, it "was the third time this morning that I fell out of my dadblame cornfield"...lol.