Mowing Nervous about mowing this hill with my new BX1870

[Gunksrocker]

Kubota guy say no worries but all I read online is tractors flipping. Any advice on how to approach this hill?

 

[4570Man]

What is the angle of the hill. From the picture it doesn't look very steep. Put the ROPS up and fasten your seatbelt. I wouldn't hesitate to drive across that hill in any direction. Set the wheels to the widest position. Removing the loader would probably help. Keep the loader low and drive slow. Hitting a hole on the low side is your biggest enemy.

 

[moriboy]

I have a BX2370 and my property doesn't have a flat spot on it. I've never had any issues with tipping, but I have learned the limitations of the tractor.
From what I can see from your picture, you won't have any tipping issues unless you aren't careful. Take it slow the first few times and learn the terrain.

 

[beckmurph]

You shouldn't have any problems mowing UP and DOWN. But make sure you are in 4 wheel drive.
If you load your rear tires, and put spacers on them, then you may be able to cut across.:2cents:

 

[TripleR]

I also recommend putting spacers on and removing the mower; some add weights to the front, but I've never needed them. Mow up and down until you get to know your tractor and property then maybe diagonally or across in some places, the BX is a very stable machine.

Mowing a Steep Hill with the BX. - YouTube

 

[Gunksrocker]

Thanks. Did you mean removing the FEL? I thought I'd leave that on so it helps with weight on the front going up? Is that you in the video? That definitely helps me feel better about my hill.

 

[dodge man]

Take the FEL off for mowing, it makes the tractor top heavy. Just looking at the pic, it looks OK to mow up and down. I also feel safer mowing up the hill than down. I don't know if you have the option to go down in a less steep area and up the steeper parts.

 

[RaydaKub]

Yup. If you want stability, remove the FEL completely.

 

[Coyote machine]

Also, don't mow when the grass is wet, if at all possible.
And there is an incline meter available through TBN advertisers that can help you know when terrain is too steep, and or when you're at pucker factor central.

 

[ruffdog]

The OP is using a belly mower? If so, good, as it centrally positions the weight low. Remove the loader and have the ROPS up. As easy as the loader goes on/off, there is no reason to have a bunch of weight that is mounted high and on the axle that pivots.

 

[TripleR]

Thanks. Did you mean removing the FEL? I thought I'd leave that on so it helps with weight on the front going up? Is that you in the video? That definitely helps me feel better about my hill.

Yes, very easy to do and as mentioned, a MMM is pretty heavy and mounted low. Yes on my L5740 and M8540, I leave the FEL on for hills, but on the BXs, we have two, the FEL makes it less stable on side hills etc., so the weight advantage of going up and down is negated and we've gone up some scary steep hills with our BXs without weight on the front. amazing little tractors, same for our JD1025R.

The video was posted by another TBN member 94BULLITT, he has some on removing/installing MMM, check out some of his threads, really knowledgeable guy.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/kubota-owning-operating/257252-bx2360-upgrades.html?highlight=

 

[Wannabe Tractor Man]

I'd keep an extra pair of underwear in the toolbox! Just remember, everything works great until it doesn't!

 

[Panik]

While slopes in pictures can be deceiving your yard certainly looks doable with your bx. One thing I would recommend it to go slow the first couple of times. Just about no part of my property is level and some of it is a bit touchy with a bx. The biggest thing I realized with my land is it is not so much the slopes it is the divots and depressions that change seasonally on those slopes that get me in trouble. Every year I have to re-learn where the trouble spots might be. I'm in GA on old terraced farm land so your mileage may vary.

 

[flusher]

Kubota guy say no worries but all I read online is tractors flipping. Any advice on how to approach this hill?View attachment 465739

You should be OK. The front axle height is 9" and the front tread width is 34.6".
34.6/9=3.84. You want this ratio about 4 or larger for stability. Your 1870 is close enough.

Get the center of gravity as low as possible by removing the FEL.
I assume you're using the mid-mount mower. So what you have is a 18 hp diesel-powered riding mower. This is a big help in lowering the CG.

If you mow across the hill rather than up-down, just be careful making turns. I'd make all turns in the uphill direction.

These small Kubotas can be tippy. I nearly rolled my 2005 Kubota B7510HST while using the FEL to move dirt. The right front wheel dropped into a tire rut and the tractor began to roll. I was able to drop the FEL bucket to the ground fast enough to prevent the rollover. I don't see any large potholes in the photo of your hill, but watch out for these as you could be in for a surprise if you drop one of your front wheels into one of these.

Good luck and be careful out there.

 

[JWR]

Kubota guy say no worries but all I read online is tractors flipping. Any advice on how to approach this hill?View attachment 465739

I read the first 14 posts and will chime in here a bit. 1) My eye is calibrated differently. That looks tome like it could be fairly steep. Find the steepest spot and measure how much drop there is per horizontal distance. Use some 2x4s, a helper and a level. If the drop is more than around 40% of the horizontal distance you do not want to be going across the slope. It is always better to go up and down if you have room and a choice anyway. 2) I don't totally agree about the FEL. If you keep the bucket low just clearing the ground it does provide help with weight in the front & in my judgement is just as safe as without it. HOWEVER, be smart enough not to raise the bucket on a side slope. By the way your weight is significant in the tip-over equation because of the relatively small total tractor weight. You get a feel for that if you ever come close to tipping it. Can't tell from your picture but there may be "room to maneuver" issues with the bucket on as well. 3) The little buggers are pretty stable & forgiving. Even when one starts to tip you can usually feel it coming and reverse whatever it was that caused you to start to tip. HOWEVER, an unexpected hole on the lower side OR a big hump on the upper side can suddenly cause a rollover. Penn State does a live demo (using a robot controlled tractor) of that at their PA farm show in August every year. Very worth watching if you have not seen it. 4) In summary, mow up and down rather than laterally if you can. If the slope is less than say 30% you won't have to worry anyway.

 

[TripleR]

If you have a bit of time, here is just one of the many threads on this. http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/owning-operating/199464-slopes-tractor-tilt.html

We have six tractors with front end loaders from 22 to 85HP and have owned about twelve, my opinion remains pretty much the same as five years ago, but I've never turned one over, so I really don't know the limits of any; I know what scares the snot out of me though.

 

[RaydaKub]

2) I don't totally agree about the FEL. If you keep the bucket low just clearing the ground it does provide help with weight in the front & in my judgement is just as safe as without it. HOWEVER, be smart enough not to raise the bucket on a side slope. By the way your weight is significant in the tip-over equation because of the relatively small total tractor weight. You get a feel for that if you ever come close to tipping it. Can't tell from your picture but there may be "room to maneuver" issues with the bucket on as well.

I'll take issue with this and relate a story that I've written up here several other times.
I had my BX in full loader/weighted/dig mode. FEL on, 275 lb bar on the 3ph, 50 lbs of wheel weights on each rear tire. My rear tires are filled. I drove to my sidehill where I've felt uncomfortable at times. My FEL was about 3 inches off the ground, the weight bar was about axle height. I dismounted, stepped to the rear and pushed on the ROPS from the uphill side. I lifted the rear wheel off the ground with one hand. I then went back to the garage and stripped it down to mowing mode (sans MMM, which would improve the situation even more). I took off the weight bar, wheel weights and FEL, drove back to the exact same spot and conducted the same experiment. I was unable to push the ROPS enough to lift the back wheel at all, certainly not with one hand.

The FEL can be a great emergency brake on a hill. It *might* save you from rolling *if* you got it down quick enough to take the weight off the front axle. But it will also put you a *LONG* ways toward rolling in the first place.

4) In summary, mow up and down rather than laterally if you can. If the slope is less than say 30% you won't have to worry anyway.

Agree with this 100%. A 15 degree slope will not bother a BX. My hill measures about 23 degrees.

 

[JWR]

Interesting to hear your experiment with tipping on a hillside. Good info. About slope measurement: A 15 degree slope is about 28%. A 23 degree slope is aout 41 to 42 %. I agree with your conclusions about the BX on a 15 degree slope. I can also see it being tipsy on a 23 degree slope. A graphic and 2 pics to add:

View attachment 465858


The chart is helpful comparing degrees vs % slope. The picture with the lumber and level is a 40% slope portion of the hillside from longer view in the other picture. That is essentially the steepest part. I use that hill for testing brakes and other steep ground things I run into.

 

[dgraves49]

I don't have a hilly yard but do have an engineered leech bed. It is right on the property line so I have no option other than to mow across on the one side. Just bought my BX2350 last fall and tried it out. Seemed to be a little unstable going down that side. My decision is to get a pair of 12" wheels with tires 1 or 2 inches smaller diameter and mounting them as duals. the set up I am considering uses the wheel weight holes and a nylon spacer between the wheels to lock them together. With the outer wheels slightly smaller I wouldn't be adding stress to the axles or bearing under normal conditions, but if I started to tip the extra 10 or 12 inches of width on each side should keep me upright.

 

[JWR]

I don't have a hilly yard but do have an engineered leech bed. It is right on the property line so I have no option other than to mow across on the one side. Just bought my BX2350 last fall and tried it out. Seemed to be a little unstable going down that side. My decision is to get a pair of 12" wheels with tires 1 or 2 inches smaller diameter and mounting them as duals. the set up I am considering uses the wheel weight holes and a nylon spacer between the wheels to lock them together. With the outer wheels slightly smaller I wouldn't be adding stress to the axles or bearing under normal conditions, but if I started to tip the extra 10 or 12 inches of width on each side should keep me upright.

Wondering out loud if you might not have as much clearance as you want if you lower the whole tractor with smaller tires (?) One of my complaints with small Kubotas is that you can't lift the MMM very high to clear things. That's especially a nuisance when doing something besides mowing & sometimes trying to load onto a trailer with a raised threshold. The duals would certainly give you more "anti-tip-over" margin. Of course spacers are made for Kubota wheels to get wider stance in the mid size tractors. Not seen any for the small ones.