BX25D - Traversing a slope for mowing... max?

[JimRB]

Well that makes more sense when the real goal is to terrace it so you can access other parts of the property. It seems as if getting grass to grow with all those rocks would be a challenge.

Don't you build the first wall down low, back fill it with the dig for the second terrace working your way up? Never done walls before so I have no idea. Backhoe should give you lots of options to get started. Snaggle tooth bucket up front probably is good tool. Looks like you are good to go.

 

[dragoneggs]

You need it to be comfortable for you.

I have gone across slopes a little over 30* with the BX. I don't know really what the steepest slope I have gone up is. I don't have a inclinometer for that direction. I know I can go up the 30* slopes I have gone across and it does not feel bad at all.

Wow! Are you talking % instead of degrees? Hope so, 30degrees is over 55%. I am scared at 25% (14degrees).

 

[94BULLITT]

Wow! Are you talking % instead of degrees? Hope so, 30degrees is over 55%. I am scared at 25% (14degrees).

30* on this no wheel spacers either.

Amazon.com: Sun Company 201-F Lev-o-gage Inclinometer and Tilt Gauge: Automotive

 

[dragoneggs]

I walked the lower cleared area and most of the slope is about 20 to 25 degrees some 30 degrees. Maybe we should all agree on the best unit measure (% or degrees?). this I figured would be confusing in the discussion.

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

This is from my front yard that I mow crossways on an F model Kubota. I'm held in with arm rests , seat belt and leaning to keep from falling off. I've owned several BXs, Bs and one L Kubotas. The BX1500 MMM and no FEL might have done it crossways but it didn't with me on it but I doubt any of the others would have and I know they wouldn't with me on them. The FEL and or BH really makes them FEEL top heavy and an engineer may say it ain't so but if it feels top heavy to me I ain't doing it.
Rather than take a chance on one of my hillsides that I cut trails into for riding my RTV with Grands I had a man with a track machine with a tilt blade do my cut across's for a few hundred dollars (and weeks of butt clinching saved of me doing it with a tractor) and then I did the tractor stuff and mow them now. Steep ups and downs at each end but flat across the face of the hillside. He actually finished but didn't take his machine home that evening. I drove across them and when he returned I told him do it a bit more level and it didn't take him but a few more minutes to make another pass to change them from slight butt clinch to totally comfortable. Not worth a few hundred dollars to me to turn my tractor on its side (again) or get any broken bones or worse.

 

[dragoneggs]

View attachment 326208
This is from my front yard that I mow crossways on an F model Kubota. I'm held in with arm rests , seat belt and leaning to keep from falling off. I've owned several BXs, Bs and one L Kubotas. The BX1500 MMM and no FEL might have done it crossways but it didn't with me on it but I doubt any of the others would have and I know they wouldn't with me on them. The FEL and or BH really makes them FEEL top heavy and an engineer may say it ain't so but if it feels top heavy to me I ain't doing it.
Rather than take a chance on one of my hillsides that I cut trails into for riding my RTV with Grands I had a man with a track machine with a tilt blade do my cut across's for a few hundred dollars (and weeks of butt clinching saved of me doing it with a tractor) and then I did the tractor stuff and mow them now. Steep ups and downs at each end but flat across the face of the hillside. He actually finished but didn't take his machine home that evening. I drove across them and when he returned I told him do it a bit more level and it didn't take him but a few more minutes to make another pass to change them from slight butt clinch to totally comfortable. Not worth a few hundred dollars to me to turn my tractor on its side (again) or get any broken bones or worse.

I am seriously considering getting someone out with a tilt blade to make large stepped areas. I was hoping I could take my time (especially since my landscape plan is evolving over time) but I think it will take forever using my BH and inching along into the side of the hill at various levels.

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

I am seriously considering getting someone out with a tilt blade to make large stepped areas. I was hoping I could take my time (especially since my landscape plan is evolving over time) but I think it will take forever using my BH and inching along into the side of the hill at various levels.

I think that's a wise decision.:thumbsup: A tilt blade on a heavy machine made to do the job will do in hours what will take you weeks and with less danger to your body and life. I think it will be money well spent. They can also tilt the blade to do the ditch/low side on the inside/hillside wall for your water runoff and then you decide where you want to make it start going downhill.
When I get to the end of each cross row I have mine go straight up and down which I can handle on my tractor and RTV with no problem. I wanted the roads to be long to have more riding roads for my RTV with Grands. You want to get to the bottom as quick and as short as you can so yours can decend and be level road bed from side to side and be safe. When I lived in Montana we had mountain roads that did what they call there switchbacks and I imagine that's what you need.

 

[dragoneggs]

I think that's a wise decision.:thumbsup: A tilt blade on a heavy machine made to do the job will do in hours what will take you weeks and with less danger to your body and life. I think it will be money well spent. They can also tilt the blade to do the ditch/low side on the inside/hillside wall for your water runoff and then you decide where you want to make it start going downhill.
When I get to the end of each cross row I have mine go straight up and down which I can handle on my tractor and RTV with no problem. I wanted the roads to be long to have more riding roads for my RTV with Grands. You want to get to the bottom as quick and as short as you can so yours can decend and be level road bed from side to side and be safe. When I lived in Montana we had mountain roads that did what they call there switchbacks and I imagine that's what you need.

JT, I think you are right... I think I need some professional hillside help (landscape designer and a bigger machine that can cut sideways). Ouch... mo' money. :thumbdown:

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

JT, I think you are right... I think I need some professional hillside help (landscape designer and a bigger machine that can cut sideways). Ouch... mo' money. :thumbdown:

Ponder, meditate, and observe how other people in your area "get down" in their design. No money. Have you heard the ole pay now or pay later? I say pay a skilled operator with a tilt front blade now instead of you paying for fuel, wear and tear and maintenance plus purchasing one time use implements over the next several months. That's the pay later part.
Also, if your time has ANY value you'll make money paying the right person with the right machine for a few hours vs your weeks plus possible injury.
Many of us buy a tractor to do ALL jobs or I actually bought my first one to be a life time mower with high priced wheelbarrow on the front. I later discovered how usable/valuable/handy/hard working a Sub compact and compact tractor can be. After 15 Kubota purchases and almost 10 years of use and experience I know they are specific purpose machines. A high amp tuner has better sound than a TV even though you can listen to Henry Mancini on a TV but it ain't the same. Get a track small dozer/track loader with tilt blade/bucket to drive up and down your steep hill with the front blade/bucket angled to get you a level decending road with a slight tilt to the inside wall and then you do the safer sub compact tractor finishing work.:thumbsup: You'll move from frustration to fun which it can be so pay now or pay later but the enjoyment of a nice landscape costs time and money. You just have to decide/determine how much and maybe when.:cool2:

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

I have a man that does excavation work here for $65 an hour for big skid steer work. He charges $85 an hour for mid sized front track loader. I didn't find him in the yellow pages. There is another man that did some dozer work for me a few years ago and he was $75 an hour. He to was NOT in the yellow pages. Asking around is how I found one and the other had moved here after downsizing a big excavation company and he's mostly retired or thinks/says he is but he stays busy almost all the time when it isn't raining. Ask around to find who to contact to get price and go for by the hour, not the job. They will be able to tell you how many hours it should take or if they can't, don't get them.