Grass Cutting on Grades

[bill18163]

I have the kid next door cut my grass with my BX 1860. I've seen him cutting side ways on some of my grades and when I cut on these grades I go up and down. Never felt comfortable going side ways. I asked him how the tractor felt doing this and all he does is shrug his shoulders. It looks BAD when he does it. Scares the dickens out of me. I don't think he has an inkling of how close he is to tipping over. He's 14 years old. That should tell you everything. He has done it many many times and nothing has happened but it still scares me. Today when he cuts I'm going to stop him on that incline and put an angle finder on the ROPS edge to see what it is. My question would be at what angle is he getting past the point of no return? What is the max angle you can be safe at?

 

[BrianR]

I have the kid next door cut my grass with my BX 1860. I've seen him cutting side ways on some of my grades and when I cut on these grades I go up and down. Never felt comfortable going side ways. I asked him how the tractor felt doing this and all he does is shrug his shoulders. It looks BAD when he does it. Scares the dickens out of me. I don't think he has an inkling of how close he is to tipping over. He's 14 years old. That should tell you everything. He has done it many many times and nothing has happened but it still scares me. Today when he cuts I'm going to stop him on that incline and put an angle finder on the ROPS edge to see what it is. My question would be at what angle is he getting past the point of no return? What is the max angle you can be safe at?

I checked the manual that came with my machine and am not able to find a maximum slope angle for these machines.

If he is 14 and 110lbs, he might not feel like he is going to tip over at those angles with his lower center of gravity, but I know that on my BX2200 with me being 6ft+ tall and 220lb.....I bet I couldn't mow like he is. The angle on my steepest ditch is 24 to 26 degrees. While I *can* mow it, I travel slow and in low gear. Might mention that I have ag tires on my machine too. This helps to keep from sliding the rear wheels down the slope while moving, but also makes the tractor more likely to roll over as the tires will grip and try to stay put.