How can my dad mow a hill without it flying downhill

[KCB69]

Recently bought my dad a S160 John Deere hydraulic lawn tractor to mow his yard. I tried it out on the hill, it didn’t go slow but ran down the hill!! Can he ride his brake when going down then climb the least steep part???? I tried searching the web for the exact answer but can’t find anything. Of course JD is closed now. Please help!!

 

[KennyG]

Yes. That's why it has brakes.

 

[Diggin It]

Appears to be a low end box store riding mower. Not made for hills at all.

How steep of a hill? How much of a run? Just a few feet like an embankment or something more?

These small hydros don't have any real internal braking to hold back the weight of the machine and operator. Even if the transmission could hold it, they may simply slide/glide over the grass. Snow chains helped me with mine.

These do not have brakes. They either have an internal 'wet brake' or some form of friction on the drive belt. Even my SCUT will run downhill on my slopes and the 'brake' does nothing. I have to be in Low and FWD to control it.

 

[s219]

That is not a good model for mowing a yard with hills.

 

[KCB69]

Yes. That's why it has brakes.

The reason I asked if it was OK is because I’m concerned it would ruin the brakes if he rode it every time going down the hill.

 

[beenthere]

The reason I asked if it was OK is because I’m concerned it would ruin the brakes if he rode it every time going down the hill.

It won't harm the brakes if he rides them down the hill. If that controls the downhill mowing, use the brakes.
If the rear wheels start to slide, the differential can cause one wheel to reverse motion and the other to gain forward motion. The brakes may control that and make for a smoother decent.
You may need to add weight to the rear end either in wheel weights of suitcase weights if the brakes and transmission do not hold the slip and slide.

 

[hube2]

I used to have a JD something like that and I mowed on hills, my property is one big hill. The transmission will hold it back to some degree if you let up on the go pedal. Mine would sit pointed downhill and not go anywhere if I had my foot off the pedal. If it rolls with your foot off the peddle and no break applied it's likely something needs adjustment. The brake is not a brake, it is connected to the transmission and it is internal. If you ride the brake lot you'll need to adjust it more often. The brake and HST pedals should be checked and adjusted regularly, I did mine every spring before the start of mowing. There are instructions for how to check and adjust in the owners manual, or there was in mine.

You didn't say if it is new or used.

 

[hube2]

Another thing I just thought of. My tractor had a small lever on the back. This lever was used to "unlock" the transmission so that you could roll the tractor by pushing it. If you have this then make sure it is fully engaged in the locked position.

 

[RalphVa]

Brakes often will not work. The rear tires simply will not grip. Have seen this problem with all 3 JD tractors if I forget to put them in 4wd. Can be very dangerous if it slides sideways and then rolls.

 

[Tinhack]

Brake means stop, break means broken.

If you have hills or slopes, don't use golf cart tires on your mower. You need tires with more aggressive tread. My new Bad Boy will practically climb a tree. It almost did when I got the folded ROPS too close to the trunk. The tires on it look like M&S heavy duties.

 

[hube2]

Brake means stop, break means broken.

It was early I fixed my post. I generally try to read them over before hitting reply but the brain reads what it expects to see.

 

[Tinhack]

I think my mirror is broken. It's not showing what my brain is expecting. It keeps showing some old guy.

 

[k0ua]

You can also apply reverse pedal as you go down a hill, this will slow down the mower to some extent, provided your rear tires still have traction. If they slide on the grass, then it will not have any effect. The hydro transmissions in small box store JD lawn tractors are pixx poor at best. They don't have much holding power, wear out quickly, and have no provision for changing out their fluid.

The "best" thing you could do is change out the tractor for a nice 4 wheel drive hydro equipped tractor like the 1 series JD or Kubota BX or other brands. Of course I realize they are 10 times the money, but they of course will do this job without sliding down hill and will do many other jobs as well. All it takes to fix your dad's problem is money.

 

[hube2]

I mowed my hill for a long time with mine, but I also had the rear tires filled because it had very little traction without it, could not climb my hill straight up if the grass was even a little damp. At the time I didn't really have the choice of getting something like I have now, I got the best I could afford and made it work. The others are right though, those little trans-axles are not great on hills. Hills will cause it to wear out faster, as will filling the tires.

 

[Unclewillie]

Bout all one could do is build roll bars and use common sense , but thing is like others stated them box store lawn mowers ain't that strong , trans chain could snap them free fast ride, pop out of gear, slide, flip, just part of life keeping safe doing something we think must be done.

 

[jerrybob]

I have a 19yr old LT180.....I have many hills.....I run tire chains on my mower year around.....have been doing it since new....really helps.....doesn't damage grass.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Brake means stop, break means broken.

If you have hills or slopes, don't use golf cart tires on your mower. You need tires with more aggressive tread. My new Bad Boy will practically climb a tree. It almost did when I got the folded ROPS too close to the trunk. The tires on it look like M&S heavy duties.

Or chains

 

[TheRusty]

Recently bought my dad a S160 John Deere hydraulic lawn tractor to mow his yard. I tried it out on the hill, it didn’t go slow but ran down the hill!! Can he ride his brake when going down then climb the least steep part???? I tried searching the web for the exact answer but can’t find anything. Of course JD is closed now. Please help!!

I have a 30 degree pitch in my yard I mow with a 24HP Husq. On the less steep spots I can successfully ride the brake down the hill. On the steepest sections, even engine braking won't hold and using the brakes just locks up the wheels and tears up the turf as it careens uncontrolled down the hill. It's better to mow those sections uphill, then "freefall" backwards to the bottom on the sections where it can't make it all the way to the top. That's not safe, but 30 degrees is double the safe pitch. If you want to be safe, get a Ventrac.

In the old days I could ride the mower sideways along the hill as long as I leaned uphill. Nowadays, the seat sensors won't activate when you are just barely on the uphill edge of the seat. You could disable the kill switch. But that wouldn't be safe.

Caveat emptor: In thirty years I've only rolled my lawn tractor once.

 

[JWR]

Appears to be a low end box store riding mower. Not made for hills at all.

How steep of a hill? How much of a run? Just a few feet like an embankment or something more?

These small hydros don't have any real internal braking to hold back the weight of the machine and operator. Even if the transmission could hold it, they may simply slide/glide over the grass. Snow chains helped me with mine.

These do not have brakes. They either have an internal 'wet brake' or some form of friction on the drive belt. Even my SCUT will run downhill on my slopes and the 'brake' does nothing. I have to be in Low and FWD to control it.

Diggin It is right: These are just lawnmowers and there is very little to nothing you can do to mke them useful on steep ground. Being 2WD the front tires are useless. They generally have ineffective "brakes" that barely warrant using the word. If you must use it, or worse yet have some older guy doing it, put all the weight you can on those rear wheels (like filling them with fluid). You can probably adapt a heavy "suitcase weight" from the tracdtor world and fasten it on the rear somehow. You should be able to find some "bar tread" tires that ares till easy on turf but offer a lot better traction up against the hill. This group can't relly tell frpom the comments what you are up against. How about -posting a few pictures of the area beiong mowed?

Also, I forgot to mention: with nothing but the rear tires to control any up/down hill movement essentially ALL these kinds of machines are sleds going donwhill and if the grass is wet you are going to the bottom -- fast. All the more reason to trade it off (if used) or put on some weight and bar tread rear tires if you are keeping it. If you can't afford something with 4WD stay off the steeper stuff.

 

[Harry22]

Recently bought my dad a S160 John Deere hydraulic lawn tractor to mow his yard. I tried it out on the hill, it didn’t go slow but ran down the hill!! Can he ride his brake when going down then climb the least steep part???? I tried searching the web for the exact answer but can’t find anything. Of course JD is closed now. Please help!!

The dual pedal hydro S160 should be able to hold in place on a hill. It seems that the forward pedal linkage is not adjusted such the the hydro transaxle is not holding. Try using the reverse pedal and if that stops the forward movement then adjust the forward pedal linkage until it does the same thing when up. Ideally you want it such the when both pedals are up all the way the tractor just sits there on the hill. Over time with wear you may get a slight forward movement but it should be minor and very slow. I think it's just a linkage adjustment issue. You shouldn't need the brakes to slow down.