Mowing Mowing on complex hills --- HELP!!!

[mwood]

I'm not sure switching tires would really help unless it came with different wheels which allowed spacing to be further apart. The weight down low idea may be a better one. You could try to fill front and rear tires. SInce you have the turfs, the floatation should be enough to not rut your lawn too much /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[Bob_Skurka]

I think you'd get a bit more grip out of the R4 tires on your lawn, but before I did that my question would be do you get tire slippage when you are in 4wd with the turfs on a dry lawn? If the lawn is wet, stay off the slopes!

If you are sliding down the hill with turf tires and the lawn is dry, then I think at very least you need to consider your tire choice, but more likely you need to seriously consider your tractor choice and go drive a Ventrac or Steiner.

 

[hazmat]

The industrials are likely a little taller & narrower than your turfs. Check in the "specs" section of your owners manual.

Are you having traction issues?

 

[MikeFromVA]

The rears are filled. Would filling the fronts help much?

The grass was damp in some areas (under the trees). I will be more careful about that.

I didn't detect any slippage, just felt like tipping was a possibility. Like I said, could be a newbie problem only. Will have the tilt meter by the end of the week hopefully. Doubt I will push it past 15 degrees though - not sure I have the nerve.

 

[MicroPilot]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( ... Doubt I will push it past 15 degrees though - not sure I have the nerve. )</font>

You'd be surprised at how shallow this angle really is. I have a few areas of my "lawn" that get the tilt meter past 20* !!

It depends a lot on how comfortable you are on your machine. My neighbor has an area that would exceed 25* that he regularly mows ACROSS /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif I start pulling the seat up into my butt way before that and would never go across this hill.

 

[EastTexFrank]

It's not just the slope, it's how fast you are going and and what you are doing. Just after I got my CUT I almost rolled it on a 10 degree slope by being a hurry and turning too fast. Those uphill wheels came off the ground and scared the hell out of me. Just after that I got my tilt meter and I was surpried how closely my butt and the meter were calibrated. At 15 degrees I was getting uneasy and at 20 I was looking for a way out. Having said that, I occasionally get a guy to cut my pasture and he runs across slopes that would terrify me.

Having looked at the photos and I know they can be deceptive, I think I would be comfortable mowing them straight up and down but you'll get a better idea when the tilt meter arrives. Just remember, if you feel uneasy, don't do it. There are a couple of small places on my yard that I still "trim" with a walk-behind.

 

[PineRidge]

I don't make it a regular practice but I have a couple of areas on my property that I mow that cause me concern. On one occasion the grass was wet and the tires lost traction allowing the rear of the tractor to slide at a 90 degree angle to were I was originally mowing. Needless to say I don't mow that section any longer unless it is extremely dry.

 

[rcmike]

I had something similar to that happen to me once. I was mowing across a hill just as it started to rain. I was in a hurry to get done and going a little faster than I should. I slid sideways down the hill for about 5 feet. Scared the crap out of me! At least there wasn't any bumps or things to catch my tires or I would have probably flipped it when it stopped.

 

[Cottonhawk]

I have very steep slopes on my property. The steepest one has been named by previous owner "Cardiac Hill". I use a two way tilt meter and it helps a lot. Some of my slopes are quite a bit over 30 degrees. Low speed and 4 wheel drive my TC40DA has no problem negotiating the slopes when it's dry and going up and down. I always try to mow and try to go into or back up the slope perpendicularly. Side ways I try not to go over 20 degrees. I always mow with my FEL on and keep it low most of the time. I slipped once on a wet slope and had to "walk out" with the help of my FEL!

 

[MikeFromVA]

Just measured one of the spots I was worried about using a 4' carpenter's level. The slope goes down 14" over the 48" run - how do I determine my slope? Rise over Run = about .29 but I'm not sure what to do with that number...