Mowing on slopes maximum angle before tip

[Hay Dude]

Even ground conditions play a role. Soft ground versus hard ground, etc.

I find backing onto steep ground to be safer and more effective-even in the amount of ground you mow.
The reason is as has been stated by me and others, the upper back tire is the “tippy” tire. If you put the tippy tire ahead of the front tires by reversing the tractor, you get an earlier warning AND the mower mows more grass (if it’s a bush hog or rear mower like mine) because you are pushing it across/up the hill in front of you.

Having the mower “in front” of you when reversing has a stabilizing affect for MY steep mowing situations.

Experience has taught me these things.

 

[true temper]

I have a section of ditch that makes me real nervous. For that small piece I take a piece of truck drive shaft that is 4” in diameter and put it in the tube on the bottom of my loader tower.
It sticks out about 3’ and I hang some weights on the end and wire them to keep them from slipping.
Adds a lot of weight to the high side of ditch, and keeps the weight low. Works pretty good and makes me feel better.

 

[Hay Dude]

I have a section of ditch that makes me real nervous. For that small piece I take a piece of truck drive shaft that is 4” in diameter and put it in the tube on the bottom of my loader tower.
It sticks out about 3’ and I hang some weights on the end and wire them to keep them from slipping.
Adds a lot of weight to the high side of ditch, and keeps the weight low. Works pretty good and makes me feel better.

Get ‘er dun!

 

[boatmoter]

we used to use a sickle bar on the back of a old 801 power master and angle the bar down while on top of the slopes to mow the slopes on canal dykes for the southwest florida water management back in the 60's,but we have bank mowers now which makes it much safer & faster

 

[groundcover]

Went by an overgrown ski slope one day and the old guy with me said he remembered when they would mow it with a tricycle tractor, that guy must have had a set !

 

[John0829]

Would be nice to own a bank mower, just don't have enough to justify the cost of one and a sickle bar just cannot get close enough. Even better would hiring someone to do all the trimming and mowing IF you could find anyone that would show up.

I guess nature and society is saying the old fat man needs something to help keep him in some kind of condition.

 

[IndyIan]

I go basically straight up and down the real steep stuff, with the back end down the hill, and start from the bottom. Then bumps or holes don't matter much, and I keep the front end loader on to reassure myself I'm not going over backwards as in 4wd and r1's can grip pretty good in turf! I don't mow hills for fun or profit though, so I rarely do stuff that steep and I'm not in a hurry. Steepest I'd guesstimate at between 30 and 35 deg? I've planted trees on it now, but I'd never take my ATV or SUV across it, let alone the tractor.

 

[Hoho223]

Can tip factor be measured? For example, jack the machine up on two wheels to the same degree of the measured slope you usually mow. Now try to lift the machine. If machine moves at all, it’s a no go.
Never tipped but when a wheel comes off the ground the pucker factor is the gold standard for me.

 

[Shenandoah MF1760]

Even ground conditions play a role. Soft ground versus hard ground, etc.

It's that etc. that will get you. If your tipping point is 20 degrees for example and you suddenly hit a mound or dip that throws you past that point you're likely not going to have enough time to recover before going over.

 

[Andrus]

Almost impossible to give a useful answer to this,... but here's something. Always be ready to immediately turn your front wheels downhill if you start to feel the tractor tipping, that will bring it back down. And of course, don't get in a place, like the edge of a cliff or a pond where you can't turn downhill...in which case you just better jump.