Mowing retention ponds

[Degolyerent]

I have been mowing retention ponds on a large piece of commercial property that is undeveloped ,the site work was put in place before the boom ended, but anyway the slopes range from comfortable to tricky especially with the water being 20' or better deep, it can tend to make you nervous,but my question is what % is to much? I have checked it in several places with a 4' level and a tape measure and it ranges from 12" in 4' to 16" in 4' sometimes even more. 12" in 4' is 25% and 16" in 4' is 33.33% is that math correct? I am running a 4wd with rear tires filled and now and then on the steeper parts you can feel the back end sliding down the hill, what do y'all think the cut off point is as far as % goes?

 

[taborekle]

Hi Degolyerent,

I also have a retention pond and I have to mow the **** face, which in some places is about 45 degrees. It's tricky at best, and my in-laws are all taking bets that I'm going 'swimming with the fishes'.

I don't think though, that you can simplify the problem with just the angle of a slope. What happens when the ground is wet? Or soft from a rain a few days before?

My slope is also only about 20 feet from the top of a level road to the water, so while I am 's l o w l y' backing the bush hog down the slope, I am also in 4wd, and have some strapped down weights in my bucket loader, which is very low, and still over the road.

I started by doing what I was comfortable with as far as backing down the slope, and have slowly increased it over many cuts. It's largely a factor of how the tractor feels on the slope.

Your tractor, your implements, your slope, your ground cover are different then anyone here, I can only offer you the suggestion that you should only do what you feel comfortable doing.

Good luck,

Larry

 

[MHarryE]

As a manufacturer we are asked that a lot but we are instructed not to give an answer in percent or degrees because so many variables enter in. A machine may be rock solid on a 50% slope but hit a rock or soft spot and over you go. I have climbed a 1.5 : 1 slope (67%) and after getting to the top looked back down the slope and thought HOLY CRAP! I can't believe I did that. Then I saw the customer's driver cross it sideways and said that guy's crazy. Customer had complained the machine wouldn't climb the slope so I flew out to check it out (newly introduced model). Operator was new to hydrostatic drive and kept giving more propel speed as the engine bogged down (like stepping on an accelerator) instead of backing off. I have a neat picture over my desk of a machine lying on it's side. Operator was working on an embankment and doing fine until he hit a bit of loose ground where it slid a bit, caught, and rolled. Was sent by legal as an illustration of why they don't want us to give firm numbers.

 

[Grandad4]

Just my opinion, but even if the odds are 99% against anything going wrong - and they probably aren't nearly that favorable - sooner or later it does catch up with you, and then the consequences are a disaster. You really have no escape avenues if the tractor gets out of control... it's going in the drink and so are you. At minimum you'll mess up the tractor and that may be the least of your widow's worries. Call me a big chicken, but really think about what you're doing on those slopes.

 

[J_J]

I can tell you this, that after cutting all types of hills and slopes for 20 years, there is not a set figure for safe. As someone mentioned above, a small something can change the scenario. One does get comfortable with cutting something familiar, and it is by the seat of the pants feeling that guides you to the fear level.

I had been cutting this one slope for over a year, and this one morning, the grass apparently was a little wet, and I messed up and made a down hill turn. The Dixie Chopper started sliding and me in full reverse, sliding about 30 ft and over a 6 ft drop off.

If full reverse the levers are in front of you and locked and you can not change that. So some emergency thinking came to mind and I put the levers to neutral and open the levers so I could get out. This happen as the mower was going over the dropout. I dove off the falling mower and hit hard with the mower landing on me. It crushed me a bit and split the muscle in my leg.

Just to the left of me was and outside AC unit, and if if I had have rolled off the slop at that spot, things would not have worked out for me.

Sometimes I would run up a steep slope at a 45 degree angle to the slope, get to the top, and come down at a 45 degree angle and do that until the slope was cut.

Some good advice about cutting slopes around water, take those seat belts off. The fear of rolling over in water is enough to block your thinking about releasing your seat belt as you roll over in the water. How would like the paper to read, that he was wearing his seat belt, but he drowned.

If you cut around a pond or slope the same direction, a counter weight opposite the water would help .

Here are some alternative ways of cutting slopes.

 

[Bigfoot62]

LaDOT highway contracts specify that road ditch slopes be no more than a 3:1. (1' rise per 3' run) Because I've never worked on a road job in any other state, I can't say for certain, but I think the 3:1 standard is pretty much universal. So, you could reason that the highway department is only "comfortable" putting their employees on a 3:1 or less.

It takes a lot longer, but if possible, it's best to mow slopes by traveling up and down.

 

[jake98]

I have a DR All Terrain mower, don't use it much but it would be good for that stuff. It climbs up pretty much anything I can.

 

[Degolyerent]

J_J sorry to hear about your misfortune, I am really trying to avoid that for sure, I have been waiting until slopes are dry and going in a low gear at slow speeds but it still is uncomfortable in some of the areas.
I have been using my seatbelt but was unsure about how good of an idea that was also. I don't really do enough of the slope mowing to warrant buying a special mower for that purpose. I am thinking I may just let this job go or look for someone with the right equipment to sub parts of it to.

 

[rnh1]

I mowed road ditches for too many decades. It pays to be chicken sometimes. Tips: keep mower as low as possible, watch out for drop offs, do not drive upper wheel up on rock or hump, keep lower wheel out of dips. ROPS and seat belts are life savers. I saw a lot of roll overs, but drivers walked away. :thumbsup: