ProfJeff
Member
Scare #1: My very first trip from front to back yard, I was going forward slowly down a hill through the woods with maybe 250# in the FEL a bit too high--probably hood height. The tractor got into some loose dirt, bounced, and started sliding forward and down the hill, and not being used to left foot braking I had a momentary no-brake problem. Fortunately I had my hand on the FEL and just dropped the bucket as jumped off the gas. Probably not the best, but better than letting it get loose and go into a tree. I sort of kicked myself for not practicing the hill with no load. I learned to back down the hill in the next hour.Grats on your new machine ProfJeff. Shame the dealer didn't take the time to show you the ropes. I'm in a similar situation with a little GC (first tractor) coming next week.
I would love to learn some lessons the easy way - do you mind sharing how you scared yourself? How do you feel about the little GC so far?
Scare #2: Similar 250#ish in the FEL, slowly trying to maneuver in the back yard which is hilly. Looking at pics online, my backyard ranges from almost flat to 8 to up to 15 degrees with one nice little 50 degree ramp--I will be push mowing that! I was pointed about 45 degrees down the hill on about 8-10 degrees slope left to right. I tried to turn right to go up the hill and the uphill rear wheel came off the ground. I spent enough time in go carts and on a race track in my younger days that I instinctively turned left down the hill as I started a dismount off the right side. Between turning downhill and my 170# sudden shift to the right, the wheel came back down but it was a pucker moment on a 2-3 hour old tractor. After that, I have only backed down that part of the back yard too. I spend a lot of time in reverse.
The machines feels very top heavy with the loader and very unsettled in the back all time. I should note I took the mid mount mower deck off due to ground clearance in the woods. That is 260# of very low weight that would help a lot down the hills through the woods on both sides of the property. I am going to fix that with the FEL over the next few weeks so that I have better paths.
I have about 500# of Heavy Hitch and weights on the way, supposed to ship Friday or early next week. I am getting my tires loaded tomorrow. That will be about 700-740# total. With the tires loaded my plan is the full 500# weight with the FEL up and down the hill, and then when I am mowing take off the ssqa and use maybe 300 or so on the HH. I think the mid mount mower deck while mowing since it is 260# very low.
It's a learning curve for sure.