JoeL4330
Platinum Member
Downhill safety is as much a function of what happens at the bottom as the steepness ...if there is a nice flat runout, then potential problems are considerably less ...advice to go down forward works in 4wd, but not so well in 2wd where you might unload the rear (lose traction) and find worthless/no front brakes and no engine braking ...exciting but relatively safe if there is a runout ...as long as you don't try to (suddenly) maneuver across the "fall line".
Note that things change w. a 3ph mower ...if you are mowin' down steep hill then you have taken weight off the rear and shifted the CG forward ...if in 2wd you can be in for a big surprise, as stated above ...losing rear wheel traction and thus losing engine braking (and/or rear wheel braking, period ...which usually means losing any braking) ...it is somewhat counter-intuitive at the time, but as the tractor starts to "run away downhill", raising the 3ph effectively shifts the CG rearward, weighting the rear, (and in my case, on some of my hills, enough to restore control even in 2wd)
Now, mowing up that steep hill is tricky, too ; the situation is reversed ...more stability with the mower down than up...and, while it may be good advice to back up a steep hill, it's hard to mow that way ... Of course, if the mower should hang up (stump/rock) then that is the classic situation for the front end rearing up (and sometimes over ...here is where a pull type mower, pullin' from the draw bar could be somewhat safer, I should think. Goin' up and losin' traction--as was pointed out--is not the problem, as anyone who watches hill climbs knows (although one must care about how you are comin' back down having lost traction) ...the more deadly situation is good traction and no forward movement, which rotates the tractor around the rear axle.
Wearing brown pants is good advice, as it not testing any of the above theories, which I have inadvertently tested for you
Note that things change w. a 3ph mower ...if you are mowin' down steep hill then you have taken weight off the rear and shifted the CG forward ...if in 2wd you can be in for a big surprise, as stated above ...losing rear wheel traction and thus losing engine braking (and/or rear wheel braking, period ...which usually means losing any braking) ...it is somewhat counter-intuitive at the time, but as the tractor starts to "run away downhill", raising the 3ph effectively shifts the CG rearward, weighting the rear, (and in my case, on some of my hills, enough to restore control even in 2wd)
Now, mowing up that steep hill is tricky, too ; the situation is reversed ...more stability with the mower down than up...and, while it may be good advice to back up a steep hill, it's hard to mow that way ... Of course, if the mower should hang up (stump/rock) then that is the classic situation for the front end rearing up (and sometimes over ...here is where a pull type mower, pullin' from the draw bar could be somewhat safer, I should think. Goin' up and losin' traction--as was pointed out--is not the problem, as anyone who watches hill climbs knows (although one must care about how you are comin' back down having lost traction) ...the more deadly situation is good traction and no forward movement, which rotates the tractor around the rear axle.
Wearing brown pants is good advice, as it not testing any of the above theories, which I have inadvertently tested for you
