Tractors on hills

[kenlip]

I back up steep hills and go forwards down them.

Thanks, ericm979

I often see references to 'steep' but have never seen anyone's definition of 'steep'.

I am about to buy an MX5100. One of the tasks it will used for is to tow a box trailer up a road. The trailer has a maximum GVM of 750kg, so it is relatively light.

The road is approximately a 20 degree slope (Approx 35-4-%). Is that rated as 'steep'? It's surface, at present , is very loose gravel. A 2WD sedan car JUST manages to get up, with a bit of slipping and sliding. I am hoping to use the tractor to get the road into a more passable condition for 2WD cars. The car we currently use on the property (it's a 'weekender' on which we are hoping to build a house) is 2WD, as are the cars of most of the people who would be visiting us, and would struggle to get the fully loaded trailer up the incline, even if the surface was good. My intention is to unhitch the trailer at the bottom of the hill, drive the car up to where the tractor will be stored and then use the tractor to retrieve the trailer.

Would I be correct in assuming that, as long as the hitch is attached to the drawbar, there should be no problems simply driving it up the hill?

Ken

 

[Code54]

If you can get traction I would have no fear of flipping it. Just make sure it cant pull you off to the side and tip you.

 

[ericm979]

I haven't measured the one hill on my property that's steep enough to make me go up backwards. It's a lot steeper than the 15% driveway and the 22% road. The Honda Pioneer 700 makes it up it in 4wd with tires spinning. I don't think a 2wd car could make it. The tractor goes up easily with no wheel spin unlike the Pioneer (but a lot slower, it needs low range).

Pulling from the drawbar would be safer from flipping over backwards than a trailer hitch on the 3pt. I'd probably try that vs getting a clamp on receiver for the loader bucket.

 

[BrokenTrack]

I have only rolled a tractor once, and that was last summer. Darnest thing, on only a 15% grade and in the edge of a field. (And yes I got pictures). That occured because I had my bucket up too high so that I could clear a fence on a turn, and because I popped my front tire out of the furrow I had just cut. When I went back into the furrow the tractor just went over...slowlyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. It was so slow I just stepped off it like it was in slow motion.

My constant fear has always been in rolling the skidder because it gets in some bad situations really quick. Not only is it expected to work on steep grades...both straight up and down, but on side hills; it does not have a lick of brakes. Adding to the pucker-factor sometimes is stumps. Roll over a stump a foot high and you swear you are going over! The final thing that adds to the pucker-factor is the articulation. As the machine is steered (articulated) the wheel base changes. If you turn UP the hill, the uphill side of the tractor pushes the tires closer together while the tires on the lower side of the hill are pushed further apart. This increases stability, BUT turn down the hill, and everything is reversed and the stability on the hill worsens. Always keep that in mind on an articulated tractor.

But on my bulldozers...I get downright crazy. With their low center of gravity they are impossible to roll over. That is my preferred weapon to log with on steep slopes.

Picture of tractor roll-over...

 

[MossRoad]

My little PT425 is articulated. It's something to feel the center of gravity change so drastically just by turning the steering wheel, even if you aren't moving forward or backward.

 

[dragoneggs]

My little PT425 is articulated. It's something to feel the center of gravity change so drastically just by turning the steering wheel, even if you aren't moving forward or backward.

Yes, I can imagine! Probably a weird sensation.

 

[Jstpssng]

I have only rolled a tractor once, and that was last summer. Darnest thing, on only a 15% grade and in the edge of a field. (And yes I got pictures). That occured because I had my bucket up too high so that I could clear a fence on a turn, and because I popped my front tire out of the furrow I had just cut. When I went back into the furrow the tractor just went over...slowlyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. It was so slow I just stepped off it like it was in slow motion.

My constant fear has always been in rolling the skidder because it gets in some bad situations really quick. Not only is it expected to work on steep grades...both straight up and down, but on side hills; it does not have a lick of brakes. Adding to the pucker-factor sometimes is stumps. Roll over a stump a foot high and you swear you are going over! The final thing that adds to the pucker-factor is the articulation. As the machine is steered (articulated) the wheel base changes. If you turn UP the hill, the uphill side of the tractor pushes the tires closer together while the tires on the lower side of the hill are pushed further apart. This increases stability, BUT turn down the hill, and everything is reversed and the stability on the hill worsens. Always keep that in mind on an articulated tractor.

But on my bulldozers...I get downright crazy. With their low center of gravity they are impossible to roll over. That is my preferred weapon to log with on steep slopes.

Picture of tractor roll-over...

The one time that I drove a bulldozer was on "Mt Sawyer", the landfill in Hermon. The brake on one side "sorta worked", while the other wasn't quite as good. I dragged a trailer mounted hay mulcher up, down, and across that hill. Looking back it was a pretty foolish thing to do for a day's pay.