Up on 2 wheels, need new underwear

[PaulB]

Sorry my description was so vague. Near as I can tell, what happened is the tractor started down the hill, the mower still on the level. The front of the mower lifted higher and higher relative to the tractor as the tractor descended, until the front of the mower the limits of travel of the 3 point, at which point I THINK the mower itself acted like a lever to lift the rear of the tractor. Because the hill is slightly off camber, only the left side lifted off the ground. The wheel of the mower never left the ground (In fact it will not lift off the ground unless I shorten my top link considerably), hence I do believe that the mower ended up being a huge lever with the rear end of the tractor acting as the fulcrum. As I said before, all would have been fine if I could have lowered the mower as soon as I deteted what was happening, but the flexible hinge which attatches the mower to the top link had reached the limits of its travel and had bound-up. Does this explanation make any sense to anybody but me??

 

[PaulB]

Wen - I responded to Birds queerie before I read yours, so you may already have read that the wheel of the mower never left the ground, so I do not think the full weight of the mower (400#) was suspended by the tractor (1500#). I have re-played this a hundred times in my mind, and can not figure it out. Like I said I have mowed steeper hills, but never by going forward over the transition from level ground to slope.

 

[W5FL]

Still lots of questions Paul. Were you in low range and at the lowest speed of the hydro transmission. Was this a hill that you have been done many times before. Did the tractor lose traction and skid down the hill?

Normally when you go from level to steep downhill, the top lik hits the end of travel and lifts the REAR of the mower high into the air although it would not lift it on level ground.

 

[W5FL]

Paul, are you saying that you considered (or have done) mowing this same area sideways? We are going to get to the bottom of this, then we are going to ask you about VET things.

 

[Bird]

PaulB, I'm a little slow sometimes. I'm still not sure I understand, but I think you're saying that when the front of the tractor started downhill, it was also tilted a bit to the right at the same time, so that not only raised the front of the mower, but the weight of the mower was also pushing it to the right and that's what caused the flex link to bind. And if I understand right, then you are right that it wouldn't have been so bad if you had lowered the 3-point as the front of the tractor started down.

Bird

 

[Rowski]

I am asking this as a question. If the tractor was tipped on its two right side wheels, letting of the hst pedal would not help because of the differential action. I think even in 4wd wouldn't help.

 

[EBS]

Mark,
A la Archimedes, give me enough traction and I can make the world go faster (or slower) /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif .
Ed

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I thought that was Hercules...

"Give me a place to stand and I will move the Earth"...

/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

del

 

[PaulB]

Thanks for putting all this brain power into my problem. Some facts that may help
- I was in lo, 4WD
- The grass was wet, so I do believe I was sliding not rolling on my 2 wheels
- I have never mowed this particular hill with the Kubota - I use my lawn tractor, going up and down not sideways
- the worst part is I have gone up and down this hill a dozen times with the Kubota with the mower on, and never a problem UNTIL that one time. The only thing different was the front loader being on.

 

[bcarter]

Did either the mower or the loader scrape the ground when you started down the hill? In my head I can picture the front edge of the mower "catching" the crest of the hill...if you were at a slight angle to the slope the force could have held up one side of the tractor enough to tip you in that direction. I'm further guessing that the width of the mower is what kept you from rolling the tractor?

My $.02....