Walkbehinds and side hills?

[IHDiesel73L]

I have a 2 acre property and mow about 3/4 of an acre of it, a good chunk of which is my septic mound. The mound is built into a hillside and not far from the house so I don't like to let the grass get higher than 6-8" between mowings. The problem is the fact that north, south and east sides of the mound are quite steep-too steep for any kind of lawn tractor or zero turn. Right now I'm doing it all with a 22" push mower which cuts nicely, but its pretty labor intensive. I'm hoping that a self propelled walk behind might have a low enough center of gravity to navigate the side hills, give a nice cut and allow me to cut 36 or 38" at a time.

 

[lennyzx11]

I have the same issue. I end up on the push mower and weed eater while dear wife rides one of the ztrs.
Looking forward to comments.

 

[starr1971]

Can something like a sickle bar mower be used or is the mound in a confined space?

 

[ArlyA]

We asked the same question to users of walk behind mower and there response was "they are man killers on rough terrain and hills" so we didn't purchase it. That's all we can add......

 

[Diggin It]

OK, first off, you'll kill a push mower on a slope if you do it much. They sling oil internally rather than pump and can't do that on slopes. A little bit here and there is one thing, but they won't take much.

Maybe one of the new battery/electric push mowers?


Better would be to add some fill dirt and reshape the slope to something less steep.


Another option that might be possible, add some landscape/wall block and create a tiered wall. It won't have to be mowed and could be planted with some sort of low growing ground cover like Phlox.

 

[shooterdon]

OK, first off, you'll kill a push mower on a slope if you do it much. They sling oil internally rather than pump and can't do that on slopes. A little bit here and there is one thing, but they won't take much.

Maybe one of the new battery/electric push mowers?


Better would be to add some fill dirt and reshape the slope to something less steep.


Another option that might be possible, add some landscape/wall block and create a tiered wall. It won't have to be mowed and could be planted with some sort of low growing ground cover like Phlox.

Good suggestions!!!

I would invest in terracing and get rid of mowing, and the mower, completely.

 

[Diggin It]

Or just some larger crushed rock about the size of bowling balls. Place that on the existing slope a few layers deep with a layer of landscape cloth underneath.. Spray it a couple of times a year for weeds.

 

[RalphVa]

There are some 4wd walk behinds now that you might want to look into. Trouble is none have a reverse; so, it needs to be fairly open to not require pulling them back.

There are some good battery self propelled walk behinds now. Stihl has a couple as do others. This is if you're worried about the oil slinging issues mentioned. Almost all our approximately 1/2 acre of lawn that we mow with walk behinds has some slope contend with. No problems. My wife can blast away nearly top speed behind the Honda and do it all in less than a couple hours. I would take about 3 times that long because I'd mow 1/3 and rest, etc. We have the Honda HRR and an old JD 14SB, both very good mowers and easy to start. Have a 40v Kobalt, but it does not cut as well as the 2 gas ones and is not self propelled. Rarely use it any more.

Just recently got a new Ryobi 40v "crosscut" walkbehind, self-propelled. It is so easy to run around on slopes and all.

Ralph

 

[stuckmotor]

Now, I've got to go and look up septic mound.

 

[stuckmotor]

Now, I've got to go and look up septic mound.

The Wikipedia article was interesting but the mounds sounded expensive.

 

[whistlepig]

A walk behind is heavy in the front. On a side hill it's a fight to keep the front going straight as the front want's to point down hill. A walk behind on a steep side hill doesn't work out very well. Even an old Gravely with steering brakes is more than a handful on a steep side hill.

 

[Rebeldad1]

Our orchard has a hillside we mow. I ran the excavator up it and my level showed 20 degrees at worst.
My wife mows it with a John Deere LX mower 38" cut. Mows straight up, turn around and straight down. Hurts the mower? The Lx was left for us when we moved in. Was bought new in 1988 and still runs and functions like new. Just dont try to mow yours when wet.

 

[Egon]

There are places were walk behinds are used on steep slopes.

Careful on doing work to a septic mound. They usually have a specific design and may not function properly if altered.

 

[stuckmotor]

There are places were walk behinds are used on steep slopes.

Careful on doing work to a septic mound. They usually have a specific design and may not function properly if altered.

View attachment 669592

If the young lady really mowed everything shown in the picture, she's good wife material.

 

[Tomtint]

We maintain one of our commercial properties with a Walker GHS mower as well as a Scag Hydro 36" mower. The Scag does the slopes and it really handles them very well. The Kawi motor has a oil pump and is not splash lubricated, so the angles are not a issue.

 

[Egon]

If the young lady really mowed everything shown in the picture, she's good wife material.

Here is Husband material.

 

[ArlyA]

Orec makes a flail and rotary type walk-behind mowers that I'd use. I tested and loved them which are made for professional type jobbers..

 

[Supraman0614]

I used a 52" Scag belt-drive walk behind for years around my property, with plenty of hills, up and down, and side to side. You have to use the hand brakes a bit when side-hilling, but it is easy enough to control. If the hill is too steep, you you will get the rear end to slide sideways, similar to side-hilling with a ZTR, but it's not too bad.

 

[RalphVa]

The most easily managed walkbehind self-propelled we've had is the new Ryobi 40v 21 inch "crosscut" one from Home Depot. It is lighter and easier to reverse than previous (heavy) ones we've had.

 

[RalphVa]

A walk behind is heavy in the front. On a side hill it's a fight to keep the front going straight as the front want's to point down hill. A walk behind on a steep side hill doesn't work out very well. Even an old Gravely with steering brakes is more than a handful on a steep side hill.

I could not manage our old Gravely 5665 until I got steering brakes. With the steering brake and its single handle, I could run it around on slopes, etc. with a couple fingers of one hand on the steering bar.