Steep Hill

[tomctom 0]

Does anyone have any tricks for cutting grass on a hill?  My yard is uneven, and my 316-8 does a good job but will get stuck on some parts and the rear wheels will just spin without traction.   Would wheel weights help with this?   Any suggestions would be appreciated?

[chazm 412]

  Welcome to 

my yard is hilly too, wheel weights would help,  I run weights & chains on rear tires year round 

 

Chasm

[Forest Road 594]

I run ag tires on my 314h. I have a couple pretty steep slopes that I mow. There's no way I could do it with turf tires. Chains are an affordable option. FYI in the winter there's no substitute for chains.

[thehorse 221]

I would start with weights....if that does not work you could go to chains or even ag tires.

[varosd 1,185]

 

I have one area near my sand mound that is steep and levels out into my woods. so, I am leaving it now for the weed whacker or push mower more and more. too many horror stories of flipped tractors.

Surprisingly , my B-80 seems more "stable" on an incline compared to the 520....

[groundhog47 347]

I' m prob the dummy but try to mow down and around weightless and chainless, don't go up cause load to hydro and poss oil starvation if only for seconds. I do believe read in maual where they recommend weights. Of course I slow to a crawl and sometimes make an "eyebrow" cut across the face just before the final steep angle. All that said the hill is abot 70 deg and no more than 25 ft. For the small zones when it's wet I just avid and push mow cause know will get stuck.

 

Also realize this may not even be what you are talkin about. These road crew guys are crazy at some of their techniques.

Edited May 21, 2013 by groundhog47

[dcrage 621]

I ruined a lot of my yard cutting on these extreme slops by spinning tires -- Most of this tire spinning resulted from cutting around trees on these slops -- The worst was spinning with chains on which obviously ripped out large chunks of grass -- So fairly early on I decided chains were a no-no for grass cutting -- Turf tires will also kill grass patches if you let them spin -- I believe that Ags would be a good option for this application -- Don't own any yet but intend to get some

 

Cutting straight up and down the slop is the best and safest way to work on these slopes -- It is possible to get onto slopes steep enough for your tractor to brake traction -- You have to learn the "hard way" to avoid these areas

 

With the advantage of 20 years of hindsight; I wish I had done a whole lot more push mowing on portions of this yard to save it from getting torn up

[Tankman 3,515]

 

Cutting straight up and down the slope is the best and safest way to work on these slopes -- It is possible to get onto slopes steep enough for your tractor to brake traction -- You have to learn the "hard way" to avoid these areas

Learned "almost" the hard way. Broke traction and slid down the slope, tail first. Lucky no damage but was thinking, "heart attack but stopped safely before the trees."

Fence the slope and add goats? :smile:

[KC9KAS 4,741]

I have fluid in my turf style tires and have NO PROBLEM slipping!

[WH nut 553]

Becareful if you use ags or chains. I try and go down only, but if you go up and slip then grab hang on cause she could rear up on you

[Lagersolut 613]

I also live on a hilly area, personally I never ran turf tread the 20 years I'm here, the C-101 has AG tread and fluid in the tires , my other mower , a classic GT is AG tread and wheel weights  .....

 

I like traction

[cheesegrader 433]

The damage you do to yourself, much less your tractor, is not worth it.

The manual on the 520 advises no more than 15 degrees vertical slope, and no more than 5 degrees side to side.

You can starve your engine of oil, you can roll your tractor, you can lose traction and slide until you hit something solid...

I damn near roled my 520 down a hill and into a lake two years ago.

Exciting, yes!  But very, very bad.

Weights, chains, ags be damned.  The penalty for screwing up is a #700 tractor sitting on your chest.

Do not do this.

[Don1977 604]

I use to run 80 # of weight in each rear wheel with the 23x8.50x12 Turf Savers that came on the tractor. I changed to 23x10.50x12 Turf Masters and have not need the weights. I mow some pretty steep areas, turning on the steep ares the 8.50 would spin. I have a 48" deck and mow areas I would not try with a 36" deck. It is only steep when you have to sit half off the up side fender to provide traction. As they say on Mythbusters "Don't try this at home, we are experts"

[boovuc 1,090]

I had a steep yard with a shale base so it was slippery. I bought wider ag tires with minimum tire pressure and used wheel weights on all four rims. It made a huge difference mowing the side hill and holding traction.

[B-100 Dan 7]

I took my turf tires off and stashed them in the garage, and put on the fluid filled ag / bar tread tires.  Never spins a wheel now on the steep bank by the drive way,  Before I couldn't even get up it with the turf tires.  I've run filled ag tires on the last three Horse's I've owned.  It works for me, but there are other options for sure.

Good luck.

[953 nut 51,790]

Yesterday my friend went over a bank and managed to jump clear as his 310-8 went down the bank. He has a broken wrist and ankle and a thousand cuts from the blackberry patch he ended up in because he was mowing too steep a grade. As we talked about it I told him the cause (other than being stupid enough to try mowing that steep a hill) was that the brakes stop the transmission, not the wheels, so when he was loosing traction and tried to stop the free wheel stopped while the traction wheel was still rolling. I will say one thing that won't be a big suprise to anyone, the   came out a lot better than he did!

 

As for me I will avoid the temptation to cut steep slopes, I had an old Craftsman rider on top of me 35 years ago, the Lord kept me safe then and I am not about to try that again.

  

[312Hydro 473]

Does anyone have any tricks for cutting grass on a hill?  My yard is uneven, and my 316-8 does a good job but will get stuck on some parts and the rear wheels will just spin without traction.   Would wheel weights help with this?   Any suggestions would be appreciated?

Yes, Don't do it!  Ask me how I know....

[Earle 3]

TomcTom, Earle here, I know mowing on side hill is hard, but the wider the mower deck  48" helped has kept me from tipping over, and turn down hill, slightly,  maybe

15 degrees, or 20 degrees, I mowed a busness and moble home park for someone for a few years.Wth a Wheel Horse, his tractor.  Also raise the deck so the boggie wheels do not hit, than the deck will float, <BE EXTRA CAREFUL DOING THIS SO YOU DON'T TIPOVER>.This may work if you can drive on you lawn with out the deck. good luck, Earle

[boovuc 1,090]

Ouch! Tell me that isn't the steering wheel in the distance!

[312Hydro 473]

Ouch! Tell me that isn't the steering wheel in the distance!

Why yes, yes it is.....

[GlenPettit 1,714]

As mentioned many times above, WEIGHT,  keep it very low, and shift your weight over to the uphill wheel.  Try to only mow across or downhill; follow directions, but then we all like to "push the rules" and live wild.  Turf tires don't really give enough traction for slopes.

[tomctom 0]

Appreciate everyone's input, and even more so I appreciate the fact that I am not alone and you all have had similar problems.  I think what I would like to look into are the fluid filled AG tires. Pushing this beast of a hill is not impossible, but it takes a really long time, and I have cut it safely many times, (and a few times not so safely) on a tractor.   Best regards and wishes to all,    Tom

[Earle 3]

Earle here, I meant to mow slighty down hill not straight across.

[6wheeler 586]

I use to run 80 # of weight in each rear wheel with the 23 x8.50x12 Turf Savers that came on the tractor. I changed to 23x10.50x12 Turf Masters and have not need the weights. I mow some pretty steep areas, turning on the steep ares the 8.50 would spin. I have a 48" deck and mow areas I would not try with a 36" deck. It is only steep when you have to sit half off the up side fender to provide traction. As they say on Mythbusters "Don't try this at home, we are experts"

Don, I didn't know that was how steep slopes were determined  . I always thought if I couldn't walk up it? It may be too steep. I "half-butt" it all the time on these banks I mow. But, that's mostly because I am afraid I might fall off   . Safety is first. If you do not feel comfortable or the tractor is in fact losing traction? It probably is too steep. Use a push mower . Or get some goats, they are fun to watch  

[leeave96 487]

Appreciate everyone's input, and even more so I appreciate the fact that I am not alone and you all have had similar problems.  I think what I would like to look into are the fluid filled AG tires. Pushing this beast of a hill is not impossible, but it takes a really long time, and I have cut it safely many times, (and a few times not so safely) on a tractor.   Best regards and wishes to all,    Tom

 

I have hills to deal with and use ag tires with bolt on weights.  Nothing extreme - just stock wheel weights.  Personally I don't care for fluid in the tires - but that's just me.  My tractors go like a Jeep.  I can't say I've ever encountered a hill that I couldn't climb with this combo.

 

However, I have had some spinning trying to back slowly up the trailer tailgate/ramp due to it's slickery-ness...

 

Another thing you might consider is a set of rear wheels from a 520-H to give you a little wider tractor tire and with it overall width.  That plus the ags and weight ought to do the trick.

 

Good luck,

Bill