Cutting slopes

RDA.Lawns said:

You may consider adding a weight kit on the back. My z masters have a factory installed weight on the back of them. My 48 inch is better on slopes than any mower I've ever used. Also always mow that yard in the middle of the day after the dew has long gone. If that didn't help I'd think about a small increase and just push mow it. I purchased a 4 wheel drive push mower for extremely steep areas .

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send2den said:

The last time I cut it I started at the upper right hand corner, came to the upper left hand corner. 180 and went back and forth until I hit down at the bottom by the sidewalk. It's a long rectangle shape yard that with my 54" takes about 5-6 passes at a turtles pace. I'm done for the year, but if the guy asks me to do it next year, I'm gonna have to change patterns because there are ruts already from previous cutters. Maybe I just have the wrong mower to try and cut that yard. If I use my 21" I'm gonna not create any more ruts, but it will probably take me an additional 15-20 minutes to cut if I had to guesstimate.

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Ric said:

Ok, you already stated coming straight down the hill and lost control of the mower and ran right over a utility tower so you've learned about going down hill on a ZTR. You never start at the top of the hill and mow down and never up and down the slope. You start at the bottom of the slope and mow across the slope and at the end of every pass you turn up the slope to make the next pass that way you always have control of the mower/ ZTR. If you ever get to a point where you start mowing more or a number of slopes you may want to consider a Toro Grandstand or some other type of stander which are can handle slopes better and faster than the ZTR.

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send2den said:

Gotcha. That makes sense. That way I'm never pointed downward. Now as far as the ruts and possibility of leaving ruts in the future with that same pattern, do you offset the wheel track from time to time? In other words mow a path that is maybe 1-2 feet higher on the slope than the last time, and stagger that with each cut?
This particular yard has a sidewalk bordering at the bottom. so of course I try and start my cut on the edge of the sidewalk, but to offset I now don't leave a fresh cut pattern parallel to the sidewalk. Is that OK? Or do you advocate something else.
That's how I started doing it at my house which has one little stretch just like this yard and I noticed I was leaving some semblance of rutting on it by going the same track. That gets tricky too though, as the sidewalk and grass where they meet are at totally different angles. I've tried to cut just a foot or two (that I miss when I offset the cut) from the sidewalk and have scalped it a time or two.
So I guess what I'm saying is if I DO offset each time I cut, how do I cut the small patch between the edge of the mower and the sidewalk? I have pushed mowed that small strip before at my house to take care of it and that worked OK. I can push mow it and offset it off of the sidewalk by 21" and then come in with my Hustler, thus getting my wheels on different paths for each subsequent cut.
What do you think? Bottom line here though, and I've learned a valuable lesson here, DO NOT turn that zero turn or attempt to cut DOWN a hill. It was amazing that day I hit that box, how little control I had over the mower when it started sliding down toward it. I had a guy tell me I should have throttled it and that would have picked it up and allowed me to gain traction. THAT idea sounded VERY dangerous to me as I would have then had a high rate of speed going down to the road AFTER I jumped over the sidewalk.LOL. Had to think about that one.

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Ric said:

Always turn up a hill or slope or hill with a ztr it's the only way to keep control of the mower. I've always found that when turning up the slope so the mower is pointed up the hill then reverse the inside tire backing up to line up the next pass works good for me. Another thing to remember if you ever get anywhere around ponds is to put a mower width between you and the pond for a safe zone. I seen a guy lose control of ztr on slopes and end up in a pond and talk about funny, all you could see was the rops in the water.
AS far as ruts go you should be able to offset like you said but I think every couple of times would be sufficient. You shouldn't have to offset every time. If you have two mowers of different sizes you can also alternate mowers, I often use or alternate between the ztr and stander. For me the 36" Grandstand is what I use on slopes or hillsides and for clients who love to water every night. It has a far lighter foot print than ztr. What I have found a lot of businesses are doing or have started using here when they run into pond areas or slopes is either the Toro Turfmaster or Exmark 30" cut push mowers, they do a good job and cost a lot less and it still keeps up there productivity.
There is a good rule of thumb to follow for doing slopes with a ztr mower and that rule is if you can't back up the slope without spinning a or the tires you don't belong on that slope with that mower.

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send2den said:

WOW. I had no idea they had pushmowers that wide. Pretty steep price for them babies too. $1700-$2000 for a new one. Is that correct? How about a walk behind Exmark? I see quite a few of those in the 36-42" range w/o sulkeys. How do they act on slopes?

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