Cutting slopes

send2den

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Right before the end of the season, I got a new yard to cut (only ended up cutting it twice). Not a big yard, but the front yard is a joke. Slopes severely from the house down to the street and sidewalk. I'm using a 54" Hustler Fas Trac SD to cut it. As much as it embarrasses me to say it, I found out the hard way that this slope is SEVERE. I was cutting the property line coming straight down the hill and lost control of the mower and ran right over a utility tower. OUCH. Evidently it wasn't being used by anybody as nobody has gotten back with me on their cable being out.(So far so good). But anyway, I started babying the hell out of it after that. I tried mowing it up/down. I had to go a turtles pace going down so the mower didn't take off with me and the same going up as I felt it would flip backwards. So then I started (which I ended up doing both times) mowing it side to side. Even then the mower seemed like it was trying to slide sideways. I noticed the yard has evidence of ruts, probably from the previous cutters, so I'm reluctant to keep cutting it that way. Thought about a diagonal track maybe. I even told the guy, I may have to even end up walk behind mowing it (which I just have a 22" self propelled Honda push mower. I also know cutting with either mower any extended amount of time on a side slope, will starve the engine of oil, which is no good. Will this do the same thing, cutting up/down. I'd like to keep the yard as it is a small yard all in all, and pays decent, but that front yard is the biggest drawback. Anybody have tips? Scrap the zero turn? Go diagonal? One other concern is IMO, this slope is dangerous if I'm not paying attention, thus my going a turtles pace to cut it. Thanks in advance.
 

Ric

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Right before the end of the season, I got a new yard to cut (only ended up cutting it twice). Not a big yard, but the front yard is a joke. Slopes severely from the house down to the street and sidewalk. I'm using a 54" Hustler Fas Trac SD to cut it. As much as it embarrasses me to say it, I found out the hard way that this slope is SEVERE. I was cutting the property line coming straight down the hill and lost control of the mower and ran right over a utility tower. OUCH. Evidently it wasn't being used by anybody as nobody has gotten back with me on their cable being out.(So far so good). But anyway, I started babying the hell out of it after that. I tried mowing it up/down. I had to go a turtles pace going down so the mower didn't take off with me and the same going up as I felt it would flip backwards. So then I started (which I ended up doing both times) mowing it side to side. Even then the mower seemed like it was trying to slide sideways. I noticed the yard has evidence of ruts, probably from the previous cutters, so I'm reluctant to keep cutting it that way. Thought about a diagonal track maybe. I even told the guy, I may have to even end up walk behind mowing it (which I just have a 22" self propelled Honda push mower. I also know cutting with either mower any extended amount of time on a side slope, will starve the engine of oil, which is no good. Will this do the same thing, cutting up/down. I'd like to keep the yard as it is a small yard all in all, and pays decent, but that front yard is the biggest drawback. Anybody have tips? Scrap the zero turn? Go diagonal? One other concern is IMO, this slope is dangerous if I'm not paying attention, thus my going a turtles pace to cut it. Thanks in advance.


Where are you starting when you mow across the Slope?
 

SeniorCitizen

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You've already, by the worst way possible, determined a rider is not safe and got lucky. Pursue that approach and your luck will eventually end, so mow it with a walk behind while wearing golf spikes, increase the mowing price and charge a little Xtra for aeration.

Ever wonder why that job was open?
 

send2den

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Where are you starting when you mow across the Slope?

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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sidemouse

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That's one good reason why I run full synthetic oil in all of my engines.
I do not play seized engines due to oil starvation games.
Full synthetic means extra heavy duty extended wear protection.

Nothing, absolutely nothing protects an engine better than full synthetic oil.

One other thing, do not point a Zero Turn Riding mower down slope!
If you do it won't be long, all your control is in those two rear wheels.
When pointing a Z down slope the weight shifts forward, and the day will come when that operator will go for a ride!
Once the weight effect starts you can't stop it, the rear wheels won't hold, all it takes is one slope just steep enough...
I hope your Zero Turn has ROPS in place and properly deployed.
Then you don't have to worry about flipping over backwards or sideways or anything, but keep your seat belt buckled.
Always point zero turns up slope, always keep the ROPS fully deployed, always wear your seat belt.
A Zero turn is a heavy powerful piece of agricultural machinery.

Keep this in mind when mowing sideways, should the mower start to slide you will need to 'slide' the nose to point up slope!
Which, you should be kind of mowing near that angle anyway if it's that kind of steep.

If you don't have ROPS fully deployed and a seat belt, I would get the 21" out.
 

send2den

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You've already, by the worst way possible, determined a rider is not safe and got lucky. Pursue that approach and your luck will eventually end, so mow it with a walk behind while wearing golf spikes, increase the mowing price and charge a little Xtra for aeration.

Ever wonder why that job was open?

Good points. Heck, when I cut it both times it was dry. I can just imagine when I cut it in the Spring with the grass being higher and carrying more moisture. Might be a no brainer to just push mow it. I told the guys wife I may have to do that when I was asking her about her cable service after I nailed the box. I can ask for another $5.00 on the job, just for that fact, and mention the ruts in the yard left by big mowers prior to me. That might be enough to sell em on the extra charge. If not, I'll just let somebody else cut it. Like I said in a previous post, push mowing will cost me an extra 15-20 minutes maybe. I'm not sure who was cutting it prior to me, but you're right. Whoever was cutting it, was tired of the slope. It's not a very big yard at all, with most of my time doing trimming/edging. If not for the sloped front yard, I could knock the mowing out in 15 minutes tops, front and back. I'm at $35.00 right now (which is a decent rate around my parts) and maybe thinking about asking $40.00 to do it next Spring.
 

bertsmobile1

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It will take a bit of practice but mow backwards down the slope.
Then strait up the slope.
If the front keeps going light some front weight will fix that,

So it is a sort of zig zag with a lot of overlap.
 

send2den

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Now you know one good reason why I run full synthetic oil in all of my engines.
I do not play seized engines due to oil starvation games.
Full synthetic means extra heavy duty extended wear protection.

Nothing, absolutely nothing protects an engine better than full synthetic oil.

One other thing, you can NOT point a Zero Turn Riding mower down slope!
If you do it won't be long, all your control is in those rear wheels.
You point that Z down slope and the weight shifts forward, the day will come when you will go for a ride!
All it takes is one slope just steep enough...

ALWAYS point zero turns UP slope.

Keep this in mind when mowing sideways, should the mower start to slide you will need to 'slide' the nose UP slope!
Which, you should be kind of mowing near that angle anyway if it's that kind of steep.

I hope your Zero Turn has the ROPS in place and properly deployed.
Then you don't have to worry about flipping over backwards or sideways or anything, but keep your seat belt buckled.



Might start running synthetic next season if that's OK. I always heard that changing over to synthetic on an older engine in a car could be bad as it would help loosen all the sludge in the engine loading the pan filter. Not sure about the mowers. The Honda push, I just got this year and the Hustler has 200 hours on it. OK, not to sound stupid on your philosophy of not pointing the zero turn downhill, but in order to get to the bottom of the hill/slope to traverse back upward to the top, how do I get down there? lol. I did lose it once before going downhill on another job come to think of it. It wasn't fun. I'll also admit, my ROPS is off the mower as I use the mower to cut my own yard and I have a whole yard full of trees with low hanging limbs, especially my younger trees. I've been comptemplating putting it back on. I'll keep all those ideas in mind. If I can get enough jobs to keep me happy next season, I may just bypass any yards with the severe slopes. Lots of em in my neighborhood though. Lots of stuff to think about in the industry.
 

SeniorCitizen

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Good points. Heck, when I cut it both times it was dry. I can just imagine when I cut it in the Spring with the grass being higher and carrying more moisture. Might be a no brainer to just push mow it. I told the guys wife I may have to do that when I was asking her about her cable service after I nailed the box. I can ask for another $5.00 on the job, just for that fact, and mention the ruts in the yard left by big mowers prior to me. That might be enough to sell em on the extra charge. If not, I'll just let somebody else cut it. Like I said in a previous post, push mowing will cost me an extra 15-20 minutes maybe. I'm not sure who was cutting it prior to me, but you're right. Whoever was cutting it, was tired of the slope. It's not a very big yard at all, with most of my time doing trimming/edging. If not for the sloped front yard, I could knock the mowing out in 15 minutes tops, front and back. I'm at $35.00 right now (which is a decent rate around my parts) and maybe thinking about asking $40.00 to do it next Spring.

In my opinion you're making a wise decision.

Remember this fact: The tires with the least traction always take the lead. Believe it or not, the sliding rear tires had the least traction and you were very fortunate the rear end didn't come around. When at about 90° to your travel direction and the rear has come around, that's when you and your tractor get flipped. Possibly a little sooner if tire pressure has been adjusted a little lower and the down hill tire bead breaks from the rim.
 

RDA.Lawns

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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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