I've had several Steiner owners warn me about getting stuck around an object such as a pole or fence post. They tried to explain it best they can, but I am not visualizing it well. They mentioned mowing too close to a pole, getting stuck with the pole in the center of the tractor near the articulating joint, and needing some outside assistance to pull the rear of the tractor away from the object. Can anyone clarify this for me? I realize I need to get some seat time and that will help me understand it. May be some practice with cones with make it clear.
Yea, the current snow season has been downright pitiful. Since you are getting it tomorrow you may get the chance to plow a very very small amount tomorrow or Saturday :laughing:
I have never had any problems with getting stuck around an object (either my 3223D or the 4000's that I have driven), but I have seen my neighbor do it with his Steiner and it was easily avoidable (he was a new operator, hasn't done it since.)
Let's make it simple so it's easier to describe/visualize, so assuming no attachment.
View the second shot in the gallery on the right side
HERE
Imagine getting a pole right between the top joint in the articulation there by the operators left knee. Now it still shouldn't be a huge problem, but I think people get into this situation because they are on a slope (going sideways) or maybe there is a hole that slides them sideways. If the operator is trying to mow really really close to that pole and are on a decent sized slope, or a wet slope, they can drift down around that pole (assuming the bottom of the slope is towards the top side of the photo), so gravity is pulling the tractor over the pole. Now turning the wheel might just make it worse and make you slide further over that pole. If the pole is on the top side of the slope, there isn't any way to get stuck if you mow it from the bottom side so gravity is always taking you away from it.
Maybe I just explained it worse :confused2: but essentially due to the weight of the mower, if you are mowing sideways on a slope your mower deck is probably always slightly higher up on the hill and the tractor wheels are slightly lower on the hill because the tractor has to push it up a little bit to keep it level, so if you skim an object with your mower, then most likely your back end is going to get caught up.
Really if you know how to operate it there should be no way to wrap yourself around an object and not be able to get yourself back off of it unless you did so on a slope, which in that case you just need to be more careful when you mow on the slope and maybe do it a little different than you normally would.
Simple solutions/options if you come across an object on a hill and it is "below" you so gravity could take you into it:
1. Don't trim as close as you normally would on level ground.
2. Run the mower deck up as close to it as desired, then back away and go a little higher on the hill giving yourself plenty of space (obviously this will vary depending on how extreme the slope is). This is the way I do it and I get as close as I want with the deck, it just takes a split second longer to back up and make a higher cut on the hill.
3. Mow up and down the hill or just mow all of the top sides of obstacles on the slope by going up and down and then mow sideways if you want just avoiding getting too close to the obstacles (which should be easy because you already trimmed the top side by going up and down)
4. Multiple other options I can't think of right now :biggrin:
I would say that my neighbor has bar tires and those do not have very much side traction for sideways slope mowing. So his Steiner slides sideways on his slope more than my 3223D with the Knobby tires because the bar tires don't provide great side traction and bar tires are what you mainly see on Steiners around here. They also don't have a weight transfer system like Ventrac's no matter what they want to tell you :smile: I think you should have better traction on hills, especially using weight transfer and you should have less sliding issues, but you will still need to keep it in mind while mowing.
(Sorry for the rambling! :biggrin
