Zero turn mowers and sliding

[village7959]

We have a Scag Tiger Cub with 48" deck. Now I know zero turns are known to slide but something just doesn't seem right with ours. Even on flat ground and even blacktop, it will slide pretty bad. At first, I just figured it was normal but just recently, I started mowing for a family member and he has a JD zero turn with a 54" deck, can't recall the model of it. His does not slide hardly at all compared to ours. He has a hillside along the road that is about the same as ours and I would not dare mow ours with the Scag but he is able to do his with no issues. If the scag is on any type of slope and breaks traction, you will be going for a ride no matter how minor the slope is.

Could there be a mechanical issue that would cause the Scag to slide worse? I have the air pressure in the back tires lowered. I think his is wider which I would imagine would help out. But I think the scag has bigger tires, which not sure would help or hurt. Both mowers have turf tires. Are there certain brands that are notorious for this and is Scag one of them?

 

[DK35vince]

Different tire tread pattern ?
Different tire pressure ?
Can't really say what the difference is.
I can tell you I took the useless stock turfs off my zero turn (useless on hills) and replaced them with Carlisle AT 101 bar tires, and the difference in traction on hills was MASSIVE.

 

[logan01]

Yep, stock turf tires can be dangerous as can be. Had to many close calls paralleling a ditch and 3 times had to be pulled out when run directly toward ditch. Start pulling back on handles with just a very small amount of moisture is like hitting ice. Gotta slow down waay before. My next set will be similar to what DK35vince did. Which reminds me, found this a few years back. Pretty cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y6mBWyEDlY

 

[DK35vince]

Different tire tread pattern ?
Different tire pressure ?
Can't really say what the difference is.
I can tell you I took the useless stock turfs off my zero turn (useless on hills) and replaced them with Carlisle AT 101 bar tires, and the difference in traction on hills was MASSIVE.

I mow the hill behind our house now with the AT 101 bar tires with no problem that were dangerous to mow with turfs (took off for 20-40+ feet down the hill multiple times with the useless turfs) and hills I couldn't mow at all with the stock turfs

 

[tom3]

My son has a basic Sears ZT, put some off road four wheeler tires on the back, not real radical but really gets good traction now. Pretty much the same exact size and not a lot of money either.

 

[Bob E]

Not all turf tires are created equal.

 

[DK35vince]

Not all turf tires are created equal.

This is what I took off. (useless on hills)
Look the same/similar to most other zero turn turf tires I've seen.

The difference on hills between the turfs I took off and the bar tires I'm running now is HUGE.

 

[logan01]

This is what I took off. (useless on hills)
Look the same/similar to most other zero turn turf tires I've seen.
View attachment 45084
The difference on hills between the turfs I took off and the bar tires I'm running now is HUGE.

If you're smart when mowing a lawn, can you minimize damage with those tires or similar ones? Thanks.