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So far I really like my mower but I have a few lawns that have decent size slopes on them.

The tires that came stock on my mower(HRSD) are 20x12.00x10 Grass Master brand,,they are great tires but they do slide on some slopes especially if the slope is on a downhill,,then the high side tire will break free and I slide down to the bottom.

I dropped air pressure from 12 psi to 8 psi,,now the side wall is slightly bellied,,seems to hold them a bit better especially if there is a little bit of moisture.

The grass polishes the rubber on my tires and the tread is so wide they slide....don’t get me wrong,,i have no problem holding 25-40 degree banks at times,,but a few of my lawns are pretty hairy and i would like to see if you guys recommend a tire that would be a bit more aggressive on slopes..years ago I had a Exmark Turf Ranger 60" and I think it had Carlisle turf Tamers or something like that,,they had nice tread with cuts at the top and boy that machine would hold a bank like no tomorrow.Wish I could find that tire again..that was in the 90s.

I do understand that a more aggressive tire will tear up the turf faster so Ill really have to be on my game with a smooth 3 pt. turn.

Thanks for any replies,,
Happy Pappy to all you gentleman out there!!!

Tommy

:welcome:

Go to a retailes of ATV's
They have a much better range of agressive tyres in similar sizes.
Mower tyres are designed to leave no trace of themselves on the cut grass.
Over the years they have been getting less & less grippy

bertsmobile1 said:

:welcome:

Go to a retailes of ATV's
They have a much better range of agressive tyres in similar sizes.
Mower tyres are designed to leave no trace of themselves on the cut grass.
Over the years they have been getting less & less grippy

Click to expand...

I will research that,,thanks Bert!!

Tom

I'm a big guy at 280 pounds.... and with very little front weight and most of my carcass being towards the rear I was amazed at how easy my raptor SD still slid around.
This summer I upgraded to a fast-track and can't believe how much nicer it is regarding sliding. I figured it would leave more marks on the grass when I did my turns but it actually left less.... I can't figure out why.
The only thing I can figure out about the raptor SD being so easy to slide is it's got so much rubber the PSI per square inch of ground contact must be pretty light?
I almost bought another raptor SD but decided to try the fast track instead and I can't believe how much nicer it is and I'm glad I spent the extra $ 2000.

kraky said:

I'm a big guy at 280 pounds.... and with very little front weight and most of my carcass being towards the rear I was amazed at how easy my raptor SD still slid around.
This summer I upgraded to a fast-track and can't believe how much nicer it is regarding sliding. I figured it would leave more marks on the grass when I did my turns but it actually left less.... I can't figure out why.
The only thing I can figure out about the raptor SD being so easy to slide is it's got so much rubber the PSI per square inch of ground contact must be pretty light?
I almost bought another raptor SD but decided to try the fast track instead and I can't believe how much nicer it is and I'm glad I spent the extra $ 2000.

Click to expand...

I am looking at the ferris,,they have the 3100 drives for $4999..I will get 10 MPH also...its either that or the Fast Track next,,but if the Ferris is $1000 cheaper and a good machine I may just get it!

The Fast Track has taller tires I believe,,what size tires are on that?

Wow that sounds pretty good for$ 4999. Our Ferris dealer is about 25 miles away but he sells a quite a bit of stuff around here. If I remember from looking at the ferris lineup they use a quite a few B & S cyclone Motors.... not sure if they're good bad or in between. I have to go look to see what size tires are on my Fast Track but they are definitely taller but narrower than the SD.
I think a lot of these 5 to $6,000 units are on pretty equal footing it all comes down to how good your dealer is and how many they sell so you can feel pretty good that he might have some parts on hand.... or may have sorted through problems that may come up in the future on your unit before.

kraky said:

Wow that sounds pretty good for$ 4999. Our Ferris dealer is about 25 miles away but he sells a quite a bit of stuff around here. If I remember from looking at the ferris lineup they use a quite a few B & S cyclone Motors.... not sure if they're good bad or in between. I have to go look to see what size tires are on my Fast Track but they are definitely taller but narrower than the SD.
I think a lot of these 5 to $6,000 units are on pretty equal footing it all comes down to how good your dealer is and how many they sell so you can feel pretty good that he might have some parts on hand.... or may have sorted through problems that may come up in the future on your unit before.

Click to expand...

Yes sir,,the taller and narrower tires do better on slopes,,they cut in a bit more,,and being taller they have a better ride...I have a 48" belt walk behind that sticks to the slopes like velcro..it has pretty small tires..lol

Many years ago we sold a lawn tractor to an older fellow that had a property along a highway with a pretty sharp ditch. One day he came into our shop just smiling saying he had gone down to the local Fleet Farm and got rid of his turf tires and got some kind of an ATV balloon tire with sort of a tractor lug on it. He said you should see what I can do on the Hills now. Then he wanted to know how to unhook his seat safety switch. I wouldn't show him or tell him ...I said if you can't keep at least one butt cheek on your seat you're really playing with fire on that ditch. He wasn't really thrilled but he wasn't really mad when he left either. About two weeks later he was in ordering a new hood and steering wheel.... he looked at the floor and said I wished I would have listened to you. I didn't ask him what all happened but he got away without hurting himself....except a hit to the pride.

kraky said:

Many years ago we sold a lawn tractor to an older fellow that had a property along a highway with a pretty sharp ditch. One day he came into our shop just smiling saying he had gone down to the local Fleet Farm and got rid of his turf tires and got some kind of an ATV balloon tire with sort of a tractor lug on it. He said you should see what I can do on the Hills now. Then he wanted to know how to unhook his seat safety switch. I wouldn't show him or tell him ...I said if you can't keep at least one butt cheek on your seat you're really playing with fire on that ditch. He wasn't really thrilled but he wasn't really mad when he left either. About two weeks later he was in ordering a new hood and steering wheel.... he looked at the floor and said I wished I would have listened to you. I didn't ask him what all happened but he got away without hurting himself....except a hit to the pride.

Click to expand...

Yeah,I don’t recommend jumping out the safety switches but each to their own,,it is a huge PITA to keep slamming the PTO clutch all day long every-time you jump up to open a gate,grab garbage, or move a branch....if you where to roll the mower down a bank and your foot got under it,,the blades will probably still be spinning either way,,especially if the seat hits the ground a few times on the way.

577jersey said:

I am looking at the ferris,,they have the 3100 drives for $4999..I will get 10 MPH also...its either that or the Fast Track next,,but if the Ferris is $1000 cheaper and a good machine I may just get it!

The Fast Track has taller tires I believe,,what size tires are on that?

Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure they are 3400 drives, I've been looking at the IS 600Z, trying to convince myself that I need it. It's way too much mower for what I'm doing, lol.

MO_Hacker said:

I'm pretty sure they are 3400 drives, I've been looking at the IS 600Z, trying to convince myself that I need it. It's way too much mower for what I'm doing, lol.

Click to expand...

Thats the one I am eyeing up,,possibly in a few years after the RSD wears out

Residential lawns are like everything else .
Way back they were something principally to keep the dust out of the house & for the horses to stand /graze on then latter for the kids play on, dogs to run on .
Now days when we have few real problem to worry about they have become somthing to obsess about.
So when life was hard and money hard to come by ride ons had thin tyres, based on off road / farm treds, hard tred patterns that left tyre tracks in the soll let alone the grass.
Now days we demmand our lawns to look like some astral body decended from the heavens mowed, striped & patterned the perfect weed free grass then assended back up into the heavens without trace of having ever been there doing work.
Those of us with 20, 30 40 year old mowers will remember the deep block treds on the back and deep groved treads on the front which left well defined tram tracks in the grass for a few days till the lawm recovered.
Now days we insist that there be no trace of the mower having been on the grass 10 minutes after it was cut so the tyres have been changed accordingly.
The 1966 8/30 will happily go up hill and down dale till the slopes become so extreme that the engine seizes because the oil flinger ( old style pump ) is sitting high & dry without any loss of traction. :ashamed:
Very few of the modern mowers handle the terrain anywhere near as well, slipping & sliding all over the place.

OTOH ATV's are marketed at the careless thrill seeking youth who dont give a pug bum it they tear up the ground and leave canyons in their wake just so long as they can get some "good air" under the vehicle when they storm over a hump.
Thus tyres for them are of a similar tread pattern to old time mower tyres, agressive & grippy.

Older mowers oft had hand grips either side so you can hold yourself in the seat over rough terrain, the also had real chassis and a lot lower cetre of gravity so were far less prone to roll over.
They were also quite harsh on the back and back side.

To avoid adding costly suspension modern mowers have gome to large soft tyres, just the same as the early cars did before suspension became standard then they made them wide baloon style to have a very soft footprint on the soft modern grasses that are popular now days so the center of gravity is very high and they tip over under the force of a hard fart.

Back when I was a young man with a full head of hair, "Playground" was the biggest selling lawn mix down here .
You could drive a tank over it without damage.
Now the most popular mix is "Sir Walter" a extremely lush deep green mix that grows in full shade, it looks fantastic , but is very easily damaged by a small dog let alone a small child.

bertsmobile1 said:

:welcome:

Go to a retailes of ATV's
They have a much better range of agressive tyres in similar sizes.
Mower tyres are designed to leave no trace of themselves on the cut grass.
Over the years they have been getting less & less grippy

Click to expand...

I just installed Carlisle AT-101 Chevron tires on my 2011 Hustler Fastrak and they're a huge improvement on hills (see attached picture). I thought they might rip up the lawn but they don't. Not to say that you can't shred things, but if you're doing your standard 3 point (K) turn at the end of each pass, there's no damage.

Here's a link to the tires at the place where I got mine >> https://www.powersportsplace.com/search/brand/carlisle-tire-and-wheel-company/product-line/carlisle-at101-chevron-tires. You'd have to see if they have the size for your mower.

The terrain around my home has some pretty good steeps that my FasTrak had some difficulty navigating. On those steeps, the Fastrak would often take me where it wanted to go (typically straight down the hill). It was somewhat better when the tires new, but after ~225 hours, the rubber had dried and traction was much worse. I tried the Carlisle AT101 Chevron tires and the traction and control on slopes improved significantly (especially important since my son will soon be doing the mowing).

I replaced the OEM 20X10-10 turf tires with Carlisle AT101 21x11-10 tires (the larger tires fit with no problem). In addition to increasing traction, I got a 5% increase in top speed due to the 1" larger diameter.

The part about changing out the tires that sucked was getting the old tires off the rims and installing the new tires. Not a reflection on the Carlisle tires . . . more a comment on the rim design (or just mounting small diameter mower tires in general). The inner diameter of the tire is the same size as the small diameter of the rim - actually even a little smaller when uninflated (remember the the whole tire stretches when it's inflated . . . even the bead diameter). This means that once the tire is on the rim, it's near impossible to spread it out to engage the tire bead with the rim. I brought mine to a local tire place and they wrestled with it for almost two hours. Good thing they quoted me $24 to mount them before they started. We finally used a load tie down strap to squeeze the center of the tire and managed to get it to spread enough to engage the bead allowing sufficient seal for it to inflate. PITA !

I recommend these tires to anyone with a zero turn mower that 's looking for better traction. Just don't try to mount them yourself.

farinaed said:

The terrain around my home has some pretty good steeps that my FasTrak had some difficulty navigating. On those steeps, the Fastrak would often take me where it wanted to go (typically straight down the hill). It was somewhat better when the tires new, but after ~225 hours, the rubber had dried and traction was much worse. I tried the Carlisle AT101 Chevron tires and the traction and control on slopes improved significantly (especially important since my son will soon be doing the mowing).

I replaced the OEM 20X10-10 turf tires with Carlisle AT101 21x11-10 tires (the larger tires fit with no problem). In addition to increasing traction, I got a 5% increase in top speed due to the 1" larger diameter.

The part about changing out the tires that sucked was getting the old tires off the rims and installing the new tires. Not a reflection on the Carlisle tires . . . more a comment on the rim design (or just mounting small diameter mower tires in general). The inner diameter of the tire is the same size as the small diameter of the rim - actually even a little smaller when uninflated (remember the the whole tire stretches when it's inflated . . . even the bead diameter). This means that once the tire is on the rim, it's near impossible to spread it out to engage the tire bead with the rim. I brought mine to a local tire place and they wrestled with it for almost two hours. Good thing they quoted me $24 to mount them before they started. We finally used a load tie down strap to squeeze the center of the tire and managed to get it to spread enough to engage the bead allowing sufficient seal for it to inflate. PITA !

I recommend these tires to anyone with a zero turn mower that 's looking for better traction. Just don't try to mount them yourself.

Click to expand...

Thanks so much for the info brother!!!
I have 20x12.00-10 on my mower..I lowered air air PSI to 8 and she seems to hold the banks alot better,,the tires do get polished from the grass and get slippy but Ill try the Carlisle in the future!!

Tom

I've seen those tires as standard equipment on Woods mowers where they have the mower deck out front and not under the rider.... on those mowers you are not carrying the deck, you are pushing it around and you really need extra traction.

If you do install the larger diameter AT-101 tires, don't forget to re-level the mower deck.

Dixie chopper has them too.