Thats the one I am eyeing up,,possibly in a few years after the RSD wears out
Better Tires For Slope Operation....
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bertsmobile1
Lawn Royalty
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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.
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.
farinaed
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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.
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farinaed
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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.
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.
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.