zero turn for sloping land

[Shughes717]

I have already commented (at length) on the operational ability of some 'professionals'
who by their own tap tapping away have clearly communicated their owned barriers.

There is any number of demo videos illustrating ZTR CoG over riders,, so trolling the OP
with information he/she can easily disprove is beyond stooopid.
Then there is the learning.
I have yet to make use of the tip-over wheels on my ride. I am a "big guy", which
helps the CoG, and regularly do 45deg. I have one small section I weedwhack...it's
around 60deg.
One day....

Hills pose risks for some lawn tractors and riders

Rather than rant about how what other members are saying can be proven wrong by looking online and calling them stupid, I thought I would post a link to a consumer reports article concerning this very topic to help prove Carscw's point. Feel free to post a link to your proof of the contrary.

 

[Carscw]

I have already commented (at length) on the operational ability of some 'professionals' who by their own tap tapping away have clearly communicated their owned barriers. There is any number of demo videos illustrating ZTR CoG over riders,, so trolling the OP with information he/she can easily disprove is beyond stooopid. Then there is the learning. I have yet to make use of the tip-over wheels on my ride. I am a "big guy", which helps the CoG, and regularly do 45deg. I have one small section I weedwhack...it's around 60deg. One day....

So disprove me.

 

[tuckler]

Hills pose risks for some lawn tractors and riders

Rather than rant about how what other members are saying can be proven wrong by looking online and calling them stupid, I thought I would post a link to a consumer reports article concerning this very topic to help prove Carscw's point. Feel free to post a link to your proof of the contrary.

That link sure confirms for me the importance of steering with the front wheels. The couple lawn maintenance people I talked to said that for the hills we have here (Asheville NC) the all round best mower has a steering wheel...or the one that you stand behind. I see the point of the caster wheels not cooperating as well when going sideways on a hill. I would think they would tend to want to turn down the hill and you'd be fighting that pull.

 

[Carscw]

That link sure confirms for me the importance of steering with the front wheels. The couple lawn maintenance people I talked to said that for the hills we have here (Asheville NC) the all round best mower has a steering wheel...or the one that you stand behind. I see the point of the caster wheels not cooperating as well when going sideways on a hill. I would think they would tend to want to turn down the hill and you'd be fighting that pull.

You are correct the front wheels want to always turn down the hill.

 

[Ric]

That link sure confirms for me the importance of steering with the front wheels. The couple lawn maintenance people I talked to said that for the hills we have here (Asheville NC) the all round best mower has a steering wheel...or the one that you stand behind. I see the point of the caster wheels not cooperating as well when going sideways on a hill. I would think they would tend to want to turn down the hill and you'd be fighting that pull.

That article is so of base it's ridiculous. They talk about driving a ztr up and down hills when 90% of all manufactures tell you in the manual they provide the correct way to use and drive a ztr on slopes. If you care to read the manual it will tell to you to never drive up and down a slope and always drive across the slope and you should always start at the bottom of the slope moving across the slope always turning up the slope to make a return pass. You'll never lose control of a ZTR on a slope if your turning up the slope.

 

[Shughes717]

That article is so of base it's ridiculous. They talk about driving a ztr up and down hills when 90% of all manufactures tell you in the manual they provide the correct way to use and drive a ztr on slopes. If you care to read the manual it will tell to you to never drive up and down a slope and always drive across the slope and you should always start at the bottom of the slope moving across the slope always turning up the slope to make a return pass. You'll never lose control of a ZTR on a slope if your turning up the slope.

I sprayed a co worker's lawn with my ztr mower last season, and the slopes were too steep to go across. We had to go up and down, and slide to a stop at the bottom. I asked him how he mowed that slope with his hustler x one. He said he had to mow it the same way. His mower couldn't hold the slope going across. The slope is probably too steep to mow safely with a ztr mower, but he has been mowing it for 4 seasons. He mowed it the first season with a residential john Deere ztr mower and only put it in his pond twice before figuring it out. Lol

 

[Ric]

I sprayed a co worker's lawn with my ztr mower last season, and the slopes were too steep to go across. We had to go up and down, and slide to a stop at the bottom. I asked him how he mowed that slope with his hustler x one. He said he had to mow it the same way. His mower couldn't hold the slope going across. The slope is probably too steep to mow safely with a ztr mower, but he has been mowing it for 4 seasons. He mowed it the first season with a residential john Deere ztr mower and only put it in his pond twice before figuring it out. Lol

A good rule of thumb is if you can't back up a slope with your mower/ztr you have no business being on the slope. I prefer mowing slopes with the Grandstand.

 

[Shughes717]

A good rule of thumb is if you can't back up a slope with your mower/ztr you have no business being on the slope. I prefer mowing slopes with the Grandstand.

We use what we have. I understand that a stand on mower is better on slopes than a ztr mower, but so are lawn tractors. I have experience using both on slopes, and the lawn tractor did make it a little easier than the ztr. The problem the op faces is the acrage he is mowing. A ztr mower will get the job done much faster. As I said in an earlier post he should be fine with a low end commercial ztr mower if the slope is no more than 10% as he mentioned. My co worker has a large lawn and would have probably been better off with a stand on, but he wanted a ztr mower.

 

[Carscw]

A good rule of thumb is if you can't back up a slope with your mower/ztr you have no business being on the slope. I prefer mowing slopes with the Grandstand.

That would rule out 95% of my slopes.
There are some driveways I can not back up. Without spinning the tires.

I try to mow side to side as much as possible. Some hills I drive up and back down.

 

[RaptorSDer]

There's a fairly long and detailed YouTube video showing a Hustler vs a standard rider on wet slopes. It's really a Hustler infomercial but I would assume it applies to most ZTRs.

Here's the link:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O3ixg_yhEiA