Difficult lot - mower suggestions?

[dstig1]

I need a mowing solution for our new place. It is pretty steep and built partly into a hill. The lot rise 60-100' from the street to the building pad area (unevenly, of course), and there are some very steep sections due to grading. Some parts are close to 40 deg, which is not area that I am planning to mow as that is pretty much impossible for anything I would consider getting. The steepest sections to mow are probably in the 20-30 deg slope range (guessing a bit here). Here are a few pics, but remember pics always make things look less steep than they are.


This area is going to need to be mowed. It rises ~10' in a 20'-25' or so run, I would say (the steeper bit is towards the house). This is one of my bigger concerns.


Looking down the driveway to the street. That right side will need some mowing


The really steep section. Gets worse the farther back you go. Maybe 1/3 of the way back the pucker factor on my L gets too high for me...


Close up of the steep section, where it starts to get silly.

So what am I looking for? Options. What is clearly not going to work, what is a good idea to try, and what is the bees knees. Most of this is too steep for the L to work on with a RFM or bushhog, and it is also a bit small for anything like that. it is a big lot, but it is 80% wooded, so not a lot to mow, but what there is, is challenging. So would a basic 2wd riding mower do it? How much power? Do I need something with a diff lock (looks like X500 or above?), or is 4wd the only way (and I ain't spending that kind of money, certainly not now...). I am pretty sure I do not want a huge deck - 42-48" max as it will be hard to maneuver with all the hills and cuts and stuff.

JD seems like the only game in town once you get beyond the simple stuff, so lets hear it!

Thanks!

 

[4570Man]

I'm not saying it can't be done, but I sure wouldn't do it without a 4wd. I also wouldn't do it with a zero turn. A front mount grasshopper might be an exception to the zero turn rule.

 

[JD420]

I would suggest a x7xx series with 4wd. Gas or diesel would be your preference. Or an older 4xx series mower. I have a 420,and 430 both ate very stable and sure footed on hills. Unfortunately the older 4xx series are not 4wd.

 

[RedNeckRacin]

I would try and get things graded to be mowable as a first option since it looks like everything is still fresh. After that, I'm not to sure. I have brush hogged with an 85 hp tractor on hills that I know it would roll on if I went across them sideways. This was with a fel for an emergency brake, loaded rears and wheel weights. I would never dream of touching the clutch going up or down on this stuff either. I would say that I'd be looking for bar tires on the mower or possibly a good set of chains to keep me on the hill if there is the chance of mowing with moisture in the grass.

I think steiner or ventrac makes a steep slope mowing machine with dual duals.

 

[Hill Farmer]

I think a zero turn would surprise you at how well it would do. Center of gravity is very low. It might slide to the bottom, but would be hard to roll.

 

[Tomtint]

I use a Walker 48" GHS on areas with more angle than that. It just needs to be dry.

 

[amaxwell]

I think a zero turn would surprise you at how well it would do. Center of gravity is very low. It might slide to the bottom, but would be hard to roll.

Kind of hard to tell from the pics,but I think I mow my roadside banks that are that steep with my zero turn . I only mow those when it is dry as I tend to slide if it is wet. As Hill Farmer said the center of gravity is low on a commercial zero turn.

 

[mddorange]

I have ran my L up and down hills like that. Never sideways. Has to be completely dry and has too be in 4WD and the loader has to be within a couple of inches of the ground.

 

[Gary Fowler]

A zero turn is the only way to go. That or the 4 WD mowers like the F series Kubotas or Ventrac/Steiner which are all high dollar items. I don't think you would have any problems with a good commercial grade mower. They are heavier and hold better on hills than box store ZTR. I can mow some slopes on my place that look steeper than most of your mowing and do it side slope without any problem.

 

[4570Man]

I agree that a zero turn has a wide wheel base and low center of gravity, but they have poor traction. If you ONLY mow when it is dry a zero turn might work, but I wouldn't recommend one. The cheapest way to see if a zero turn would work is to pay a lawn mowing company to mow it once because they almost all have a zero turn.

 

[Eric102]

An X700 series with AWD would be perfect, mine sticks like glue to steep hills and never spins a tire. Plus you could use it for other tractor related stuff where your L won't fit or is to heavy.

 

[tractorshopper]

BX-2370 is what I'm currently using. Much more stable than my old lawn tractor.

I can do complete 360 turn on this slope. Don't have to lean uphill. Have rear wheels filled. Have some steeper stuff than this at my other property that I mow. Will take photos one day if I think about it.

 

[Birdhunter1]

I'm pretty sure I could tackle that with my Grasshopper, with my dads Gravely (regardless of tires) not a chance. Another stable one from my old arsenal was a commercial Toro Z Master (I think it was a Z449) with Superlug tires. That thing was very surefooted on sidehills, the current lineup of Toro's like that one are the Commercial 2000, 3000 etc).

If a zero turn won't suffice for you you might look into a walk behind 36" or 48" with a ride on sulky.

 

[the old grind]

My hesitation with a ZTR is that so many don't have an articulating front axle, esp as other features and low prices are in demand. A little unevenness can have one sitting on three vs all four wheels. On slopes, that can be frustrating when the wrong rear tire has the traction to steer you in the right direction.

My worst spot is 1-2 deck-widths I mow either side of where the rowboat & canoe are parked onshore. Needless to say they are minimally 'striped' in Husqvarna orange here and there. Plenty of other spots where I've burned patches working the few wavy areas in the ~2 ac I mow.

Never a fan of serious CUTs for mowing, or SCUTs for serious 'farming', I suggest tractorshopper's post #12 is worth more than 2,000 words. :thumbsup: (Let this be a lesson to guys like me as I cower from what seems again to be a situation of too many workable options.)

What I mean is I see a lot of ways to filet that fish, and hope the OP doesn't strain to live with the possible compromises of trying to do too much with just one machine. By focusing on all tasks at hand and getting a tractor (B, BX. MAX, etc) that will mow ok for now, he should learn soon enough whether & where another toy will handle the trickiest spots. IMO its a high point in life when one sees the need to buy a tractor.

 

[CinderSchnauzer]

Here is my experience with mowing the hill along the roadway - seen in the background of the pic. I think it is steeper than any of the slopes, as I saw them in your pics.

JD 3320 could drive horizontal along the top of the hill to a point approx left of the tractor before feeling unsafe. Balance of cutting based on driving straight up the slope, backing down - repeat.

Craftsman 25hp riding garden tractor - able to drive a bit further along the top to a point about equal to the Gazebo in the background. Balance of cutting - drive straight up - back down. More or less worked, but several areas with wheel spin / loss of traction, especially if ground least bit damp. Turning and driving down the slope frontwards was not a safe option, especially due to lack of adequate braking on Craftsman

JD X739 25hp (gas) AWD / AWS able to drive along the top, complete length of the hill, no slipping and feels safe. Balance of cutting - drive straight up the hill - make 180 degree turn and drive straight down - leaving uncut strip approx equal to deck width. Next pass cuts the strip, turn 180 and back down again leaving new strip. Repeat as necessary.

There may well be other more efficient or cost effective solutions, but I can't comment from personal experience.

 

[Wild Bill the 2nd]

I just checked the grade of my hills. I have 30% that I mow across. I have 35-38% that I definitely prefer to run up and down.

You don't want to do it with the L and a rear mount mower running fwd/rev up and down the hills?

Another option with the L might be to widen the track. Move those rears out to make it more of a billygoat.

 

[4570Man]

If a zero turn won't suffice for you you might look into a walk behind 36" or 48" with a ride on sulky.

A stand behind has a narrower wheel base and a higher center of gravity than a ZTR, but it would be easier to abandon ship when it rolls.

 

[aczlan]

A stand behind has a narrower wheel base and a higher center of gravity than a ZTR, but it would be easier to abandon ship when it rolls.

Put duals (with chains or bar tires on one set of tires) and an extra 50-100# of weight (down low) on a walk behind and it will run up down and across hills that you can't easily walk up/down.
My experience is with hydro drive Exmark mowers that had 52" decks and 17 or 18ish HP engines.

Aaron Z

 

[dstig1]

Wow. Lots of great info and ideas here. Let me address a few points that have been raised.

I don't mean to oversell the slopes here, but I will not drive my L on a side slope in several sections. Maybe my Pucker-o-meter is more sensitive than some, but I really don't want to lay down a brand new cabbed tractor... Also, I do not have a photo of the worst section. My excavator guy could not work it even with his tracked skid steer, so he graded it with his excavator bucket from above (he's an artist with that thing). I don't think it is mowable at all, unless i got a sickle bar that could reach down from above.

Using the L- The mowable sections are mostly pretty short (except the run down to the street), so that is like using a sledgehammer to kill a fly. I do have wheels set at widest now, also due to the slopes. It helps, but there is still pucker at various points. I also have R4s and they are filled with rimguard, so it is pretty heavy - also not the best choice for finish mowing. It is set up more for logging work, grading, plowing, etc. I also suspect that running up/down with a RFM or the like would be painfully slow, as that would be the only option for the smaller steep sections. Those sections in the later photos are only 20-50' wide, so that is the length of the run for an up/down mowing. That would mean back down, lower mower, cut going up, raise mower, shift tractor over 5', back down, repeat... Very inefficient. And I don't have an RFM, so I still would need to buy something, no matter what. If I had one, I'd try it and see...

A $10k+ mower/tractor is NOT in the budget at this point, no way. So new x700s, BXs, commercial anythings, or other such options are not in the running. Even used most of these things are too pricey if functional, and I really do NOT have time for a "project" right now to even bother to find a cheap one...if I could. Plus the amount of mowing is so small, these solutions also look like the sledgehammer/fly thing.

From everything I have read and seen, ZTRs sound like the wrong solution for this. For one, not many obstacles to need the turning ability. Secondly, I hear that they slide a lot if it is damp at all. Several posters in this thread said the same.

I may need something that might just be a stop gap solution until I can figure out what it really requires. Preferably used. I have a friend with an X320 that is a year old. I am going to have him bring it out and see how that works as a test. That should let me know if a 2wd decent mower is up to the task. If it is, then this may be the solution for now and maybe for good. But that will be a week or more until that happens.

Some individual points:
The pics are not current - they are from right after it was graded and covered for erosion (last year). But the grade is not going to change much, if any, as it is mostly dictated by the elevations/terrain, so the suggestions to regrade are not in the cards. It was a bit of a challenge to work with the lay of the land, but I did the best we could.

Schnauzer - That gets a bit steeper than what I have, but the left side is in the zone. Always tough gauging these sorts of things on photos...

JD420 - curious as to why you say the get a 4wd, but then say your 420 2wd will do it? Is there something special about the 400 series you have?

Tractorshopper - I think I am a bit steeper than that in the parts I am concerned about. And there is no flat spot at the bottom like you have, so no way out if it starts to go bad. If I tip it on the side there, I am into the woods...

 

[Sysop]

Well, I'd use a properly setup tractor in lots of places I wouldn't attempt with a skidsteer, tracked or otherwise. Also there is a huge difference in trying to do dirt work on a slope and simply propel a mower deck. Anything you can strap duals on the back is going to handle most of those slopes okay. The key will be to find the treads that will stick and not slide, but also not hurt the turf. A lot can be done with weights to help also.