Help! My front yard is kicking my butt! Bushhogging uphill

[theSeb]

Steps taken thus far is to reduce rear pressure to 12 psi, front pressure to 18 psi (both are now fully contact while rolling - I'll have pics later), 450-470 lbs in the FEL and mow light going up and heavy going down.

Except for the rears being at 12 psi, the last time I BH'd, it worked out pretty well. The extra weight in the front seemed to make it more stable and the front seemed to lift and bounce less as well.

And yes, I have a GST, 12 gears up, 8 gears down, nothing that says "low" although obviously the lower the number the lower the gear.

Someone mentioned "grooving" the rear tires: any pics of that and how do you do it?

Thanks!

I would say that your front tyre pressure is now too low, since you have a front loader on. Consult your manual, but I would keep the front tyres at around 30.

 

[SPYDERLK]

I would say that your front tyre pressure is now too low, since you have a front loader on. Consult your manual, but I would keep the front tyres at around 30.

You can tell by looking at the tires in use whether the pressure is too low. He is not using the loader while bushogging, beyond a moderate ballast in the bucket. He has only come down 2psi from what he was using in the front. Id have to leave it to OP to decide whether the tires were deflecting unacceptably before - but the difference from then to now is slight. And he could lighten his bucket ballast to suit the need.

 

[DHD]

+700 feet of concrete driveway. I'm not messing it up with chains.

Thanks,

It appears we're beginning to run out of ideas on trying to improve traction on the L 4330 GST.
Maybe you're just asking too much out of your L 4330 GST ??
A Steiner or Ventrac maybe your only solution for mowing such steep slopes.

Well here's another idea, it may not be a very good idea but ......

I don't recall Rubber Tire Chains being mentioned before..... probably because it's a bad idea LOL

I don't know anything about this product, but it is an option that may or may not help with your traction issues.
IMHO I don't believe they would be as effective as steel chains
but the rubber chains should not hurt your concrete driveway.
Probably your concrete driveway would hurt the rubber chains.
Not sure how well they'd work with your R4s, I imagine rubber tire chains would be more effective on turf tires.
IMHO I would suspect R1s would probably give better traction results than rubber chains on R4s.

This link for your rear tires
14.9 - 24 - $250.00 : RubberTireChains.com, Traction without damaging your surface

Could not find a link for your front tires.

Hopefully someone with rubber tire chains experience will chime in.

 

[pmsmechanic]

I just wanted people to see what can be mowed if your tractor has the traction and stability. The first picture gives an idea of what an approx 50 - 55 degree slope looks like. The other two pictures are at a different location with less slope. And I have no idea how to get the pictures right side up Grrrr.

 

[wmonroe]

I just wanted people to see what can be mowed if your tractor has the traction and stability. The first picture gives an idea of what an approx 50 - 55 degree slope looks like. The other two pictures are at a different location with less slope. And I have no idea how to get the pictures right side up Grrrr.

Are those duals an aftermarket option from Deere or another aftermarket company? Does deere recommend duals on that size machine? I'm fairly certain Kubota does not, but they would be extremely useful in situations just like you have pictured. I can think of a few places around my place where duals on the 5240 would make it feel much more stable.

 

[pmsmechanic]

The duals are not an aftermarket option from Deere or anybody else for that matter. I was given an opportunity two years ago to mow approximately 10 miles of irrigation ditch for the local irrigation district. I wanted to do the job because it was good money and I could save them money over using their own equipment. So I bought a matching set of tires on ebay and made my own duals. I seriously doubt that John Deere would recommend duals on my tractor but I can't say for sure as I never asked them. I looked at the job I had to do and the weight that I planned on carrying and the diameter of the axles and said I can make this work. I believe recommended tire pressure is around 16 lbs. I run at about 10 on the insides and 8 on the outsides just so that there is some give somewhere. If you want I can post pictures of what I did along with an explanation and what I would change if I was to do it again. Also the front tires aren't a John Deere option either. The tractor came with 27x8.50x15 tires. I bought rims from John Deere and made them an inch wider and installed 26x12x12 tires.

 

[FTG-05]

You can tell by looking at the tires in use whether the pressure is too low. He is not using the loader while bushogging, beyond a moderate ballast in the bucket. He has only come down 2psi from what he was using in the front. Id have to leave it to OP to decide whether the tires were deflecting unacceptably before - but the difference from then to now is slight. And he could lighten his bucket ballast to suit the need.

I *think* I'm ok on the fronts with 18 psi but I have to check the OM vs the tire type I have in front, the manual shows 9 different front tires with pressure levels from 12 psi to 30 psi (page 59).

For the rears, the manual has 20 psi for my 17.5L-24s but, given the recommendations here, I have 12 psi in them currently. With this combination, plus ballast in the FEL (either water barrels or hickory wood rounds) I've had no problems going up the hill. This is with my box blade/carrier combination since I'm getting some wood from a fallen tree down at the bottom of the hill plus cutting down some hillside cedars (including the one that tried to kill me last December).

Ok, as promised, some before and after pics:

Rear tires at 18 psi:

Rear tires at 12 pis:

Thanks for all the help and advice!

Thanks!

 

[jenkinsph]

I have been running about 12 psi in rear tires for over 45 years operating tractors. No problems that I can remember in that time. You still seem to be very concerned about the lower pressure and it is mentioned about every other post. I would try to get past this tire pressure issue.

In looking at your real problem of mowing steep hills without traction loss resulting in turf damage there is something you can do. Mow everything you can with your tractor that doesn't cause any turf damage and mow the problem areas that are steeper with a 4x4 riding mower. Repairing damage to the grass on a hill side can be a real difficult job, these scars stand out too. I would also suspect that the mower should be able to cut about as fast as the tractor in the steep grade situation. I say this because I know from my own experiences that I can easily mow at medium speeds areas that I would have to creep across with the larger taller tractors.

 

[dodge man]

I look at the pictures and I'm pretty sure my BX2350 with just the midmount mower would cut that hill pretty easy up or down with out losing traction. The problem is you have enough acres that would take a long time and since its a finish mower you would have to cut it every couple of weeks. Probably not a better solution than what you are doing now.

 

[FTG-05]

I have been running about 12 psi in rear tires for over 45 years operating tractors. No problems that I can remember in that time. You still seem to be very concerned about the lower pressure and it is mentioned about every other post. I would try to get past this tire pressure issue.

In looking at your real problem of mowing steep hills without traction loss resulting in turf damage there is something you can do. Mow everything you can with your tractor that doesn't cause any turf damage and mow the problem areas that are steeper with a 4x4 riding mower. Repairing damage to the grass on a hill side can be a real difficult job, these scars stand out too. I would also suspect that the mower should be able to cut about as fast as the tractor in the steep grade situation. I say this because I know from my own experiences that I can easily mow at medium speeds areas that I would have to creep across with the larger taller tractors.

I'm slowly getting over the low tire pressure issue. thanks much to those here! Look at the pics I posted above, not much difference between 18 and 12 psi.

If you look at the above "after" pics, I'm not so sure I shouldn't go down to 10 psi.

Having said that, I've made a couple trips up and down, down to drag cedar trees to the bottom so I could debranch them, then up hill dragging the log uphill. Never a hint of slipping, so I think I'm getting this dialed in. Low pressure on the rears plus weight in the FEL is the winning combination along with "heavy down, light up" BHing.

And, by the by, that cedar that tried to kill me may have won the battle, but it lost the war: It's now in my log pile for future use as a wood shed pole/column support. Ha!