How Far is Too Far??

[tony123]

Rob, that's what I was trying to ask....are my photos "beyond your pucker factor?"

 

[RobJ]

Rob, that's what I was trying to ask....are my photos "beyond your pucker factor?"

It's really hard to tell, even with a picture. I tried to get the best shot, level camera, and a telephone pole in the background as some sort of reference. You have a smaller tractor, and it looks to be much narrower. I have my rims as wide as possible, about 50 inches. Looks like you have room to go up and down...

Rob

 

[madpogue]

I posted these pictures a while back, some said it was beyond their pucker factor. But after a couple weeks of mowing I don't give it a second thought. I just hold on and mow.

Playing with the "rotate" feature of a photo editing program, it looks like you're at approx. 17-18 degrees of tilt. Def'ly in the "pucker zone" beyond 15. Good thing you've got the wheels set at such a wide stance (should we call you "Senator"? ). Have you thought about getting a tilt-meter, or would that spoil it?

 

[RobJ]

Playing with the "rotate" feature of a photo editing program, it looks like you're at approx. 17-18 degrees of tilt. Def'ly in the "pucker zone" beyond 15. Good thing you've got the wheels set at such a wide stance (should we call you "Senator"? ). Have you thought about getting a tilt-meter, or would that spoil it?

No meter, this is as much as I go and I've been there and know it. Anything new I stay away from...like the bank in the far, far left of ditch1 pic. I back up that short distance ot use a weedeater. I've had a fear of rolling tractors since I started driving my Grandaddy's JD 4020 row crop tractors. Man those were a pretty tractor.

Senator? Palm Down if I remembered the news story right.

 

[woodlandfarms]

My PT is rated at 45 degrees... My personal puckerometer has yet to break 30. Man, 30 is frikin steep. Some day I will find a 45 i can go on.... For sure no rush.....

Carl

 

[horse7]

Just to add a little of my experience to this from over the years.
The first time I had anything to do with this was complaints from operators of Massey Ferguson 8100 series tractors, we were dealing with two models, 160hp & 200hp. The complaint was that the steering and hyd would stop on steep slopes and due to the hyd press loaded clutch, it would also loose drive.
I rigged up a device on the inside of the cabin window to measure the angle for & aft as well as another for side to side.
I then drove the tractor until it stopped on a steep slope, I then read the angles both ways to be 26 degrees, this was very steep and had me twitching I can tell you. I did not feel safe at all at this point and when i tried to walk up the hill I had jsut parked on, it was too steep to walk comfortably and I had to climb more than walk.
Other times I have had to check parking brakes and the OECD (I think) standard for tractors is 17 degrees (maybe someone can correct me) for and aft. This is steeper than it sounds.
On other occasions when we have needed to try to fix gearbox problems that only become evident on slopes, they have been around the 20 degrees and once again, this is a lot steeper than it sounds!!! So always be comfortable and if you are not, dont go there.
To help with stability, you can always adjsut your rear wheel track out. This does help, but be careful when adjustin the front as it only gives you a false sens of security. It does not make any difference having the fornt adjusted for stability.
I hope this is of help to every one.

Some months ago I went and used a 48" level with digital readout to measure some slopes in the flatter area that I bush hog. The steepest little piece was 18*, felt like a lot more [I was going backwards/up and forwards/down the slope, not laterally-- the ground is way too lumpy to even think of lateral angles over 8-10*].

Some of the back areas are 25* or more, but I haven't gotten to them yet.... I would not like to lose hydraulics with EHSS, though I don't think 25* would be enough to do that-- and I don't think I'd try anything much over 25 anyway. That is getting pretty darned steep, and with R4s traction becomes the limiting factor at some point. I was on the edge of needing 4wd for 18* backing up with the soil type on that hill in normal conditions.

 

[Jerome]

I find the pucker factor goes up or down depending on which direction I am driving. If I mow from the house to the road it seems worse than from the road to the house and the reverse on the other side of the drive, any one else find this?

 

[Defective]

Climbing the little baby Deere up out of the ditch on the west side of my driveway is fun. Driving down into it has deformed the seat.

 

[hsvhobbit]

Put a tiltmeter on my 'bota 4630 and found that 10-12 deg is nothing, 15 trips my pucker factor pretty hard and that at 17deg my uphill front tire is JUST beginning to get slightly less traction...17 scared the crap out of me.

I was hogging a slope that gradually increased in angle so I creeped along literally slow enough to have crawled on hands and knees and kept up.

 

[2manyrocks]

I know it's not every case where this is true, but some of the fields around here were cut with mule drawn sickle mowers in the days where they worked as much land as they could to produce hay. The center of gravity was fairly low compared to a tractor.

The mule drawn equipment pretty much disappeared by the late 70's, but people keep thinking they've got to cut hillsides that ought to be let grow back to timber. It may be a more productive use of land, money and time than cutting a steep slope with a tractor just to keep up appearances.

The problem with measuring tilt is that most terrain has so many dips and bumps that a tractor can move several degrees in a heartbeat just because one wheel goes down in a dip while another goes up on a bump.

Then we have these relatively narrow wheelbase CUTs thrown in which makes it even more tricky. There are some slopes that we ought to plant in trees and forget about.

 

[AndyinIowa]

When talking about mowing slideslopes, a good reminder is DON'T USE DIFFERENTIAL LOCK OR 4WD. Let the tractor run out of traction as a guide when its time to turn downslope.

Now, once you are more experienced and comfortable, you can be more aggressive if you wish.

I've lifted up on the mower deck several times, and every time it was when I was pushing for more traction with diff lock or 4WD. I have extreme slopes to contend with, so its a way of life for me.

 

[dirtworksequip]

No one can say what is SAFE for someone else. You have to take responsibilty for yourself and make that determination yourself. There are just to many varibles to consider. If you are not comfortable..... back off, or it will get you in trouble everytime.

Sincerely, Dirt

JD 455 on 32.6 degree slope
P1010040.jpg - Image - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

 

[FatCop]

Just mowed for the first time with my first tractor (Kioti 25-HST.) Using the tiltmeter I found that 10 degrees was my personal cutoff. At 10 it was a little spooky, above 10 I switched over to forward and reverse mowing. I'm sure after a little more "practice" I'll be comfortable squeezing in a couple more degrees.

 

[Runner]

This is my worst cross slope. I measured it at 20 degrees. The tractor feels stable on this, however the rear finish mower tends to drag the back end sideways somewhat.

Nevertheless, I take it nice and slow in this area and only when it's dry.

 

[godflesh]

All of those tractors you see mowing the interstate right of ways are 12 ft wide machines, at least, and are dragging 2 tons of batwing mower low to the ground. There is no way anything any of us have can hit the tilt those machines hit. All of us normal folk need a ROPS, seat belts, tilt kill switches and a VERY low pucker factor if we expect to live through the job. There is no amount of wheel weight, tractor weight or implement weight that can overcome the high center of gravity and narrow foot print of a compact or sub-compact tractor. I have a mitsu that is 49" wide that I absolutely will not trust beyond 0 degrees incline. If you see an incline, stay off of it and live to brag about not getting on it.

 

[PAB_OH]

If you see an incline, stay off of it and live to brag about not getting on it.

Sage advice for flatlanders. I don't have the luxury of avoiding slopes. The first pic is my side yard, the 2nd shows the drop in my front...

 

[Soundguy]

There is no way anything any of us have can hit the tilt those machines hit. .

Plenty of the people here use 10-12-15-20' mowers..

Here's my NH 7610s and jd 1517 15' batwing.

soundguy

 

[woodlandfarms]

All of those tractors you see mowing the interstate right of ways are 12 ft wide machines, at least, and are dragging 2 tons of batwing mower low to the ground. There is no way anything any of us have can hit the tilt those machines hit. All of us normal folk need a ROPS, seat belts, tilt kill switches and a VERY low pucker factor if we expect to live through the job. There is no amount of wheel weight, tractor weight or implement weight that can overcome the high center of gravity and narrow foot print of a compact or sub-compact tractor. I have a mitsu that is 49" wide that I absolutely will not trust beyond 0 degrees incline. If you see an incline, stay off of it and live to brag about not getting on it.

You gotta spend some more time on this site. My tractor goes to 45 degrees... My personal pucker meter fails at 30... Even thought the seat automatically levels.....