safety on a hill going straight up and down
- Thread starter Spicytub
- Start date
I haven't had the chance to go down/up it yet I had to go out of town for work and just got back today. So gonna give it a whirl tomorrow.
Here is a pic of the hill it drops off on the sides and is the only access point to the lower part of the property that isn't almost straight down. That log you see was cleared after the pic as well. It has a slight turn left at the bottom there then levels out.
That looks very doable ... The advantage of 4X4 mode is the brakes are on the back, and are then tied into the front via the driveshaft, but leaving it in low range, you shouldn't even need the brakes, soon you will be going up and down there without a thought, as if it's your driveway! 
I think the biggest thing about going safely sideways on a hill is not do it on vastly uneven terrain ... A sudden dip or rock can kinda throw you off balance ...
I routinely take my SCUT with 3" rear spacers and WWF filled tires along my creek ...
Here I have added 70 Lb rear weights on each side, plus 275 Lb of weight on the BH frame ...
Oh my…I just wrinkled our leather coach reading through this post.
I would not have the stones to get that close to a couple places on the creek in your pictures. But it looks like you have come up with a ballasting solution to keep the rubber side down
.A front tire hits a rodent dug hole (that wasn't there last time) and your day changes fast. I wouldn't mow that creek bank without an outrigger on that machine!!
If it seems to steep going forward back up, yeah I know that sounds counter productive. But if you think about it where is all the weight of the tractor, the back end so you wont flip over backing up a hill vs going up, bucket first. Just MHO
I definitely keep the Front End Loader on when brush hogging (flail mowing in my case), like @TheOldHokie said, you want the it for the brakes, and I'll add leveling the front end--if you hit a pot-hole, rock, piece of wood, whatever only the rear keeps you level, the front pivots so dropping the bucket is a life-saver.
I now use differential lock and 4WD on hills after going for two potentially serious slides. I also use 4" wheel offsets, Two things going wrong at once is really risky, three could be a rollover.
I also keep the bucket low when mowing even though managing the front and back heights at the same time is a lot of concentration; if I'm going to hit a rock or log I want it to be with the bucket, not the mower. On an established trail where you can see the fallen branches and stuff the FEL might not be needed, but a slide happens incredibly fast, and once one wheel loses traction...use diff lock is my advice.
Happy Mowing!
I now use differential lock and 4WD on hills after going for two potentially serious slides. I also use 4" wheel offsets, Two things going wrong at once is really risky, three could be a rollover.
I also keep the bucket low when mowing even though managing the front and back heights at the same time is a lot of concentration; if I'm going to hit a rock or log I want it to be with the bucket, not the mower. On an established trail where you can see the fallen branches and stuff the FEL might not be needed, but a slide happens incredibly fast, and once one wheel loses traction...use diff lock is my advice.
Happy Mowing!
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That one picture above showing the empty bucket, I was actually kinda stuck, I probably could have backed up, but didn't want to ... I had forgotten to add rocks to the bucket before mowing, as the brush hog is a tad heavy, and it's hard to steer without extra weight up front, in 4X4 mode, the front tires wouldn't keep me going straight on that bank, or turn me back up the hill ...
So I dropped the bucket and very carefully got off on the up hill side, as my own seat of the pants "Tip-O-Meter" was going off!
I gingerly let go of the ROPS and it was steady ... I gave it a light nudge, still rock steady ... The a push ... Finally I pushed it as hard as I could on the ROPS above the rifle, still couldn't budge it!
I then went down in the creek and got some rocks, and drove it back up without spinning a tire!
I don't normally let it get this tall, but being a long distance truck driver, I'm gone for 2-4 weeks at a time ... Some times I get to swing by 2-3 times a week, but this spring I was gone the full 4 weeks, and it had rained over 12" in that time, the grass grew!
I normally mow that first lap near the creek in 4X4, and very slowly, working my way along looking for "the edge" and any "potential problems" ... Slow is less likely to tip you over as you have more time to react to what you're seeing and feeling.
One of the advantages of the pivoting front axle, which would be the first one to find a chuck hole ... Is that it takes about 4" of rise or dip for my axle to "bottom out" on my frame, which then provides side to side stability ... So less than that won't cause any instability IF you're going slow!
Very easy to test it on your own tractor, just get a few 2X's ... At 3" mine still has a little gap ...
But at 4.5" it's touching ... This will obviously be different on different tractors ...
On mine, it's the same on the back, 4.5" will cause the front axle to supply stability.
I'm not convinced that a tractor would tip over backwards with a brush hog on back of it going up a hill, possiblity of lifting the front tires? Maybe ... Unless dragging something like a back blade that snagged a big root ...
The advantage of driving forward up the hill is that the R1 tires the OP has are very directional, as in the "dig in" going forward ... They provide more traction going forward than backwards.
So I dropped the bucket and very carefully got off on the up hill side, as my own seat of the pants "Tip-O-Meter" was going off!
I gingerly let go of the ROPS and it was steady ... I gave it a light nudge, still rock steady ... The a push ... Finally I pushed it as hard as I could on the ROPS above the rifle, still couldn't budge it!
I then went down in the creek and got some rocks, and drove it back up without spinning a tire!
I don't normally let it get this tall, but being a long distance truck driver, I'm gone for 2-4 weeks at a time ... Some times I get to swing by 2-3 times a week, but this spring I was gone the full 4 weeks, and it had rained over 12" in that time, the grass grew!
I normally mow that first lap near the creek in 4X4, and very slowly, working my way along looking for "the edge" and any "potential problems" ... Slow is less likely to tip you over as you have more time to react to what you're seeing and feeling.
One of the advantages of the pivoting front axle, which would be the first one to find a chuck hole ... Is that it takes about 4" of rise or dip for my axle to "bottom out" on my frame, which then provides side to side stability ... So less than that won't cause any instability IF you're going slow!
Very easy to test it on your own tractor, just get a few 2X's ... At 3" mine still has a little gap ...
But at 4.5" it's touching ... This will obviously be different on different tractors ...
On mine, it's the same on the back, 4.5" will cause the front axle to supply stability.
I'm not convinced that a tractor would tip over backwards with a brush hog on back of it going up a hill, possiblity of lifting the front tires? Maybe ... Unless dragging something like a back blade that snagged a big root ...
The advantage of driving forward up the hill is that the R1 tires the OP has are very directional, as in the "dig in" going forward ... They provide more traction going forward than backwards.
