Ot: zero turn mowers

[Tickdoc]

Haven’t mowed my own yard in over 20 yrs, but new house came with a mower and I thought what the heck, I’m capable of mowing. I can give this a try.

Used it once and our lot is pretty hilly in spots and I think I saw my life flash before my eyes a few times trying to figure out how to mow anything with a slope and diagonal at all. Has a bagger but I removed it, partially by using a tree, then just took it off.

Not sure if I have the wrong tires? The wrong technique? I was secretly hoping my wife would do the mowing while I did the weed eating, edging, and blowing, but I can’t let her ride this thing.

Cub cadet zt1 for reference. Maybe I should stick to bikes.

[Louis]

But can yours do this?

[thwart]

Somehow seems this belongs in the ‘kill your lawn’ thread.

… ducks…

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by Louis

But can yours do this?

When your lawn fights back...

[Spaghetti Legs]

Let me guess - caliper brakes.

[lookout2015]

Hills are what make zero turns fun! Some tips which may help:

- start at the bottoms of hills

- mow across the hill face not up and down the hill face

- as you mow keep the front of the mower pointed up the hill a little

- turn up the hill whenever you turn

- the above three mean you’re making big s’es up the hill. You may wind up having to do two overlapping s style zigzags up it to mow it

- don’t try the above when the grass is wet

The above assumes a steep enough hill to be “interesting”. You can relax some of that as slope lessens, you get more comfortable, etc

[C40_guy]

One word.

Outsource.

Your weekend riding time should be on your bike, not on a Club Cadet mower.

...but

...if you are going to mow, get the tractor that Jeremy Clarkson recommends:

[C40_guy]

It's a Lambo.

[Tickdoc]

Originally Posted by lookout2015

Hills are what make zero turns fun! Some tips which may help:

- start at the bottoms of hills

- mow across the hill face not up and down the hill face

- as you mow keep the front of the mower pointed up the hill a little

- turn up the hill whenever you turn

- the above three mean you’re making big s’es up the hill. You may wind up having to do two overlapping s style zigzags up it to mow it

- don’t try the above when the grass is wet

The above assumes a steep enough hill to be “interesting”. You can relax some of that as slope lessens, you get more comfortable, etc

Good advice and will try. Straight up and straight down do pretty good but the downward turn is a Doosey.

Hoping the pucker factor gets better as I learn the machine.

[RWL2222]

Oh man I laughed out loud at this—wife asked what’s up

[commonguy001]

Having moved from a flat lot where my zero turn was perfect to a couple acres with some elevation, my advice is sell the zero turn and get a lawn tractor. The zero turn is just not stable enough for me when you need to cut across a slope with decent pitch and is a handfuls on hills. Moved to a JD X570 and the stress vanished.
If you don’t get comfortable with it, a good tractor will be worth the expense.

[MXLeader]

When my new zero turn was delivered to my house, the owner of the shop surveyed my 6 acre yard and spent nearly two hours teaching me mowing techniques in various areas of the yard. Of course, he was all about safety and showed the basic proper multi-step turn to avoid tearing up the lawn. First thing he thing he said was to be especially careful of low hanging branches when the ROPS was up. That will give you the ride of your life just like the GIFS above.

He also demonstrated how to take hills. Basically, he told me that up to 10% or so slopes could be handled across or up/down. Above 10% to ~15% he recommended cutting up and down only. After that, and up to ~30% that it's best to mow while going down only and to loop around until the slope was shallow enough to safely ascend the slope. Anything steeper than 30% or that was bumpy or didn't have enough runout at the bottom, he simply said to use the weedwacker. Besides the safety aspect, he told me that if the lawn was too steep that the engine could be starved for oil pressure.

I have a few areas of the lawn where it gets close to 30% for 10 to 20 feet. Ignoring his advice and with a bit of experience I WAS able to mow up the hill by leaning my weight forward as long as the machine and I had enough inertia. But after a few times doing this the lawn looked like crap in those areas because of wheel spin. I now do the loop method in those areas but I must leave enough run out area at the base of the hills to avoid the dreaded skid marks while slowing before turning. And of course, don't try this while the lawn is wet.

Mowing cross slope is just fine up to about 10% as long as the lawn is dry. Above that, even if you can avoid wheel slippage, the cut looks pretty crappy because you can't keep the zero turn cutting in a straight line.

Bottom line is that I'm impressed with my Gravely ProTurn 260. It's a commercial mower with 27 hp and a 60" cut. It's served me well for the last 11 years with barely a hiccup. Well, I did have to change the inline fuses for the safety systems because they became corroded. Other than that, keep the blades sharp and the oil and hydraulic fluid fresh and it'll outlive me.

[Tickdoc]

That is twice the mower I need for just an acre. I was able to manage on some still slightly damp grass, but I am thinking I may upgrade the tires and see how it goes. I think with a little patience and practice I will be able to manage, but it sure makes for an interesting day!

I have to put a fence up for the dogs on one side to have an area to do their business, and the fence ends on a slope. I may have to finish that slope off in rock and shrubs just so I don't go careening into the fence everytime I mow.

Or, I could always hire a service and park the thing for the occasional time I'm feeling frisky!

[Ozz]

My old ride when I worked at a golf course for a few summers (early '80's): Toro Greensmaster 3100 Triplex Riding Putting Green Mower

The smooth tires were "fun" on wet grass...

Best job ever.....

[ctcyclistbob]

Originally Posted by MXLeader

...He also demonstrated how to take hills. Basically, he told me that up to 10% or so slopes could be handled across or up/down. Above 10% to ~15% he recommended cutting up and down only...

On steeper hills up and down works for me. When not too steep going across is best done diagonally pointing up. You can do triangles; straight down, then two diagonals back to the top.

Once you find and get used to a pattern the mowing time will be reduced.

Originally Posted by Tickdoc

...but I am thinking I may upgrade the tires and see how it goes...

Depending on what's on the rear now, new tires will greatly improve traction. I have much less slipping and sliding after getting tires.