Better traction for zero turn mower

We have a Country Clipper zero turn mower and we have hills. They don't mix well. Im constantly sliding down and having to turn around to get the spots I missed. Would the ag type tires help? It's not a weight issue as those tires have almost all the weight on them. I either need to get chains or studded tires. The yard has spots where I've slid and I wouldn't mind if it would've made the turn and cut the grass.
 
Try running lower pressure in your tires. Works pretty good on my kubota. Ag tires will probably do more damage turning than you are doing sliding. Those tires are flat for a reason.
 
(quoted from post at 19:23:05 07/27/15) We have a Country Clipper zero turn mower and we have hills. They don't mix well. Im constantly sliding down and having to turn around to get the spots I missed. Would the ag type tires help? It's not a weight issue as those tires have almost all the weight on them. I either need to get chains or studded tires. The yard has spots where I've slid and I wouldn't mind if it would've made the turn and cut the grass.

Radial ATV tires
 
I am interested in this thread for same reason. I have a Gravely zero turn, and plenty of slopes, and considering going with ATV type tires. I love the mower, but would like it more if i could stay on the sides of the hill better.
 
I loaded the tires in this thing. Amazing the difference it made. It's cheap and easy, try it before you buy new tires. 3 gallon of washer fluid each and 1/2 hour work.
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Load the tires. You do not have as much weight as you think on the tires on hills. If you go to rougher tread patterns on the tires you will divot the grass when you turn if your not careful.
 
Ditto on the air pressure. About 30 years ago I worked on a golf course as their mechanic, if you over inflated riding greens mower tires the'd spin out instead of turn, if you didn't keep the steering cable tension right they start spinning a lot quicker. Took a few over confident operators down a notch or two by over inflating their tires & loosening the steering cables. Riding a spinning greens mower down the back side of the greens would wake 'em up, if they ended up in a sand trap walking back to the shop for help took the wind out of their sails.
 
I mow a huge lawn and some very steep parts. I had a zero turn before and I could not use it on the slopes, I won't say which manufacture it was as it was a good mower otherwise. I now have a Country clipper with a 60 inch deck and joy stick control and this mower will do my whole lawn with no problem on the slopes. By the way my other one was only a 42 inch cut.
 
Are you sliding when it's dry?
Are you sliding during a pass or turns?
Do you start at the bottom & work up?
Do you always turn uphill?
 
I have 2 zero turns, and there are spots in my yard that we simply cant go up and down, and like you would slide. I tried the ag type tires, but they marked up the spots that are flat, even though I tried the 3point turns, they still marked up the yard. ATV tires, don't recall the name, but they were the knobby ones, worked as well, but again they marked up the yard. Buddy let me use his Dixie Chopper to see if those tires slid, and they didn't, not did they mark up the yard. They weren't cheap by any means, but did work very, very well!! Google them!
 
Just tossing it out. Does Country Clipper offer a traction control kit that takes weight off the mower deck and applies it to the drive wheels.
 

I agree with the loaded tires. I can climb slopes where there is little weight on the fronts, but I slow way down when I am in a slope situation in order to keep from breaking traction.
 
Have a Woods commercial machine (4 wheels and separately mounted deck.) Does the same thing. Tires do not have an aggressive tread, but will still divot easily if not careful on turns. Haven't figured out how to combat sliding on slopes, etc. More aggressive tread would certainly damage the lawn. Machine is awfully heavy in it's own right.
like mine, but I have turf tires
 
I have used ZTR stick steer mowers for years but agree they don't shine on step hillsides. Id say a more aggressive tire tread may help as my turf tires tend to slide.

John T
 

I have a Country Clipper also. Yes, it does have traction issues, but only on wet grass. I know, if the grass is that wet, I shouldn't even be mowing it, but with all the rain and high humidity we have this year, the grass is still wet even at 3 o clock in the afternoon.
 
We used to sell a drive tire for the local 4 wheelers that had a shallow 45% lug pattern. We put many of these on mowers and filled them with winter washer fluid. Worked very well and the tread was shallow enough to not cause any problems. Unfortunatly I have been away from the tire shop and cannot remember the name of the tire. If it comes to me I will post it on here.
 
Years ago I did lawn mowing job in this area and all my riders had fluid in the tires due to have a lot of hills we had to go up and down and many where to steep to drive along so it was up and down a whole lot to get them done.
 
Thats my issue. I can't get the grass to be perfectly dry. I probably am going too fast as well. I will try washed fluid and see if that helps.
 
ZTRs slide sideways when both drive wheels spin, reducing the coefficient of friction between the tires and ground. Anything that reduces wheelspin will help. Tire lugs, even if they're are parallel to the direction of the slide, will reduce wheelspin and prevent sliding.

As for liquid ballast in the tires, I can't see how a few pounds of extra weight in the tires can make much difference on a thousand pound mower. I don't think you can get enough ballast in typical ZTR tires to make any difference at all.
 
(quoted from post at 17:52:02 07/29/15) ZTRs slide sideways when both drive wheels spin, reducing the coefficient of friction between the tires and ground. Anything that reduces wheelspin will help. Tire lugs, even if they're are parallel to the direction of the slide, will reduce wheelspin and prevent sliding.

As for liquid ballast in the tires, I can't see how a few pounds of extra weight in the tires can make much difference on a thousand pound mower. I don't think you can get enough ballast in typical ZTR tires to make any difference at all.

MarkB, That is pretty much what I was thinking. Those tires are too small to hold enough liquid ballast to make any noticeable difference in traction.
 
I have a Grasshopper with 12.00 12 24 tires. How much fluid would I need and how do I get the fluid in the tires?? Thanks Bill T
 
Mark you can easily get fifty LBS per sided and usually closer to eighty LBS per side. So that would be 100-160 LBS. That is close to a ten percent increase in weight. It does make a difference.
 
If you don't want to invest in a pump but want to load your lawn mower tires yourself and have a RV you could use RV antifreeze and your RV pump with winterizing by pass.
The RV antifreeze will most likely cost more. Might weight a little more than windshield antifreeze.

Dusty
 

Get the studded snow tires, that's rubber studs, each is shaped like an X. I tried the F1 style and they slide too. Guarantee you they work great on my 30 degree pond dam (back side) even in the mornings when dew is present. Will run you about $100 each for the 23". The best ones I've found have the name printed on the side in yellow and orange paint. Forget the name.

On pressure, they are 4 ply and have a good sidewall which adds to the stiffness, but 8 to 10 psig is comfortable and the stiffer sidewall help them to keep their shape with that low pressure.
 

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