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Mowing a slope

M

MattCatlin

Member
mvphoto87339.jpg


Hi fellas, I grew up in Illinois on flat land. We had 2wd row crop tractors. Wasn't a foot of elevation change across the county. Now Im I the missouri ozarks and we have hills, real hills. My farm has about 70 acres of ridgetop pasture. The pasture ends at the woods where it really gets steep. No way to mow down no place to turn. I can see from aerial photographs it was mowed parallel to the slope. Some is getting blackberries and sumac encroaching. Id like to mow it. My pickup has an off-road display that shows the slope angle. I drove around on it and the worst I saw was 12 degrees. Degrees not percent. Truck feels fine but up in my tractor it feels sketchy at 10 percent measured in my truck. My tractor os a Kubota m5-091 4wd. Im pulling a 12 foot batwing and Im set up withs the rear tires spread out about 89 inches outside edge to outside edge. Rears are 18.4-30 r1 radials with alcohol fill. Have a cast weight on each too. If I keep the loader low (or should I take it off) does this sound reasonable assuming SLOW. That tractor cost me what you used to get a house for. I sure aint interested in rolling it. I got a inclinometer Im gonna mount in the cab. Has a ball bearing that rolls shows the angle. I wouldnt think twice about it in my case 455c crawler. This thing sets up high seems scarier. Please share your thoughts this board has got me out of more jams than I can count with my equipment that averages older than me. [/img:0465195f8c]
 
I use a low center of gravity (CG) tractor to mow slopes. Your tractor looks like has a higher CG than the one I use for slopes. As I get older and become are uncomfortable with any task that needs
to be done, I simpley hire it done.
 
I've watched folks mow almost 45 degree
hills. They put the tractor at about a 45
degree angle to the direction of travel.
They adjust the angle so they slide down
as much as they go up and thus they
actually go straight across the hill. It
was impressive. They had big 4 wheel drive
monsters and probably a 12' mower.
 
You will probably be ok. What scares me more is turning at the end of the row. I try to turn to the up hill, and try not to get pointed down hill,
sometimes the tractor starts sliding in dry grass. Brakes do absolutely no good. All I can do is turn back up the hill, and finally stop sliding. Stan
 
It is much more likely that you will get the
uncomfortable feeling riding a tractor with a flat floor,
than a tractor on which your feet straddle the
transmission. You sit almost as high as the top of the
tires on this Kubota in the picture. These are just my
observations from driving different styles of tractors.
That looks like a very nice tractor, and I know what you
are saying about prices. My last tractor cost twice
what I paid for my first farm, money just isnt what it
used to be.
 
Adding liquid ballast to your tires will lower your tractor's center of gravity. Ballast both the front and rear tires. Nobody uses calcium chloride for this purpose anymore; Rimguard is sugar beet juice and has a density similar to a CaCl solution. Windshield washer solution is cheaper but less dense than straight water.

Ypur greatest risk isn't a simple rollover from a too-steep incline. It's sliding sideways down a slippery slope; when that happens, the tractor will eventually hit something that stops it, causing a rollover. This can happen on a pretty shallow grade, so avoid working when the ground is wet and keep your seatbelt fastened at all times.
 
Dump the alcohol and ad chloride to the tires you will want tubes probably for that. then if you feel it is necessary just ad a set of duals to the tractor. weights on the duals would also help with the leverage of slope and tipping. Keeping the loader just above the ground will help the most for center of gravity stability versus being up 3 feet. I suppose you could add steel duals slightly bigger than the OD of the tires so they would dig in some on the slopes to help with the sliding. We have a filed with hills we used to work decades ago with just 2wd tractors and plowed with the Cat. I worked it for the first time in 40 years to work in the manure from it being a pasture all these years. I wondered ho w we did it with the Stieger with the duals on it. My brother plants it with duals on his Planter tractor I used that on the grain cart there also. I guess we see more things to go wrong as we get older.
 
Got water? ,suggest ,add some grazers sheep goats cattle they work all day at ,fun to watch . They are set up for hill work .
Less fuel ,and wear and tear on equipment .
I dont like hill work ,my back kinked over to Drive wears me out .
Check out the rigs they got in Switzerland, hot sets for hills
 
Been selling KUBOTAS 28 years and the last thing anyone want is to see you get hurt. The tractor can
be replaced. First of all wear your seat belt. That slope is doable in that tractor. Now here is the
problem you are close to safe operating slope. IF you are going across sideways and the lower tire
drops in say an old stump hole or suddenly goes lower or say the upper tire hits a big rock and
goes up. Either way that safe angel changes to unsafe. I suggest you walk the area first and then
make a pass or so at the lower part and get the feel for you tractor. Keeping the loader on but the
bucket very low or removed is my thoughts there. Like the others said absolutely do not get on there
when the land is wet or slick. Gook look, be careful, and enjoy your KUBOTA.
 
Well, not to throw cold water on anything, but, you have the wrong tractor for what you're attempting. Take a look at your State Highway equipment used for roadside
mowing. I used to talk with the guys who did that and they were equipped, at that time, with those low slung Fords. Wide set wheels. They said they'd never rolled one.
Slid sideways sometimes, but never rolled. If you're serious about keeping that sidehill mowed for the rest of time, I think it would pay to look into something else.
Now, I have mowed extremely steep roadside banks with a 6' rotary cutter by backing up them. No need to turn around. You can simply steer over a little bit on the way
down and get adjusted for the next trip back up.
 
I farm on the hills in SEMN close to the Mississippi River and a lot of our hills are steeper than yours. You should be fine. I mow with a White 2-85
and back up where it gets steep. When the upper rear tire spins out, that's when I quit. We pull 18 ft chopper boxes that stand really high. It is
important to turn up hill when possible. When I use a JD 7810 fwd with front and rear weights, that little tractor can get pushed around pretty good,
but I've already gone sliding with the 8310. Some places get so steep that I don't even want to look back and see what's happening behind me. Last
spring I notilled some beans for a guy and couldn't hold a JD 7430 mfwd straight on a sidehill because it was too steep. Just drive slow and turn
uphill as others have said.
 
The Kubota I have you can move the rear wheels farther out on the axle. This would make it more stable mowing horizontal on a slope. If you check with the owners manual it will list the angle of the slope you could safely use the tractor. If it's too steep about all you can do is back the mower down a hill. I do this mowing next to my pond. It's too steep and I can run the mower right down to the water without getting stuck.
 
First off you need a bigger tractor if
you want to mow steep slopes ...we have
a 15 foot bat wing and mow with a
weghted 4440 or 4840 and wheels are on
46 inch centers
 
First off you need a bigger tractor if
you want to mow steep slopes ...we have
a 15 foot bat wing and mow with a
weghted 4440 or 4840 and wheels are on
46 inch centers
 
Some things are dangerous and some things can be accomplished.

I think you can do what you want to do with what you have, but you need to be careful and comfortable with it, or it could end up dangerous.

I mow road side ditches for hay, they have some pretty big slope in some areas. Wasnt a big deal with the low Ford 960 and a sickle mower.

Now with the Ford 5200 and a 9 foot disc mower, a lot could go wrong if I dont keep myself thinking a little ahead of time.

You can do it I do believe. But I dont know if you should, if you arent comfortable.

Paul
 
Hi. I have been keeping up when I have time reading this
forum. I always find something interesting this post caught
my eye. Here were Im located in swpa we mow both ways. I
personally mow my farm which is that steep probably
steeper up and down. You will find its much safer I have
owned several tractors of the size in your picture set up the
same. All four tires fluid loaded and a fel with bucket
attached. I have had no problems mowing heavy filth steep
and rough I along with several folks in this area mow the
same way. I also have mowed pipeline row with the same
type of ground. Just remember to keep it straight.. Last
word of advice I can tell you is to respect your machine if
your scared to do it then dont. Not worth it! Hire it done or
forget it. Better alive then the opposite just my 0.02 CTs.
Good luck.
 
(quoted from post at 20:23:00 01/24/22)
mvphoto87339.jpg


Hi fellas, I grew up in Illinois on flat land. We had 2wd row crop tractors. Wasn't a foot of elevation change across the county. Now Im I the missouri ozarks and we have hills, real hills. My farm has about 70 acres of ridgetop pasture. The pasture ends at the woods where it really gets steep. No way to mow down no place to turn. I can see from aerial photographs it was mowed parallel to the slope. Some is getting blackberries and sumac encroaching. Id like to mow it. My pickup has an off-road display that shows the slope angle. I drove around on it and the worst I saw was 12 degrees. Degrees not percent. Truck feels fine but up in my tractor it feels sketchy at 10 percent measured in my truck. My tractor os a Kubota m5-091 4wd. Im pulling a 12 foot batwing and Im set up withs the rear tires spread out about 89 inches outside edge to outside edge. Rears are 18.4-30 r1 radials with alcohol fill. Have a cast weight on each too. If I keep the loader low (or should I take it off) does this sound reasonable assuming SLOW. That tractor cost me what you used to get a house for. I sure aint interested in rolling it. I got a inclinometer Im gonna mount in the cab. Has a ball bearing that rolls shows the angle. I wouldnt think twice about it in my case 455c crawler. This thing sets up high seems scarier. Please share your thoughts this board has got me out of more jams than I can count with my equipment that averages older than me. [/img:cacb3dee8a]
Click to expand...

I do custom mowing and use an 8' bushhog with the tractor wheels set out to 98" wide because I get on some pretty hairy slopes. I also run 15.5 x 38 rear tires which have a low sidewall, so I get a lot less flex that a taller sidewall. Some slopes I have to back up with the mower raised slightly for traction, then drop the mower when going down. I do not run fluid in the tires.
mvphoto87436.jpg
 
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