If it doesn't feel safe, don't do it. It just isn't worth it. There is also a limit to how far you can tilt the engine and still have proper lubrication.

I find that a self propelled hand mower is the best solution for my steep banks.

I tend to mow a bit steeper at times but not much more than 15 deg, I generally go by the pucker factor :) 15 deg doesn't seem like much until you are really there....the fact on the lubrication is a good point but alot of the newer motors do have pressure lubrication. If you think it's too steep then just mow up and down or again use a push mower. When you have to climb on the uphill fender to keep the wheel from spinning you are pretty much beyond the point of too steep.

Some tractors, like JD garden tractors, have wheels which can be mounted either concave or convex, to allow a narrow track for tilling or a wider track for more stability.
If you're mowing a steep slope, you'd better asses the whole situation and plan an egress should you need to bail out. If you're 80 years old or 300+ lbs, better stick to the flat lands.

Mow up and down the slope, not across it.

If you can back up the slop, then it's okay to mow up and down (not across).

If you can't back up the slope, you may need to add weights (ballast) and possibly chains. If you still can't back up the slope, mow the slope with a push mower and wear cleated shoes (plastic or rubber, not metal cleats)

When I was a kid I rolled a JD 114 down a hill that I was mowing across. Rolled it three times with the blades spinning and tractor running. Landed right side up, but oh my, that was a life changing experience. Somehow escaped without injury, but even as a kid I knew I was very lucky.

Better to err on the side of caution than to end up in the emergency room!

My next door neighbor was killed in 1983 by rolling his tractor. The tractor rolled over him cutting a thigh artery. He bled out before his kids found him. He didn't have much life insurance. His wife sold their house because she couldn't afford it without his paycheck.

Mowing on slopes is serious business.

-Deerslayer

That's a tragic story, and I'm sorry for the loss of your friend, but someone who's foolish enough to be a husband and father with no life insurance is certainly foolish enough to die on a lawnmower. A similar thing happened to my neighbor. He did multiple tours in Iraq as a Force Recon platoon commander, came out without so much as a scratch. Less than six months after getting out of the Corps he was managing a lumber yard, making a very handsome income. His wife stayed home with the kids, as she'd always done. They'd just had their second child. He called one of the other guys on the block and couldn't stop talking about how great things were going, and that he'd just bought a new snowmobile and a $400,000 home in upstate NY. Like most combat veterans, he had a feeling of invulnerabiliy with respect to the hazards of everyday life. A week later he died on that snowmobile after being run over by the other guy he was riding with (apparently doing figure 8's or something). While in the USMC he was insured by the government for several hundred thousand dollars. That policy ended when he left the service and setting up a new one was something they never got around to doing. He left his non-working wife and babies with nothing but a massive mortgage and some good memories.

I completely agree that mowing up and down is by far the safest practice, and if you're mowing cross-slope on a significant slope which can be mowed up and down just as easily, you're an idiot. But some slopes can't be mowed up and down, like the very steep but very short slope from my yard into the culvert ditch along the street. It doesn't look like much in this picture, which was taken right after I dug it out and sodded it, but I have to get my 200lb butt up nearly on the fender to keep the upslope wheel from spinning.

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A few times it tipped a little but I was able to plant my leg on the opposite bank to stop it. That hasn't happened since I flipped the wheels around. Several of my neighbors look at the tire tracks and ask me how the heck I cut my ditch with the tractor, as they all need to break out the push mower to trim. Some have tried it on their MTDs and box-JDs with unfavorable and frightening results. Interestingly, with 23" multi-trac tires, I CAN back up this slope, which would make it a reasonable slope for cross-navigation, according to most manuals. If this slope, which I'd guess is 20 degrees at its worst point, spanned enough distance to actually tumble over (say, you're average back yard), mowing across it would be absolutely ridiculous.

For three seasons I have regularly traversed a long hill (straight up, turn around, and then down) which ranges from around 15-22 degrees with my JD GX335 with locking differential. I would never think of trying to cut across the slope and I don't feel like I could go much steeper than that. I used to have a Craftsman DGT4000 (same size and type of turf tire as the JD) that could not make it up the hill without slipping a wheel or sometimes, particularly when the grass was wet, sliding down the hill. Usually I would do as much as I could and finish with the self-propelled walk-behind mower. It was downright scary the first time that it slid down the hill and started turning sideways, and that's when I decided I needed something better. The dealer brought one out and tested it on my wet slope before I bought it. The GX335 is much heavier and the differential lock gives me the traction I need. If the grass is completely dry I don't even have to use the lock. But unfortunately this hill faces north and is almost always damp with dew even if the rest of the yard is dry. The hill feels steeper than it looks when you're actually on it mowing. Here are some 3 year old pics:

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It's unfortunate that accidents sometimes have tragic results. I have come close to rolling before but Providence has always smiled on me (at least in that regard).

I cut a steep ditch similar to yours, Marineguy. It's a little deeper and wider but more or less the same contours. It's possible to cut it through and through, turning in the street (almost no traffic), but that leaves "high water" grass in the middle and scalps the street side pulling out.

No difference between my Toro 42" ZTR or 94? 14/40 Murray. The wheelbases are much longer than the track width. Both machines will scalp cutting perpendicular to the ditch coming over the top. When cutting lengthwise with the Murray, it's lean up on the high side and pray. I get a much better cut this way. No scalps taken.

I've only used the ZTR one summer but I've found that aside from the lean uphill technique I also have to deal with the light swivelly front end and heavy rear. The secret is holding the uphill side steady and only making corrections with the downhill stick. Nice straight lines. Make corrections on the uphill stick and that wheel will spin every time, leaving squirrelly cut lines.

So now I can traverse slopes on a straight line. :-) But about that mud... :-(

I cut a pretty severe slope, and have used tractors with differential lock with success, but as a caution, when the tires wear, you can still get in trouble. To me, the best solution has been 4WD. BTW, marineguy, have you ever considered putting pipe in and filling in your trench?

Here are a few pics of my slope:

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Cheers

JDFANATIC

Now those are two slopes I definitely wouldn't mow across.
JDfanatic, do you stop and do a K-turn after each pass to get those stripes? Looks great. I have thought about filling in the trench and piping the rainwater straight from one neighbor to the other, but I don't think I'm allowed to, and since I'm able to cut it without trimmming, I don't really mind it. It actually adds some variety to an otherwise flat front yard; and it's a nice buffer to keep my 3-year old from running out in the lightly, slowly travelled street when we're all hanging out on the porch and the idiot neighbor across the street calls out to him. To put it in perspective, it's kind of like one of us having to traverse a 6x10' ditch to run out in the street before our 20' tall daddy grabs us by the shoulder from behind.

Marineguy- I would plant a ground cover like pacysandra or something, anything, so that I wouldn't have to mow in there. How about small rock or colored gravel? I hav mowed a drain ditch like yours with a Gravely walk behind. The Gravely did great no slipping etc but what a pain it was to mow.I think your situation is harder than John's or Jdfanatic's(nice)yard. - Kris

Kris: I have a swale just like marineguy's at the top of the hill alongside the street except mine is about 600 feet long. You're right.....it is a real PAIN. I mow it with a walk-behind or sometimes with a weed whacker.

marineguy,

I hear you about the buffer-zone, although krislu's idea about a ground cover or gravel sounds like it has possibilities. In the 3rd pic I was doing K turns. Right now, I'm running a mulch kit which makes the grass stand more upright and you lose the striping effect.

Cheers

JDFANATIC

Kris,
Believe me, I thought about it. But about a year after I moved in the county took it upon themselves to dig out the trenches to improve stormwater flow. I'd hate to put all that money and time into planting ground cover or putting stones down, only to have them come out with a mini excavator and tear it up. So while re-grading it, I made sure I dug it out deep enough before putting sod down, so they would have no reason to ruin it.

Here's how it looked about four months after I moved in, back when I was cutting my "grass" with a 3hp 25 year old Murray push mower (what a nightmare):

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I must have dug that thing out once a month. I did the brickwork immediately after moving in to keep my driveway from getting washed out. By the time I had sense to stop trying to grow grass in sand and put sod down, the labor involved in mowing the ditch (which was graded specifically so that it would be possible with the tractor) was nothing compared to constantly digging and raking the washouts. Mowing it with the Deere is really no problem at all. Maybe I'll post a video when I suck up the leaves in a month or so (which ALL collect in the ditch). It definitely pushes the tractor to its limits, but as long as the grass isn't wet (and I never cut it wet), she grabs the turf and climbs out every time.

Here's a quick video of me picking up leaves (cross-ways on my steeply sloped ditch). Now you see why the strength of the frame and steering components is so important to me. If I'd tried this with my MTD, I would have broken it in half (not that it had the traction to even drive in there).

http://s235.photobucket.com/albums/ee15/marineguy1775/?action=view&current=MOV05524.flv

Here is a link that might be useful: ditch

Wouldn't a pass-over with a Huey or UH-2B work better?

marineguy,

That is a slope. Glad you found the right machine for the task!

Cheers

JDFANATIC

" Believe me, I thought about it. But about a year after I moved in the county took it upon themselves to dig out the trenches to improve stormwater flow. I'd hate to put all that money and time into planting ground cover or putting stones down, only to have them come out with a mini excavator and tear it up. So while re-grading it, I made sure I dug it out deep enough before putting sod down, so they would have no reason to ruin it."

You did right by digging it out deeper but I would have put down rock rather than sod. Nice place by the way.

"I must have dug that thing out once a month. I did the brickwork immediately after moving in to keep my driveway from getting washed out. By the time I had sense to stop trying to grow grass in sand and put sod down, the labor involved in mowing the ditch (which was graded specifically so that it would be possible with the tractor) was nothing compared to constantly digging and raking the washouts. Mowing it with the Deere is really no problem at all. Maybe I'll post a video when I suck up the leaves in a month or so (which ALL collect in the ditch). It definitely pushes the tractor to its limits, but as long as the grass isn't wet (and I never cut it wet), she grabs the turf and climbs out every time."

Nice job on the brick work. I saw your video. Make sure you don't turn over/ flip. I saw at the end you had the tires off the ground. Would your town let you connect pipes upto the one that goes under your driveway along your property and then just fill dirt over the pipes so you have flat ground ? - Kris

"Kris: I have a swale just like marineguy's at the top of the hill alongside the street except mine is about 600 feet long. You're right.....it is a real PAIN. I mow it with a walk-behind or sometimes with a weed whacker."

John- I wouldn't mow it. Like I said to Marineguy I would put rock/gravel. - Kris

marineguy: I enjoyed your video! And those are great "before" and "after" shots of your front yard! We do our very long swale with a walk-behind mower.

krislu2003: Some jurisdictions (such as Thurston County here in Washington) have very strict rules governing what you can and cannot do in those ditches since they are owned by the county and are considered part of the storm drain system. Ours only allows grass or certain low-growing well matted ground covers (such as thyme) because it's meant to percolate water. No rocks, gravel or bark is allowed. If you don't abide by the rules, the county can fine you, restore it to original condition and charge you for the work.

Down here most cities/counties will put in the culvert if you put it on site. It might take them a while but it's better than paying a contractor. On the other hand, I don't know it they will let you do it yourself if you're lucky enough to have your own equipment. Which reminds me...I guess mith is pretty busy doing...something? Haven't seen any of his posts in a few days.

Ted

> To me, the best solution has been 4WD.

For an experienced driver, I agree. Having all four wheels braking is a huge help. However, for an inexperienced driver, 4WD and even a diff lock for that matter can be very dangerous. This is because both will allow the tractor to drive into situations that are very dangerous.

Bottom line: if you are an experienced tractor driver, you can manage many hills and 4WD will help. If you are new to tractors, just stay away from them.