worse thing to happen when a mower got away from you ?

[mowerconsultant]

whats the worst thing to happen to you when a mower got away from you ?<br>I had a customer once drive a mower off a 6 ft retaining wall into a parking lot once, the mower lost traction at the top of the hill and on a slight incline (dew on the hill), customer rode it out (went down with the ship) ended up on pavement, he was ok, mower was not so good (compact z mower) we put it right side up and straightened the steering out and went mowing again !!<br>needless to say he did not buy it, and i had some explaining to do when i got back to the store !!<br>this was a new unit on a sales demo......

[John DiMartino]

Just one more reason not to buy a demo,They tried to sell me one,its not worth the risk,the price is so close to new I wouldnt take the chance,especially if its your only mower.<p>----------<br>John D<br>

[AB Lawn Care]

I had a real funny and yet scarry time last year.We bought a scag 36'' 14hp dual hydro walk-behind.The speed lever was getting stiff and I got the smart idea of taking some lube oil and giving it a squirt.Little did I know this would make the lever to loose.You would be cuting at half speed and hit a little bump or somthing and then the lever would go to full on its own becouse it was over oiled.As you can tell this would cause some problems!My dad was cutting the curb on a 4 lane highway,and might I add a very busy highway.It popped into full speed an he lost control he went over the curb and on to the highway flew back over the curb and on the lawn before he could get it under control.Had a trasport truck been in his way I would not be laughing about it today!I had a good laugh and he did not think it was very funny!About 3 weeks later I did the same thing on an other highway and then he got to laugh at me!Last year we where able to fix the problem thanks to our dealer.Its funny to think about now but when I was being flung around behind that mower onto the highway I was a little less humored about it!!!!!!<p>from:adam<p>AB Lawn Care

[gusbuster]

This happened to me when I was just a young pup. Where I work, it's all hills. I opened my dad's trailer to get down the Lawnboy. Turned my back, next thing I know, the Tru Cut reel mower rolled down the ramp, went all the way down the hill,(at least block & 1/2) finaly stopping after running into a motorcyle. Knocked it over, causing a fire from the ruptured gas tank. Guess who worked all summer long to pay off that mistake?<br>Jean<p>----------<br>J-LC Landscaping & Maintenance Gardening<br>C-27 Ca Contr# 770044

[Matt]

Although i cant say that i have had a mower run away from me, the one at my work was known to have one of the handles let go and it would do doughnuts! I would have loved to see that. As far as my experience with the mower, the first time i tried it was in front of a commercial parking lot. I had never used a &quot;squeeze the lever to not go anywhere&quot; mower. Well lets just say that the perimeter run was probably not the best place to start because first i ran it all the way under a wide tree. Then, I ran it into a metal light pole literally 6 times in 10 seconds! It just kept leaping up the pole, leaving dents. Finally i was on a straight part, right next to the parking lot. All was going well for about 30 feet when i noticed a relatively big rock in the grass. I was trying to avoid it and tapped the handle to turn... but tapped the wrong one!!! The front of the mower became airborne and i had to try as hard as possible to not demolish the rear panel of a truck that was parked right on the edge of the pavement. Luckily i did miss It and got the hang of the mower. A lady that was working in a store came out and said that had planned to move her car since it looked like the mower was to big for me. Id say i was fine since i had to yank the mower away from the truck, working against the machine. Thats my story and im stickin too it!

[AB Lawn Care]

Could be worse that tru-cut could have plowed over an old lady crossing the street!<p>from:Adam<p>AB Lawn Care

[Grassboy]

The second day I had my Exmark Lazer Z, I was mowing my lawn and it was wet and I went beside the house by a ditch. The ditch is 9FT. DEEP! My front wheel bumped the air conditioning unit's cement slab, which started me sliding. My mower slid to the edge of the ditch to where it drops off, and it flipped straight backwards toward me! On the way down, by the grace of God, my little hitch for my trailer dug into the dirt which turned it on its side before it slammed into the bottom of the drainage ditch. By instinct I guess I jumped the opposite way when it turned towards its side on the way down. I had to pull my foot out from under it. It is soft ground so my foot was fine. Not even a bruise on my body at all! It was so scary though. My mower had no damage either! That's why I am going to buy a Exmark for my next mower when I buy another, THEIR BUILT LIKE A ROCK! So that's my story.

[AGG Lawn Maintenance]

I once had a guy ask to try out one of my 48&quot; mowers in a apartment complex. He told me he knew how to use 48&quot;.... So needless to say I Let him try it out. He turned on the blades ran up two stairs onto a pourch. (with the blades on) I Didn't get in a trouble but learned to let guys try mowers only in very very very open areas even if they say &quot;I know how to use it&quot; LoL Now :)<br>Travis AG&G Lawn Maintenance<br>

[Charles]

That the scariest part of owning a lazer. The dreaded slide lol

[mowerconsultant]

for that matter, any z mower.......<br>once they start sliding your going for a ride....

[Alan]

I got my Lazer up on a steep bank, ABOVE about a 4' dropoff over a stone wall. Tried to turn uphill, which is normally the safe direction. This time the bank was too loose and rather than turn the whole machine wanted to slide sideways towards that 4' drop. Shut the deck off, idled down and managed to ease the machine through a 180 deg turn and get back off there.<p>Incidentally the only way I have found to recover control from a slide with a Z-turn is to get the rear wheels downhill so they can bite. When mine cuts loose on me I horse it around, never mind the possible turf damage, just go full ahead with one wheel and full back on the other. So far it has always come around before I ran out of room.<p>Had a funny one with a Scag Z-turn that I was trying out. Older machine, had a tired pump/motor on one side. I got down in a drainage swale, sloped three ways to the bottom and swamp on the only flat way out. Could not climb back up the slopes, the tired side would lose power and I'd turn around and back to the bottom. Finally started running down one slope, then up the other as far as I could. Whip it around and back up the first one, finally got enough run that I could get over the top. Didn;t buy that mower, by the way.

[lawnforce1]

With us everyday is an adventure. About a month ago we started mowing one of our condo complexes after three days of hard, steady rain. I was turning around when the ground gave way and bye, bye Scag. It slid about twenty feet down the bank into nothing but jungle. Took us one trip to Lowe's to buy a come along and twelve feet of rope, forty five minutes tryin to pull it out, an hour with the property manager telling us what to do and fifteen minutes with the truck to yank it out. All that was wrong was the grass shield was bent. Oh yeah, yesterday I was mowing the same complex when the mower jerked to the right pitching the sulky to the left and me rolling fifty feet down a bank into the woods and the mower hitting the outside air unit and putting a HUGE orange scar and dent in it. I couldn't stop laughing. That was kinda fun, like when I was ten and rolled down hills on purpose.

[mountainviewland]

I was working on a property when nature called. I shut down the mower and walked away. Then I heard something as I turned around the mower was headed for a hill straight down to a pond. needless to say I got to the mower just in time for it to pull me in the ice cold water. It felt real good on that fall day.

[yardsmith]

got too many stories to remember-<br>recently, I've been reminded of why I bought Ag V-tread tires for my other mowers. Turf tread sucks! I've already slid my new bobcat down about 7-8 hills before they gripped. Must be funny to watch me see how fast I can slap the PTO button off & grab the deck lift lever before I hit the parking lot. I think I'll keep my Steiner 220 on the hills instead. <br>A few weeks ago was doin comm. acct. near a major 4-way intersection. My mind was on something else & I forgot about the water main valve sticking out of the ground. Ran into it with WB & it stopped, but I didn't. Went over the side & fell off the sulky, but like a rodeo cowboy I still had 1 hand on it & it started doin' donuts. Must have been funny to watch, but got an abrasion burn & scab from hitting the pistol grip with my solar plexus.<br>Another acct had a steep hillside (I always get those acct's.) with a fence at the bottom. At least twice a season it'd slip or get the pistol grip caught in the chain link & spin around into the fence & get caught/tangled sideways-&$*@#($#@! Get the 4x4 & pull it up the hill out of the fence.<br>I also got to demo the new scag cougar (walker type) last year when it was a prototype- there was only 5 in the USA floating around. So I took it out, & it took me almost twice as long to do my accts. vs. using my Honda WB. Anyways, I was dumping grass out at a KFC, & going back for more cutting, & a lady came speeding thru the parking lot to go thru the drive thru. I didn't see her until the last min., & I jerked back on the control sticks, & it endo-ed on me! When the back end slammed down, it jolted me & I let up on the levers a little. The cougar has the side lever &quot;cruise control&quot; feature, so it was already in 1/3 forward speed when I let up on the levers. So it jerked forward, & I pulled back, & it endo-ed again! Then slammed back down & jerked the levers almost out of my hands again, & it did this about 6 times in a row before I could stop the $%&@ thing!<br>That lady wasn't quite sure what to make of it.<br>I told the dealer about it, & he laughed & said the guy that pulled it off the trailer when they first got it did the same thing. I didn't feel so bad then, cause I have very good hand-eye coordination, & it takes very little time for me to get the hang of about anything. I definitely told scag what I thought of their herky-jerky P.O.S.<br>----------<br>Smitty ô¿ô<p><br>

[paddy]

when i was in 8th grade, i spent time during the following summer at my uncle's house in NJ. I was using his 48 inch WB on his back yard, and when it was time to return to the front, i went through the gate in 3rd gear, except i didn't go throught the gate, i went into it. a wooden post fell apart (I knocked off a 1x6). Well when i visited in the fall to help with leaves, He gave special instructions to his daughter to not let me use the WB. oh well :)

[DMC300]

i had just got going early one morning on my DIXIE AT A MARINA,THE DEW WAS STILL ON THE GROUND AND I WAS GOING FULL SPEED TOWARD THE SEAWALL.I LET UP ON THE STICKS BUT THE MOWER KEPT RIGHT ON GOING!A 5 FOOT DROP INTO (LUCKILY)SHALLOW WATER. LANDED UPRIGHT AND ME STILL ON THE SEAT.CUT OFF THE BLADES AND DROVE AROUND TIL I GOT OUT,HAD TO GO HOME AND CHANGE MY BRITCHES AFTER THAT!<p>----------<br>DON<br>LIANNES' MOWING

[TurfMan]

I have one of those customers that watch every thing that you do. She is a sweet lil ole lady, But a pain. Well After wasting about 45 minutes talking with her about nothing I started to mow. You know that first path you make around the house. Well now that I am behind on mowing now, (MIND NOT IN THE RIGHT PLACE) This house has those dreaded awning windows, The ones that are head high and crank out. Next thing i know I was looking down at the deck making sure that i did not hit any of her plants and &quot;BAM&quot; I was looking at the clear blue sky. Split my head wide open. ended up with a nice scar and 5 stiches. Lets be safe out there.<p>----------<br>Dave<br>3B's Lawn Care Service

[1stclasslawns]

Ok Ive road a Z down a couple of hills, but the funniest thing was on a bobcat skid steer loader. <br>I had rented it from the place about a half a mile from me and it was faster to road it to the house then to mess with a trailer.<br> Ive ran them several times so I wasnt a stranger to it, but, there I am going down the road trying to beat a load of base to my house for my own driveway. Cant hear nothing for the sound of that little diesel engine whrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.<br> Ive had this rock hung in my boot for about too long, so I in my moment of optical-rectitus am using the parking break to try to dislodge this piece of parking lot debris.<br> I am using the parking break lever to do this.It is a rocker type lever, push in at the top to apply the breaks and push down at the bottom to let them off. Well I'm pulling up on the bottom, duh, thinking to myself this will get the dogon thing out, when, I pull too hard, and the lever flips, bringing me to an abrupt halt, slamming the bucket down, and then bouncing like the last time my horse decided to show me that he only lets me ride when he wants to be ridden. Back and forth several times befor I can get a grip on anything. If it wasn't for that lap bar I'd gone right out the front.<br> I was sore for a week! <br>To make matters worse the dump truck was right behind me! He was laughing so hard he almost ran, or tried to run me over. I still hear about it.<p>btw the laymans term for optical-rectitus is Head in ass, They now have a cure though. They put a piece of plexiglass in your belly button so you can now see with your head in your ass. <br>Have fun guys if we cant laugh at our selves then we musnt laugh at anyone else. Jim

[cutntrim]

Our service guy told us last year about a competitor that bought a new exmark lazer and one of his employees (new guy) drove it up his trailer ramp with the blades going. Totalled the ramp and didn't do the mower any good either. <p>----------<br>Dave in S.Ontario<br>www.cutntrim.com

[Richard Martin]

Well, let me say this: Don't ever ride on a gear drive mower.

[nlminc]

We were cutting a lawn one day. The customer was giving me some lip about the amount that I was charging her to cut her lawn. As I was explaining that we were fully insured as my employee lost control in the back yard with a 36&quot; WB on a steep hill. He fell backwards over a Seawall into the ocean and the WB got caught on the edge of the wall stopping short of falling onto the employee now in the water. The lady came running out and I told her not to worry because she had hired an insured company:)! My employee was fine and the Wb was not damaged, I gave him a few bucks for helping me prove a point!<p><br>Chris

[DMC300]

OK,HERE'S ONE MORE OF MANY.MY BROTHER WAS HELPING ME FOR THE DAY,USING A WALK-BEHIND THAT I MODIFIED FOR MY OWN USE.(REMOVED ALLOF THE DEADMAN SWITCHES).HE GOT CLOTHES LINED AND ALL I SAW WAS THE MOWER CATWALKING ACROSS THE LAWN AND HIM CHASING IT A 1/2 ACRE.I HAD TO REPLACE A T.V. ANT.AND A SECTION OF FENCE.WE BOTH HAD A LESSON THAT DAY!<p>----------<br>DON<br>LIANNES' MOWING

[southside]

Naturalawn,<br> Does that mean you have a shitty<br>outlook on life? :)<br>I've had a few arse puckering experiences<br>on the tractor/slasher,sliding down hills<br>at 30 miles an hour,desperately trying to<br>get the diff lock to engage and not end up<br>in someones lounge room. A friend of mine<br>slid his tractor down a hill and into a dam<br>on an acreage property he was slashing.<br>Took 2 hours with a drott(track loader) to<br>pull him out.On a serious note about 2 people<br>a month get killed on tractor/slashers over<br>here.Mainly idiots who don't know what they<br>are doing.2 weeks ago though,an experienced<br>contractor got crushed when his tractor <br>rolled over on top of him,while he was slashing a steep drain,a short distance from<br>where I live. Be safe.<p>Karl<br>

[1stclasslawns]

Southside, No more shitty outlook on life, just bacon strips in the shorts, finally got my **** together though! Or at least Im working on it.<br> Wife liked the new driveway Id promised her for a year.<br> Hey if your in my neck of the woods, Ive got a costumer that needs some bush hogging done. Jim

[paddy]

this season, i have been pulling my 36 inch WB (toro belt drive) backwards, so i don't scalp. two times while doing this, i have slipped under the back of the mower, only my feet, but its still very scary. Its a good ways up to the back of the mower deck, i don't think my feet even hit the baffles around it, but still. both times also, when i got back up, i was able to grab the bar quickly enough so I don't have to restart the engine. That is very scary. My next mower will be Hydro, so I'm not pulling the mower back in the first place, and have an electric clutch, so the blades stop in time.

[southside]

Hey Jim,<br> No problem I'll just put the tractor<br>on the next flight over.:) Seriously,I<br>believe Charles mentioned ages ago that he has a bush hog,maybe he could help.<p>Karl<br>

[little green guy]

I have many times but i'll only tell about a couple. <p>once i was cutting around a pond with a great dane stander. the pond had rocks and a very rough bank around it. I didn't notice a ditch in the edge of the bank and the mower started to slip and fall down the bank( the bank was straight down about 2 feet then water) luckiky a managed to save it right before i went over the bank.<p>Another time i was cutting a steep bank with a walkbehind and i slipped and fell on my<br>@$$ and the mower kept going right into the woods.