Would you attack this hill?

[Bunton Guy]

Whats the steepest hills you guys attack?

[Bunton Guy]

Most hills dont look as bad untill you stand on them.....then they are intimidating.

[HarryD]

someone has to mow those steep hills. a guy I used to work for had a 4X4 72" out front Kubota that would go anywhere if you had the B***S to go on it. I have seen on hustlers web site they have a mower for hills that looks like it would mow some steep ones

[rodfather]

I don't think I would have any problem with our Ferris DD Hydros. May not be able to use the velke though.

[2 man crew]

I can't stand mowing hills. I don't take on any more new properties with steep hills. That one you got looks steep even on the pic.

[Lawn Specialties]

I would do it but the price tag wouldn't be pretty. I do one now that's at least that steep but not nearly that big, so far so good.

[Tvov]

We have a hill similar to that, and the belt drives work fine, you just have to (obviously) go across the hill. The ***** is when you finish and you have to go back up the hill! We also don't use riders on hills like that for safety reasons.

Depending on the layout, sometimes it is a little easier (especially at the end) if you start at the bottom and work your way up, so that you finish at the top.

There is a good chance there are going to be skid marks somewhere on the hill, either from braking going down, or spinning going up, so try to hide them at the far ends of the section of hill, hopefully where they will be out of sight.

At the hill that we mow, I have talked to the customer about the difficulties involved, and he understands that there might be some damage (hopefully out of sight), especially on wet days.

[lawncare3]

I had one about that size it was a PITA. I had to use the 21"er on it. payup payup

[cos]

I think I know that exact hill when I was at Carabbas with Ray from Union Turf. He said check that hill out that these guys mow.

Would I be correct, If I said Carrabas is across the street?

[Ed Ryder]

Hills like that? No way - I won't touch it. I'm not that crazy.

[PR0 TURF]

Theres too much flat turf out there to be bothered with something like that for us. Just my opinion...
:blob4:

[LAWNS AND MOWER]

Originally posted by PR0 TURF
Theres too much flat turf out there to be bothered with something like that for us. Just my opinion...
:blob4:
Unless you live in the mountains of NC!!! Flat yards are far and few between. Have 2 banks where golf shoes are required. Only done once a month though.

[J&R]

charge such a high price that they said i was crazy.

[geogunn]

Originally posted by Tvov
We have a hill similar to that, and the belt drives work fine, you just have to (obviously) go across the hill. The ***** is when you finish and you have to go back up the hill!

for the right money I'd do that hill with my 48 lesco. no problem with belt slippage since I did the drive pulley tune up two years ago.

my problen with the hill is the amount of it there is! that is alot of property to be that steep.

and the only way I mow any hill is from the bottom up. I never, ever, mow hills from the top down!

GEO

[FrankenScagMachines]

yup. I could easily put my Scag hydro and sulky on that one. I have parts of my yard that are steeper than that, not as big of an area but I'm so used to hills it doesn't bother me.
Safety first though!
I guess this is where you could use a 72" w/b such as the Scag SWZ LOL how useful is a 72" w/b anyway, only use I see is on hills??

[bob]

I'd try it if I had a long pull strap or chain.

[Jusmowin]

Id only do that hill with a team of goats! No just joking, my old 36 metro could handle that hill by just lowering the tire preasure down a little and it would be ok. I do think I would have to charge a LITTLE EXTRA for a property like that!

[IBGreen]

For the right price I'd mow Mt. Everest. If it had grass.:D

[FrankenScagMachines]

A bit of advice if you are going to use a walk behind on such a large peice of hill: wear tall boots that support your ankles really well or good hiking boots, something like that. Don't wanna hurt yourself to make a few bucks surgery could cost more and set you back timewise and prevent you from working. Be careful not to step in any holes too!

[Ed Ryder]

Hills like that are just too risky, and too physically difficult. And for you new guys, if you ever get a hill like that, you'll be sorry.

[fastlane]

Yes, for the right price! I would do it myself.(only yourself to blame if you must bailout or off and lose your equipmeny)

[SLS]

Looks like a good one to mow when it's got a little dew on it. ;)



I thing I would just try to sell this place a major ground cover installation...vinca, or english ivy...something along those lines. :D

[lawnkid]

Oh I would definitely do it for a little extra. Wait til spring, I'll show you guys one of the hills of an apartment I have to mow. The bad thing is, it's right next to a main road so I hae to take it slow :D In the summer I demoed a Great Dane Scamper with the loop handles, it tacked that hill with ease.

[Sam-Ohio]

That area looks like the backside of a small to medium earth dam, like for a city reservoir or lake. Also it looks like the steepest angle on it is at the right of the photo - just as you get to the top edge.

If you can afford to buy one, the best mower to do a bank like this is a DEWEZE - made out in Kansas of all places ! The problem is that these hillside mowers cheapest unit starts at about $28000 and goes up fast from there.

Another mower that would do this hill fairly easy is a Steiner 430, with dual wheel kit, rear weight bar, roll bar, and 72 inch front mower. The Steiner would only cost half as much as the Deweze.
Just about every dam in my area of Ohio is mowed with one or the other of these two machines.

[Bunton Guy]

Hey LAWNCARE3 you stold my dancing bananas!!!!!!! well so I had to switch to what we all really want! anywho that hill I pics I posted is mowed weekly with 2 hydro mowers....across the hill and one guy mows diagonal every other week. When I took one of the pics I physically couldnt stand on the hill....really it was scarry because the hill was so steep.....and so long that if I did loose my footing its like a typical home video of a yahoo flipping backwards down a hill while he was sking or snowboarding it was that type of hill!

[brucec32]

I did a house with a strip of grass around it that was that steep once years ago with belt drive Toro T bars, you could barely walk up it, but the mower did handle it ok. It was stupid, because one slip or trip and the mower would have been 100 yards down the hill in a creek. I realized that it just wasn't worth the risk and after a year asked them to find someone else. I can't believe the builder ever put grass on that slope in the first place. Unless there was just so little new business that I had to take on sloped lots, I wouldn't do them. Very tiring and more potential for accidents. Virtually all my properties now are relatively flat.

[TJLC]

Would I attack that hill? Probally not. I have 3 fairly steep canal banks I mow, that's enough for me. I call them alligator alley.LOL

[yardman1]

Sure, why not, I will try almost anything once, notice that I said almost anything.:dizzy:

[thartz]

It can be done.I live in the mountains and I swear on a stack of bibles most of our big accounts look similar to this.I use hydro walk behinds with extreme respect for myself and the machine.Now you know why i constantly ask which ztr holds the hills best.

[thartz]

BHB; no way on a sulky,you'll flatten the tire because of lateral pressure.After time the rim will cut the tire.

[hoagie]

A hill like that looks like it could use a good ole fashion 3 wheeled rider...

[thartz]

I know there is a thread about foot wear;I use my softball cleats to mow the hills that I have that are like this.That's the only time though.

[DieselTurfer HD]

You really have to be careful when you start doing big hills without the right equipment. I did grounds on an air force base and they had some huge hills that they made us weedwack. I used a scag 36 wb and seized the engine because they do not have a two way oil pump. we also had a slopmaster which just tore the hill right down to nothing and was very scary to use. The wb worked the best was a little scary at first. But whats a 800 dollar motor compared to a 28,000 machine. I'd take the chance...

[Envy Lawn Service]

Originally posted by LAWNS AND MOWER
Unless you live in the mountains of NC!!! Flat yards are far and few between. Have 2 banks where golf shoes are required. Only done once a month though.

Originally posted by thartz
It can be done.I live in the mountains and I swear on a stack of bibles most of our big accounts look similar to this.I use hydro walk behinds with extreme respect for myself and the machine.Now you know why i constantly ask which ztr holds the hills best.

I don't live too far from you guys either. Same steep terrain. Anyways, the rest of you guys should understand where thartz and I are coming from when asking about ZTR hill holding....

Originally posted by lawnkid
Oh I would definitely do it for a little extra. Wait til spring, I'll show you guys one of the hills of an apartment I have to mow. The bad thing is, it's right next to a main road so I hae to take it slow :D In the summer I demoed a Great Dane Scamper with the loop handles, it tacked that hill with ease.

Originally posted by hoagie
A hill like that looks like it could use a good ole fashion 3 wheeled rider...

lawnkid, those dang Scampers are SHORT! 63" to be exact. Basically 4 ft wide x 5 ft long. It should handle with ease. I have 2 Great Dane dealers and neither have one. I can't get my dang hands on one!

hoagie, I found a used 3-wheeler that I might just have to try...

[thartz]

Envny; where are you located?

[Awilkinson]

That hill would look great in wild flowers!!!!:angel:

[thartz]

or covered in roundup.LOL

[Envy Lawn Service]

Originally posted by thartz
Envny; where are you located?

I would guess I'm 75-80 miles east of you down I-40, then north a little to caldwell county. I am right between Hickory and Boone.

[sirsweatsalot]

not a herd of goats you'd need mountain goats. thats a tricky looking hill. theres no run out at the bottom!!! just trees.

[thartz]

Envy;kind of figured that area by the spine of the blue ridge desc.Sirsweatsalot;that's what we call the pucker factor.Clients pay a lot more for that!

[Envy Lawn Service]

Oh, I forgot to add that I placed a bid on a contract with a hill like that, only worse! the property contains a creek so it's 2 hills like that that got straight off into a creek! If that's not bad enough it's separted into 3 sections by bridges and it's nowhere near as smooth as the one pictured on this thread. they will be paying dearly for it to be cut for sure if I get the job....and I'm used to this stuff!

If I get a chance I'll snap some shots later and post them.

[KirbysLawn]

Originally posted by cos
I think I know that exact hill when I was at Carabbas with Ray from Union Turf. He said check that hill out that these guys mow.


That's the one and to answer the question NO, I would not mow that hill. I posted a simular photo a year or so ago about this, those hills are too step and too tall to bother with. I don't need money that bad. ;)

[Rooster]

Hustler makes a machine that could handle that hill with ease.

Rick

[Envy Lawn Service]

What's been mowing it????

[greenman]

I would mow it. My wb would do just fine, and stand on my sulky (I only weigh 130).

[crawdad]

Originally posted by thartz
Envy;kind of figured that area by the spine of the blue ridge desc.Sirsweatsalot;that's what we call the pucker factor.Clients pay a lot more for that!

We all have people ask us, "How much do you charge to mow a lawn?" I had a gal at a pizza shop ask me one day, I was tired from a long day, told her the truth. I told her it depended on size, obstacles, and pucker factor. She just sorta looked at me.
I had a hill like that, did it back and forth, top to bottom. Whenever I could look away from what I was doing, there was a terrific view. See for miles. The owner, a doctor, finally got his own mower.
Crawdad

[mklawnman]

It almost looks like a ZTR or a tractor was cutting that, cause from Ray's pic the tire tracks are a bit far to be a WB. My first thought would be to ask them if they would want something done with the hill instead of just grass, maybe some flowers or make it grow into a prairie?
I'd maybe consider doing that hill with a good price but to me it's a bit steep, my 52inch WB could do that hill but I'd have to watch it very closely everytime I mowed it, maybe the Turf Tiger could do the part near the road but further back it looks like the WB would have to be used and the only thing used, along with a push mower and weedwacker.
Matt

[Gravely_Man]

I would mow that property for a high price with a walk behind only. Life is too short to take unnecessary risks.


Gravely_Man

[KirbysLawn]

Originally posted by greenman
I would mow it. My wb would do just fine, and stand on my sulky (I only weigh 130).

I would like to watch. I would also like to watch you walk after haveing you ankles bent and bounced over the hill. Remember, it gets steeper in the back and continues around to the right. I'll snap a photo today.

[sirsweatsalot]

good old pucker factor... thats about right. i guess everyone can talk big so i'll just go right and head and say... NOT IT!

[Craftybigdog]

Ive got a Dixie XXWD with a 72in deck on it and man is it wide I wouldnt have a problem doing any of those hills, aslong as you dont slide down it go after it just do it slow!!!!!!!!!!!:alien:

[Flex-Deck]

Another hill with crooked treeshttp://hill-trees

[Bunton Guy]

Kirby you got the hill....flex good job at breaking it down wish I could do that crap.

[Envy Lawn Service]

Oh boy! Here we go again! What's with the inspection of every hill pic posted on this site?

KirbysLawn,

I'll defend you here. That hill is pretty dang steep. I dunno what degree slope it is. But I'd guess it's over the 20 degree range.

[Envy Lawn Service]

Plus, above the yellow line in the 1st pic where the black dots are, it's even steeper as you cn see here. What is this hill mowed with anyways???

[Flex-Deck]

Envy - you are absolutely right - it is 21 - 22 degrees. I showed that - where did the pic with leaves on the trees come from:p

[Envy Lawn Service]

Flex-Deck,

I can see now that I'm going to have to invest in a protractor so I can effectively measure these angles :p

I think it's way over 20° but not like 45° or anything.

[Flex-Deck]

Envy - you are using a different picture, and yes, your angles are 29 degrees. - The one I used, had no leaves on the trees, and I was just using the tree trunks and telephone poles in the background - If yours is the same hill, the camera took it from a different angle and showed a steeper part. - You don't need a protractor - you have pretty good eyes

Thanks, brad

[Bunton Guy]

Both what you see as far as the pic goes and the close up area is done from what I saw last time a Exmark turf tracer hydro 48"er ....the company that does it is a large landscape firm about 45 minutes north from the location they were cutting then...they are one of the top 5 in our area with over 80 employees and endless trucks. They wouldnt attack the hill if they didnt think it could be done.