Front Brakes on a Zero Turn Mower!!

[djagusch]

I'm worried about a employee puts himself in a bad situation and panic's, hits the brakes and flips.

I personally don't have employee's though. In hilly situations I'm very careful and don't have an issue controlling the mower.

[David Haggerty]

I like it! I've been operating mowers with brakes since the 70's. But they've been 4 wheel mowers.
Pretty ingenious how you've developed some for the front of a ZTR.
Only thing I'd like to see is individual pedals for each wheel. So you could drag one brake to help you mow across the slope instead of always having to go up & down.

[J.A.G LAWNCARE]

no thank you I HAVE A WALK BEHIND MOWER FOR AREAS LIKE THAT.....................
MOST mower fall in the pond sideways from mowing to close to the edge ,not from mowing 15miles per hour straight on, and in and trying to stop,

[hackitdown]

Very impressive. I deal with a lot of steep hills, the brakes would be a big help for my Lazer. Please let us know when and how they will be sold.

[mowtech]

I do have to give you props for trying to do something about safety.

Here are my thoughts/concerns:

Once you lose traction on a hill it is hard or impossible to get it back. Going down the hill I think you would have to anticipate loss of traction and use the bake prior to this occurring. It's hard to tell from the video if you applied the brake after loss of traction or not. But if you did apply the brake after loss of traction and it stopped you that is great. It certainly is possible if there is enough traction and weight on the front castors.

Although they can, most loss of traction accidents do not occur driving straight down hill as you show. Most operators are smarter than that! Most accidents occur with loss of traction while traversing a hill or driving diagonally down a hill. The operator in the Jarrett accident was actually cutting a 20 degree slope on a diagonal. I'm not sure if the front brake would help in the traversing case as the rear end can slide and lead down the hill leaving the front brakes potentially ineffective. It might help some on the diagonal, but I’d have to see it to believe it.

A rear brake would have no benefit that I can think of as once you've lost traction no brake can cause you to get it back. No traction = no brake.

[fastcat]

he kept saying that hill was as bad as it gets that it was wet and frozen under that. those tires didnt seem to be abit wet and a couple times when he slides the tires it kicked up dust, when the ground is wet and slick there aint no dust. kinda shady.

[JB1]

the companies can put anything on the mowers, even a milk shake maker for you . The more you keep adding the more the price goes up and I have already heard a lot of complaining on price now. It all comes down to learning the limitations of your machine.

[topsites]

Useless, my tires are filled with air and I don't need some steel device exerting serious
force onto the weakest section of the mower, much less for braking purposes.

I might use those in an emergency, but that is what they would have to be,
yet another safety device that drives up the price and weight of the machine,
making operators even less capable of getting the job done.

Better off teaching operators how to ride these things,
it's mostly a lack of proper education that kills the riders.

Things such as removing the ROPS.

Originally Posted by MikeRi24

I think this could create a potential for a very unstable mower. would work great if you were going backwards downhill, but how often is that?

Uhhh...
Actually I always go backwards down a hill.
You're not supposed to point a Ztr down hill EVER.
Yes sir, always point a Ztr up hill, backwards or forwards.

But I'm guessing some folks didn't know that.

[Scagguy]

I can see where it has it's uses. Around steep hills with ponds or some obstruction that you don't want to hit. I have a couple of properties that we mow in the afternoon because if there's dew on the grass it's impossible to mow with a Z. Sure, I could have the crew break out a couple of WB's, but this is almost 10 acres. If it saves your ass just once it would be worth it. Now the question is.....how much is it?

[Tharrell]

Very impressive. I can see that on mowers shortly(hopefully).
True, walkbehinds are for hills but, if you're mowing a property and there is a nominal hill or berm that would call for a wb, this is the ticket.
I hope I'm being clear because walkbehinds will never go away, this is just another tool in our belts.
Thanks so much for inventing this. Tony