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Zero Turn Mower - Front Disc Brakes

62K views 195 replies 40 participants last post by  Speedyg 
#1 ·
We started a new thread about our Front Brakes for Zero Turn Mowers. We are in the process of mounting our new version of the Ted Brakes. For those that haven't seen them (or didn't like the old drag brake design) here is a link. TedBrakes.com and below are the sneak peek at photos of the disc brake design.

We will be updating the site as soon as we have shot new videos, photos, and throughly tested the Disc Brake version. We are sure the new design will please those who commented about the exposed brake lines at the top of the spindles. Also, with the disc brake, we have eliminated possible tire wear from the drag style brake we had before.

The point of these brakes is to save lives. As many know, we recently had another zero mower death on Lake Norman resulting in sliding down a hill and going over a sea wall and flipping into the water that most likely could have been prevented if it had been equipped with TedBrakes.

We have the patent on the braking system, and once we have completed testing and updated our site, you will find that there will be a place to contact your zero turn mower manufacturer to request Ted Brakes be offered on their mower.

We will be displaying the Disc Brake Design as well as an internal hub shoe brake at the GIE + Expo in Louisville Kentucky on October 29-31. Our Booth number is 10126. We picked a booth in the middle of all the Major Zero Turn Mower Manufacturers to make sure that they are aware that there is a safer way to stop these mowers on hills other than the just trying to go in reverse. Once you lose traction doing this, you also lose total control of the direction of your mower.

Just a quick analogy about what these brakes can do for you: What if you got in your car and went down a grassy hill and the only way to try and stop was to put the car in reverse?

A major difference between a car and a Zero Turn Mower going down a hill is that at least you could still steer a car.

We look forward to your comments, and as always . . . mow SAFE!

Ted Corriher

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#3 ·
You may just have saved some lives man, good work!! I fully support your idea. I just wish I had a ZTR I could use them on:dizzy:
 
#8 ·
whats an estimated price?? or have you not figured it out yet?
I purchased all of these parts after market including a hand grip master cylinder for a four wheeler for less than 200.00 dollars plus some machine work. when a manufacturer installs TEDBRAKES on a unit I would think their cost would be a lot less when done in production, TED
 
#9 ·
on a hillside, mower sliding, front brakes applied but slick tires on the front casters will just continue to slip on the grass...

I think on hill sides the more important thing would be a caster lock. ie something to lock the casters from spinning thus keeping the mower pointed in the direction you want to travel.

Also, I'd put most hills side accidents with operator error and not poor equipment design. People get too comfortable/cocky on their machines and push the envelope...
 
#10 ·
on a hillside, mower sliding, front brakes applied but slick tires on the front casters will just continue to slip on the grass...

I think on hill sides the more important thing would be a caster lock. ie something to lock the casters from spinning thus keeping the mower pointed in the direction you want to travel.

Also, I'd put most hills side accidents with operator error and not poor equipment design. People get too comfortable/cocky on their machines and push the envelope...
I agree entirely besides here guys would laugh at brakes. Any steep hill dangerous mowing like retention ponds etc... everybody knows to use a 4x4 tractor or some boom attachment mower. lol brakes on non tread tires?
 
#11 ·
on a hillside, mower sliding, front brakes applied but slick tires on the front casters will just continue to slip on the grass...

I think on hill sides the more important thing would be a caster lock. ie something to lock the casters from spinning thus keeping the mower pointed in the direction you want to travel.

Also, I'd put most hills side accidents with operator error and not poor equipment design. People get too comfortable/cocky on their machines and push the envelope...
When you go down a hill with Carlisle Super Lugs digging up the grass, I don't think the slicks will do much. But with 2 master cylinders and a tiller/joystick they'd be great for steering.
 
#12 ·
theres a youtube video of the first version of these brakes... you might wanna look at it if you dont believe this will work... you will be surprised!
 
#13 ·
brake setup looks really nice but i dont see it ever being a mowers, not really needed. also im a solo guy but think about a crew out with your equipment and putting front brakes on and spinning rear tires for fun.. its good people thinking of safety but this item does not make sense in the real world.
 
#14 ·
brake setup looks really nice but i dont see it ever being a mowers, not really needed. also im a solo guy but think about a crew out with your equipment and putting front brakes on and spinning rear tires for fun.. its good people thinking of safety but this item does not make sense in the real world.
Maybe not in your world but 70% of my yards that I mow with my Zero turn I wish I had brakes.
 
#15 ·
Ted,

This looks like a motorcycle rear brake caliper or a 4 wheeler caliper. On cycles the slides on the caliper don't move much and I'm guessing a 4 wheeler caliper doesn't move much either. What happens when grass clippings get in there or you go through thick grass? Wheel lock up? I would think some kind of brush to keep stuff out would be a fix.
 
#16 ·
We have been working all day to install our new disc brake setup on our demo mower. Wow, they are great! On our initial test run, we have found that they are more responsive and take a lot less travel on the pedal than the other version. The new version does not effect the way that a Bad Boy front suspension works. All other versions of suspension from other manufacturers would not be effected by the braking system.

We will be field testing the new system and will be posting a new video of the trial for those who are interested. We will also be sure to run the mower in a tall grass area to see if the grass affects the braking. These are the same brakes as my son's 4wheeler and he rides in three foot high grass all the time with no problems so I am expecting that we will have no problems as well.

Thanks to everyone for the input as we are trying to make zero turn mowers safer for everyone that uses them.

We are going to put to rest the comments about the brakes not being an effective with slick tires on our next video. Maybe a side by side test with a mower that does not have brakes?

When you are on a hill and the weight of the mower is shifted forward, you will see that these brakes are more effective than you might think.

Just for thought, next time you are sliding down a hill while mowing and getting ready to hit something (hopefully not a pond), Do you want your front wheels rolling or sliding?
 
#17 ·
Just for thought, next time you are sliding down a hill while mowing and getting ready to hit something (hopefully not a pond), Do you want your front wheels rolling or sliding?
Duh Id like stopped, buton wet grass with hard ground there will be a difference, but not much... The main Vid on your page showed soft dirt and and soft ground with some grass, so the front end of the mower when brakes applied pushed the wheels into the dirt... On a normal hillside you wheels/tires wont sink into the dirt..

Under normal use and proper operation ztrs are safe machine and are not prone to rolling over or loosing control when they are operated within the confines set out in the operators guide.

The problems arise when an operator gets complacent. ie buzzing along the retaining wall on flat ground at 8-10 mph and sees a sprinkle head still up or a rock or a stick and tries to avoid it., and ends up swimming with the ZTR. Or when they are running around the lake on a 30* incline hit a wet spot, and start sliding. My mom was a victim of a walker rollover... she was cutting along a bank and made her turn the tail wheel fell off the edge of the turf and she and the walker were swimming... roofers working on the house next door jumped off the roof to lift the mower off of her. thank fully it was shallow water and her head was not pinned under. i would have been mortified if she had been seriously injured, but the machines are not dangerous. Its the operators that make them dangerous.

I'll snap some pics of a hill here at school one of my guys decided to take a shortcut down the hill, rather than take the sidewalk around the hill. It would have taken him 60 seconds to drive around the hill as opposed to the 15 seconds going down the hill. Ended up bending the front caster frame on the Scag, and the mower was in the shop for a week. My point is that you can't fix stupid. And folks who operate ZTR's outside of the range specified in the operators manual are being stupid and careless. And yes I've been stupid and careless but I've been lucky. We've all had those "pucker" moments and many folks don't learn from those moments..

I think brakes are a great idea...but i think that all you are doing is giving folks another reason to push the limits of their machines..
 
#18 ·
im still not trying to be mean (i think the new setup looks nice) but when a zero turn starts sliding its the rear wheels that give. i know and understand riding front brake down a hill would help this but to try to build and sell this item i just think not ever gonna work.
i have a secernao that happened to me, i slid down a about 10 foot very steep slope and at the bottom was a high curb now if i had brakes on it and hit the brakes the rear of my mower would have maybe flipped from getting cought on the high curb making the mower flip on me. this did not happen to me i slid down sideways and slammed into the curb... your building something that needs the perfect secernao to work. and like another post, you are giving ideas that well i got brakes so you can do something that you should not try
 
#19 ·
I have seen several comments about brakes only working in "perfect situation" and not being needed. IMAO the perfect situation would be if you were sliding down a hill, and put your foot out quickly (like you would in a car) and having a brake there to stop you. That is our goal, and that is what we are going to achieve. Here is an email we got the other day from Roger in Kentucky . . .

Enter you message ::

" Ted,

Keep pursuing your brake system. Your project is extremely important! This past weekend, my wife had a relative to die from a zero turn accident where the mower could not be stopped as it slipped and went down a hill. Thanks."

. . . we get a lot of email like the one above, as well as requests wondering if we have a kit yet for their particular mower model.

One thing that we are definately not doing is advocating "wreckless mowing". We are not trying to extend the capabilities of slope to mow on, or trying to create something for people to do burnouts with.

We are trying to create a safer ZTR mower. Since ROPS, the majority of ZTR deaths are from . . . Sliding down a hill, going over a retaining wall, and having the mower flip on top of the operator and drowning them.

I will be the first one to agree that you can't FIX STUPID. I will also be the first one to tell you that just because someone is KILLED by this happening to them DOES NOT MAKE THEM STUPID . . . It makes them dead. Dead as in no longer a husband, dead as in their sons grow up without their dad.

They are now Dead when they could have possibly still been alive if they had front brakes on their ZTR mower.

I am obviously going to keep on with this project, and will be very detailed in my testing them in different situations. . . then I'll post another video of the results.

How many people who are reading this are in North Carolina? Maybe someone interested in coming to a demo? Just thinking out loud.
 
#20 ·
And yes I've been stupid and careless but I've been lucky. We've all had those "pucker" moments and many folks don't learn from those moments....
Pucker Moments is a very good way to state it. Almost being in a wreck where you were seriously injured is another. Would you have pushed the brake if it was there?

Just curious.
 
#21 ·
Ted,

of course I would of pushed the brake....if you were sky diving and your main chute failed would you pull the cord on the reserve? If you were riding you motorcycle and you ran out of gas, would you switch the fuel petcock to the reserve setting, or would you park the bike and walk....you have a seat belt and rops now on every single ZTR how many people wont wear the seatbelt...its a gauranteed life saver if the machine rolls...But people won't use it..

How many people have seat belts but don't use them in their car...Thats a no brainer IMO, Hell its a law....but you have people still afraid of getting trapped in a sinking car...as their excuse...

Id love to see a report of ZTR hill slide accidents, back to their inception and before ROPS . I'll bet in every single case the operator went beyond the capabilities of the machine as indicated in the operators manual...too steep of a slope or a wet slope...IE unsafe operation...as the culprit...No it doesn't make the family feel any better that their father/husband/son is dead because they were stupid. Sorry but your husband/father/son did something stupid and paid the ultimate price. Yeah I know it sounds callous.

How many people are dumb enough to put their hands under a mower with the blade spinning....Obviously there was one bone head with a good lawyer...now we got safety switches to protect us from being stupid.

I hate to say it but safety switches are horrible in themselves, we become complacent and rely on a mechanical device to think for us...

I know you want your brakes to be seen a safety device that coupled with safe operation of a mower could save your life, but if you operate your mower safely you wont need the brakes.

Many LCO's are heady strong and some are stubborn (me included) and we'll look at the brakes as a way to increase our productivity buy hitting steeper hills or putting ourselves in more dangerous situations so yo wont' have go grab the 21" the WB or the string trimmer... Your videos of the mowers stopping on a 20+* slope show us that we can go further/faster and push the limits...

owners manual...

FAILURE TO FOLLOW SAFE OPERATING PRACTICES MAY RESULT
IN SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH.
• Read this manual completely as well as other manuals that came with your mower.
• DO NOT operate on steep slopes. To check a slope, attempt to back up it (with the
cutter deck down). If the machine can back up the slope without the wheels slipping, reduce speed and use extreme caution.
• Under no circumstances should the machine be operated on slopes greater than 15 degrees. ALWAYS FOLLOW OSHA APPROVED OPERATION


15* that only 5* more than most wheelchair ramps....


I also noticed NO ROPS on the bad boy...any particular reason???
 
#22 ·
wow never thought about it like that.
 
#23 · (Edited)
Ted, I don't carry what anyone else says, front brakes on a ZTR is a great idea. I hope you make it big with them. I would LOVE to have them on my z. In these pics, you can see that the hill really isn't that bad. WRONG. Just yesterday I went for a ride down the hill and ran the mower into the tree on the right. You can see where the tall grass got ran over at the tree. The tree was what stopped the mower. It started sliding and would not stop no matter what I did with the controls. If the mower had front brakes I could have creeped down the hill or actually STOPPPED on the hill. Your the first person I thought of when it happened. I was actually cussing you for not having them done and ready! :D j/k

 
#24 ·
Ted, I don't carry what anyone else says, front brakes on a ZTR is a great idea. I hope you make it big with them. I would LOVE to have them on my z. In these pics, you can see that the hill really isn't that bad. WRONG. Just yesterday I went for a ride down the hill and ran the mower into the tree on the right. You can see where the tall grass got ran over at the tree. The tree was what stopped the mower. It started sliding and would not stop no matter what I did with the controls. If the mower had front brakes I could have creeped down the hill or actually STOPPPED on the hill. Your the first person I thought of when it happened. I was actually cussing you for not having them done and ready! :D j/k
if you didnt go full speed down that hill you would have been fine, especially with that turf tiger.:)
 
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