John Deere Maintenance Monday: Preventing zero-turn mower overturns
Living the Country Life Radio Program with Betsy Freese
Radio interview source: Dick Parish, professor of agricultural engineering, LSU Ag Center
In this edition of Maintenance Monday, we're answering a question from Tom in West Virginia. He got a zero-turn mower to make mowing steep ditches easier, and wants to avoid tipping over.
Dick Parish with the Louisiana State University Ag Center says side overturns with zero-turn mowers aren't common, but they are possible. What typically happens is that you make some kind of maneuver or hit a slick spot, lose traction, and start sliding down the slope.
"Your steering is controlled by the drive wheels, unlike a tractor where the steering is controlled by front wheels and traction is controlled by the rear," Parish explains. "On a zero-turn mower, everything depends on those two rear tires, and if they lose traction, you can slide down the slope and have no steering control or anything, and then impact something at the bottom or overturn at the bottom."
If the mower deck is wider than the tires, there's less chance of a sideways overturn because the deck helps to stabilize the machine.
To reduce the chance even further, mow up and down the slopes, rather than across.
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