Riding vs Zero Turn mower

[Chevelle3221]

For those of you that mow your own lawn and have some grades. Going horizontally across a hill, which is better for balance? I have a standard riding mower at the moments but it seems as I am older and heavier I feel like I am tipping at times. Would a zero turn be better or worse?

 

[racer12306]

I think that's going to depend on your width. However, no mower is going to condone mowing a larger grade horizontal. It's always going to say to go vertical.

Most bigger ZTRs have a ROPS bar so at least if you do go over, it *shouldn't* be catastrophic.

 

[RhondaHonda]

A walk behind commercial mower is going to be best on hills. A sit down zero turn is usually better than a rider but once they slide they keep sliding, rear first. I’d make sure the yard is dry or get a Ventrac.

 

[Zee09]

You gotta lean uphill when mowing horizontal which I'm sure you know. I also always steer more to the top as once you turn down a slope you can't swing back up safely if mowing horizontal.

I do many dangerous hills on my ZT. I will say my radial tires make it possible but they love to dig up slightly damp turf..

 

[dlundblad]

I say it depends on the size of the machine and the width of its wheelbase.

 

[Davejam]

A walk behind commercial mower is going to be best on hills. A sit down zero turn is usually better than a rider but once they slide they keep sliding, rear first. I’d make sure the yard is dry or get a Ventrac.

Had to look up Ventrac, that's some serious stuff.

But in general I think a zero turn will slide around a little more than a rider, but will be way more maneuverable.
IE: the wheels will be slipping, but you can control yourself sufficiently to feel safe and get the job done.
A rider has more weight and more tire, so in theory it is better for grade, except when you start tipping - which to me is the real concern.

 

[RhondaHonda]

Had to look up Ventrac, that's some serious stuff.

But in general I think a zero turn will slide around a little more than a rider, but will be way more maneuverable.
IE: the wheels will be slipping, but you can control yourself sufficiently to feel safe and get the job done.
A rider has more weight and more tire, so in theory it is better for grade, except when you start tipping - which to me is the real concern.

If you are referring to a traditional rider like a small lawn tractor I would worry about it tipping whereas a zero turn is going to slide and won’t tip unless you slide off a retaining wall or something solid that causes a tip. The zero turn is likely heavier than the rider as well. I think my 52” Ferris walk-behind is around 800 lbs. I have a steep slope and 3 lawn tractors as well and they are sketchy on the slope where the walk behind will go across it with no problem and I can stand on the velky.

The lawn care company that is mowing my yard right now is using 2 Ferris walk behinds, FWIW.

 

[Lapham3]

I bought a rider over 30 years ago and leaning heavily uphill worked ok. Eventually, I decided to let that hill 'go natural' and then it was all flat ground mowing. Over time I let my woods encroach more and more and now just use my push mower to do a much smaller area. We now have a belt of 20 feet of trees that give us pretty complete privacy.

 

[Pablo]

I use my 52" Gravely ZT on my hill and worse, my septic mound. It does fine with a decent low center of mass. But I bought a ZT because trees and obstacles.

 

[ls1mike]

Build yourself one of these.

In all seriousness, I like a zero turn for tight spots and flat lawns. I have an acre and half to mow and have 3 traditional lawn mowers. 2 Craftsman LT1000s and Cub Cadet XT2. We built the dually out of boredom. It does work pretty well for plowing snow and moving dirt.

 

[RhondaHonda]

Build yourself one of these.
View attachment 150539
View attachment 150540

In all seriousness, I like a zero turn for tight spots and flat lawns. I have an acre and half to mow and have 3 traditional lawn mowers. 2 Craftsman LT1000s and Cub Cadet XT2. We built the dually out of boredom. It does work pretty well for plowing snow and moving dirt.

Poor man’s Ventrac! I like it.

 

[ls1mike]

Poor man’s Ventrac! I like it.

My old next-door neighbor is a weld engineer. During covid I was in the garage farting around we both had a few drinks and he said, "Hey man let's build a dually" and there you have it! I miss that guy. He and his family moved to South Dakota. We did some stupid stuff together.

 

[wag123]

ZTRs are notoriously bad about mowing across hills because of the swivel front wheels. IMO you are better off with a rider.

 

[skyactiv]

 

[ls1mike]

Why I am I like this? Why did I laugh...

He could have stopped at anytime.

 

[wag123]

Yep.

 

[Warlord]

I have a commercial zero turn, rider, stander, and walk behind. The walk behind is best on hills followed closely by the stander. The zero turn will slide if it’s damp or loose but generally won’t tip. Can be a bit hairy. The rider will tip for sure cause it’s narrower than it is long and the centre of gravity is higher. The rider may hold a dry hill a bit better than a ZT but when it reaches its tipping point you’re in trouble.

 

[Chevelle3221]

Thanks for the input.

 

[jeepman3071]

I have found that sit down zero turns are not fun on hills, hard to keep straight and like to slide especially if the grass is a bit wet.

I have a commercial belt drive walk-behind with a standing sulky that works well on hills, and a riding tractor would also be better than a riding zero turn.

My setup looks similar to this one:

 

[IndyIan]

A big wide zero turn is pretty decent on side hills, and will slide before flipping, but those are up there in price, and rip up grass pretty good. Really a ventrac is best solution if you have to mow, or hire it out. As a kid I made quite a bit of money with a self propelled push mower on a neighbors big side hill, but when I moved on to other summer jobs my neighbor bought a ventrac and did it himself.
The other option is a 4wd lawn tractor with good tires and just go straight up and down the slope.