Best Riding Lawn Mowers for Hills HandyGuyPros

Your property has a slope. The uneven ground makes it challenging to cut the grass when you’re on foot. That’s why you need one of the best riding lawn mowers for hills.

But we won’t lie to you. There are limits to what is safe to do with a lawnmower or a lawn tractor. For example, a zero turn radius mower is best for slopes of 10° or less. And a lawn tractor shouldn’t be used on a slope over 15°. The reason is that either kind of vehicle is likely to flip or tip. Also, they may simply not have enough power to handle the climb.

So what’s the solution? One answer is to purchase a commercial lawn tractor designed to mow hills. And another method is to purchase a rough cut mower. This is basically a trailer with blades that you can hitch to another mower or tractor. Then you can drive along the top of the hill where the ground is flat and allow the rough-cut mower to do the work for you on the slope below.

How do you know if your slope is too steep for a riding mower? You’ll need to do some measuring and a little math. Get two stakes and plant one at the top of the steepest section of the hill and another at the bottom. Tie a string between them. Now slide the string up the bottom pole until it’s level.

Now measure how high off the ground the string is on the bottom stake. Then find out how far apart the stakes are. Divide the first number by the second and you’ll discover the slope.

When you mow a slope on a riding lawnmower, you’ll drive up and down, not across as if you were pushing a mower. You might not be able to use attachments like a rear bagger if the hill is too steep. That’s because it makes the back of the mower too heavy and likely to flip.

For extra security, select a mower that has the US Consumer Product Safety Commission ANSI B7.1 Certification for traction and stability.

Source: https://handyguypros.com/best-riding-lawn-mowers-hills/