Another Mower Question

I went ahead and gave a JD x540 a shot for a mower knowing what I have to mow was too steep for a zero turn at the new place.

Even with the differential lock, the x540 still breaks loose on the hill by the walkout basement. It’s a heavy mower with good tires (720# dry + my 175# + 6 gallons of fuel and fluids) and a transmission that is allegedly built to last. The grass and ground was completely dry and I’ve tried straight up the hill, side hilling, and mowing it diagonally. In hindsight I should’ve not left the hill so steep when the dirt work was going on, but now with hydroseed and an established lawn I have no intentions of making that change. It’s about 3/4 of an acre behind the house on hill and another acre of flat stuff up top and along the driveway…so push mowing/weed whacking it constantly will get old (already did that the first 6 weeks following hydroseed to not tear things up).

Has anyone here had decent results loading tires on a garden tractor or using wheel weights to gain traction on slopes? I’d rather not pour more time into it if I need to scrap the mower completely for something else. The other alternative is to go with a SCUT…but I’m not impressed with their maneuverability, finish cut, or cost. My wife doesn’t mind mowing, but until I find a safer alternative she won’t go anywhere near it.

You could add washer fluid to the tires that would help with traction for sure. I did it with my simplicity for snow blowing.

You already stated what you need to do to solve your problem, cut the hill grade down. No matter what mower you have your always going to have slipping.

Bucky is your 540 AWD? Tractor or turf tires? My 738 AWD never slips but I have very little steep grade lawn.

MX1825 wrote:

Bucky is your 540 AWD? Tractor or turf tires? My 738 AWD never slips but I have very little steep grade lawn.

Unfortunately it’s not AWD. The differential lock helps some when engaged, but that’s all this mower has. Bumping up to the x700 series would be an option for the AWD…but a costly one. It currently has turf tires. I’ve read the HDAP tires can help traction, but many forums and such say the gain is minimal for mowing applications and more for snow removal.

CaptainMusky wrote:

You could add washer fluid to the tires that would help with traction for sure. I did it with my simplicity for snow blowing.

Is this is PITA or not too bad of a process? I’ve never loaded tires with anything in my life. What John Deere wants for wheel weights is absurd when considering it still may not help my situation.

A friend of mine put the tractor bar type on his smaller tractor. He mows a road ditch and would slip with turf tires. Fixed his problem of slipping.

buckybadger wrote:

Is this is PITA or not too bad of a process? I’ve never loaded tires with anything in my life. What John Deere wants for wheel weights is absurd when considering it still may not help my situation.

I had the dealer do it when I had them install the snowblower the first time. I wouldnt think it would be too bad though just get the valve stem out and figure out a way to pour it in.

Bar tires will give much more traction. They will even make zero turns hold on hills. Mowing our place was a scary experience before changing. Now it’s easy.

Going to need a front wheel assist mower more than likely… You can try to add weight to the rear tires with washer fluid or something designed for the application thru and ag dealer. My best is you will need front wheel assist or AWD, NOT 4WD, but front wheel assist. Ag bar tires may help, but if you do slip, you are not going like the results. Honestly for what you are trying to mow I would be looking into a x700 series if you are loyal to Deere, or there are many other options out there. A front mount deck mower that is front wheel drive will probably work as well if you can find one. Tell the dealer that if it works, you will buy it, and they will likely let you try it first. When I was in the business, I would make that deal on any used mower. I would have the customer write the check and then have them take the mower and try it out. I was very clear that if they brought it back with more than one additional hour on it they owned it. Most dealers will do this.

So what will the cost be of cutting the hill and reseeding ONCE vs buying how many mowers in a lifetime PLUS having a mower your wife is willing to handle?

Like the old Fram oil filter commercials….”Pay me now or pay me later.”

If your cutting a side hill I wouldn’t use the differential lock. You want to keep more forward speed on the down hill side.

Mow on the hill, mow going downhill only, takes longer but is safer.

Play around with the air pressure in the tires. Less pressure will give you more traction. Have seen wheel weights made from concrete. If you had a pattern of the inside of wheel I’d cut you some weights out of 2 inch steel plate I have around here.

I have 2 X540’s I bought at auction. 1 is a plow vehicle, and the other I used to mow with. It abolutely needed wheel weights for my hills. I’m not saying it will be 100% perfect but i noticed a different greatly. I have a few spots I mow sideways that are pretty steep. and one spot i go directly up. I have regular turf tires also.

I have some very steep areas around my place also. I was able through the John Deere dealership to try different mowers to see what would do the job. Big zero turn wouldn’t do it. The 500 series struggled the 700 series did well. But after pricing we decided on a 1025R with a 60” deck. We mow around 6 acres here and the 1025 does great. It wasn’t cheap but it will last a long time.

hnd wrote:

I have 2 X540’s I bought at auction. 1 is a plow vehicle, and the other I used to mow with. It abolutely needed wheel weights for my hills. I’m not saying it will be 100% perfect but i noticed a different greatly. I have a few spots I mow sideways that are pretty steep. and one spot i go directly up. I have regular turf tires also.

Thanks for the info. I’ll probably try wheel weights. Are you hanging a suitcase style weight off the front then too to balance things, or do you add some sort of wheel weights on the front also?

Sideways was a quick no-no on this slope. The pucker factor is too high with no ability to really steer either. I’m just looking to mow primarily straight up and down, or only a slight angle to mix up mowing pattern.

What about doing a native planting that doesn’t need mowing??

Just a thought. Less grass to mow is always better

If it’s as steep as you make it sound it could be an accident waiting to happen.

That sounds like a good idea B-man unless it is right next to the house.
Maybe some kind of ground cover planting would work also.

buckybadger wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>hnd wrote:</div>
I have 2 X540’s I bought at auction. 1 is a plow vehicle, and the other I used to mow with. It abolutely needed wheel weights for my hills. I’m not saying it will be 100% perfect but i noticed a different greatly. I have a few spots I mow sideways that are pretty steep. and one spot i go directly up. I have regular turf tires also.

Thanks for the info. I’ll probably try wheel weights. Are you hanging a suitcase style weight off the front then too to balance things, or do you add some sort of wheel weights on the front also?

Sideways was a quick no-no on this slope. The pucker factor is too high with no ability to really steer either. I’m just looking to mow primarily straight up and down, or only a slight angle to mix up mowing pattern.

no the back weights were really all it needed. I had to hit the orange diff button here and there but nothing too crazy.

I have a 318 with loaded ag bar tires and mow a slope. With those tires that tractor almost never slips, even backing up the hill. I had them filled with Rimgard at an ag tire shop.

Best upgrade I did with my zero turn was to swap out the tires. I didn’t even try to mow the hill in back until I did this, as I wasn’t sure I’d get the mower back up without them.

Posting a picture of the hill might also help with ideas.

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Mow downhill..

probably not practical with the large area that you mention…