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Re: (ET) maximum grade

Hm. I mow a pretty steep grade at my house. Some thoughts:
(note: Don't follow my instructions unless you take responsibility for your actions. This simply works for *me*. Sometimes.)
1) I go up the hill in max power mode. If you have an E20, lock in cruise control. If you have an E15, select the speed that has no resistors, no field weakening. Maybe that's "power pulse"; I forget. Regardless set a speed and stay with it.
1a) I go up in L. L is your friend. D and D2 are bad because they do not provide much regen going down the hill. 

2) If I start to slip anyway, Stop, brake in, go back down *slowly*.

2a) I mow when it's dry and the sun is on the slope.
3) When going down, I start at full power and speed the tractor up a bit by using FW on the way down. Then at the bottom I go back to full power and "run out" the speed with regen. This of course requires a lot of run-out room and
4) New tires apparently make a difference. The E20 tractor tires are what, 30 years old?
5) I never increase power or speed on a hill. To do so could invite a nice end-over-end flip. While it's true I have the deck on the front, I don't ever want to chance that.
6) Likewise I will never reverse down a steep hill under power. I use the brake always. If I screwed up and put it in forward while going backwards down a hill I don't want to think about what could happen.
And 7) Buy a Homelite 18 volt string trimmer on Ebay and wire it up to the back 4 batteries. Problem solved :-) 

Chris



RJ Kanary wrote:

     Lowering the air pressure in the rear tires will increase 
tractability.
Three to four PSI should do it.This will assist in both climbing an
descending grades.
      With a two hundred and plenty pound pilot on board, and the lower
profile Firestone® tires that were available , enough tractive force is
available to lift the front wheels off the ground, and still have the mower
deck on the ground.
    If you choose to approach mowing from side to side, instead of up and
down, be aware that tubes will be required for the lower air pressure. On a
hillside, the beads will unseat during a turn, unless you have tubes in the
tires. Ask me how I know................
----- Original Message ----- From: "Ken Olum" <kdo cosmos phy tufts edu> 
To: <Elec-trak cosmos phy tufts edu>
Sent: Sunday, June 27, 2004 10:32 AM
Subject: (ET) maximum grade




What is the maximum grade that you can reasonably mow?  I have a hill
at the edge of my lawn down to the street that goes up to about 35%.
I think it's somewhat worse because the grass is in tufts with lower
ground between them.  If I try to mow across it I think I'm going to
tip over.  If I try to mow up it I lose traction.  If I try to mow
down it using either the motor or the brake (I have the upgrade) then
one wheel turns forward while the other turns backward and I slip down
the hill and wreck the lawn.

Would better tires help, or is this just too steep?

Ken


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