My dad and I were working on a newer mower some years ago when I commented on how many caution stickers were all over it, and how the manufacturer must think we are all a bunch of drooling idiots. Dad replied “Son, for every one of those stickers there is at least one person who has done exactly what it’s saying not to do. Think about that.” This guy proves dad was right again! :)
My dad was an insurance adjuster back in the day. He had to pay out 7figures to the guy who is responsible for the warning to not trim your hedges with your lawn mower.
I work in a Dairy department at a grocery store. We have one manufacturer that wrote “No Step” on the top of their case of 1 dozen eggs! 🤦🏼♂️ I wonder how many eggs were broken before they added the “No Step” warning? 😉
The owner of our town Husqvarna shop recommended a traditional riding mower since we have a hilly lawn. He said no turn mowers are unsafe for steep gradient lawns. We appreciated his knowledge and honesty.
I retired after 26 years in Fire/EMS, my very first month as a rookie EMT in a small north Georgia county I ran a call similar to this. An older gentleman had decided he needed to disable the safeties on his old school snapper riding mower. It was one of those that the blade wouldn't turn unless you had your foot on the safety pedal, and it had a weight switch on the seat. The gentleman had wired the weight switch in the seat together so he could get off the mower with it still running and had used bailing wire to hold the blade safety pedal down so he could get off the mower to push it up the embankment in front of his house to mow the steep incline. Well this particualr day, he had done so and the morning Dew hadn't quite dried up yet and so when he had the mower, with blades still running, almost to the crest of the hill, his feet slipped on the wet grass out from under him and the mower rolled back down on top of him. We figured the blades finally stopped when they had gotten down about halfway through his skull and began to chop into his shoulders and back. We found a recognizable piece of his left ear about 25 feet from the mower, not to mention most of his occipital brain matter in a gruesome spray pattern out to about 20 feet from the mower deck. The moral of the story is just because you've lived for a long time doesn't mean you can put your common sense on the back shelf.
I use a common phrase for such instances..... Non-Compos Mentis.... 21 years in the Navy you can imagine the "Shortcuts" people try to "Get the job done".
People definitely get complacent around machinery. When I was in college for machining, one of my classmates passed around the aftermath of a man's sweater getting caught in a 36" lathe chuck...nothing but hamburger left.
Damn that’s brutal. My bro in law works the same exact job. Fire/EMS. He has so many gruesome stories man. But I had to tell him to ease up on telling me all of them - especially the ones involving children. Can’t imagine having to see so much death that you become desensitized
That's right, put extra weight on the side that you're tipping toward. That's how you "counterbalance" correctly right there. Everybody take notes from this guy.
So dumb. I hope he is ok. This is my biggest fear when running my Hustler Raptor. One yard I mow has slight incline that I usually cut with the string trimmer or a push mower.
First, don't do this. Second, if you are going to do it (like I did) you MUST put all your body weight on the high side of the grade. I used to sit on the side of the seat, leaning uphill. Never tipped the mower. One time the new HOA president scolded me about not having my grass short enough (there were no rules about grass height in the restrictions but he was picky). So he offered to mow my lawn once, for free, to get it shorter so I could more easily maintain it (I mowed it once a week, he said it needs mowed twice a week but I worked 60-70 hours a week and there was no way I was spending all of my free time mowing the yard!) After trying to mow the steep part, he quit, knocked on my door, and looked like he had seen a ghost. He informed me my yard was too steep for a riding mower and he's done. He never bothered me again. lol
I came to comment the same. He literally did the complete opposite of what needed to happen (as far as weight distribution). If you’re going to pull off risky things like this, at least get the most important part correct. Lol guy is an all around moron it seems…
Very 1st thing I noticed ....Umm....the counter weight is on the wrong side . Anyway , he should have finished with the hand mower . The exercise would have done him some good .
@@boostismagic No I don't think so. He had his right foot out to stop him if he fell. As if he thought he could brace himself . Not with the weight of the machine and the angle he was at though. He had it all backwards .
You can tell that hillside is the source of great frustration for that man, and he resolved to confront the challenge with significant resources and determination. However, it appears that once again, the hillside has prevailed and will likely continue to do so in the future.
I'm actually a fan of Hillside. We have a proud history as tough competition and nobody just rolls over us willy nilly. Well.... occasionally willy but certainly not nilly.
He wasn't OK, before he got on the mower. I'm willing to bet, that in the several pages of warnings, that came in the "Before you use", section of the owners manual, that this activity is strongly discouraged if not forbidden. He looks like someone, that couldn't, or wouldn't, read it. Props to him. Most fat slobs would make their wife do it, with a push mower.
@@ramblerdave1339 Im a 29 yr old female. I would cut the grass for my dad yes he was heavy set but not like that guy I did it because my dad had heart problems and the dr told him if he ever overstrained that valve he wouldn't wake up one day and when I was dog sitting for elderly family his dad died they had to leave the state mom told him not to do it I was only away for 2 days because the elderly guy he is a retired undercover cop but top dog when he worked but my dad didn't wait and the next day my mom is on the phone and she said my dad died this happened in 2016 some people are lazy but some have health issues my mom is in her 40s and has health issues we both have crps and its a struggle everyday for us but I do my best to help her my sisters want to be paid with money we don't have I told them that's your mother you were not raised that way your mother shouldn't have to pay you to help her when she is ill. They just said you do it they know I have a malfunction of my central nervous system im on strong pain meds because crps your brain is constantly telling your body you are in pain when you should never be in pain I now have a spinal implant and a pace maker battery in my back that needs replaced every 4 to 5 yrs for the rest of my life my mom have the same thing as me but mine is from the waist down and hers is full body
Well to be fair that lady did suffer third degree burns on 6% of her body and lesser burns on 16% and ended up in the hospital for 8 Days requiring skin grafting. She tried settling with McDonald's just to pay her medical bills and lost wages and nothing more but they only offered her $100 so she decided to take them to court and won.
That coffee case is actually a little interesting. If you look up the plaintiff, Stella Liebeck, you can read up on it. It seems like McDonald's was knowingly serving their coffee 40-50° hotter than other restaurants. It was even written into their franchise agreement to keep it that hot. And, like stated above, she really just wanted them to pay her medical bills, but they essentially told her to get bent, so off to trial it went and made headlines with a huge settlement.
True story...Friend got 1 of these and he used it when the dealership dropped it off for the 1st time,the guys from the dealership hadn't made it back to the shop before my friend drove it in the pond,he and his wife had to hire divers to get it out 😅😂
I had one go over the top of me…when I was 12 and didn’t know any better. Was going straight up the hill, stopped for some reason, and when I started moving again it bucked and did a wheelie righ over me. Landed on its wheels behind me and crashed into the fence at the bottom of the hill. So I started it back up and finished :-)
@@gasNmudtv He won’t remember nothin important- if he wasn’t sitting on the low side it probably would have had plenty of side hill ballast 😂on the uphill side
Lost a neighbor a few years back in the country, mowing the ditch side and his zero turn slipped down the ditch rolling ontop of him. It was to late to save him when he was found. Always mow straight up and down on inclines with these machines.
I just started working for a landscaping company doing grounds maintenance we use those stand on mowers what's the best way to approach a verge with one of those?
Some of them will not allow you to mownup and down bc at to high of a angle they cut off they also tend to bottom out on your way back off the hill and get stuck with the fram digging into the ground
I'll never forget listening to the cries of a child (couple rooms away) for hours in the surgical wing of a hospital awaiting my first lumbar laminectomy... His father had inadvertantly injured him in a farm tractor accident; had him riding on it someway when it occurred. If you're ever upset or down because of some life event, a stroll through the surgical wing of a hospital could help you realize just how lucky you are. I was there for weeks and many of the nurses said they liked working the surgery section because most of the patients get better and leave; most don't die...
I had a summer job cutting grass with a zero turn lawn mower. The orientation video says not to cut grass on a hill more than something like 15 degrees. That is a perfect world & in reality you are expected to cut on 30 Degree or maybe steeper - some hills seemed like a 45. That man is too heavy for one thing. He should have the roll bar up & seat belt on. Up & down hill might be better - I don't know?? I went straight up a hill once & the mower just about stalled out - but a woman that was light weight had no problem doing same thing.
Thats correct! But they also put ROPS bars on zero turns for this exact reason too, but they do no good, if you have the ROPS bar down. You can't fix stupid.
My dad had to mow an actual mountain side, maybe a 40' slope, so he removed the top bar of a push mower, and tied a rope to the middle bar, and eased it over & brought it back up, over and over again. That man came up with the craziest stuff.
When I was 10 years old, my mom and I were walking down a country road, and we heard a lady screaming for help. She had been stuck under her lawn mower for hours. And we were able to flip the lawn mower over and help her. This was out in the middle of nowhere. The chance of someone hearing her screams was slim to none
My dad flipped his 2wd mower on a hill twice as steep as this cause he lost traction and in the slide one of his wheels caught a power pole guide wire. I wish he got video cause it sounded pretty spectacular but idk how he was even mowing that part, i couldn't even mow the flatter parts of his property without getting stuck. He said he was using his dirtbike skills to hang his weight on the side where the tires were slipping to get traction. After that he got a push mower for the steep part though 😂
This is exactly how my best friend died when I was 10 years old. He was mowing his grandparents yard and the mower flipped on him in the ditch line and he was crushed to dead.
I love how the blades spin, once the guy flips over.😅 This was me when I got my first riding mower, back in 1997. This comes from not reading the directions. 😮
I worked for a company that sold zero turns. The first question they asked to a perspective customer was: “Do you have any hills or uneven terrain? If so, these aren’t for you”
@@talondah8555 due to the hydraulic drive on these units they overheat easier and struggle to remain on track on a slope. It’s best to mow straight down a slope in any application really. A 4WD lawn tractor would work better in that setting.
@@pootmahgoots8482 yeah I don’t claim to be a master of zero turns by any means , but yes like I said, going straight down or up a hill is best and a zero turn will do that part of course.
@@theslayergaming6756 yes if you know what you are doing. Never drive downhill because you will go for a ride lol. Always drive up the hill and back slowly down ,not saying occasionally you won't slide sideways and crap your pants but still with the right operator a zero turn is pretty much unstoppable.
I used to own a piece of property where the ditch was about 700 feet long . The bottom was about 2ft. Wide , then the left and right bank was about 7 ft. Wide (that's not the depthof the ditch but distance) , it was easiest to use a weed eater (brush cutter), stihl FS 250 than a lamn mower. I was very happy when i finally sold that piece of property.
Seagulls usually make that call two or three times but maybe that’s just before they dive at you to try to take your fries. Judging from the size of him she has not been successful so she made just the single call.
At least he protected his hearing so he can hear the doctor tell him he’s overweight and has a broken neck. Even the best PPE can’t save a dumbass from themselves.
@@andrewbatson9710 what was he doing with half of his body hanging off the side easiest to flip anyway! Dude should’ve been leaning toward the top of the hill not the bottom lol
Lol, he just don't know how to operate it. I mow steep ditches all the time. He needs a few weights over the front wheels and not lean back in the seat. That mower has a wide wheel base. It will not tip over sideways. It will just slide down. Another thing he did wrong was get the front of the mower pointing up to high.
If he really didn't know which side to get on to keep it from flipping over on him how has he gotten this far in life without getting himself killed in other ways
Driving down the hill is the correct way when possible. If your going to cut side ways, allways keep your wight shifted to the high side and if it starts to turn over,. The only chance you have is to turn your wheels down hill as sharp and fast as you can to counter the turn over. You can die from turnovers. Use your common sense, and if you do not have any, hire it done. That's my experience anyway.
You know most folks will have an internal instinct that something is dangerous so usually instinct will tell a person to get on the high side and lean up hill cause that's away from where you don't wanna go which is downhill. I'm not really sure why our friend here didn't have his danger alarm go off. Mighta had something to do with a female recording and him trying to impress her? Idk. So glad that's as bad as the flip was though.
Should not be on embankment with any mower especially zero turns ! Zero turns are rear heavy and will flip backwards when improperly operated ! They are heavy and will kill or maim you ! He lucked out! Hopefully he learned his lesson! My friend was severely injured when one flipped and pinned him under it!
Front Wheels are casters and do not steer , they can turn and flip you even going up and down hills. They are not Designed for hillsides! My friend lost traction going uphill the front casters swiveled and it flipped down the hill, pinned him under it and severely injured him! Do not be stupid when operating dangerous equipment, unless you want to get injured or killed!
As a former paramedic my favorite saying was “ As long as there are stupid people, the police , EMTs, firefighters, nurses, and Drs will NEVER be without work “. And I see nothing has changed.
As someone who has spent most of his professional career fixing various broken or otherwise nonfunctional computery/electronicky things, if every stupid person on Earth suddenly became smart tomorrow I would definitely be out of a job. "User error"/"User damage" is a shockingly common "Actual Fault" description.
As a landscaper my heart sank as the mower came up. Had that happen to .e 2 years ago on a new bobcat! I now use roll bar for any hill! Randys Lawn Care
@@Jugheads911 yah this was a good example of when you would use the roll bar .but under most circumstances you get that baby stuck under a branch and you're potentially doing a wheelie that way as well.
Death Wish, the forgotten films. Hey, he had hearing protection on. Probably stopped someone from talking sense into him. Plus, he put all his weight on the downhill side
Joe, that hill can be mowed safely if you first & foremost, get your right leg over where it belongs(safety first), if you don't have dual fuel tanks, make your cut with the tank towards the top of the hill, creep along at a snails pace, and once you have a steady (sloooow) speed, whichever one of your arms is facing up, reach it over kind of hug the side of the mower instead of the hydraulic to keep from over compensating as well as keep your body somewhat level.(Only touch that hydraulic a little at a time, if needed, to keep that wheel moving) Keep your "down" arm on the hydraulics to maintain slow & steady momentum. I do it all the time on my 52" Scag. You also might want to put your roll bar back on if you have it. Those type of hills are much safer with walk-behinds.
We should all appreciate that this mower comes with roll bars designed to prevent a deadly rollover. Roll bars that are folded down or missing for some reason.
