Flipped my riding mower end over end

Joined
Mar 2, 2004
Messages
4,099
Location
Kentucky
Like the title might suggest, it was pure stupidity on my part. Mower is a late 90's John Deere GX85 rear engine mower I got from a late ex-coworker's estate sale. I've owned it about 5 years now, but lately have actually had a decent sized lawn to mow with it (approx 1.5 acres).

I have fairly hilly terrain, not too bad for the mower, but the edge of my property goes up a steep bank where it meets the road in front. My string trimmer died, so I could no longer weed-whack that area, so I thought to try it with the mower. It did surprisingly well--- one half I could do sideways by putting my weight on side of the mower facing the hill. Worked fine, but the other half, one tire would just spin (I had to use all my weight on one side to keep the thing from tipping), so I had to go about it by mowing UP the steep hill. That worked great for about 2/3 of that section until the tires started spinning again before the mower crested the bank and reached the road. Rear engine mowers are surprisingly stable I found out... until I stupidly put my weight over the rear tires in an attempt to give them more grip. It worked great until physics took over and sent me and the mower flying backwards, the mower tipping literally front end over back-end. Luckily I went one way, the mower the other. Think I was banged up more than the mower, because my tailbone hurt for a few days, the mower (after choking itself out with oil) started right back up and drove me back to the house. It didn't even break any of the cheap plastic, which was already well worn, being a 20+ year old mower.

I bought a new string trimmer not long after. Curious to see what stupid things you all have done on mowers. I'm fairly sure I'm not the only one who's learned a lesson riding one.
 
Originally Posted By: 92saturnsl2
Curious to see what stupid things you all have done on mowers.


Oh lord, good thing you're ok. Whew!

My brother put the snowblower gas/oil mixture into a newer Craftsman lawnmower. It ran fine but I would smell like a gas/oil mix every time I used it. Straight to the shower after mowing.
 
Originally Posted By: tig1
Glad to see you are OK. I guess the blades kept turning until the engine stopped?


The dead man's switch on the seat was defeated long ago-- the wiring was a mess when I got it, the PO half repaired it (unreliable) and I finished the job without the safety stuff. I knew that going in though, and I'm the only one that rides it. It's a mower that has no resale value too, so I'm okay with it. If I kill myself on it, it's my own fault. I had a plan if I flipped it and it worked-- jump to the side opposite the mower. The engine oil flooding it killed it just as fast as a safety switch, this time.
 
Had our big mower collapse the ramp while loading on a trailer. It landed on top of me but only pinned me. Had to tell the local F&R how to hook it up to extricate myself with my tow strap. Plenty of them knew how to use the skid steer already. Broke the arm rest. Trailer now has heavy attached ramps.
 
Glad you're OK! Couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of a dude going arse over tea kettle with a rear engine rider though. Sorry! I've come close myself with a riding mower or two. Lots of hills and big ravines in my area. I'm a real wimp anymore and steer clear. I've had to help my FIL tow strap his riding mowers out a few times over the years.
 
Last edited:
Pulled broke down mower behind an atv doing maybe 35-40mph on a side street. My buddy who was on the mower hit the gear shift with his knee. It went into gear broke the nylon rope we were using as a tow strap and skidded into the ditch.

Went down a very steep old sawdust pile on a mower with the deck taken off.

The list goes on and on! I've done many stupid things on mowers. Could pick them up for either free or next to it when I was in high school. Kind of like an atv for poor kids.
 
Originally Posted By: cb_13
Kind of like an atv for poor kids.


Haha, sorta like this? I'd like to think I make a decent living, but I realize with four kids in the house, I'm gonna be poor until one or more are out of it! That little 13.5hp Briggs and Stratton on the mower can get out of its own way though without the mower deck engaged. Makes for fun riding.

pic1.jpg
 
Originally Posted By: PimTac
That way of flipping over is called a pitchpole. Good to hear you were not seriously injured.


The term "pitchpole" is a nautical one and refers to the same maneuver with a sailboat, in which the boat turns over bow first with the stern following. This hopefully continues until the boat is again right side up and those not washed away have to hope that it hasn't been dismasted in the process, or they're probably no more than dead man still breathing.
Never been there and hope never to be, but since I've never sailed the open ocean and don't even have a sailboat ATM I probably have little to worry about.
The accident the OP experienced with his mower would typically be called an endo, meaning end over end.
Glad to hear that the OP suffered injuries only to his pride. This could have been bad.
 
Originally Posted By: fdcg27
Originally Posted By: PimTac
That way of flipping over is called a pitchpole. Good to hear you were not seriously injured.


The term "pitchpole" is a nautical one and refers to the same maneuver with a sailboat, in which the boat turns over bow first with the stern following. This hopefully continues until the boat is again right side up and that it hasn't been dismasted in the process.
Never been there and hope never to be, but since I've never sailed the open ocean and don't even have a sailboat ATM I probably have little to worry about.
The accident the OP experienced with his mower would typically be called an endo, meaning end over end.
Glad to hear that the OP suffered injuries only to his pride. This could have been bad.




Thankfully I have never done that either though I did "dip the stick" on a CG 44 footer once. That was enough. That's why I used the nautical term. The main thing is that he is okay. That's a lot of weight flipping over.
 
When you say dip the stick, do you mean in pitch or in roll?
I've put masts in the water in roll and while a little scary it isn't all that awful although also not good.
In pitch, it would be a real bad scene.
 
On the roll. We try not to do that but sometimes stuff happens. Going the other way is very bad news, especially if you have exposed crew.
 
I had a new trailer built where the ramp is a bit steeper than my liking, so I back up it with one of my mowers because it weighs 725 pounds and only about 100 pounds is up front.
 
Regarding sailing, I had a sailboat for a couple of decades. On a fun day of sailing we use to get the metal trim on each side of the boat to ride below the water at least once during the day for each side.

As far as flipping something, I once flipped a big front-end-loader completely over onto the the roof of the cab and bent the mufflers, on a huge mountain of lime-stone, when the right down hill wheel sunk into a soft pocket of stone, and the lever to lower the bucket had a worn out neutral detent that caused it to go into the raise bucket position after I had put the bucket down with a full load of stone in it, and left it in what I thought was neutral, and I then turned around to look down hill to try to figure out which way to turn the wheel to get the center of the body in the best weight distribution position, and instead of the bucket staying down the bucket raised back up. It did not help that the front-end-loader did not have any brakes and to keep it from drifting backwards down the hill I was keeping the engine RPMs high enough to ride the automatic trany just right so it would not try to climb the hill and would not drift backwards. The higher than idle speed of the motor caused the hydraulic pump for the bucket to raise the bucket fast and when I looked forward the bucket was all the way up, and she started rolling over onto its right side. I had done a considerable amount of motorcycle dirt riding and knew that if this thing was going over I did not want to still be in the cab, so I climbed up onto the left side, as it laid over on its right side, and I continued to stay on top of it as it continued to roll completely over. I ended up standing on the bottom of it when it finally stopped moving completely upside-down. The roof of the cab only clasped enough to break the glass in the windows, and the tops of the mufflers were bent and no longer straight, and diesel fuel was coming out of the upside down fuel tank. We got an older front-end-loader that was not used much and dug a hole on the mountain beside the now completely upside down loader and pushed it into the hole and it rolled back onto its wheels. After I explained the details of the roll-over they decided it was a good idea to fix the brakes on that front-end-loader.
 
Yikes! I have a few slopes at my place where I worry about my front engine mower going over backwards. Steering gets pretty light but no wheelies so far... Frankly I'm amazed how much grip the tires have but I keep reminding myself that a roll may not go well as the blades sure don't stop instantly if you come off the seat...

My favorite trick though, is to use my hand for "intelligent" differential control, where all you do is reach down and hold back the tire that's spinning to get some power to the tire with grip! This is key for sharp turns up the hill when on a steep side hill.
The only downside so far is that I ran through some poison ivy and some must've stayed on the sidewall...
 
In the workplace, drowning while mowing is one of the more common deaths associated with mowing. At the consumer level, amputations seem to be very prevalent. Its one of those every day things, like driving, that we take for granted.

I recommend that everyone with a family have good life insurance.

https://www.osha.gov/pls/imis/AccidentSearch.search?acc_keyword=%22Lawn%20Mower%22&keyword_list=on

http://www.amputee-coalition.org/lawn-mower-accidents-cause-needless-amputations/
 
Glad that you're OK, too bad you didn't catch it on video!

I had never even considered a front to back tip over.
 
I have a Case 220 Hydraulic drive I got nearly vertical up an Oak tree a moment while day dreaming.Must have been cool to watch.
 
Back
Top