Tractor Rollover

Been working on hill sides with my JD 5400 with BoDozer grapple. I'll admitt I'm a Chicken sh*t when it comes to hills. Seems the least little grade and I get the pucker factor bad. Guy who owns the land has much smaller CUT 4WD and he doesn't seem bothered by slopes that look to be 45 degrees, even rides them sideways. I get on maybe 15-20 and I'm scared to death. Problem is I don't know were the tip point is. Anybody have any real good experience? Now keep in mind I have a loader on with an 800lb grapple attachment before I pick anything up. I know to stay close to the ground with the loader all the time on a slope. But my problem is I'm afraid without a load on at all.

In this case better to be chicken than brave and dead.

I tend to share the same phobia!!

Most of the time you will get side slip before it is ready to tip off the high side wheels.

The summer of 1956 I worked on the Ohio turn Pike. One of the jobs they gave me for a coupla days was to back blade dirt into washouts on the road side banks with a Hough loader. The bucket was at least a foot wider on both sides than the tires. The banks were quite steep and I ask the boss about tipping over. He just said keep the bucket on the ground. To go forward you tipped the front up and let the back of the bucket just slide on the ground. When adjusting the bucket to go forward if you raised it up a coupla inches the high side drive tire would start to spin. The loader was two wheel drive and you tried to work taking the rear slightly up hill or down. It was open station so I had plenty of loud instructions. Working at the tipping point that short of time even, gave me an idea how far a person can go without tipping over and if I get even close I try to go on an angle up or down the grade. It is always best to stay on your (own) experiences safety side.   

Hell, I have seen a wd with a side mount mower roll over when the right tire hit a hole(tractor didn't have wheel weights/fluid in the left tire like it should) and the hole wasn't that big and the ground was flat.  When you are not afraid any more is when you get killed. 

If you are uncomfortable, don't do it. I leave some hillsides alone - that others might work. Being overly confident can get you into trouble too. Always be patient and play it smart. Stuff happens fast.

One of my wife's Uncles worked for the state and picked up a sickle mower to hang under his JD2520, narrow front.    He was using it along a small swale (not steep) behind his home one evening and as best they can tell it caught the end of the sickle and immediately flipped the tractor.  We were there at the wake and you could clearly see where it happened, I would have never guessed it could have done that.
I also watched as a friend was moving some dirt for my son's Scout project with his new Kubota, not a very big one.  It had a loader, no rear weights.  He was backing with dirt in the bucket about hood high and hit a soft spot with one rear.  I dived out of way, thought it was going to go but the front axle stop must have hit just in time.  

I turned a tractor over in 1999 broke my back in two places and my left shoulder in two places.  I'll repeat what others have said if your not sure then dont do it. Its ok to be a chicken ****.   Long story short had I not had experience on a tractor and known what to do when I got in trouble my situation would have ended much more different than it did.  One suggestion on hills that I have seen many do is start at the buttom and work your way up the hill back and fourth.  This way your high side tire has the better chance of finding any hole.  I have seen some guys mow hills in my area that I just had to close my eyes and leave.  They looked like a postage stamp on a card.   

That is one reason I went to the 8' mower on my 175D as I mow a lot of hillsides/mountainsides...I can set the wheels out about as wide as they go and the stability is amazing.  Still, I have had to turn downhill a couple of times due to the "pucker factor". When you are rolling an 18.4 x 30 tire about 12" off center it is a good time to turn downhill...