On Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:10:50 -0500, Tim Wescott
wrote:

On Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:53:51 -0500, aasberry wrote:

On Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:48:12 -0500, Tim Wescott
wrote:

The Lawnmower That Refuses To Die is starting to show rust holes in the
deck! Yay! We can ditch it! (we've had this thing for 18 years; for
about 16 of that it's been too hard to start for SWMBO, so I've been
doing a lot of the mowing).

Now we live on a place that has a significant amount of grass on a 20-30
degree slope. It's too steep for our narrow-tread tractor (at least _I_
don't have the balls to go driving on it!), and the area is pretty
sizable. I'm assuming that we want to get a self-propelled mower
instead of a riding, because of the slope.

Anyone have any mileage with a largish self-propelled mower that works
good on slopes? I'm looking for something that'll bag, but being able
to take off the bag and just fling the grass when I'm opening up new
territory would be nice.

I have a HR215 HXA Honda. It has a hydrostatic transmission. You start
it and then engage the blade. About 20 years old. I'll bet anyone who
shows up with a hundred dollar bill that it will start on the first
pull. Cost about $900 then. Now about $1200.

Like Pete says, this one has a patch riveted over the hole worn through
by scrubbing the flowerbed curb.

If I _liked_ the existing mower I'd do that. We bought it 18 years ago
when we had a dead flat suburban back yard to mow; now I have a hillside
that's (a) bigger and (b, snivel, whine) steep.

For steep lawns nothing beats an old 2 stroke commercial Lawn Boy.
They stink, but lubrication is not an issue. I know guys that tie
ropes on them and pull them up and down banks you can hardly
stand/walk on.