IF you are bagging, you definitely don't want a FWD. The weight of the grass in the bag takes the weight off the front wheels and then no traction. FWD's tend to have shorter lived transmissions anyway and hills will just work it harder.

Buy a lawn boy 10323 or 10324. If you would like one I have a couple one slightly used or new? 2 cycle good power for your hill.

Lawn-Boy 10684. About $349 at Home Depot. 6.5 HP 4-cycle, RWD, manual drive control (Variable Speed - very comfortable curved handle and bail) when you drop the bail it instantly becomes a push mower for easy back-and-forth trimming. Mulch, bag or discharge, cut up to 4" height.

If you side discharge or mulch, look at the new Snapper Easy Speed mulcher with the Briggs DOV engine. That thing is perfectly capable of dragging my sorry hide up a nice long incline.

Go with either a Snapper or a Honda with rear wheel drive. Neither will disappoint. I am partial to the Snapper because of the cup holder.

Hello, Saxman1.

Does the 10684 have a switch which cuts the engine each time the bag is removed and, if so, can that switch be defeated?

Thanks a bunch!

Yes, LB 'Insight' mowers have the magnetic switch that kills the engine if the bag or mulch plug is not installed. Otherwise, you would have an open discharge chute, since this system does not have a spring door over the discharge chute. The BBC models may have an interlock which allows the engine to run with an open chute if the blade is stopped, since there would be no reason to have BBC otherwise.

My 10684 has been no problem in dumping the bag. It restarts easily*, and I usually take several minutes to dump the bag into a large trash can with a plastic bag liner. Two full bags and I have to put another bag in the can. I only bag when there is debris/leaves on the lawn, mulching most of the season. I've never had a BBC mower and have no use for one. The bag removal/installation on this system is the fastest possible. You can change from mulching to bagging or vice versa in seconds.
*compression release plus large-diameter starter pulley.

Thanks Saxman1.

Don't tell the Feds, but I usually tie the bail on my Super Recycler in place so I can bag without killing the engine. My risk, my choice.

My lot is large and it usually takes 5 lawn bags full per mowing and about 45 bags when I low mow in the Spring and de-thatch the lawn. I did like your comments about the torque of the Tecumseh LV-195 for mulching. It got my interest.

Mowers with a differential rear axle (like Snapper)essentially have one wheel drive and do not have as much traction for hills etc. They do ok but the wheel can lose traction. The Lawn-Boy has true full time 2wd drive with the same advantages a differential has in a turn. I'm not a fan of "personal pace" style controls because they don't let the mower "pull" me. My favorite transmission style is a three speed with the Lawn-Boy/Toro style wheel clutches that gives true 2wd. These wheel clutches are one of the best advances in mower drives and as a bonus to their design they allow the mower to be used as a true free-wheeling push mower if desired (like Saxman said) with absolutely no transmisssion drag when pushing or pulling back.

I agree that at least in theory a true differential rear drive as on Snappers could unload a rear tire when going sideways on a hill. I have recently moved to a house a with a considerable slope in the back, though, and have not found it to be a problem in the first two mowings of Spring. I'm going across the slope without ever losing traction at all so far.

Yes a Snapper can and will lose traction on a hill. I have had it happen to me. BUT, that is a hill that SHOULD NOT be mowed crossways. The whole mower tries to flip over and roll down the hill. It's like 35 degere slope. You can hardly keep you footing. Now I have a lawnboy for that. Anyway, you will not have any trouble with the snapper drive on any slope that is reasonale. If you can walk on it without your feet sliding out from under you, you will be fine.

"Anyway, you will not have any trouble with the snapper drive on any slope that is reasonale. If you can walk on it without your feet sliding out from under you, you will be fine."

I think that's a very good way to put it. My slope is probably 25-30* at the very steepest part of it, as I can retain safe footing. Most of it is probably a little less then that. It's worth noting that with any 4-cycle mower, mowing more than this crossways is probably going to cause oil starvation to some extent. Mowing _up_ a steep hill is _probably_ not so bad if the engine faces forward. I don't know about mowing _down_ a hill, though, since the crankcase oil will collect under the piston at some point. OTOH, mowing up and down a hill will cause zero problems for a Snapper, and with properly tensioned belts that mower will pull you up with it.