7 Best Riding Lawn Mower for Hilly Terrain 2023

In this post, I’ve reviewed the best riding lawn mower for hilly terrain. You can now ditch your walk-behind mowers as you might be unwilling or are physically unable to push it.

In addition, ensure that you get a zero-turn, tractors, and rear engine mowers depending on the nature of your uneven terrain, steep slopes, and hills. 

Mowing steep terrain and hills could be dangerous and equally challenging when you don’t use the correct lawn mower. 

Mowers: Best Riding Lawn Mower for Hilly Terrain 2023

However, the riding lawn mower might be impractical in some situations. Thus, to take care of such instances, I’ve outlined some walk behind ( self-propelled) lawn mowers. 

1. Troy-Bilt 382cc 30-Inch Neighborhood Riding Lawn Mower

Troy-Bilt 382cc is a small riding lawn mower but equally provides high power for cutting grass in a hilly terrain. Adjust the cutting deck height into 5 varied heights – measures 30 inches. This is a simple and standard yard mower.

It has an Auto-Choke OHV engine that’s 382cc that’ll easily achieve a mowing speed of 4.25 MPH. Luckily, the Troy-Bilt 382cc comes with its powerful 6-speed transmission. 

The mowers’s size makes it work great as a walk-behind mower plus also like a riding mower. Its rear wheels are 16×6.5 while it has a 13×5 inches in its front wheels. Thus, it’ll be easy take narrow turns with the turning radius of 18 inches.

But the machines’ PTO is controlled manually  and thus its blade engagement will be challenging and slow. Further, the fuel tank is 1.3-gallon in capacity and luckily it has gas level sight window.

2. Raven MPV7100 Hybrid Riding Mower & Power Generator

Raven MPV7100 cuts well, runs well, and equally starts well. Further, I have to state that I loved its turning radius. Raven MPV-7100 definitely got me hooked as the machine will leave you with a smile after riding it. 

I loved the comfort that this riding lawn tractor gave me as I was mowing my 3-acres over the weekend. It’ll easily mow via brush and deep grass. It has excellent cruise control. 

The Raven MPV7100’s deck motors provide additional power that’ll give you a great and consistent grass-cutting power. For tight spaces, the mower will give you a tight turn radius. 

On the downside, the Raven MPV7100 has front and rear tires that have same width. But ensure you don’t take too tight corners as you may hit objects. 

Raven MPV7100 has a wide-floor 46″ deck that means the mower is very spacious. The mower has all its controls on your right hand and it’ll easily mow even in inclined areas. 

Raven MPV7100 will give a top speed of 17mph and thus it’ll easily cover long distances of mowing. But changing gears is hard – you’ll need to get off the mower and touch the lever that’s underneath. 

The mower is an excellent tool for your large property. Mow the yard, drive to your mailbox or power your garden tools or even the whole house with its 7100 watts. 

The 7100 watt generator will easily charge your batteries, and power blades and outlets. Further, gasoline-powered mower can tow 550 lb with its 420 cc engine. 

3. Poulan Pro PP155H42 (15.5 HP) Gas Riding Lawn Mower 

Poulan Pro PP155H42 is a great competitor among top lawn mowers for hilly terrain. Luckily, the mower has adjustable six heights for cleaner mowing. You’ll find the mower’s air filter to be simple to maintain and clean.

The machine has an oscillating deck that’s 42-inches wide and thus the mower won’t lose maneuverability.  It’ll give you 16HP that’s adequate to mow yards in up hills. 

Poulan Pro PP155H42 is easy to drive plus you’ll love its hydrostatic transmission that’s automatic and you won’t have to worry about gears or clutch. 

The large mower competes favorably on price and performance with the Husqvarna models. You’ll get very high torque for mowing from the machine’s V-twin engine (16 hp). 

But the mower has reverse speed that’s very fast, small wheels, and its gas tank is equally small (about 2.5 gallons) and thus may require refilling for long distances of towing or mowing. 

The small wheels in this Poulan Pro PP155H42 could create ruts in your yard since the mower is quire heavy. Further, the reserve speeds being fast makes it a challenge to maneuver for tight and hilly yard spaces. 

Considerations in Riding Lawn Mower for Hilly Terrain

So, regardless if you’re mowing a huge property or smaller yard you’ll need high quality lawn mowers. So, below are the considerations to make when choosing your mower.

1. Engine Horsepower (HP) 

Most riding lawn mowers tend have and engine power of 13 – 30 horsepower as they’re generally heavier and bigger compared to Rotary walk-behinds that have 2-7 horsepower.

The lawn mower horsepower denotes the amount of engine power that your mower will provide for your mowing tasks – particularly in its transmission and the grass-cutting blades. 

2. Engine Torque

This describes the force that’ll keep the blades in the riding lawn mower spinning – its outlined as foot-pounds (ft-lbs). Go for a riding mower that has higher torque since it’ll cut the tick and tall grass more easily. 

Further, choose a mower with more blades as it’ll give you a better cut width. Riding lawn mowers have 10.5 – 26.0 ft-lbs in torque while the walk-behind mowers will have 4.50 – 8.75 ft-lbs.

3. Engine Displacement 

Engine displacement denotes the engine’s cylinder size – which is outlined in cubic centimeters (cc). A higher engine displacement translates to more engine and mower power. 

Further, consider the mowers turning radius as this affects how tightly the machine with turn. So, choose a mower that has a small turning radius because this will allow you to make sharp turns.