Don't hate on my free mower

I've been a mower/small engine mechanic for 6 years now. Free mowers are great, I sell about 60 or so riders like that a year that people abandon and I can fix for cheap. Oh and by the way it is possible to lift a lawnmower, fabrication is mandatory, but the will do 50mph easy with ATV tires on 'em!
 
I've been a mower/small engine mechanic for 6 years now. Free mowers are great, I sell about 60 or so riders like that a year that people abandon and I can fix for cheap. Oh and by the way it is possible to lift a lawnmower, fabrication is mandatory, but the will do 50mph easy with ATV tires on 'em!

how do they soup them up to go so fast? Like in the mower races.
 
Most of the mower racing guys use honda motors that put out around 35-40HP, also the motors are beefed up to run at higher RPM's than a normail mower motor could stand. Then they swap pulleys on their transmission input shaft and the motors crankshaft to achieve gearing that will get them around 60mph or more. They put alot of money into them. You can make one pretty quick with just swapping the pulleys around revving the motor up some while taking the deck off.
 
just swap the drive gears around, you may lose some of the lower ratios, but you don't need 'em. also you can pull the carb/intake off and bore it out and clean up all the factory "seams" where the molds came together, also take a little drillbit and bore out the carb jets just a touch, and that will get the rpm's up. getcha some atv tires so they turn slower but go faster and you can get a lot faster even with the deck on there.i did this to mine, except the atv tires and it's quite a bit faster. i still need to mess with the drive pulleys to get them right, but as it sits, i can pull wheelies on pavement. just be careful not to flop it backwards, and try to slow down on the curves, or get good at leaning to counter the g-force...:D
you can also put springs on the carb, and modify a bike brake cable to have responsive throttle so it won't be so tractor-y and you'll have some speed control.
 
Maybe these will give you an idea of something to shoot for with this mower project.

liftedmower.jpg


modifiedmower.jpg
 
in their own right... they are cool, i just dont get it...

i think i understand my dad a little more, he sees all vehicles like that... thinks im retarded for sinking money in my jeep or anything automotive for that matter.


btw he is a master mechanic for Honda and owes his own shop that covers, honda/acura, nissan/infinity, and toyota/lexus

hes just a stocker i guess...
 
oh, we are definitely retarded for it, but hey, it's cheaper than golf!
my father in law pays $20 a day to go play golf, and that's at a public course!
on top of that, he buys balls, clubs, shoes the whole deal.
i don't have a car payment, and i rarely spend more than $1500 a year on all my rides together. the lawnmower thing for me has been all free. i haven't paid for anything on there except the blade i bent when i hit a rock actually mowing....
 

Schwing! Now that's cool. I used to work at a Cub Cadet dealer and when the old Cubs came in they went out quick to the tractor pulling guys. They love those HD 3 speed transmissions in them. They went red right before they sold out to MTD.
 
Seems like all the tractor pulling guys want the Internationals... Ed, remember the Murfreesboro car show we went to, there were a couple on display there. They actually resembled that one quite a bit.
 
Seems like all the tractor pulling guys want the Internationals... Ed, remember the Murfreesboro car show we went to, there were a couple on display there. They actually resembled that one quite a bit.

Yep. The older Cubs under IH ownership were some tough mowers and are still highly sought after. MTD bought them and has continually degraded the quality and dealer network to the throwaway mower status so many Americans seem to want today. John Deere has done the same thing. When you can buy mowers from places that won't sell parts, beware.
 
Yep. The older Cubs under IH ownership were some tough mowers and are still highly sought after. MTD bought them and has continually degraded the quality and dealer network to the throwaway mower status so many Americans seem to want today. John Deere has done the same thing. When you can buy mowers from places that won't sell parts, beware.

Agreed. Cub Cadet still has its industrial line of mowers, but those aren't sold at Lowes and Home Depot. You gotta go to a tractor dealer to get them. My uncle has a Cub M60 Tank zero turn mower. That thing is friggen sweet!
 
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