52-In. Riding Mower "Turns On A Dime"

52-In. Riding Mower "Turns On A Dime" FARM HOME Lawn Mowers (31h,38) 22-3-8 "It turns on a dime and works as good as any commercial mower on the market. I spent less than $1,000 to build it," says Milton Ruppert of Hillsboro, Ill., about his home-built 52-in. riding mower. The mower is equipped with two Briggs & Stratton gas engines - an electric start 11 hp model that belt-drives the three blades, and a 5 hp rope start model that powers the rear wheels. He uses two levers - one for each wheel - to steer. Each lever tightens a belt that causes the wheel to go forward or back. To drive each wheel, a pulley belt-drives a shaft which chain-drives another shaft connected to the wheel. Both the front and rear wheels were salvaged from an old riding mower. The front axle, made from 2-in. sq. steel tubing, sup-ports small caster wheels and is free to pivot up or down via a bolt and bushing in the middle of the axle. He used sheet 3/16-in. thick steel plate to build the deck and bought the blades new. The deck is raised or lowered by pulling or pushing on a lever mounted just ahead of the operator's knees. "My grand kids have used it to do my mowing for four years now and haven't tore it up yet," says Ruppert. "The entire mower is only 52 in. wide and 52 in. long. The compact size makes the mower much more maneuverable which is important because I have about 40 trees in my yard. I put big wide tires on it because I was having trouble getting around in mud. "I paid $400 for the 11 hp engine and $160 for the 5 hp model. My only other costs were $90 for the blade units and the rest of the expense was for belts, pulleys, and sprockets.. The seat is off an old junked-out Inter-national H tractor." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Milton Ruppert, 14329 Illinois Rt. 185, Hillsboro, Ill. 62049 (ph 217 534-2502).

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