"Riding Push Mower" Makes A Splash at Shows

"Riding Push Mower" Makes A Splash at Shows AG WORLD 32-1-23 Back in the early 1960's, Lawn Boy made a powered 2-wheeled cart with a seat on it that was designed to attach behind a 24-in. wide push mower. The Lawn Boy Loafer, as it was called, had its own 3 hp engine and actually pushed the lawn mower around. Jeff Willenborg, Dyersville, Iowa, owns one and often takes it to shows. "People are often confused when they first see it. Some of them ask me what the heck it is, or how I made it. Others ask me if it's a tractor. I tell them, æNo, it's a riding push mower'," says Willenborg. "The cart and mower were actually sold as separate units so if you wanted, you could operate the push mower by itself." The company started making the Lawn Boy Loafer in 1960 and quit making them in 1965, he says.."I don't know how many Lawn Boy Loafers were ever made, but I don't think it was very many," he says. "The big disadvantage was the expense of having to maintain two engines and keep them both running while mowing. I bought mine at an auction and recently found another one, which I bought, too. It's the only other one I've ever seen." The cart is equipped with a 3 hp vertical shaft engine, with a 10-in. dia. aluminum plate at the bottom of the engine. The plate spins and comes in contact with a rubber wheel on top of the transmission to drive the unit. The engine slides back and forth for gear selection. "There's a lever on the right side of the cart. When you push the lever forward it slides the engine over, causing a wheel to come in contact with the bottom of the plate to drive it," says Willenborg. "First gear is close to the center of the plate, and fourth gear is all the way to the outside of the plate. To put the transmission in neutral, the lever sets in the middle of the plate so that it doesn't turn. When I pull back on the lever the engine slides over the top of the transmission wheel, so I go in reverse." Although Willenborg regards the unit as a collector's item, he has tried mowing with it. "It's kind of weird how it's set up, because of how the cart is bolted to the mower. The cart doesn't follow behind like a trailer because of an X-shaped angle iron brace. To make a right hand turn you push the mower's handle to the left, and the cart you're sitting on actually swings out to the left to follow. It has about a 24-in. dia. turning radius. I can't believe how sharp it turns." Surprisingly, Willenborg had no trouble finding information on the Loafer. "When the recoil starter on it broke I went to my local Lawn Boy dealer for a replacement starter, and was surprised to find they had quite a bit of information on the mower. They looked it up on microfiche and made some printouts for me." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Jeff Willenborg, 803 Sixth Ave. S.E., Dyersville, Iowa 52040 (ph 563 543-6369).

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