Made-It-Myself “Mower Bike”

2022 - Volume #46, Issue #4, Page #02

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Austin Litwiller of Hopedale, Ill., came up with a creative solution to a broken lawnmower. He was mowing the lot around his shop when he ran into a rut and took out the front axle.
    “I wasn’t as careful as I needed to be,” Litwiller says. “I was being a little too rough and broke the cast-iron front axle.”
    Other than the broken front axle, the mower still ran well so Litwiller faced the decision to weld the axle back together and reinforce it or try to find a new axle.
    “That’s when I began tossing around the idea of putting one wheel on the front of the mower,” Litwiller says. “I wasn’t sure if I would be able to avoid flipping over while mowing our ditches.
    “I had an old motorcycle without an engine sitting in the shed,” he says. “I can’t even remember what kind of bike it was. We cut the front part of the motorcycle off the frame to add it to the mower.”
    He and a friend took the front wheel apparatus up through the handlebars and the gas tank off the motorcycle. Once they took off the mower’s hood, he bolted some angle iron to the machine’s frame. Then, he welded the motorcycle parts to the angle iron.
    Putting it together that way made it easy to change back to a more traditional mower. He could simply unbolt the angle iron, take the motorcycle parts off, and put it back together.
    “We wired the headlight up to the wiring harness, and it was good to go. I also took the fenders off the back and added homemade ones instead.
    “I did have to modify the deck adjuster on the left,” Litwiller says. “I moved the forward–reverse pedal by extending the lever so I could have my foot pegs farther ahead as a motorcycle would.”
    The rear wheels are the same ones that came with the mower, but Litwiller spiffed them up to add to the motorcycle theme. He sanded the wheels down and added chrome paint to complete the picture.
    While he didn’t use the fuel tank from the motorcycle to power the mower, he says it wouldn’t be too hard to hook the cycle’s fuel tank to the mower. He says it wouldn’t be a bad idea because the bigger tank would allow him to mow for longer periods.
    Litwiller says the project took about three days. While it might take a little bit longer to mow than a traditional mower, he says it’s worth it just because of the attention it gets.
    “I haven’t been asked to make one for someone else yet, but plenty of people want to know where they could get one,” he says with a laugh. “It’s sort of funny that people don’t realize it’s homemade.
    “It still works well as a lawnmower,” he says. “The turning is a little different because that requires a few more points than it previously did because of the handlebars.”
    He’s not producing any for sale but says he loves to show it off to people who drive by or stop in.
    Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Austin Litwiller, 27601 West State Route 122, Hopedale, Ill. 61747 (ph 309-620-4095; checkenginesoon95@gmail.com).

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Made-It-Myself “Mower Bike” HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Mowers 38 Austin Litwiller of Hopedale Ill came up with a creative solution to a broken lawnmower He was mowing the lot around his shop when he ran into a rut and took out the front axle “I wasn’t as careful as I needed to be ” Litwiller says “I was being a little too rough and broke the cast-iron front axle ” Other than the broken front axle the mower still ran well so Litwiller faced the decision to weld the axle back together and reinforce it or try to find a new axle “That’s when I began tossing around the idea of putting one wheel on the front of the mower ” Litwiller says “I wasn’t sure if I would be able to avoid flipping over while mowing our ditches “I had an old motorcycle without an engine sitting in the shed ” he says “I can’t even remember what kind of bike it was We cut the front part of the motorcycle off the frame to add it to the mower ” He and a friend took the front wheel apparatus up through the handlebars and the gas tank off the motorcycle Once they took off the mower’s hood he bolted some angle iron to the machine’s frame Then he welded the motorcycle parts to the angle iron Putting it together that way made it easy to change back to a more traditional mower He could simply unbolt the angle iron take the motorcycle parts off and put it back together “We wired the headlight up to the wiring harness and it was good to go I also took the fenders off the back and added homemade ones instead “I did have to modify the deck adjuster on the left ” Litwiller says “I moved the forward–reverse pedal by extending the lever so I could have my foot pegs farther ahead as a motorcycle would ” The rear wheels are the same ones that came with the mower but Litwiller spiffed them up to add to the motorcycle theme He sanded the wheels down and added chrome paint to complete the picture While he didn’t use the fuel tank from the motorcycle to power the mower he says it wouldn’t be too hard to hook the cycle’s fuel tank to the mower He says it wouldn’t be a bad idea because the bigger tank would allow him to mow for longer periods Litwiller says the project took about three days While it might take a little bit longer to mow than a traditional mower he says it’s worth it just because of the attention it gets “I haven’t been asked to make one for someone else yet but plenty of people want to know where they could get one ” he says with a laugh “It’s sort of funny that people don’t realize it’s homemade “It still works well as a lawnmower ” he says “The turning is a little different because that requires a few more points than it previously did because of the handlebars ” He’s not producing any for sale but says he loves to show it off to people who drive by or stop in Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Austin Litwiller 27601 West State Route 122 Hopedale Ill 61747 ph 309-620-4095; checkenginesoon95@gmail com

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