1995 - Volume #19, Issue #1, Page #08
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Self-Powered Pull-Behind Mower
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The mower deck is off a 1956 Deere and he powers it with an 8 hp. Briggs & Stratton with electric starter. Parts of the frame are from an old JC Penny mower.
The axle and wheels came off a junked garden tractor and he made the tongue out of scrap metal. He also made his own exhaust system for the mower because he wanted to keep the noise down. By using a bigger muffler and redirecting exhaust downward, he was able to keep it relatively quiet.
"I can hear it start and I can hear the engine rev up, but I have to listen carefully to hear it after that," he says.
He mounted a pto lever behind the driver's seat which engages the mower deck. He constructed a small control panel around the pto lever for the ignition switch and throttle.
He put the wheels ahead of the engine and widened them out more than he would have had to in order to keep the 150-lb. unit stable on steep hillsides.
An electric screw jack raises and lowers the deck. To unhook, he drops it all the way down to the ground, which raises the jack, then he pulls a pin and drives away.
A 12-volt battery mounts on top of the unit to run the starter.
Reisner pulls the mower behind his 18-year-old 10-hp. Cub Cadet lawn tractor with a 42-in. deck. In second gear, it used to take 2 1/2 hrs. to mow 2 1/2 acres of lawn. The add-on deck cut mowing time nearly in half and reduced fuel consumption to nearly half by the Cub Cadet. The Sidewinder uses just "two cups" of gas for the 2.5 acres.
It cost just $60 to build the mower from used parts. Reisner is considering putting plans together for the unit.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Ronald Reisner, Rt. 1, Fountain, Minn. 55935 (ph 507 268-4384).
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