The Dam mower - 09/22/14 07:11 PM
Mowing the front side of the dam has been an ongoing issue for me. I have spent a lot of time trying to come up with a better answer than weed eating half of a football field. Found this video on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Grxc5Foytos Redneck genius.
So bought a couple of steel plates , an 8 foot piece of pipe, a bit of chain and a few nuts and bolts and went to work.
1st step was to reinforce the walk-behind mower deck. Of course the mower deck was contoured and it took a little hacksawing to make the steel plates fit, but it was worth the effort because that mower going to take some abuse. Add a big bolt and cut off a small piece of the pipe as a riser and it’s done. Attached the pipe the towing mower to the walk-behind and a bit a chain and ready to try it out.
Fired up both mowers and let her rip. Handling is a little squirrelly. Let me tell you this isn’t precision mowing. Judging exactly where that walk-behind mower is going is part guessing, it does move around a bit. Going slow is the only way. That just was as well because any hole in the ground is certain to have a wheel fall in it. Only had one hole that was too deep and hung up the mower. Otherwise the mower just popped right out.
Turning….better plan that well in advance, it gets interesting when you pull the walk-behind mower up and around to the other side of the dam. I quickly figured that it was only a matter of time before running over the chain. So a couple of bungee cords on each of the chain fixed the problem.
If you are tempted to try out this redneck mowing, let me tell you that turning on a slope gets exciting and probably a little dangerous. That walk-behind mower is putting a lot of leverage on your towing mower. A couple of times I had the front end coming up. Going slow is your friend. Avoid turning if the towing unit is on a slope. Staying on top of the dam is a good idea.
I am going to add an adjustable extension pipe and try to add another 5 or 6 feet. Have some doubts that it can be extended that far. My zero turn mower probably can’t handle that much leverage in making turns.
This little project was a lot fun and has solved a problem for me. It not pretty (actually it is very crude) but it did the job. Feel free to tell me how to improve this redneck mowing.
So bought a couple of steel plates , an 8 foot piece of pipe, a bit of chain and a few nuts and bolts and went to work.
1st step was to reinforce the walk-behind mower deck. Of course the mower deck was contoured and it took a little hacksawing to make the steel plates fit, but it was worth the effort because that mower going to take some abuse. Add a big bolt and cut off a small piece of the pipe as a riser and it’s done. Attached the pipe the towing mower to the walk-behind and a bit a chain and ready to try it out.
Fired up both mowers and let her rip. Handling is a little squirrelly. Let me tell you this isn’t precision mowing. Judging exactly where that walk-behind mower is going is part guessing, it does move around a bit. Going slow is the only way. That just was as well because any hole in the ground is certain to have a wheel fall in it. Only had one hole that was too deep and hung up the mower. Otherwise the mower just popped right out.
Turning….better plan that well in advance, it gets interesting when you pull the walk-behind mower up and around to the other side of the dam. I quickly figured that it was only a matter of time before running over the chain. So a couple of bungee cords on each of the chain fixed the problem.
If you are tempted to try out this redneck mowing, let me tell you that turning on a slope gets exciting and probably a little dangerous. That walk-behind mower is putting a lot of leverage on your towing mower. A couple of times I had the front end coming up. Going slow is your friend. Avoid turning if the towing unit is on a slope. Staying on top of the dam is a good idea.
I am going to add an adjustable extension pipe and try to add another 5 or 6 feet. Have some doubts that it can be extended that far. My zero turn mower probably can’t handle that much leverage in making turns.
This little project was a lot fun and has solved a problem for me. It not pretty (actually it is very crude) but it did the job. Feel free to tell me how to improve this redneck mowing.