Lets see some custom lawnmower cutting/hauling setups

[Hank Chinaski]

Heres my 1974 Case 446. Gonna put some fluid in the rears and try it out this winter.View attachment 205053

here's my old Case's... great little tractors!

 

[fffrosty72]

View attachment 205232

Just gave the 72' Sears custom 10 to my brother inlaw, that little yellow bastard can PULL!!

The JD is a 96' and the hydro is so nice, mows great and has pulled some dirt and wood in a little trailer, haven't really tested it out pulling yet.

 

[EZRYDER]

Thanks for the input guys! Whitespider- You have changed my course. Now another query

What about changing the tires to real tractor tires instead of turf savers? The guy I bought them from did say they were't real good with traction and I will not be using it to cut grass. I have a path planned all around my property which is not lawn. My tires are in great shape. Do you think I can find a way to swap them or sell and then buy the ones with better traction? What do you call the "non-turf savers"? Here are some pics. I did't get the cart. He sold it to someone else before I got to him.

 

[EZRYDER]

Forgot to thank Chopperfreak

Sorry Chopper, because of you AND whitespider I will be changing my tires instead of the engine. Any help as to how to do that for little money would be appreciated.

 

[danrclem]

I bought this Husqvarna PZ5426FX last weekend. It's a commercial mower that they've had out since 2010 (I think). It's a heavy duty unit and weighs in at 1,260 lbs. I don't have much time on it but it cuts very well and is very fast. It's supposed to mow at 11 mph but I'll never be able to go that fast while mowing even though it has a suspension seat that makes the ride smoother. I plan on mounting a ball on the back of it so that I can pull my splitter with it. I have Husqvarna saws but I really didn't set out to buy a Husqvarna mower but with the price and quality I just couldn't turn this one down.

I had a Craftsman garden tractor that my wife burned up. I mean that literally too. It caught on fire and destroyed it.

 

[chopperfreak2k1]

With small tractors such as these it really ain't so much about the horsepower, it's about traction first and gearing second. If you spin a wheel pulling a heavy load then your tractor already has more HP and torque then it can put on the ground... you have to find a way to put that wasted power on the ground... and adding more HP won't help at all. If your tractor can't get the load moving, pull it up hill, or over rough ground without smoking the belt and killing the engine you need lower gearing... more HP will just chew up the belt faster.

Back in the day they made two types of "yard" tractors...
One was called a "Lawn Tractor", usually a bit lighter built and higher geared, cost less money and mostly intended for mowing yards. There may have been a limited selection of attachments, such as a snow blower for doing the driveway.
The second type was called a "Garden Tractor", they were built heavier and cost more money. Usually there was a long list of attachments... just about anything available for full size tractors, including loaders, plows and whatnot. All these attachments needed power to work, and by supplying lower gearing the operator could balance the percentage of power required by the drive wheels... leaving more power for the attachment. It also allowed the tractor move slowly at full throttle when required, such as using the garden tiller attachment... using full throttle to power the tiller but in low gear the tracker moved at a snails pace, leaving near 100% of the power for the tiller. The low gearing was often a real transmission (instead of some slip-pulley design) with more gears (maybe 7 or 8 instead of 3 or 4), or like my old Sears Custom XL, it had a two-speed axle that allowed super-low gearing throughout the full range of the transmission, including reverse.

Either way, adding a couple more HP to your tractor won't make enough difference to justify the expense and effort.

very well put!

here's my old Case's... great little tractors!

the closest one in the pic, is that a 448? and what was it repowered with? them big case's are awesome machines!

 

[chopperfreak2k1]

What about changing the tires to real tractor tires instead of turf savers? The guy I bought them from did say they were't real good with traction and I will not be using it to cut grass. I have a path planned all around my property which is not lawn. My tires are in great shape. Do you think I can find a way to swap them or sell and then buy the ones with better traction? What do you call the "non-turf savers"? Here are some pics. I did't get the cart. He sold it to someone else before I got to him.

yes you can change the rear tires for better traction and even front tires for better steering in most cases. i'm fairly certain you can find AG tires (agricultural tread sometimes called bar tires) for the rear of your tractor. these will improve traction, but maybe a cheaper option for you would be tire chains. you don't have to remove the rims, you don't have to break the tires off of the rims etc. thats what i would do in your situation. and IMHO i think chains bite harder than AG's. and usually chains are a bit cheaper.

another thing you can do to improve traction is to add weight. you can buy and install wheel weights if your rims were made to accept them. you can also "load" your tires. this is when you let the air out of your tires and fill them with liquid such as automotive windsheild washer fliud, RV anti-freeze, oil, etc. then refill them with air. the most important thing to keep in mind when adding weight to any tractor is to keep the weight on the wheels as much as you can. every rearend is rated for a certain amount of weight. this is the weight the axles can carry reliably. if you keep the added weight on the wheels it doesn't count against the axle limitations because the axles don't have to "carry" or shoulder the weight, the tire does it all.

if when you've added traction and weight to the rear of your tractor you notice the front wheels no longer steer as well as they did before you can install tri-rib tires on the front as these are very good for steering traction. you can also add wheel weights if applicable and/or load the tires.

keep us informed of what you decide!

 

[Whitespider]

What about changing the tires to real tractor tires instead of turf savers? The guy I bought them from did say they were't real good with traction…

I think you’re being too quick to spend money. I wouldn’t change anything until I tried pulling what I wanted it to pull… maybe it’ll be just fine the way it is. I would caution you though… that’s a fairly light-duty tractor and if you start increasing traction and loading the transaxle may not hold up. A lot of those light-duty mowers don’t even have bearings in the transaxle, just machined bosses in the case that the shafts/gears/etc. rotate in.

 

[Agnes]

Here are pics of my little tractor setup

Here a couple pics of my setup.

View attachment 205371View attachment 205372

 

[jags]

Think my next project will be building a maneuverable, low trailer for getting rounds from tight spaces quickly back to the truck.

Naaa...don't do it, it will never pull the weight.:msp_biggrin:
(thats about 4000 pounds of white oak.)
View attachment 205403

 

[Whitespider]

Naaa...don't do it, it will never pull the weight.:msp_biggrin:
(thats about 4000 pounds of white oak.)
View attachment 205403

My old Sears/Craftsman would pull it...
In fact, it's pulled more than that.

 

[jags]

My old Sears/Craftsman would pull it...
In fact, it's pulled more than that.

It was a lame joke. That is about the same tractor as Nuzzy's and it will yank that trailer all over. That is not my normal setup, I was just using it to move around the yard. They really don't get much tougher than the old Allis Chalmers/international/case/Bolans,etc. The old skool garden tractors were built pretty rigid.

 

[EZRYDER]

You guys sound right again

I haven't even tried to pull anything yet! Jumping the gun again. Better wait till I fix my chain, brakes and sloppy steering before I crash into something else (crashed into a gate and broke my chain trying to go through a gate in a turn with no brakes and about ten inches of play on the steering wheel). Grill out getting welded. Cracks where it is bolted to the chassis. Going to fix cracks in seat with DAP black silicone caulk. More news later.

 

[zogger]

It was a lame joke. That is about the same tractor as Nuzzy's and it will yank that trailer all over. That is not my normal setup, I was just using it to move around the yard. They really don't get much tougher than the old Allis Chalmers/international/case/Bolans,etc. The old skool garden tractors were built pretty rigid.

--my wheel horse pulled my full size factory camper high top chevy van home when it broke down up the street. 6700 lbs, chained it up, drove away.

 

[Nuzzy]

It was a lame joke. That is about the same tractor as Nuzzy's and it will yank that trailer all over.

Love it! I'm looking for another old Allis/Simplicity to buy. I'm tired of changing implements Figure I'll have one with plow and one with blower during winter, and then one woods tractor while the other mows come summer. Of course, why stop at two... :biggrinbounce2:

 

[zogger]

deals

Love it! I'm looking for another old Allis/Simplicity to buy. I'm tired of changing implements Figure I'll have one with plow and one with blower during winter, and then one woods tractor while the other mows come summer. Of course, why stop at two... :biggrinbounce2:

--if you can find deals, that's cool. It's finding the deals that is hard, to have multiple garden tractors. I have found that the old good quality garden tractors are being bought up by the richer "collectors" (same like saws, barn queens, shelf queens, used for shows mostly) and there aren't near as many deals out there now as there was even ten years ago. It is almost to the point I am thinking why bother, for near the same money used for a garden tractor, one of the good makes and models, you can bump right up to a used still good running or don't need much full size tractor. Like day in and out you can find old still running good some number n fords out there, usually with a few implements, for a grand to fifteen hundred. Or a used 4x4 truck for that matter, just rig it for offroad use only, don't register it or insure it, ain't needed just on your own property, just put some mambo mudders on it or chains, etc and haul away.

Ya, it's neat to do real work cool stuff with the little guys, but economics is economics, too. So it is really a crapshoot finding decent ones for cheap in order to have many multiples with dedicated implements and tasks. Same with those ATVs, I see what guys drop on them and geez....$$$$ nuts, I'll take a cab and a heater and big bed for that sort of loot. Heck, you can get a good used backhoe and front loader for what one of those ATV quads cost.

I was thinking back..coolest smallish wood hauler I ever saw was some old hippie friends of mine on a big farm/commune place (talking olden daze here) had a ford Model A with a factory (I sure think it was factory, but maybe I am wrong on that) tractor conversion kit. It got used *all* the time for all sorts of real work, including as a log skidder. It was spiffy. Reliable, too. That sucker would crank any temperature, and got left parked outside all the time, rain or snow or shine.

 

[EZRYDER]

You are RIGHT ON Zogger!

It is that kind of thinking that sets you apart from the crowd. I am sure this has made you successful in whatever you do. I try to think the same "out of the box" way and have done pretty well with it and keep on trying. I am not wealthy but am doing a lot better than I might have otherwise by not letting the conventional thinkers get in the way of my original thoughts. Many laugh at my methods because they are different but my attitude is always that I have a better idea and don't care about what anyone thinks unless I agree with it! That is what makes for success and you keep at it!
EZRYDER

 

[tomsteve]

Love it! I'm looking for another old Allis/Simplicity to buy. I'm tired of changing implements Figure I'll have one with plow and one with blower during winter, and then one woods tractor while the other mows come summer. Of course, why stop at two... :biggrinbounce2:

http://nmi.craigslist.org/grd/2677540049.html
is this a deal?

 

[Whitespider]

I’m not thinking that’s a great deal tomsteve, but it’s a fair price for an old lawn mower without the lawn mowing attachment I supose. That’s a pretty light duty tractor… the give-a-way is the small(ish) rear drive wheels, the stamped steel step-through frame and the minimal 3-speed transmission... basically a lawn mower. I don’t think that’s the type of machine zogger was talking about. Back in the late 50’s, the 60’s, and even the early 70’s, several companies built little “Garden Tractors” that were just as well engineered and built as the larger, full-size tractors. They had heavy solid steel frames, heavy solid or forged steel front axles, a “real” transmission and rear axle. A few were powered by little two, three and four cylinder gas or diesel engines with direct hookup to the transmission and running gear (i.e., no belts or chains) Some had PTO’s, three-point hitches, hydraulics and even 4-wheel drive. They even have grease zerks at all the wear points. Just about anything you could attach to a full-size tractor was available in miniature version… bottom plows, discs, augers, loaders, planters, cultivators… plus things like garden tillers, snow blowers, mowers and such. They were used to “farm” a garden, or gardens… gardens much larger than most suburban yards are today… and, as a secondary function, they could also mow the grass if you purchased the mowing attachment (many were purchased without the mower, as the owner never intended to mow with it). They were actually built with “pulling” as one of the design features. They were heavy, solid machines… one man could not pick up the front or rear by himself, unless he was a really good man.

Except for a few rare and very expensive examples, those types of machines haven’t been manufactured for decades now… and they’ve become increasingly valuable as the tractor collectors buy them up. Now-a-days they just make glorified lawn mowers and call them “tractors”… cheap vertical crankshaft shaft engines, some sort of flimsy transaxle (many without bearings), and stamped steel construction… heck, you can’t even buy one without a belly-mower attached and most can be picked up and carried by two average guys. Once the mower deck craps-out they ain’t worth much… ‘cause what else are they good for? The cheap transaxle won’t support any significant weight without bending or breaking, and if you load them too much the lack of bearings just wears them out in no-time-flat. The front axles and steering will fold-over if ya’ abuse it in any way. Even the belt-drive system has plastic pulleys and parts. One thing is for sure… ain’t no way you’re gonna’ hook on to a full size trailer full of firewood and pull it out’a the woods… at least, not for very long.

 

[tomsteve]

I’m not thinking that’s a great deal tomsteve, but it’s a fair price for an old lawn mower without the lawn mowing attachment I supose. That’s a pretty light duty tractor… the give-a-way is the small(ish) rear drive wheels, the stamped steel step-through frame and the minimal 3-speed transmission... basically a lawn mower. I don’t think that’s the type of machine zogger was talking about. Back in the late 50’s, the 60’s, and even the early 70’s, several companies built little “Garden Tractors” that were just as well engineered and built as the larger, full-size tractors. They had heavy solid steel frames, heavy solid or forged steel front axles, a “real” transmission and rear axle. A few were powered by little two, three and four cylinder gas or diesel engines with direct hookup to the transmission and running gear (i.e., no belts or chains) Some had PTO’s, three-point hitches, hydraulics and even 4-wheel drive. They even have grease zerks at all the wear points. Just about anything you could attach to a full-size tractor was available in miniature version… bottom plows, discs, augers, loaders, planters, cultivators… plus things like garden tillers, snow blowers, mowers and such. They were used to “farm” a garden, or gardens… gardens much larger than most suburban yards are today… and, as a secondary function, they could also mow the grass if you purchased the mowing attachment (many were purchased without the mower, as the owner never intended to mow with it). They were actually built with “pulling” as one of the design features. They were heavy, solid machines… one man could not pick up the front or rear by himself, unless he was a really good man.

Except for a few rare and very expensive examples, those types of machines haven’t been manufactured for decades now… and they’ve become increasingly valuable as the tractor collectors buy them up. Now-a-days they just make glorified lawn mowers and call them “tractors”… cheap vertical crankshaft shaft engines, some sort of flimsy transaxle (many without bearings), and stamped steel construction… heck, you can’t even buy one without a belly-mower attached and most can be picked up and carried by two average guys. Once the mower deck craps-out they ain’t worth much… ‘cause what else are they good for? The cheap transaxle won’t support any significant weight without bending or breaking, and if you load them too much the lack of bearings just wears them out in no-time-flat. The front axles and steering will fold-over if ya’ abuse it in any way. Even the belt-drive system has plastic pulleys and parts. One thing is for sure… ain’t no way you’re gonna’ hook on to a full size trailer full of firewood and pull it out’a the woods… at least, not for very long.

gotcha. i've been lookin to come across and old wheel horse or ford myself. seems when i see em i dont have the money and when i have the money the price is pretty crazy.