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"Supermower" Cuts 3-Acre Lawn in 1 1/2 Hours
Jule Jacobson built a zero turn radius lawn mower out of an old hydrostatic drive swather that he says is much more maneuverable than any mower he's ever used be-fore.
The "Supermower", as Jacobson calls it, was on exhibit at the recent Minnesota Inventors Congress at Redwood Falls, Minn. He started with a 1983 O
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"Supermower" Cuts 3-Acre Lawn in 1 1/2 Hours MOWERS Mowers (31H) 22-4-28 Jule Jacobson built a zero turn radius lawn mower out of an old hydrostatic drive swather that he says is much more maneuverable than any mower he's ever used be-fore.
The "Supermower", as Jacobson calls it, was on exhibit at the recent Minnesota Inventors Congress at Redwood Falls, Minn. He started with a 1983 Owatonna 260 swather. Jacobson chose the Owatonna be-cause has hydrostatic drive and four wheels, which give it more stability than a three-wheel model. It's still powered by the original Ford 6-cyl. engine.
The body of the swather was lowered 13 in. to lower the center of gravity. Both rear and front drive wheel axles were narrowed by 38 in. so wheels would track inside the 7-ft. wide mower deck.
Jacobson bought a new Befco mower for the project. In order to push the mower ahead of the tractor (it can be either pushed or pulled), a 3-pt. hitch was fashioned out of flat iron and square tubing. It's equipped with a turnbuckle-style top link for height adjustment of up to 30 in. The two lift arms operate independently of each other to provide oscillation independent of the swather, allowing the mower to follow contour of the ground.
The Befco mower was ideal for the project because it's designed so you can put the drive gear on either side of the driven gear, depending on which direction the pto shaft turns. The swather's header drive rotates in the opposite direction of a tractor pto, Jacobson notes, so he just moved the gear to the opposite side.
"It's a big powerful, highly maneuverable rig that works perfectly," he says. "I can mow three acres in an hour and a half, which is big time savings compared with the 6-ft. Woods mower belly-mounted on an Allis C tractor I used before."
a Welding and fabrication of Jacobson's "Supermower" was done by Darrin Hatlevedt in his farm shop.
Out-of-pocket expense was $4,000. including $750 for the swather.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Jule Jacobson, P.O. Box 53, Porter, Minn. 56280 (ph 507 296-4514).
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