Customized Riding Mower

Customized Riding Mower FARM HOME Lawn Mowers (31h,38) 18-6-8 With a couple of home-built improvements, Wisconsin farmer Larry Gostomski turned his Walker riding mower into one of the most useful ma-chines on his farm. He added a side cutting deck to the mower to increase cutting width and also fitted it with a dumping rock hopper that he uses for picking rocks out of fields. "I bought a 42-in. Walker riding mower along with an extra 36-in. deck which I attached to the side of the mower, giving it a total cutting width of 74 in. The outer end of the add-on deck pivots up and down about 40?. I use the double deck mower to cut all my grass as well as about 3/4 mile of roadside. It also works good for cutting under low hanging tree branches, especially evergreens. "The side cutter attaches in less than a minute and comes off in 30 seconds with no pins, cotter keys, clips, bolts or wrenches needed. Just connect up two spring-loaded buttons and a spring loaded idler pulley for the drivebelt and it's ready to go. "I have about 140 hrs. on the side cut-ter now and have worked out all the bugs. It's easy to maneuver and enjoyable to operate." Gostomski's dumping rock hopper mounts on top of the front deck carrier with the deck removed. It dumps electrically with an electric screw actuator that mounts on the side of the bucket. "One person can drive the tractor, filling the bucket with rocks, and then dump onto a low trailer. This small tractor is perfect for the job because it's so easy to get on and off. Much faster than walking around the field and putting rocks onto a trailer by hand. "The dump bucket fits right onto the front assembly with no pins or bolts. It just locks into place and you hook up the electrical wiring. Works great." - Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Larry Gostomski, N14864 Bachelors Ave., Thorp, Wis. 54771 (ph 715 669-3888).

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