Hillside Riding Lawn Mower

Hillside riding lawn mower FARM HOME Lawn Mowers (31h,38) 14-4-10 Rick Clow, Princeton, Minn., built a 5-ft. wide "hillside" riding lawn mower from junk parts that lets him safely mow side-ways across steep hills and roadsides. The mower is equipped with rear steering tires (8-in. dia. wheel rims), and front "snowgrip" tires (15-in. dia. wheel rims) mounted right up against back of the deck and flush with its sides. Solid rubber caster wheels in front support the deck. "I had been using a Bolens articulated riding mower equipped with a 40-in. wide deck, but it had only 30 inches of space between the wheels which made it tippy on side hills. The front drive wheels on my mower are large and set far enough apart that I can mow sideways across hills without fear of tipping it. It cuts smooth enough that I can use it on my lawn as well as on ditches and banks, and it's heavy enough that I can hit a concrete cistern with it and not hurt a thing. I built it for less than $1,000," says Clow. The mower is powered by an 18 hp 2-cylinder Wisconsin baler engine. A pto shaft extends from the engine to a 90? gearbox on the deck. The 3-speed trans-mission, flywheel, starter, steering gear-box, front drive axle, and wheels are from a 1972 Chevrolet Vega. Clow cut the centers out of the wheels and welded them into 15-in. dia. rims from Ford pick-ups. The 8-gal. fuel tank is under the seat which Clow borrowed from a boat. The steering wheel is from the pickup. The swivel wheels on the mower deck can be adjusted up or down by turning a pair of T-handles mounted on threaded rods. Clow bolted three wheel hubs underneath the deck and bolted spindles, removed from a Rambler car, onto them. He then bolted a blade onto each spindle. "The spindles spin inside the stationary wheel hubs, and have tapered roller bearings which are greaseable and adjustable," notes Clow. "The center blade is slightly in front of the other blades so they all overlap without touching each other." Clow built the deck from 14 ga. sheet metal and welded 1 1/2-in. angle iron around its base. He welded 1/4-in. thick, 2 by 2-in. angle iron across the front of the deck. "The deck is built heavy enough that I can grade a hump in the lawn right off level. I left the rear end of the deck open so that grass discharges at the rear instead of at the side. It eliminates the need for a side shield." Clow uses a hydraulic cylinder from a 1974 Chevrolet truck to lift the deck. He can also raise the entire deck, allowing him to work on the blades or to put all of the deck's weight on the drive wheels to keep from getting stuck. The cylinder is powered by a hydraulic pump removed from a Deere swather. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Richard Clow, Box 145, Princeton, Minn. 55371 (ph 612 389-5284).

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