Tow Behind Mower

[Dougryan]

Hi,
Well, I needed a little more mowing power and didn't want to spend a bunch on a larger lawn tractor/deck. I decided to get a regular walk behind mower from craigs list and connect it to my tractor for an extra ~20" of width.

I found a 22" MTD mower in pretty good shape. The B&S motor ran well, but the guy said that after awhile it runs rough and eventually stalls out. I figured maybe there's an issue with the air cleaner, maybe the carb is all gummed up, perhaps a new spark plug would be the answer... regardless, I figured it was going to be a pretty easy (cheap) fix. As I researched the motor, I found that it used the B&S "Pulsa-Prime" carb and that these are notorious for having problems related to the diaphram part of the carb wearing out. A simple fix, the part goes for between $4 and $8 depending on where you shop. My local Lowes had the kit for $4.50. 15 minutes later, the motor was starting and running fine. Step 1 done.

Step two was to get rid of the mower handle. Don't want to tow the mower behind my tractor with a big handle sticking up. Of course the problem with that is that the handle includes a holder for the recoil starter handle and also the lever that pulls the flywheel brake and grounds/ungrounds the coil allowing the motor to start and shut down. The recoil starter was easy. I marked the rope near the motor housing, pulled it out a couple of feet, slid the puller handle down past the mark, tied a new knot at the mark, cut off the extra rope, and pulled the rope/knot back into the handle. I figured I could live without the brake, so I drilled out the pivot that held that on and removed it. Most of the force on the lever was pulling against that brake spring. Attached to that spring arm was also the electrical connection that grounded the coil to shut the engine off. I drilled a hole in the plactic cover and installed a simple toggle switch instead. I test stated the motor and was able to shut it down using my new switch. Handle removed. Step 2 done.

Since I had already installed a 1 1/4" receiver hitch on my tractor for another purpose, I decided to use a regular receiver ball mount to build the linkage from the tractor to the push mower. The lawn tractor already has a 42" deck, so I needed to offset the mower. My design is a simple offset bar with a small length of chain connecting the mower.

After building this, I did a test drive. Works fine on straight runs, but when the tractor turns, the 4 wheels on the push mower make it want to continue straight. The chain is attached to the offset hitch slightly above the level where it is connected to the deck, so it actually pulls up slightly and the front wheels slide to get it back on track, but it does seem to have a mind of it's own.

I have some actual pictures that I will share, but I'd like some help designing a linkage that would keep the tow mower in better control. I do want to use this along the road where there is a moderate slope. I think that gravity would have more control over the tow mower than I want...

And of course, I ran out of mig wire and need to swing by harbor freight before I can finish welding everything and paint it. Everything is tack welded now and was good enough for a test run

What do you think?
Thanks,
Doug

 

[classacthollow]

Put four swivel casters on it and add a frame across the top to support them like they do with a 3 point finish mower. Just a thought.

 

[CNC Dan]

.....
And of course, I ran out of mig wire and need to swing by harbor freight before I can finish welding everything and paint it.

What do you think?
Thanks,
Doug

I think you need to get your mig wire from anywhere else but HF.

and i like the extra mower idea.
I look forward to seeing more pics when it's all done.

 

[clayhardock]

If you are going to "tow" it like a trailer(with a pivot at the back of the tractor) then the front wheels need to be swivel castors and the rear need to non-swiveling.
This will make the mower track in a straight direction when going straight. If all 4 swivel then the mower will go all over the place.

If its going to be solidly mounted at the back of the tractor, like a 3pt implement, then all 4 wheels needs to swivel to prevent the wheels from skidding.

I have a 60" swisher tow behind mower setup just like in your pic. Google "swisher mower" and you will see lots of pics/vidoes of theses mower that you can use as an example.

 

[Dougryan]

Not sure I want to change up the wheels. I did find a front caster wheel kit that bolts on in place of the stock wheels, but that's $60. There is the option to buy some casters and weld up a frame for them.
The mower is pretty light and I'm ok with the front wheels skidding around turns. Just want to keep it under control behind the tractor. I currently have a water skier back there.

I'm thinking about replacing the chain with two rigid arms. Like the chain, they would be mounted to the tractor above the mounting point on the mower deck, so pulling forward would also have a slight upward pull. Any resistance from the ground while turning, would result in a lift and pull force. That would help the front wheels get around. The rear ones continue to drag along. No problem there.

More thoughts?

 

[CNC Dan]

Use a single arm ridgidly mounted to the mower, piviot mounted to the arm on the tractor. Ditch the front wheels on the mower.

 

[BukitCase]

I think that if you ditch the front wheels, you'll get too much height variation.

I have one of the Swishers also - you already weld, it shouldn't be too tricky to dupe the front casters. Check out the pix here

Swisher Finish Cut Tow-Behind Mower with Electric Start — 540cc Briggs & Stratton Engine, 66in. Deck, Model# FC2066BS | Trail Mowers| Northern Tool + Equipment

Bit of square or rectangular tube, couple pieces of nesting pipe, some flat bar (welded, unless you have a plasma and a fairly heavy bending setup) - drill a couple holes, done... Steve

 

[Sysop]

A guy I know experimented a bit with similar ideas and ended up a bit different from most.

He had a small garden tractor with a pretty sturdy brush guard on it. He made a frame that attached to the right side of the frame of the tractor in front of, and behind the front wheel, with a third stabilizing member coming off the top of the brush guard. He mounted the framework to support the left side of the pushmower deck where the pushmower's left wheels would have went, he even left the height adjustment mechs in place. He also made the connection point hinge some for going over uneven ground. He replaced the right side wheels of the pushmower deck with swivel casters. He moved the eye bolt from the handle of the push mower that held the starting cord to the side of the tractor where he could reach it from the seat, and changed the pushmower's shut-off handle for an old choke control knob from an old pickup he'd had and mounted it to the operators console of the tractor. He cut the mounts for the handle off the pushmower deck and smoothed it out and painted it all up. It turned out to be a very slick setup.

 

[Dougryan]

As promised, here are some pics of the actual setup. I was planning to weld the chain to the cross bar and weld up a quick bracket on the mower deck, but ran out of wire so I had to bolt things up for now.

The small plastic cover on the back is where the flywheel brake and cut-off switch were. Pulled them both and added my own toggle to shut off the motor.

Doug