Xtreme Mower Mayhem

this is my first monster tractor build i have gotten a free john deere 185 hydro it has a kawasaki 17 hp ohv motor im going to make a straight pipe for it and have made a dual K&N air intake and a dual stage air filter on giving it about 22 hp i not sure how to get power to the rear axle once it is lifted  and whats a good hight to lift it to

It is hard to get good speed out of a hydro by changing pulleys. check some of the pics on this site for the chain drive.  this keeps the tx in the stock location and you can do the speed change with the sprockets, costs a little more. i put a hydro in this thing and the controls work different than a stock hydro. on a mower you go full throttle and work the hydro pedel to change the speed, this thing you have to open the hydro and cotrol speed with the gas. hydro pumps do have a speed limit. when you turn them too fast, they quit pumping. kinda like floating the valves on a car motor. might be able to put in stiffer springs, not sure. have not looked into upgrades.

Once the body is lifted, there are several types of drive systems. One idea is to keep the tranny mounted between the rear wheels, then mount a bearing where the stock location of the tranny was. Above the bearing is the pulley in its stock location, build a shaft that connects the bearing to the top of the tranny in its new location. Actually all you made is an tranny extention with a bearig on top.

thanks for answers but im not looking for speed mabe 10mph tops would it be possible to put a diffrent rear end on it  and a manual 5 speed transmission if  someone could  post pictures of the chain drive set up and the transmisson set up kel anthony mentiond it would help

if you go to the monster mowers link and look at the 2nd pic, you will see one with the chain drive. not really a "how to " pic but it will give you an idea, I think your hydro has a horizontal input shaft so the chain drive might be a better set up. you should get close to your 10mph target just by putting on big tires

thanks

I was gonna mention hydros dont like to be spun fast- theyre not good for high speed setups.

For a lifted setup possibly a small peerless ( kind with lower input and side output) with a chain to a jackshaft, then chains down to sprockets on the axle- straight axle would be hard to steer, but locating a differential type axle would work fine.

Has anyone considered building a Hydraulic Drive system? IE: Pump, Fluid Lines and Hydraulic motor(s)? This would take the worry out of over-revving a hydrostatic unit, and pulley size/alingment issues, and give more options for speed selections. See www.hydraulicinnovations.com for what I'm talking about. I saw a commercial mower that uses this type system to run the blades, if it cah spin them, it can spin tires! HoooWeee!

Probably the cost is the factor with the hydraulic setup- unless y have acress to stuff like that- pretty much everything is expensive doing that.

Now i think of it, i think one guy used a zero turn mower and made it a 4x4 using the hydraulics from the rear:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN92bwjVUmM

hydrostatics are good for torque but you can never go wrong with a cheap peerless tranny or some other lawn tractor brand that is standard with a clutch pulley or some other way of a clutch they work th ebest and are easy to make fast hydrostatics i find are a bit touchy for fixing up and making go fast

I have a lone stock hydrostatic murray- came with no deck.

Im thinking of making a spare MTD deck i have fit it to mow with it- to me its a different tractor totally to drive, speically since all my others are standards/shift on the flys - weird n cool at the same time, specially with the big twin 17HP briggs on it.

The Monster Mower build rules are on the Monster Mower Page---- BUT, its not all about speed. We also build for show and we have a Monster Mower with a Hydro-tranny. Good torque for pulling people out of the weeds. ooo-on a side note: I'm almost finished designing a 6 X 6 monster mower.....6 wheel - 6 wheel drive. Actually been spending alot of time drawing and redrawing, its been about 2 years in the making, ha ha ha

i am wanting to put the top end of a small block chevy on top of my rat rod tractor like the one on the photo gallery 08-09 hall of fame got any suggestions

Id say make a metal frame of angle to mount the intake/ valve covers - if y mount it to the hood- itll weigh a ton, id say cut a hole in it , and run support pieces down to the frame over the motor.

they make plastic dummy engines for mock-up on race cars. you could get one and trim the top half off then put zoomie headers and chrome valve covers and mabe even an old junk holley carb witha air cleaner

Im searching for a way to lift my rider just a little bit, and was wondering how to do it? any help would be appreicated.

crazy mike at 02:58PM on Feb 06, 2010

Im searching for a way to lift my rider just a little bit, and was wondering how to do it? any help would be appreicated.

id probably biuld a subframe like the monster mowers just not as tall for a little bit of lift. id bet it'd be safer that way

I agree with wizzard- i saw a 4x4 lawntractor build once and it was scarey looking - had some good ideas tho- but the lift was a lil less then desirable- like it would fall apart just looking at it.

A good square tubing sub chassis would be a sturdy  start- a 'lil' lift has some vagueness about it.

When y do a lift, youll want to widen the stance some so its not so tipsy around corners.