Mower storage ,I've quickly made a mower rack for a shed to store 24 mowers ,all the metal I got for free as it was a kids play equipment (monkey bars) so all up cost to build is under $10. for welding rods.
I like to store old mowers with the wheels off the ground so the tyres don't get flat spots and the old plastic wheels won't crack.The mowers at the bottom I will store the mowers with the stronger wheels or I could use some bricks or wood under the bases of the lowest mowers.
There's a little more welding to do but just shows how easily you can recycle old metal for mower storage that won't take up a lot of room down one side of a shed.
Hi maxwestern, I used old metal shelving found on hard rubbish to allow three mowers on top of each other. Triples the capacity of one mower footprint. I've made up three of these so far.
That is on another level -excuse pun haha -can literally hold tonnes -well two anyway - of mowers with very little precious space taken up for the number of mowers you can fit. It looks safe too.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
That's all you need a few of those metal shelves if you don't have too many mowers.
I think I have scrapped most of my rear discharge Victa mowers from the seventies up ,good mowers but people are always giving them away just have to say no now :lol:.
On Gumtree there are a few Victa mowers for free in Wollongong, NSW.
Here I made most of my storage shelves out of those angle iron bed rails and reclaimed 3/4" plywood. I cut and welded mine but they probably can be bolted to together but require cross bracing as they would rack without it.
Welding will be at fix distance between shelves so some intermediate shelve might be add that just bolted in place so their distance can change by drilling new holes.
My shelving is on a 2' x 4' format with the height around 6'.
The only problem now is getting more rails as the scrapers are snatching up anything metal to sell.
Luckily I made the rack to be topless for maneuverability as it's quite heavy when complete ,I was thinking of bolting it all together so it would be easily moved but it's ok to move when the top is removed.
Added a few cross bracing to strengthen the shelves and fitted some lower legs to stop the rack from tipping over.
I don't think the rack is too heavy as it's got to hold half a ton on the 3 shelves and it's 11 foot long., the top shelf is probably stronger than it needed to be but I already had that part to start with just had to shorten the width of the monkey bars and the top shelf was done.
It may take a little while until I fill the rack as I have to fix the shed now ,the front door hinges need to be unseized and a few small leaks in the roof will be patched.
I set up a rack a few days ago in a shed up the back and then I carried 30 Victa motors all with cowlings on them and put them in the rack. I can't get a pic because my camera has failed to work anymore and I can't use the one on my phone
[quote=Mowerfreak]Hi maxwestern, so the top shelf is readily detachable for moving? Show us when you load it with mowers.[/quote]
Are you planning on storing complete mowers on your racks Max? I find manhandling mowers to be somewhat of a struggle even just lifting them on and off a trailer without using a ramp, mainly because they aren't grab-friendly items. Doubt I could get mowers up and down off your top two shelves on my own, at least not safely.
I know I'm blessed being able to store all of my fleet at ground level thanks to the surfeit of sheds that were on my rural property when I moved in.
I'd like to make an engine rack Norm but have too many motors.
Yes MowingManiac I will fill the shelves with complete mowers ,the top shelf is only 150 cm high .
A mower is about a bag and a half of cement (30kg) .I been lifting mowers over my head to carry into a shed for years so not an issue . The worst mowers I had to lift were 2 self propelled Honda mowers that I lifted onto the roof rack on the car ,also probably sounds strange but I've lifted about 4 ride on mowers onto the boot on my car ,only 2 ride on mowers had the engines in them ,one was an old Deutscher ride on ,then there was the 3 complete quad bikes I lifted into the boot .I just tied them down to the boot lid ,gas tank bracket and the tow bar.
To optimize the health of your body, you should be able to squat and deadlift ~1.5x your bodyweight, bench press ~1.25x your bodyweight, and overhead press ~0.75x your bodyweight.
I mostly don't wear gloves Mf then when I get home with the mower I see all the red backs under the mowers.Gloves are a good idea.
When I built up my wooden shelves, I deliberately made the first shelf just the right height that the front wheels reach the shelf while the rears are on the ground.
The only mowers I can lift above waist height is the little 16inch ones. Can lift a regular mower into the boot of a car easily enough. Problem in my case is due to a severe hereditary bone spur condition, I can't even squat lift anymore - a pointy spur (bone tumour) goes through the muscle about 3 inches above the left knee. I literally ran 5 steps 2 months ago, pierced it and fell down - couldn't walk for days. Pair that with the one under my left armpit (also pointy - can't lift my arm over my head if holding any weight) and it makes moving things around a real issue.
Whenever I squat or kneel down or get up, I am forever careful because it will just grab - fell over getting up from cleaning out a sprinkler head on sunday. I am starting to know how Norm felt before the hip replacement a few years back.
I see guys lifting 17in sb45 mowers in and I just cringe
Max, I would have well in excess of a hundred Victa motors here, which does include a pile of straight fueled ones I will never get to repair but who knows what the future holds. Once upon a time I could buy 2 FJ Holdens for $50 in the Trading Post with the heading "Build one out of the 2" Not suggesting the 2 stroke Victa will ever be that sought after but the world is a strange place
Yes that would be a problem if you can't lift the mowers Tyler ,if I couldn't lift the mowers I'd get a manual forklift ,I've seen second hand ones for $150. In a larger shed you could make an over head crane or possibly use a scissor lift table jack.
I haven't counted all the motors Norm but would not surprise me if they were over 200. Yes there were lots of bargains years ago if you held onto old cars ,I had a Holden subframe in the shed that I paid $50. for and sold for $2500.
The straight fueled motors you can bolt them to a face plate on the lathe and rebore them if demand for them goes up.
[quote=Mowerfreak]They will become a quaint artefact once they become scarce enough. They'll be like a Lister is now.[/quote]
Who knows Mf ,if everyone is using electric garden equipment in the future the vintage equipment may just end up as scrap metal.
Fixed the door hinges by drilling a hole and putting a 6 mm hose in the hinge then filled the hose with WD40.
I've put 23 Mowers on this rack so far ,I think I need to make another rack on the other side of the shed , one good thing about using the round steel for the rack was it cost nothing to cut (no grinding discs required) just used a pipe cutter.
If I make another I will probably use something completely different for the other rack only because I think I have some lengths of RHS to use up.
Yes didn't take long to fill up Mf , most of these mowers were stored for years in the backyard under corrugated iron so it's good to clear them out , now I can get to them ,I think there are about 4 mowers left in the back yard.
I needed to get the mowers into a shed as the Foxes were leaving dead animals on my mowers and crapping on them.
I still have a lot of mowers in other sheds so I may have to make some more racks.
Yep wasn't much wrong with that 24 Norm ,I used to go to a country area and I would pick up a 24 Mower for free , all it needed was a carby clean,there is still another 24 here to put in the shed.
People just throw them in the trash if you look in the non metro areas.
The reuse of old pallets is a good idea Norm ,I will have to sort the motors out eventually ,mine are just in a huge pile.
