I am thinking of building a 4x4 mower for a mate of mine because he is unable to use his zero turn during winter because his property is flat and he keeps getting the mower bogged. He has a 4x4 Honda ATV and we are thinking of mounting a 38 inch Ariens deck I have here on the back with a 12 hp motor mounted on the deck to drive the deck. I did think of making it a tow behind but this has the problem of not being able to mow into the corners, by mounting the deck directly onto the back of the Honda it can easily be backed into the corners and it will be easier to get around his trees and sheds. I'm thinking it is going to be too hard to adjust the height so I'm thinking just set the height the same as he uses the zero turn at. Anybody have any ideas or advice that might help
There's lots of different ways you could make this , it comes down to personal preference, I would not make a mower from a deck because I don't want to replace a V belt and replace spindle bearings when you can just mount 2 smaller engines with blades on the crankshafts.
If I went the way of using a ride on deck it would probably cost over $500. for time and parts.
I've used a Deutscher walk behind mower in the wet and it worked well but don't know how muddy his property is.
If I made something like this, I would make up a frame and use 2 engines but why spend many hours making a mower up when you can just tow two 19 inch mowers behind the motor bike , you could just bolt two mower bases together.
There was a gang mower in Silvan for about $300 for months on Gumtree ,that would have suited but then again it's probably not going to get into corners but towing two 19 inch mowers the bike can be reversed.
Hi Max, some good ideas there but straight up his first request was must be electric start,I can do that with battery leads running from the 4x4 existing battery. At least I can bolt the motor to the deck so that will be an easy access short B section belt that drives the cutter deck and the deck has an easy to get at A section belt running the 2 spindles. The fact the deck will be mounted out the back there is nothing above the deck so it is easy to access everything. I will just have to make up a belt guard to cover the belts. I think I will put a pair of zero turn type wheels on the back to help support the deck. Not a lot of money involved because I already have the deck and a Briggs electric start motor sitting here. I just have to get hold of a couple of swivel wheels for the rear of the deck and a bit of RHS tubing to bolt to the back of the 4x4
If he wants electric start and you have most of the parts then it shouldn't be too difficult to make it all work.
When you say "we are thinking of mounting a 38 inch Ariens deck I have here on the back "
I assume you mean a tow mower and not directly mounting the deck onto the back of the quad bike because obviously you can't mount the deck directly onto the back of the bike as this wouldn't work with the suspension.
I'm sure you've already thought about the ride on mower deck having linkage so it moves independently from the quad bike.
You also don't necessarily need swivel wheels as you can make steering front wheels on the front of the tow mower that works off the trailers towing arm.
Hi Max, I was thinking of mounting it directly onto the back of the quad bike and by having the swivel wheels on the back of the deck and where it is mounted to the back of the quad bike have it so it can travel/pivot up and down as the suspension moves. Doing it this way it may require a swivel wheel at the front also so the deck maintains its height. Something along the 3 point linkage design
Yes that would work Norm , the 3 point linkage will allow movement from the quad bike .Four trailer jockey wheels would allow for height adjustment if you wanted any adjustments later on but as you said you can just set the height at one height.
Three point linkage would be more work to make than one trailer hitch and take longer to mount on and disconnect than having one trailer hitch but will work either way.
As we know the 3 point linkage adds traction on a Tractor by the implement adding weight to the Tractor but on the quad bike it won't aid traction .
Another problem with 3 point linkage is it can tilt 2 wheels off the ground if the quad bike goes in a ditch or over a mound but if it's flat should be fine , the problem is like a diff changing the pinion angle when the suspension moves.
Then depending how you set up the 3 point linkage you can get sway.
I have to get the quad bike down to my place because it is too difficult to work on it at my mates place. He has a big garage, the best of unused equipment no materials to make anything from, bit of this steel or that steel. Otherwise it is up to his factory to get stuff and that becomes too much messing around
Hi Max, we thought about those ideas, even the bolt on tracks but we think they will probably chew up his lawns too much. The lawns do look good, but just too wet for the zero to get around, as soon as he slows a wheel down to turn the other wheel spins and as soon as that happens it is going nowhere and has to be towed out. At least with the ATV it has 4 wheels all driving at once so the footprint is bigger and far less likely to spin a wheel. Got the motor to fit on the deck fired up today, has been sitting there for 5/6 years and runs well no problem, so that is another little step in the right direction.
Hi Max, my latest thoughts are to make the deck pivot up and down on the ATV drawbar and then lift the back of the deck to the required height with a couple of chains from the outer edges on the back edge of the deck up to the rear rack on the ATV
I inherited a motorised twin blade belt driven two wheeled slasher with a drawbar which mounted to the towball of an ATV, or my paddock basher.
It worked very well over fairly smooth terrain BUT because the frame was badly designed the belts came off after a maximum of 5 minutes due to the frame flexing. Putting the belts back on was a major and slow PITA. I sold it to a fellow who thought he could fix it - that was over 10 years ago. I've seen him several times since and there's been no mention of that slasher.
Hi MM, belts on this one will be a doddle to replace, very simple and so easy to get at. I will make up a belt cover to put over the lot but that will be held on with a couple of bolts, everything on it is easily accessible
My post was just to say that the simple towball mounting system worked well Norm. There were limits such as hitting mounds or going into dips.
Best part of the design was a long throttle cable which could be mounted conveniently within easy reach while driving to control the blade speed, like when approaching a patch of tall grass, or going over a bare area.
The trouble with our property is there's not many smoothish spots, hence I use my "old wreck" mowers which are leg-propelled (and disposable), or my brushcutters.
Hopefully I will get a trial fit on it today to see how it looks. If this works as well as I hope it does then this will save all the draining of his yard, which is a massive project in itself, that we were planning to do later this year once the ground dried up enough to work on it. Win win if it works, just have to get the ATV running again because it hasn't been started for at least 6 years that I know of.
my latest thoughts are to make the deck pivot up and down on the ATV drawbar and then lift the back of the deck to the required height with a couple of chains from the outer edges on the back edge of the deck up to the rear rack on the ATV
Quad bikes with the biggish tyres tend to bounce around a bit and plus they move around on the suspension , meaning if the deck pivots off the tow hitch on the quad bike and then chains from the rack to the back of the deck the cutting height will change everytime you hit a slight bump or turn.
There are a few ways to do this so when the bike moves up or down the cutter height doesn't move with it , one way would be a sliding hitch pin or just a centre turning wheel with tow arm
It looks like what you've done will work Norm , I just cant see the angles are right because I can't see the mounted tow height on the quad bike.
I think with your designed hitch on you just need wheels on the deck to keep the deck at the right height , can't see the chains being needed with wheels on.
Hi Max, Needs a few more refinements, couple of tweeks and it should be fine. A difficult problem at the moment is cutting into the existing fuel line so the deck motor can run off the existing fuel tank. Getting to the hose is very difficult and the hose is very rigid but we will get it there
It may be easier just to add a fuel tank on the deck ,you can mount a tank low and for less than $15. get a Vacuum fuel pump, or just strap a tank on the back rack on the quad bike.
I like the tank idea Max, but my mate likes the idea of running both motors off the one tank. I think I will run it on a separate tank at least till it is up and working fine. Still got a few things to sort out
I'm now having some maybe silly thoughts about getting another deck, cutting it in half and adding half to each side making it about a 72 inch cutting width. That would get his lawns cut quickly
