Alternative uses for the lawn tractor (riding mower)

As we convert more and more of our empty lawn space into functional space, we will have less of a need for our riding mower. They call these things lawn tractors.... But I was wondering if any of you have found many other uses for the machines. I have considered using mine to pull chicken tractors around, and those little mini trailers look useful. Does anyone have any other practical uses or ideas?

I haul firewood with a small trailer.  I have a snowblower attachment that takes care of the driveway all winter.  I dream about adding a winch to mine to drag big logs out of the woods but that will likely just result in dragging the tractor into the woods.

I use a garden tractor, similar to a lawn tractor but heavier duty, for hauling all sorts of things around the property.  Firewood, mulch, brush, rocks, irrigation equipment, you name it.  The deck came off as soon as I got it home. You can tackle much rougher terrain without the deck hanging under the tractor.  II have a big hill to go up and down, but if your property is fairly level, a standard lawn tractor should be fine for pulling a couple hundred pounds around.

Gray Henon wrote:I use a garden tractor, similar to a lawn tractor but heavier duty, for hauling all sorts of things around the property.  Firewood, mulch, brush, rocks, irrigation equipment, you name it.  The deck came off as soon as I got it home. You can tackle much rougher terrain without the deck hanging under the tractor.  II have a big hill to go up and down, but if your property is fairly level, a standard lawn tractor should be fine for pulling a couple hundred pounds around.

Thanks for the pictures! I wouldn't have imagined such a little machine could pull a trailer of that size. Gives me hope for the potential applications. I like being able to repurpose things/ not having to buy new stuff.

I think the main limiter for a trailer on a garden tractor is the tongue weight (how much of the trailer's weight is bearing on the hitch of the tractor).  After that it's just traction and if you can move the load.  Chains on the back wheels help with the traction a lot.

Another bit about capacity, is weight. It helps with traction, as with wheel weights or loaded tires; and also with leverage, as with suitcase weights, or an implement on the front/rear.
Notice Gray's tractor in the photos has the "snowplow" on in the summer... that's counterbalancing some of the tongue weight of the trailer.
I keep my rototiller on my small tractor all summer, to get the full use out of my loader's capacity, plus some extra traction (some folks have a dedicated "weight box"). My big tractor has loaded tires, and is quite capable... but I had to put the backhoe back on this spring after doing endos trying to move stuff I placed with the backhoe ON last fall!

Alvin Boone Straight (October 17, 1920 – November 9, 1996) was an American man who became notable for traveling 240 miles (390 km) on a riding lawn mower from Laurens, Iowa to Blue River, Wisconsin to visit his ailing brother. He inspired the 1999 film The Straight Story.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_Straight

This is the most fantastic way to an "Alternative uses for the lawn tractor (riding mower)"!



The movie starred: Starring Richard Farnsworth Sissy Spacek Harry Dean Stanton

Yeah, a lot of what I do is made possible by the front blade and my rear ballast.  In the first picture you can see my homemade wheel weights, 125 lbs of lead on each tire. Then in the second and third pictures you can see a set of stock wheel weights bolted on top of my homemade weights, another 35 lbs per side.  The tires are also filled with RV antifreeze, probably 40 lbs in each rear tire and 10 lbs in each front tire.  The there is me, 220 lbs.  You can certainly tell the difference in traction when the kids are driving!  The full tote and trailer combined are close to 2500 lbs.  It has no problem pulling them around, but I’d never try a hill as the tractor starts to slide with heavier loads.  I didn’t mention all of the weight earlier because it would break a lawn tractor.  The engines are plenty strong, but the frames, transmissions, and rear axels are not up to the task.   Use a yard cart and keep the weight under 200 lbs or so and a lawn tractor should do just fine.  

Kenneth Elwell wrote:Another bit about capacity, is weight. It helps with traction, as with wheel weights or loaded tires; and also with leverage, as with suitcase weights, or an implement on the front/rear.
Notice Gary's tractor in the photos has the "snowplow" on in the summer... that's counterbalancing some of the tongue weight of the trailer.
I keep my rototiller on my small tractor all summer, to get the full use out of my loader's capacity, plus some extra traction (some folks have a dedicated "weight box"). My big tractor has loaded tires, and is quite capable... but I had to put the backhoe back on this spring after doing endos trying to move stuff I placed with the backhoe ON last fall!

The old Wheel Horses were definitely built to work. A side note some here might like, who would like a super modern electric lawn tractor in order to get away from fossil fuels, is that Wheel Horse made an electric model half a century ago!

https://www.tractordata.com/lawn-tractors/000/2/7/276-wheel-horse-c-185.html