• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Carla Burke
  • Nancy Reading
  • r ranson
  • John F Dean
  • Pearl Sutton
  • paul wheaton
stewards:
  • Jay Angler
  • Anne Miller
  • Nicole Alderman
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
gardeners:
  • Maieshe Ljin
  • Benjamin Dinkel
  • Jeremy VanGelder

Alternative uses for the lawn tractor (riding mower)

 
pioneer
Posts: 45
Location: Fair Grove Missouri
13
trees hunting chicken building sheep woodworking
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
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?
 
steward
Posts: 15754
Location: Northern WI (zone 4)
4961
7
hunting trees books food preservation solar woodworking
  • Likes 5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
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.
 
pollinator
Posts: 834
Location: Appalachian Foothills-Zone 7
209
  • Likes 8
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
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.
1811EE61-C61E-48C7-83CF-D0B6552145E8.jpeg
[Thumbnail for 1811EE61-C61E-48C7-83CF-D0B6552145E8.jpeg]
3802B3A3-2D1A-4BF4-87B7-4386F31B4BA9.jpeg
[Thumbnail for 3802B3A3-2D1A-4BF4-87B7-4386F31B4BA9.jpeg]
AEDCDF2E-E949-42A3-BEE0-F07BCEEBF815.jpeg
[Thumbnail for AEDCDF2E-E949-42A3-BEE0-F07BCEEBF815.jpeg]
 
Riley Hughes
pioneer
Posts: 45
Location: Fair Grove Missouri
13
trees hunting chicken building sheep woodworking
  • Likes 5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

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.
 
Mike Haasl
steward
Posts: 15754
Location: Northern WI (zone 4)
4961
7
hunting trees books food preservation solar woodworking
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
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.
 
pollinator
Posts: 1186
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
520
6
urban books building solar rocket stoves ungarbage
  • Likes 5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
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!
 
steward
Posts: 16869
Location: USDA Zone 8a
4377
dog hunting food preservation cooking bee greening the desert
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

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
 
Gray Henon
pollinator
Posts: 834
Location: Appalachian Foothills-Zone 7
209
  • Likes 4
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
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!

 
gardener
Posts: 3132
2095
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
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
 
I'm thinking about a new battle cry. Maybe "Not in the face! Not in the face!" Any thoughts tiny ad?
Learn Permaculture through a little hard work
https://wheaton-labs.com/bootcamp
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic