Riding Lawn Mowers

[The Stig]

Riding Lawn Mower for post SHTF utility vehicle?

Discuss....

[Sniper-T]

mines about 15 years old, and has a computer in it. if it is EMP, I would think it be fried. Otherwise, it would be awesome, it has a trailer hitch that can handle some serious weight, goes through anything, has optional tire chains, and when not spinning the blades, will run forever on a tank of fuel.

[bacpacker]

I can see that working. Grab a trailer sized to be handled by the tractor in question and your good to go. I had a old Tory built that was nickel and diming me to death and it crap out for mowing last year. I made a call to replace it and ended up with a Kubota 18hp diesil. It also has three point hitch so it can serve as a very light tractor as well as a mower. I can run it for 5-6 hours on 1-2 gallons of fuel, while mowing near knee high grass. Just using it to tow a trailer and hauling water, food, lumber, whatever needed I would probably run 8 hours or so on a gallon. You can get a lot of work done in 8 hours and the tractor wouldn't be running the whole time either in some cases.
This is a large part of my plan.

[ak474u]

You ain't gonna play no fooz-ball bobby bouche! Sorry, had to. We had a 13hp IIRC John Deere mower, it is actually kinda scary how fast it is. That Kohler engine is bulletproof too. I think it might actually make a decent runabout, and you could mow coastal hay at a pretty deep depth for feeding livestock, obviously, you'd have to hand bale it, but it'd be better than wacking it with a scythe. I always thought, that other than lower COG, and load capacity, that a go kart could be a good runabout vehicle in a WROL situation. Also, if you had a light duty tractor with a PTO, you could rig a generator for power, or to run a sawmill, well pump, etc.

[ladyhk13]

I think it's a great idea. My mom lives about 5 miles from us so it would be useful just to go back and forth to check on her.

[bacpacker]

Excellent point about the PTO being useful for so many things. I've been to some "old timers" days at some heritage festivals around here and some of the guys have small hit and miss engines that run 5-7 different pieces of gear form one engine. PTO's on a tractor could easily do the same thing if properly equiped.

[izzyscout21]

I am so going to camo my Poulan Pro riding mower, attach a "tactical" utility trailer, and add a Swivel mount for a Mosin Nagant.

[Stormfeather]

That was something at one point I wanted to try and learn more about, Hit and Miss engines. . .this may be the thing that puts the bug back into my brain!

[ak474u]

Here's a story about a guy who rode his John Deere mower to see his brother, it was made into a movie.

Alvin Straight - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_Straight)

[Grumpy Old Man]

For the PTO think gannon for grading, plow and disc for gardening, snow blower for winter, etc. Just get one that is big enough!

[Kodiak]

One issue i have with lawn mowers/tractors for post shtf travel is they are noisy and slow. If there are any bad guys around you will be a perfect target. I would rather lean towrds an atv if available, but i guess we'll use whatever we have on hand and hope for the best.

[The Stig]

One issue i have with lawn mowers/tractors for post shtf travel is they are noisy and slow. If there are any bad guys around you will be a perfect target. I would rather lean towrds an atv if available, but i guess we'll use whatever we have on hand and hope for the best.

Yea, I agree.

I was thinking more for post natural disaster, localized events as opposed to total meltdown.

[tompnoid]

they are great for turning into other needed motors such as out boards and generators due to the side crank rather then verticle. but as far as being a good vehicle for bad situations imma go with no way way too loud unless you have some skill like being able to put the exhaust into a real muffler to quiet it down. if you have alot of time and a good shop you can supe them up to be quite fast but this requires alot of skill way beyond my abilities.

[realist]

Well I guess you could mount a turbocharger with a little squirt of nitro to make it a little faster, say 40 to 50 mph....... the wife said not, Tim the Tool Man I am not.......

Tactical they are out, too noisy. I have thought about how to silence it so at least I could hear over the noise of the motor. The problem is that most of the engine compartments are not insulated to keep the noise down. A muffler might make it a little better however I am not sure what the cost would be. However If you need to move stuff attach a trailer and you are good to go, it beat humping it. I figure I could put several hundred pounds in the trailer. I have a John Deer and it works great I run it a couple of hours each week and it does not fail. I do not see a problem going longer distances, four to five miles.

[Evolver]

Here is a good one for post SHTF. It even has a head light for night mowing. :p

http://i572.photobucket.com/albums/ss162/xplore2c/bildosmower.jpg

[ak474u]

Here is a good one for post SHTF. It even has a head light for night mowing. :p

http://i572.photobucket.com/albums/ss162/xplore2c/bildosmower.jpg



Ha ha, that reminds me of the rig our trash guy has... My building surrounds a courtyard, and is 4 stories, it's 1/4 mi around one floor, and there are 3 buildings. Our trash guy does door to door service, so thats a lot of walking 4 days a week. He has rigged a 10 speed minus the front tire to one of those janitorial rolling trash bins, think mini dumpster. That dude is so fast, if you hear him coming, it's too late to put the can outside the door.

[Sniper-T]

^ I like that idea for working around the yard. Although with a load of soil or water, it could be tough pedalling on grass.