Lawn mower rearend

[rkbonds]

Has anyone ever built a push trailer from a lawn mower rear axle? I have one laying around that was given to me and I could see several benefits using it. Think of all the gear ratio's at the change of a lever. Would be easy to make a mount for easy to attach an engine even a small hp one. Just curious to some thoughts on this idea. I don't have an engine but, it wouldn't be hard to pick one up. I'm not concerned with speed but, torque would be nice for going up hill.:-/:-/

 

[Mountainman]

a lawn mower rear axle

what I have pictured is kind of light weight

maybe some more information

Ride That Thing - Mountainman

 

[rkbonds]

It's the whole transaxle, gearbox and all it's the same kind of axle they build racing lawnmowers out of just without all the mods. I'm not sure of the weight but, I know it would be very durable. If anything on the weight I'd think it might be too heavy but, with the motor being on it pushing I'd think you would want it to be a little heavier for traction purposes. The transaxle is out of a 16 hp murray with 6 forward and 1 reverse gear alumnium body with steel gears and axle shaft.

 

[Mountainman]

rkbonds -- thank you

early here - but - you have the wheels turning

some coffee and in the minds eye - thinking about your transaxle

interesting - very interesting

sounds like a fun project
and in some time -- a heck of a blast of a ride ???

man - those racing lawnmowers also sound like fun !!!

think that I am suffering from -- lack of MB riding
need to hook up soon !!!

keep us updated with this project

Ride That Thing - Mountainman

 

[ZnsaneRyder]

rkbonds,

From Push trailer experience, I can say that even with a really tall gear, you can go up steep hills fine with a slight pedal-start, but your clutch will slip and heat up at low speeds, even though you will have PLENTY of power on the hills due to your engine displacement. (cc)

Harbor freight has a 5.5HP OHV Vertical-Shaft engine that would go great with that gearbox of yours. Or just use any vertical-shaft lawnmower engine you find.

Most Riding mowers only go like 5-7mph, so you will need to gear-up your ratio to get higher speeds. Either a clutch with a 3.7inch pulley driving a smaller pulley on the gearbox, or better yet, go to a chain, using a jackshaft to raise your gearing. The sky's the limit!!!

Your mower gearbox will make it MUCH easier on your clutch, and the clutch will lock more too. Imagine using 1st gear to get like 5mph to start, and gear up as you accelerate!!! Also, it would make it easier to go the legal 20mph in a lower gear, then use the high gears when you want to ZOOM!!

You are lucky, GOOD FIND!

I WANT ONE!

Crazy Riding,
ZnsaneRyder

 

[muddawg]

never tried it but has crossed my mind

there will be a bit of trial and error here but you may be on to something
the transaxles have a 10"or 12" pulley on them and usually a 6-10" on the crankshaft

so if you did a 10-12" 0n the crank and a 4-6" on the transaxle you may get nearer the speed yer lookin for

i aint no gear guru so all i can say isit should be faster than a mower

most axles are sealed bearings and they go out regularly at 5 mph
at 20 theyll go out faster you may want to consider a small hole 3/4 up the pumpkin and put in some gearlube maybe half way up the gaer and put in a rubber cork

i do this on my lawn tractors to insure lubrication on olde ones
some leakage around the outer seals

but my gears are lubed !

mike

 

[s_beaudry]

I am thinking here that using the whole rearend from a lawn tractor would reequire a larger HP engine as some of that power will be inevitably lost in the gearing and axle...

Sounds like a very good idea, but one more concern may be freewheeling.... yes, a centrifugal clutch will handle the engine part, but how much drag would be caused by the transaxle?

 

[alex]

Do you know what brand the transaxle is? From my racing mower experience (and watching people's transmissions blow up at high speeds) the only transmission that can truely handle high speeds is the peerless 700's. (These are off of rear-engine chain drive riding mowers and are made by tecrapseh). And this is only when you prepare it right.
For the gears to be able to handle faster than lawn mower speeds, you need to clean out all of the grease and put gear oil in it and a liquid gasket to hold it all in.
As for transaxles, peerless or foote's are good brands for under 30mph (but not for excessive periods of time).

You would also need to figure out how to transfer the power to the transmission (The transmissions are set up for a vertical crankshaft engine)

 

[alex]

If you really want to get into details, here is the link
http://www.heymow.com/index.php?topic=5644.0

 

[rkbonds]

This is still just in discussion phase at this point. No it's not a racing tranny but, I don't plan on going over 30 either. The goal for this push trailer is for strength, torque, and function. I'm only planning on using this set up for serious stuff not for everyday commuting. I wouldn't care if top speed was 20 I'm more interested in the torque side like when I have to get a lot of groceries or other stuff or if I want to go up in the mountains. The down side is it would be a royal pain to use under pedal power.