mud mowers are fun!

[ghost civic]

ive put almost 2 hours on my mud mower, and it has worked great!

Once I put on a throttle pedal it was much more fun to drive. I thought it would be hard to setup a pedal that would give me the fine throttle control needed while driving on bumpy trails. But it turns out all I needed was a throttle return spring set to the right tension.

I put the throttle cable right next to the old one (which still works the choke!) and ran it threw a hole and to the governor arm (governor is broken on the inside) and used the stock throttle spring as a return spring and adjusted it's tension with the zip ties. I do plan on putting on a backup spring soon.

The pulley's I put on are close to 1:1, 4'' up front and a 3'' in the back. I can start in 6th gear at idle (which I set a bit high on purpose) and then drive upto full speed with no problem. Top speed is just a bit under 20mph I think...faster than my 5hp carter go kart.

Even with stock tires and a open diff, it has no trouble on the trails Ive been driving on.

I added a tach to I can keep and eye on the rpms. I try to keep it around 3300, with it occasionally hitting 4k. I cant say how well everything will hold up, but it is a blast to drive through a bumpy field at full speed with the front tires getting off the ground. My 5yo son stand up in front of the seat and we have gone like that with my 13yo daughter behind in the go kart. I had to help the cart a few times as 1 wheel drive can get stuck much easier than the mower.

I plan on making some sort of grill or hood out of scrap, as well as a bumper.

 

[J_Walker]

put a shot of NOS on it and call it good.

 

[ghost civic]

put a shot of NOS on it and call it good.

The price of a nos system might defeat the purpose of making a mud mower, lol.

If I had $100, id consider getting some ATV tires for the back. That said, the stock ones work surprisingly well.

 

[landuse]

Nice!!

 

[ghost civic]

yesterday evening I took it out with my son and went on some new trails. one part was a fairly steep hill, which it climbed just fine until a tight section with a tree stump in the way. The front end kept wanting to either hit the stump or lift off the ground. At one point the thing leaned to the left, so I put my foot out to stop from rolling over but that meant I couldn't hit the brake! So it rolled back a few feet and then rolled onto us anyway. I got a bruise on my leg due to having to keep the machine from putting any weight on my son, he was fine. We got back on it and made it past the stump and kept on rolling.
Might consider putting a hand brake on the steering wheel though.