Engines and water

[creed]

I was wondering if someone could explain to me how far you could get a lawnmower into a creek or river without flooding it out?
What would you have to do if it did get flooded out?
Im mainly just trying to figure out the limitations on a stock mower.
And maybe some additional info if anyone has experience with this.

[muddydeer]

I have gone through mud/water that has been up to my seat. Since your lawn tractor has a steady throttle unlike cars/trucks/atv's where you cant control it at one steady rpm you can go through a lot. You have to keep on the gas in a car and a quad so water/mud does not come back in to the exhaust. On a lawn tractor you dont have to worry unless if it stalls then you are screwed. I have gone through stuff pretty deep. I customised the exhaust so it sits higher in case if it did stahal out in some water it would still start up and get out. The air filter is also another factor. They are pretty high on a lawntractor and I dont think you will be going through more water than higher than your air filter/intake unless you want to really mess up your lawn tractor. I would reccomend modding the exhaust but also put a flaper on it so debris does not go in it. Here are a few pics  of some so so deep mud. I had it through deeper though. In the first pic it shows how my lawntractor use to have the stock exhaust on it. It was completely submerged in water and would stall a lot. So I put a stack on it and some front armor to protect the pipes.

Pics removed for blatant disregard for the rules, let's be a bot more careful next time - Admin

I would also reccomend a winch in case if your hoopdie does die then you can still winch it out.

[creed]

That's interesting. Yeah, water height at max to the top of the front tire. So does your mower go through the mud relatively easy? I was just planning on going through a couple creeks on my property, not necessarily mud. . . but that does look fun enough to try, lol.  Is there a big difference when driving it without the muffler on?

[muddydeer]

well I dont have any problems going through deep water with my craftsman even though the muffler is still on it. Mud yes it goes through it pretty easy with the ag tires. You should do fine. send a pic of your hoopdie

[creed]

I don't have a hoopdie yet. I'm still working on finding one. I have a few mowers over here but they're not mine. Theres a 3cylinder Ford Diesel LGT, a troybilt and a mtd. But yeah i'm going to find one to work on sooner or later.

[muddydeer]

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r301/zjbeast/Hoopding/8-15-07_017-597x498.jpg I just found this random pic on the net

[Chris]

If your going to go through anything deep, you should put a snorkel on it. - you want to make sure that the engine doesn't suck any water into the carb or crankcase breather. You should be fine with the exhaust if you don't stall it, but I wouldn't chance hydrolocking the engine. Putting a stack on would remedy that problem...

[STEELMAN]

Don't forget to extend the breather on your transaxle