FNG or NEWB from North East PA

[mrchic]

How's it going guys and maybe a few gals. I am Mike from PA. I never had any motorized toys growing up, so now I try and get into anything free and cheap with a motor. Right now it is lawn and garden tractors. I would love to build an all terrain mower. I have a late 80's Craftsman II 12hp Tec/38 in deck. Oh yeah it has a six speed trans, but I don't know which one. Would this be a decent platform to build an off roader? The mower was free so what have I got to lose. I was thinking I could build up chassis, steering, brakes and safety with the stock motor and then put atwin in it some day. Or should I be looking for a different platform?
Posted on: October 01, 2009, 09:15:30 AMSo, I read through the rules and I will definitely be building a limited class (stock) mowchine. I already have the mower that runs good and starts w/ key charges battery and a full face motorcycle helmet. So how much cash outlay am I looking at if I do the minimum safety upgrades and modifications to get a mower on the trails? Do the frames on these mowers need to be upgraded, reinforced? I have a bunch of garden tractors that are extremley beefy but I would think their weight would put them at a disadvantage offroad.

[Chris]

Welcome to the forum

Any free mowchine is a good platform to start with! Heck, my best one is a rear engine rider (who woulda thought?)!

The minimum safety requirements shouldn't cost too much. You can pick up everything used/cheap off eBay. Alot of the go-cart guys use the same things we do (brakes, spindles, tethers, etc). I've never had to reinforce the frames on my mowchines, but I could see the need to on some cheaper ones.

I think the weight of a garden tractor would seriously put it at a disadvantage, but at the same time if you can throw a driven front axle under it - you'd have an awesome recovery rig