LawnBoy UTLTV aka MULE

What did you do!?

I believe the term is, "Dickered". LOL






You know what's sick? I have a sub-folder on my computer, under my "MULE" folder, called "Broken". Wanna guess what I put there? Mechanical violence is cool... LOL

Beside the dicked part of it, your mower just looks so good. Its got all the accessories, looks like it belongs in SEMA. Now, is this more encouragement for MULEII to be runnin'?

Dayum! You guys are relentless!!! LOL- Spring, I tell ya! I'm really dying to see if MULEII's unique driveline is going to work out for me. It's going to be quite the machine... if it works... LOL...

You know, if you take off the wheels, and tilt it just right, you can work on your lawnmower in your living room!

We wrenched quite a bit in the basement of our old house.

I think mrs.sprocket wouldn't be happy about that lol.

LOL- No kidding... In my old place, the living room was quite large and had a tile floor. I brought all kinds of projects in there.

Anyhow- I just finished fabricating and installing a new tie rod, and bent the arms back like they should be. All good now. Next move is some serious arm reinforcement.

Meanwhile- the new tie rod is made of 1/2" Sch40 steel pipe, with 1/2" rod ends, because that's what I had laying around. The original was 3/8", I believe. This is quite a bit beefier.

Looks like you won't have a issue now. And those trailer hubs-arnt you fancy lol.

Doc Sprocket wrote:

You know what's sick? I have a sub-folder on my computer, under my "MULE" folder, called "Broken". Wanna guess what I put there? Mechanical violence is cool... LOL

Hmm... maybe there should be a picture thread specifically for these kind of things. lol


Are your spindles beefier than they look there? The bit the hub is on looks like it could stand to be a bit thicker?
Or am I missing something?

The trailer hubs were my answer to the usual problem of wanting to run 8" front wheels. I decided that those tires would work well on some 8" trailer wheels I had, and by a lovely coincidence, had some spindles to go with.

Beal- you're missing something. The gusset hides what the factory part of the spindle is made of- some mighty thick steel bar.

Doc Sprocket wrote:

Beal- you're missing something. The gusset hides what the factory part of the spindle is made of- some mighty thick steel bar.

Ahh ok. I didnt really think you would have let something that wimpy slide... had to be sure you werent loosing it or something.  

That "optical illusion" got me too! Nice build Doc.  

Also thanks for being the guinea pig for running a locker on a utility tractor. I left mine open because I didn't want to lose any steering. Maybe I could lock mine and still work well. I don't want to tear up the lawn when doing yard work though... Hmmm    

To be perfectly honest, I was concerned about the steering too. I have driven locked trucks, and of course go karts with live axles, and am well aware of the potential results. Several members assured me that it was not going to be a problem, so I went ahead and did it. I am glad I did, and I'm not going back. The loss of radius is hardly remarkable under most conditions, and I can still cut it really tight with by throwing my body weight around. I am sure that having the front axle able to articulate to some degree helps with this.

Now you can put it on two wheels too! (and not a wheelie)

xxXMowerdudeXxx wrote:

Ok, mine whins loud enough I can hear it over my duel straight pipes wide open

I'm bringing this back! LOL

Mine in 6th wines louder than the v-twin with 6-8'' pipes at full bore..

$20 Please??

my MTD fnr whines worse than the 18 horse ELS when the muffler falls off, wide open with the mower deck turned on...

willis923 wrote:

when the muffler falls off,

Does this happen repeatedly? Might wanna see to that!

Doc Sprocket wrote:

willis923 wrote:

when the muffler falls off,

Does this happen repeatedly? Might wanna see to that!

my idiot friend had his fall off his truck on the interstate.....he got it back and used the silver mettalic duct tape(about a roll of it) to reattatch it,.....lasted about a month till he remembered to get it seen about when it fell off in his driveway lol

Doc Sprocket wrote:

willis923 wrote:

when the muffler falls off,

Does this happen repeatedly? Might wanna see to that!

yeah, does it quite often actually. im just gonna end up welding the friggan thing on. its one of those compresion jobs, where the muffler bolts to the frame, and pushes on the the pipe. bolt keeps backing out, and i stripped it last time

Hey doc can you do a write up on this?

Sure, I don't see why not. Until I get around to it, there's some more info on my homemade Cherry Bomb here- http://www.diygokarts.com/vb/showthread.php?t=7449

Well, I'm struggling with finding a can that looks as cool as the one Doc has. The Cherry Bomb is the coolest thing I've seen in a long time! I also want it to be as light as possible. These are made of aluminum and have pipe fittings.... If I can find a couple spent ones, I'm going to try it!

T-Dub13 wrote:

 These are made of aluminum and have pipe fittings....  If I can find a couple spent ones, I'm going to try it!

looks can be deceiving. those little dollar store ones dont have threads, to my knowledge. look for a condemed amerex one or something like that, a higher end one. this is coming from a volunteer firefighter.

Have you taken one of these apart?  I'm interested!  Threads aren't really important to me as much as a thin wall and light weight is.  I can build it like a re-packable silencer from a MX bike.

Thanks for the tip. I'll research amerex too!!

yeah, we took a few different brands apart as a drill one night. alot of the store bought ones are a press fit

Cool. I just posted on my FB for anyone who's got a spent one I can have for a project. I'll report back if anything happens....