250 mile trip on Lawn Mowers!?!?!

RCTankboy wrote:

Your Principal will help you out? that's Fantastic!

Im a little curious about why he wouldn't want you associated with the school in that way, but that's not important if you get that level of backing.

good job on that!

The reasoning is because the districs safety policy with me being in school. when I do it. but if I could do it, it would be a senior project.

mr.modified wrote:

Multi million dollar sponsorship for the next trip after this one. The next one's gotta be like 500-1000 miles. Briggs and stratton will provide stickers and some nifty threads to wear I'm guessing, maybe a support vehicle... But seriously, the idea sounds pretty cool. Gonna lower these machines down a bit for better handling at slightly higher speeds?

You know that we might be able to be sponcerd by helmet companies or gear comanies because wee need something to wear that is safe and reliable. I have a few companies in mind for the gear needed. The next one might be close to state wide or two whiole states. but that is to yet be determined. I have a vid on Youtube that I am gonna make public that talks about it some. and that will be available tonight.

I've done 6-10mile trips around my area just for the fun of it. Usually just run along at 25-30 mph. They top out at 45.

I'd be worried about burning up gearbox if you have it pulley swapped, and are driving a long ways. Lots of RPM's at sustained high speed.

LAWN MOWER MUDDER wrote:

Stretch44875 wrote:

I've done 6-10mile trips around my area just for the fun of it.  Usually just run along at 25-30 mph.  They top out at 45.

I'd be worried about burning up gearbox if you have it pulley swapped, and are driving a long ways.  Lots of RPM's at sustained high speed.

Ditto. So big tires and internal gear swap. I personally would leave the diff open because even though you aren't turning really sharp you will be wearing your tires down alot.  Bring about 5 different changes of tires with .

I was looking around for a gear set that will fit that isn't $180.

Stretch, I was planning on oil filling the case but the bottom half of the trans has several cracks in it.

the diff I was gonna leave open for that reason, I was going to buy some 12" car tires that will fit so I don't have to worry about them, the fronts I need to worry about because I need to find DOT approved 16-18" tires. For cheap.

True, I guess I need to look a little more in depth on hte tire choises.

Junkstar shared this with me via E-Mail.
The longest journey on a lawnmower is 23,487.5 km (14,594.5 miles) in 260 consecutive days by Gary Hatter (USA). Hatter started his drive in Portland, Maine, on 31 May 2000 and passed through all 48 contiguous US states as well as Canada and Mexico before arriving in Daytona Beach, Florida, on 14 February 2001.
He rode a $11,500 (£8,000 at 2001 rates) stock Kubota BX2200-60 mower at a top speed of 14.5 km/h (9 mph), wearing out four sets of front and three sets of rear tyres whilst clocking up 14 miles per gallon on average. The retired ex-truck driver completed the journey to raise money for surgery to treat a serious back injury that has put him out of work since 1979. His diesel-powered mower had power steering and four-wheel drive, and was fitted with all the necessary lights and attachments to make it roadworthy. He encountered no mechanical problems on the journey except for routine maintenance and services.

That's interesting. I can't help but think he'd have spared at least one set of front tires if it was 2wd. I also think that having a very new, very expensive, high-quality machine had something to do with something, too. 250 miles is one thing. 14 THOUSAND miles is another. No crappy aluminum, bearing-bore transaxle is gonna survive that...

I took me a few to see what you were talking about, LOL.
I think that the 820 could handle that if you did a few things to it before the trip.
but you are correct, the transmissions will not handle the ammount of time ran.

LAWN MOWER MUDDER wrote:

I'd be interested to see someone rig up full pressure lubrication on a Peerless trans-axle.  I'd be curious to see if it would work.  

That may help with running for long periods of time.

you know that may help with lubrication but the gears moving at *** speeds will allready spray the oil around.

I think at that point I'd run atf then just get a small radiator like the cpu cooler ones and a small fan then hook up a diesel transfer pump wouldn't suck much battery and would do a decent job

that might work, I was thinking of getting a electric Fuel pump style pump to do that somehow. to a ATF cooler up under the hood so the wind blows on it.

Never trust the wind to do your work :p slap a fan on it. You'd be surprised how warm it gets under the hood

What y'all seem to be pointing to, is a cooling system, not pressure lubrication. Now- That's not to say that cooling is a bad thing. It's not- and it may be rather beneficial. But- a pressure lube system forces oil directly into bearings and journals- and that's the point of it.

THIS would be rather difficult to engineer on a common (let's say Peerless 930) transaxle. Not impossible, but difficult. Now- my biggest concern with such transaxles, is the fact that they tend not to contain aby bearings at all, save from the input shaft. Quite often, the axles simply trun in a raw aluminum bore (Hence the reason that I installed bearings from an 800 in my 930), and the rest as you know, are bronze oilite bushings.

Now, this would be cool, I hope it's clear:

-Drill an oil gallery straight down (90° to the shaft orientation) into each bushing journal, and chamfer the hole
-at 90° to those holes, drill in from the side (parallel to shaft orientation) so you end up with a 90° passage L
-Drill and tap for a tube fitting on the inlet side if the L <---
-Attach all the inlets together in parallel, manifolding the tubes
Drill and tap 2 holes in the case. One gets a pickup tube, draing oil from down low in the case. Add a pickup screen or filter. That line goes out of the case to a filter, then a pump. Then routes back to the case to the other hole.
-Second hole in case gets attached to the tubing manifold.
-Lastly, you'd have to drill and chamfer a hole in each bushing to correspond with the oil gallery holes.

Clear? Good. Do it. LOL

That's a really good idea since most of the peerless bearings are locked in by the tabs your sleeve won't rotate to block off the hole. Kinda tempting to try this with a 820 or something.

I'd really like to see it done. I got too much on my plate right now to try it, but it would be cool to see. Of course, the cool factor would be radically increased with a pressure gauge!

I might do it this winter if I find a donor 820 but don't hold your breath lol got the case to rebuild too

Thread Hijack? LOL

I was just thinking of just cooling the trans off by a oil cooler, and how would a oil cooler above the cooling fins work? then do a mild hood scoop for added motor/oil cooling?

I'm sure it would be better than nothing. Better than THAT would be a fan drawing air thru the cooler.

All right guys I have a route planned out,

We are gonna be starting at the top of the Guernsey Resovoir, 10 miles noth of Guernsey,
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Then we'll be hitting State Highway 26 to Ft, Laremie. then route off to the fort for a break.
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then we'll hit 26 again to Lingle Wy, for fuel and some snacks,
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then through Torrington to ScottsBluff NE, Fuel lunch maybe.
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then after Scottsbluff, we go to Lyman NE,
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we will be headed to My place of residence,
Not gonna supply a pic for that.
Hawk springs and back to my place to stay the night.
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When we get to Hawk Springs We will take a small tour of the town and the Fire Hall for ***** and giggles.



The next day when we leave for Cheyanne we will stop in La Grange WY for fuel and breakfast.
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(Note: where the mouse is on the Pic of Cheyanne is where we would drive 6 miles on I-25)
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And back to Hawk Springs or Yoder WY at the Highschool.
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the route is a 6-8 hour trip at the speed limit.

Sounds like a plan now let get these mowers ready for the trip

Ariens YT11 wrote:

the route is a 6-8 hour trip at the speed limit.

What kinda speeds are we talking, here?

How about legalities with regards to driving on public highways (roads)?

Doc Sprocket wrote:

Ariens YT11 wrote:

the route is a 6-8 hour trip at the speed limit.

What kinda speeds are we talking, here?

How about legalities with regards to driving on public highways (roads)?

We are going to be doing around 40 mph