Where: Haspin Acres, located in Laurel, IN When: June 8th through 12th, 2016. What: Offroad rally, talk shop, swap parts, and hang out with some awesome friends. Who: Anybody with an off-road mower can hang with the Mowercycle Gang at this rally.
Haspin is about 800 acres. Trail difficulty ranges from easy to "Are you out of your mind?!?".
Ride anywhere but in the campground. No electricity or water provided in the campground. There is one set of restrooms and showers, about 1/8th mile from campground, and they can be very muddy. Water is available for hosing off rides and riders at office, and beside drag strip.
Camping is available in woods or campground.
Last I knew, the price to get in is about $18 per day, active military members get an additional discount (usually free, but does require military ID).
Haspin requires all riders to wear helmets on all trails. If you do not bring a helmet, they won't let you ride.
If you are under age and planning to come, you must work out the Haspin Acres waiver ahead of time or come with a parent. We do not want anyone to drive a long distance and be turned away at the gate. We will not pretend to be anyone's parents, and we are not responsible for you.
As we are doing this rally jointly with Steelsoldiers, be respectful of these very cool guys and their very cool rides.
Expect to break your tractor. Be prepared with tools and parts.
Here's a teaser showing what kind of fun you can expect at Haspin!
There has been some confusion about this rally. To Clarify - Anyone is welcome to attend.
The Mower Mafia group are planning a meet and greet at Haspin a couple weeks earlier. Everyone is welcome to go to either, or both! or if MM wants, they are welcome to combine their trip with ours. Our dates are based on the Steel Soldiers' rally every year, so we can't move our date.
This is the 12th year in a row for us bringing mowers to Haspin during the Steel Soldiers rally. I actually plan on just bringing the mowers this year, I've had my army truck there plenty. If you want a ride in (or maybe even drive) one of the military vehicles, I can probably arrange it. There are 5 of us, and we have invited ATLTF members for the last 3 years.
On to mowers. Ours have been built over the years to handle this park, and even after years of mods, they still break.
Some recommendations for mods... Nothing is required, but you will have a lot more fun!:
Speed. Even though ours go 45, we rarely go fast at haspin. We'll do some drag races on the dirt drag strip, but if you can do 10-15 mph, you'll keep up just fine on the trails.
Bumpers/tow hooks. Ours are a little low on the front sometimes. But to be able to grab the hoop on the front and lift/pull, or to be able to push each other out is great.
Belt keepers. You can find more about our gate style keepers in the builds listed in my signature.
Foot or hand throttles without governors. This is a personal preference, others keep the governors and do just fine. We've had issues where the governor would give full throttle attempting to maintain rpm on a steep hill, causing a flip. If you're good with your clutch you can control it.
Tie rods/spindles. If you're not going crazy with jumps and hitting stuff, stock tie rods and spindles can last. I recommend reinforcing the spindles with welded gussets, and using 1/2in tie rods.
Brakes. We have upgraded to bigger brakes, but stock ones can work, you just need to keep them clean and adjusted. Note on driving down hills - Use low gear at idle to slide down some of the steep stuff. This will allow the rear end to spin some, so you have some control. Also brakes are notorious for failing here, so save them for when you really need them.
Other Recommendations:
Starting. We have both recoil and electric start on most of our machines. I'd bring an extra rope, or an entire spare recoil assembly. If using electric start, make sure you have a good battery.
Good tires. ATV or AG tires do help, but we have some tractors with turfs that do fine.
Lights! We go on night rides every night! If your engine has a lighting circuit (most older briggs), that works pretty good so your battery doesn't get drained. LED lights connected to the battery work as well. Taillights help too.
There is risk here. People have literally died at Haspin. Please be careful, and listen if we tell you to do something differently. Keep your helmets on!
Haspin dirt/mud is bipolar.
When it rains (which happens just about every year) it can REALLY rain. The sand clay dirt turns into the stickiest, slippery stuff you can imagine. Your ride will double it's weight in mud and the easiest trail in the park becomes a challenge. Every hill and rut will send you to its bottom. You'll have a blast, and be cursing at the same time.
Give it a couple of hours of sun, and it's a totally different place. That mud turns to concrete and the sand in it makes for amazing traction, you can climb some serious hills.
This place is huge. You can get lost. The main trail is easy to figure out, and pretty much takes a loop around the park. You can wheel the entire time and still not see the whole place.
Hills... this place has hills. Big ones, little ones, really steep ones, and mild ones. Several of the hills have shelf rock that can make climbing sections much more difficult. Always look ahead and plan your route.
There are some sandy, flat areas that are fun too.
Mud holes are everywhere. There are holes you could lose your mower in.
There are Multiple creeks and dry creek beds you can drive/explore.
Typically we will have couple big rides during the day. Since you can camp outside of campground, night rides are spent riding around checking out other campsites / parties. Night rides can last literately all night if Dan (TheRainbowBoxer) is in charge.
Be sure to bring everything you need for camping. While there is a walmart about 20 min away, and a small town next door, you don't want to lose precious wheeling time going for supplies.
If you are of drinking age, you can drink away. Try not to get too out of hand. Respect of your fellow rally goers will ensure everyone has a great time.
From 10pm on, it's quiet time in the campground. We usually park our rides outside of the campground area for night runs. I know it's fun to play with your loud exhaust, just don't do it near campground after 10.
We also take an afternoon to go tubing down the river near the entrance to the park, assuming the river cooperates.
How rough do you have to ride to break something badly? Like going slow and hitting something weird or barreling down the trail?
. It's random. Don't leave mower parked on top of hill.... Hitting random ruts. Driving like you stole it. Going slow will help. We used to jump them. A lot.
What kind of parts break? Steering,engines,transaxles?
Quote :
All of the above, lol. We have broken every single piece. Seats, tires, rims, engines, transmissions, steering wheels, tie rods, axles, lights, etc...
Sounds like the baja 1000. I'd like to try getting out there sometime. You guys use some pretty big fuel tanks on your machines? I'm about 600-650 miles away.
Stock tanks. They usually last for a trail ride. We top of the tanks before every ride, never know how long you'll be on the trail. Get 3-4 hours of hard riding in.
I Fill cans to allow for a 12 hr riding day. If I need more than that I'll gonto the nearest station and refill.
When I go on trips to I usually stop at the closest gas station I can find to the location fill up on my gas cans the vehicle I'm towing with and buy most of my food in the same area as well in an effort to support the local economy and show them that we care about the communities that allow us to ride.
Over time you learn what you need to take with you. You can't always carry all of the spare parts and tools on the tractor or whatever it is that you're riding but you can leave it back at the truck and get up go back on a tow strap so itI can be repaired.
That's a good question on the welder abd generator stretch do you guys run one with the bus???
You need
TheRainbowBoxer Moderator
1000+ Posts
1000+ Posts!
Age : 49 Join date : 2012-04-23 Points : 5701 Posts : 1091 Location : Galion, OH
We bring pretty much everything on the tool trailer LOL! Tools, torches, welder, generator, spares, hardware... etc. We don't travel light to Haspin. Welder-wise he brings a 110v welder to run off the generator, but I can't remember ever needing it.
Proud member of the Mower Cycle Gang... aka the "Mowrons!"
My build (Chaos is one of 3 built like this) Chaos Build
Hmm. In our PA tractor trip I brought tools and a spare opposed to drop in but not much else I remember. We kinda all organized who was bringing what for spare parts too. Never broke anything on that trip, or ever since I've rebuilt my mtd, just a some adjusting really.
Probably buy 5gall cans if I ever went. Pretty neat
donaldcon Member
Age : 38 Join date : 2015-04-28 Points : 3961 Posts : 401 Location : Roseville, OH
What do y'all do for gas, bunch of 5 gal cans? I bet redlining the opposed really drinks some, lol. Run to a nearby station?
Is there a welder generator? Tools to fix some stuff right?
Super cool trip, looked muddy last year and fun for sure. Usually kinda hot around that time of year?
For our group, rule is everyone brings 5 gallons, for generator and mowers. As Dan said, tool trailer is loaded. Usually we get one hot day, rest is around 80 for high.
Subject: 
December 3rd 2015, 10:43 am
