Charity/Fundraiser ideas

I might have brought up something similar to this in the past, I can't remember. But, I was just thinking the other day about how on the way to the top tractor challenge with Forum President Doug, a lot of people on the road and at gas stations ect seems to get a kick out of the off road tractors on the trailer. When you've been messing with them for a few years you don't think too much about them being odd or different. But I think the the average person, it's kind of unique to see a lawn tractor done up with fancy bumpers and ATV tires.

I was wondering if possibly there was any way for us to somehow do something to raise money for some sort of charity organization. Just because these tractors are somewhat unique and gets people's attention. Not only would it just be good to do if there was some way to make it happen but also, it would be good advertising for the site plus just give more people the idea about building an off road tractor.

For awhile I've had the idea to ride across the state of Indiana on back roads with a tractor since technically there's no law preventing that during day light hours. I wonder if something along those lines could be turned into some sort of charity thing or maybe something similar. If so, it could then be official with local authority's so that no one gets upset about it.

But if anyone has any ideas about something similar, I'd be interested in discussing it. I would also be willing to contact people and do some research if needed. Just was wondering if anyone had any thoughts or ideas on it.

As far as making a run across a state or something similar, I'm not even sure who to contact or how to go about something like that. Perhaps contact some organizations who might be interested in doing a fund raiser and let them set it up on their end?

Well, being located in Indiana I think the only thing you would need to be on the roads with a “tractor” is an reflective orange slow-moving vehicle triangle like you would see on farm equipment. But as soon as I started reading this I was thinking cross country trek across the state. Maybe starting somewhere near the Indiana dunes at Lake Michigan and ending up at haspin. That would take us more or less diagonally across the state from the north west to the south east.

I’d like to see it happen and would love to participate. Maybe post the idea on the forums Facebook page and see if it generates any interest.

Side note...I think Facebook is kinda outdated for some people...a lot of people use Instagram now. From what I understand (I have limited knowledge in the matter) it’s a fairly similar idea, and may attract new members. Just a thought, not sure if it’s worth the effort but figured I’d put it out there

I like it. We should make an 'All terrain lawn tractor cross state rally' a once a year thing, like Haspin. That'd be real fun! Give the forum a lot of attention too.

Yeah I think the laws are pretty relaxed about it there and if you planned it out to be on back roads, I don't think it would bother anyone too much. The only thing is that I don't know much about turning it into some sort of charity thing. I suppose we might contact some organization, (cancer research or could be anything) give them the basic idea that we would be doing a cross country run on lawn tractors and ask if they would like to somehow use it to get donations somehow?

On our side, I don't think it would change how we would do the run. I would think it would just be a story to post online and get donations for the organization, but the organization would set up that part themselves, as I'm sure they do various things like that on a normal basis.

But who to contact?

I'm sure if a few people would like to do a trip like that it would be ok, as long as there wasn't hundreds of tractors. In that case the local police might not be so happy about a huge hoard of tractors on the roads as the law is designed for farm equipment moving from place to place. But out in the more rural areas, probably no issue there.

@mr.modified @Murraymountain we cant even get people to go to haspin let alone a yearly cross state trip on mowers, and I doubt only but a hand full of people would actually show up for a cross state trip.

I personally would be interested in participating in something like this, as for the charity part I have zero input on how to make it happen or who to contact about making it happen. Would definitely need a whole lot of over-landing gear. Would have to have a seriously tip top machine to make it.

As for the charity part, same here. I will try to do a bit of research on it. My idea was that, the trip would be essentially the same either way, but someone could basically use it as advertising to get donations, probably online as one does these days...

But anyway, as for the trip itself. I think who ever wanted to participate would be ok. My original idea was for just myself to go, but I'm not opposed to more people joining in. As for a yearly thing, I think there might be potential issues with being on the road with a bunch of lawn tractors even though the law in indiana doesn't say you can't. Maybe not but it's a possibility. I would think that would be more of an issue near towns and also the more people on tractors, the more attention it would draw on the road.

Those things may not be an issue at all, we'd have to sort it out if there was any charity thing at all or if we just did it with out. And where the route would be. If there was no charity part of it, then I would say just keep it somewhat more quiet and plan a back roads route. If some organization wanted to get involved, then possibly it could get official permission and maybe they would want to go through a certain area ect. I have no idea.

It could be that the whole charity idea is just a super pain in the neck and not worth it lol.

The biggest issue I can see with tractors on a trip like that is vibration and bolts coming loose. Some taller gearing would be good and somewhat non aggressive tires. Probably some super fuel capacity would be good too.

I mean, if we'd go through a town or something, I'd assume you'd have to contact police first to get permission.

You'd definitely need some fast pulley ratios, but that would probably take care of fuel issues too. As for tires, I'd just use turfs.

living in central Indiana and a rural area i could definitely help with the routing in my area as i know a lot of the small towns and back roads in my area north east of Indianapolis and would love to participate depending on the time of year and length of the ride.

I think the best way to go about it would be to do it solo, or as a small group thing. It would be easier to get donations as an individual to donate to whatever cause, and the Forum endorse it if the staff all approves of whatever plan comes of it. The Forum doesnt really have the resources to put an event on itself and would require a lot of time to manage.

So in other words if I made a run for example and set up a donation page deal, then donate it to some charity thing afterwards. That's a possibility, I would just have to find out more about it. I don't know too much about how all that stuff works.

As far as distance goes. I think I was figuring around 250-300 miles probably in two days. Which should be do-able as long as nothing breaks which isn't quickly fixable. Maybe not the most comfortable ride but do-able...

I was even thinking maybe build a tractor specifically for something like that. Lowered down and geared up pretty high. Turf tires and a lot of fuel capacity.