Struggling...

So, living in the middle of the US it is a struggle at times to do the All-Terrain Lawn Tractor hobby.

1. My friends are into other things, and there isn't anyone near to ride with.
   
2. that takes me into my other issue, no where to ride.  There are atv trails, but they do not allow unregistered/modified vehicles.  Trolling around a yard is one thing, but not that exciting.  I could take it to my wife's parents, but a) I don't want to tear their property up too much, b) you can only do so much on 10 acres that is mostly flat.  I could take it down to the river, but then again, only so much you can do.
   
3. "Good" parts are a little harder to come by.  In my area, all the tractors are snatched up by mower mechanics, and FAST.  Not much of a modified mower scene here in Oklahoma.  Barely any garden tractor pullers here either, or I am just looking in the wrong place.
   
4. Closest member to me is well over 3 hrs away, but he hasn't been on ATLTF since Apr and is selling off some of his rigs it appears.  I'm close enough that I seen them being sold. 
   

also, the cost vs enjoyment right now is way out of balance.  

I'm redoing Li'l Red, but only see it going back into the shed when complete.  
Guess I'm a little bum'd right now.  Not much time to tinker even.

Damn that sucks mighty. I’m losing motivation myself on the mk2, I still can’t get this engine figured out.

Might be time to take a break from the hobby for the winter and just enjoy your family for the holidays and maybe pick it up again when the weather gets nice

Maybe..

I'll probably step away for a bit while the build-off vote happens.  BTW, you should still submit video and pix from haspin if you do not get the fixes complete.  The thing still performed.

I didn’t get any videos myself. I think the only one who has posted videos would be redzz02...would that be enough to qualify as complete since it technically shows my machine running and driving?

I hate to make this thread about me or the buildoff when there’s a thread about it. Just PM me and we can discuss it further

I'll review and talk to Doug.
Continue the course.

thats a real bummer man, but I do know the feeling, I had even started to take a big step away from the hobby a few years ago, Just got tired of none of my old riding buddys wanting to go out anymore and when they did we mainly just drove around and stop and talked. but then I hooked up with Donnie, Sean, Andy and Studabaker and it really got me back into it. its all about finding good people that like the same kinda stuff you do. just a bummer no one in your area seems to be into it.

Same here mighty. Hard to keep motivation when you don't have anyone to ride with. Haven't really built anything in a while, just kinda maintaining stuff.

I can see that, but I can say.  At least you have some nice property to ride on.

So it sounds like your ready to officially join simplicity racing and turn your garage into a fiberglass hood and fender factory?? I'll send you some Simplicity racing shirts right away!

But seriously, yeah I kinda get that. For me, the fun is building something for a specific purpose or look and then seeing how it works once it's done. The actual riding is only a small part of it. For example, the simplicity adventure edition, once I tested it out at haspin and then made some changes to fix a couple of issues, it's more or less time to move on to another build or do something else. That particular idea or design has already been done at that point so to speak. Not that I would want to get rid of it and it's still cool to go places now and then to ride around with it. But once I've tested out a build, it's time to try another one.

For some reason, I don't care too much for the idea of making major changes to a build if it's not 100% up to par with what I'd like it to do. I'd rather just start all over from scratch.

Maybe you could turn your yard into a super off road mower short course...

I get it. I don't have any "riding" buddies either... Just my cousins and 1 friend who has an ATV. I'm the only one in the area right now who mods mowers. But I have 13 acres to ride on. That's the one big thing, gotta have a place to ride. Know anybody with a farm that might let you ride? A lot of people I know will let me ride on their property.

Also, I know Sasquatch II was a step in that direction, but did you ever think about a street build? Seems like it would be more practical in your area.

mr.modified wrote:

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LOL, I think I'll leave the short courses to @redzz02.  

Murraymountain wrote:

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My next build will be a Rat-Rod much like @AllisKidD21, but I just need to acquire a good enough transaxle. (...er something that I can work with.  :-)

Lol mighty I could probably find you some MSTs pretty cheap, would be a good start.

I have a Doc Locked MST under the work bench. I would like to do the drive shaft idea that AK did. I was saving it for my daughter's tractor, but as hard as she is going to drive it, I think the FNR will be fine in that one.

I completely feel your pain, I’m a lot more well off than your situation but it definitely is hard to be the only one that rides in your area, I’m surrounded with riding areas but it’s all illegal and such a long ride on a tractor it’s not worth it, I do have camp but jamie and johnathan aren’t nearly as serious as I am, and usually end up fixing/building there stuff for them just so we can ride, and I’m surrounded by property up camp but 95% of it i can’t ride on cause owners whine. I really wish you were closer to come enjoy rides with us. Honestly I wish I had an easy solution for you, maybe lay off building for awhile and hit it strong for haspin 21. Crazy Carl and studabaker drive 7 hours to ride, maybe you gotta find someone in that 7 hour cap and go once a month to ride with someone?

Definitely things to consider.

If there is one thing that should keep you motivated, is you build some awesome stuff and I enjoy seeing what you come up with, and I know I’m not the only one that feels that way, I know watching others builds and riding videos also motivates me,

I agree you build really cool stuff and your builds along with a few others really motivate me to build

also dont be afraid to take a break from tractor building, its suppose to be fun, if its not take a break. I do that alot with my hobbies. I usually get get back into it in a few months. Also some states its not that hard to register your tractor as a atv so you could ride state trails, maybe you could look into that, plus Ive had good luck with some private atv parks allowing us in.

I found a few cool looking riding areas around you, you ever checked out Lake eufaula dam or Big fox run atv area?

I haven't looked into those.  I haven't branched out very far.  There use to be a cool one just 15-20 miles from me, but they closed it to motorized vehicles and is now horse trails.

I've checked out rider planet a few times.

There are very few places other than private property that are really down with tractor riding, I mean you have to think about it in other peoples shoes, when you tell someone that you want to ride a lawn tractor in the woods it seems pretty silly.

That being said have been wheeling my jeep for years, and if you put that in perspective, I was just driving my jeep real slow in the woods crashing into trees and rocks and breaking stuff, some people might think that is silly too.

Public lands for OHV use all over the country is in danger for many different reasons, and allot of times its a few people who screw it up for many.

Anyway that is kind of why we moved to where we did, so I have (4) acres of woods & trails so I can do whatever with my tractor whenever I want...

To be able to enjoy more trails I would get a quad or something, its not as much financial hardship as a jeep & can be used allot more places...

My buddy is trying to talk me into getting one of those hybrid dirt bike/street bikes he swears it is the best of both worlds.

Get some tractors to buy and sell, I hate getting rid of them sometimes but its fun and better than letting them sit around.

I disagree with that, Ive been told no by a handful of parks but Ive also had 4 or 5 parks say sure just dont come on a super busy weekend. Most of the atv parks that are pay to play dont care as much, as long as they get money they are happy. most parks are very skeptic until we show up and ride and then they usually very impressed and get a few laughs out of it and tell us to come back anytime. I actually pulled out a stuck sxs that was the park staffs at powerline park and they were totally amazed and very thankful.

Creepycrawler wrote:

I disagree with that, Ive been told no by a handful of parks but Ive also had 4 or 5 parks say sure just dont come on a super busy weekend. Most of the atv parks that are pay to play dont care as much, as long as they get money they are happy. most parks are very skeptic until we show up and ride and then they usually very impressed and get a few laughs out of it and tell us to come back anytime. I actually pulled out a stuck sxs that was the park staffs at powerline park and they were totally amazed and very thankful.

Its not really about agree or disagree, but in my area of the country I never saw a tractor in the woods at any park, I know of a few places that people ride on private events but thats it. If your OHV park allows it thats awesome, not everyone even lives within a reasonable drive of a OHV park.

So to the point you made, call your local parks & see if they would allow it.

No one rides these around here either that I can find. But we live off grid on 36 acres and 2 miles from neighbors and pavement. 4 wheelers are fine and fun but getting harder for me to sit on, I have MS and other issues sitting with my legs wrapped around something hurts a regular seat is much more comfortable. Plus it's a project my 14yo daughter wants to try. Buying a side-by-side is out of the question since we have virtually no income. Building something useful out of junk is right up my alley. Most of what we have was junk at some point. Lol

Good luck MR