# lawnmower racing



## rubiconrider (Aug 26, 2009)

couple weeks ago me and a few guys raced a couple lawnmowers. nothin too extreme. just some ******** playing around with belts and pullies.
me and my buddie built the one with no hood(the champion) and the other one belongs to another buddy of mine. the blue new holland tractor belongs to another guy who thought that he could beat us, we lapped him in 2 laps...

i got a video ill put up later


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## bruterider27 (Apr 29, 2010)

Iv always wanted to try that


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## Looney (May 25, 2010)

Me and my dad used to race mowers and karts every weekend at a track in Tazewell Virginia... The karts got expensive and we quit the mower racing and then karts too... Still have one of each though..... I must say and not saying this because I raced, but it takes a hardcore racer to run a mower 40 to 50 + mph, It was a blast....


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## Looney (May 25, 2010)

also, the old Murrays (the ones with the clutch on one side and brake pedal on the other) is the best to build, doesnt really matter about the engine, we always done great with a cool bore (alum bore) 12 to 14 hp Briggs, Unhook the brake pedal, use it as your throttle pedal, hand brake on the side... I think the best combo of pulleys we ran was a true 4" on the engine and 2" on the trans/rearend.... **** now I wanna go and dig that thing out... Just thought I'd share what was still fresh on my mind if ya needed the info... If you have any other questions, just ask..


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## Big D (Jun 23, 2009)

My life has been way too sheltered


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## islandlife (Jul 4, 2010)

is that red one an old massey fergison? i used to have one that looked **** near the same, we switched the motor and axle pulleys, and got the thing to do about 35 mph. scary!


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## Eight (Mar 24, 2010)

I want to try it.


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## hondarider78 (Jan 12, 2010)

those are a blast to watch my friends dad has a track that is sanctioned the twin cylinder are the best


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## eagleeye76 (May 7, 2010)

Went to see some lawn mower races this summer at of all places...a snowmobile club. It was cool looking and fun to watch.


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## BleednGreen68 (Apr 19, 2010)

I've seen some races on tv. Very cool and fun lookin. We have plenty of junk mowers layin around waitin to be raced haha.


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## Bootlegger (Dec 18, 2008)

I bet that is fun...maybe I should try this instead of mud racing. I like to race anything...don't matter what it is.


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## rubiconrider (Aug 26, 2009)

oh its a blast alright. the red one is a turf trac with a 16 hp. briggs twin and the mine(the one with no hood) is a yardman with a 16.5 hp motor. ours only went about 25mph but we only had about 5 or 6 nights we actually worked on it, so it will go faster next year. the motor was a bit sluggish so im gonna do some work to the carb and put in some octane boost and play with the heat ranges on the plugs hopefully get a bit more out of it. the pully on the back is a two piece one that i fabbed up so i can unbolt it and split it in half and put shims inside it to open it up and make it smaller for more speed yet. i hope to hit 30mph with it and that will be plenty fast enough for what we wanna do with it. at the end of the day the pinion bearing seized to the shaft and snapped the top of the diff housing off so its temporarily out of commission, but i already have a new rear diff for it so it will ride again.

Here is a little video of one of the races we did. my buddy (the driver) didn't have it in gear at the start, but as you can see it didn't really matter.


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## BleednGreen68 (Apr 19, 2010)

Thats funny! Weird seein a mower go that fast. Those MTD's with the variable speed trannies are quick for being stock. We throw so many riding mowers away every year to the scrapper.


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## rubiconrider (Aug 26, 2009)

yeah it was pretty quick(for a lawnmower) stock but we soon fixed that lol.


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## BleednGreen68 (Apr 19, 2010)

When you do mod those mtd's, do you have any probs with the trannies goin out when they run that fast?


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## rubiconrider (Aug 26, 2009)

yeah if you read the end of the of my video post the top of the diff housing snapped off. and earlier the reverse gear seized up in there cuz its only grease in the diff so i took the gear out and filled it up with gear oil.


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## BleednGreen68 (Apr 19, 2010)

Gotcha. Couldnt you just put a grease zerk on the tranny in a few spots and just fill it up till its comin out of every nook and cranny? haha.


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## rubiconrider (Aug 26, 2009)

i thought of that but it would take probably a whole tube of greese to fill all the empty space. the gear oil worked great, the axle seals didnt even leak. only problem was the input shaft (on top of diff) didnt actually have a bearing it was just a bushing, and it seized up. so im gonna drill a hole in the new one and put a greese nipple on it to keep it well lubed. hopefully it works. if not i know a small engines guy who basically has a lawnmower wrecking yard with lots more diffs for me. as ricky from trailer park boys would say "its just denial and error"


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## BleednGreen68 (Apr 19, 2010)

You could probably get a sealed bearing from a bearing place like IBT or somethin that would work too for a top bearing. Some have needle bearings in them.


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## rubiconrider (Aug 26, 2009)

yeah it would definitely have to be a needle bearing as there is not a lot of clearence between the shaft and housing. but ill figure something out. the mower is now in storage and we just got 6 inches of snow today(YAY) so it wont be fixed till spring lol.


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## BleednGreen68 (Apr 19, 2010)

Mower season is done here (mowing grass type not racing) haha. Im ready for some snow here! Hope we get as much as we did last yr! We had 2 blizzards and one was xmas eve!


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## rubiconrider (Aug 26, 2009)

decent! we currently have about a foot to a foot and a half so far. im pullin the sled out tonight and takin her for a rip.


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## BleednGreen68 (Apr 19, 2010)

I wish it would snow a lot more here and kawi still made a sled. I'd be in heaven.


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## rubiconrider (Aug 26, 2009)

haha. intruder, intriguer, inviter, invader, interceptor, and then theres the drifter. cant say there weren't creative with their model names.


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## uppidycon (Jan 7, 2010)

i use to go with my uncle in center, tx to watch lawnmower races when i was younger.. fun stuff!


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## BleednGreen68 (Apr 19, 2010)

We have an old john deere trail fire at the shop. Basically a kawi. Atleast its got a 440 jet ski motor in it. That thing will fly! I dont know much about sleds since they aint popular here. Not good weather for it. Maybe when global warming gets worse we will get more snow. We rented some polaris sleds in colorado one yr. Those were fun. If I lived where there was snow I'd have a sled but wouldnt know which kind to get since i cant buy a new kawi sled haha.


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