"Swather" Zero Turn Riding Mower

Swather Zero Turn Riding Mower FARM HOME Lawn Mowers 31h 38 Dewayne Madoll Salol Minn built a powerful 5-ft zero turn riding mower out of a Versatile swather and other salvaged parts including a 60-in Arts Way mower deck
    The mower is powered by the swather s original 4-cyl 28 hp Wisconsin engine The front caster wheels are from a Minnesota pull-type mower while the rear wheels are off a Polaris ATV
     The rig is hydrostatic with a zero turning radius so even though it s big it s very maneuverable says Madoll All I bought were three belts and three pulleys I spent only about $300 to build it Even a used zero turn mower would have cost $2 500 or more
    He started with a 1950 s Versatile 400 zero turn swather which he narrowed down so the wheels would match the width of the 60-in mower
    Madoll says mounting the mower on the swather was simple He built a bracket on back of the mower so he could mount it where the header had fit onto the machine The swather s upper header mount arms are used to lift the deck
    He used part of the frame off an Owatonna swather to support the mower deck
    The final step was getting power to the mower which was originally belt-driven Madoll added a right angle gearbox on top of the deck The engine pto-drives the gearbox which uses a pulley to belt-drive the deck s blades
     I use it to mow my 2 -acre lawn It works better than I had even hoped says Madoll I can turn on a dime and I have an excellent view of the deck in front of me The seat is off a boat so it has a comfortable ride
     I re-mounted the engine s muffler to deflect heat away from the driver I use the steering levers off a Sears Craftsman riding mower to turn and a foot-operated peg to hydraulically raise or lower the deck
     I happened to have a gallon of leftover Allis Chalmers paint so I painted the machine Allis orange
    Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Dewayne Madoll 52226 350th St Salol Minn 56756 ph 218 463-2647

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