Three Push-Type Reel Mowers Hitched Together

Three Push-Type Reel Mowers Hitched Together FARM HOME Lawn Mowers (31h,38) 15-5-6 Pat Slaney, Lone Rock, Wis. put together an inexpensive 4-ft. wide tow-behind mower by hitching together three 18-in. push-type "reel" mowers. "I got the idea when I saw a big pull-type reel mower being used on a golf course," says Slaney, who hitched the mowers together three years ago. "I was able to get the mowers at no cost. I had been using a 38-in. riding mower on my 1/2-acre lawn. I still use the conventional mower deck to mow along roadsides where the reel mowers would get plugged up by sticks and rough ground. "The advantage of the reel mowers is that they aren't as rigidly mounted as the deck mower so they `float' over uneven ground without skinning the lawn on high spots like the deck mower does. They also spread the grass clippings out straight behind without leaving wind-rows. Even if the grass gets a little long I never have to rake anything up. Each mower in front overlaps the rear mower by about an inch so the total cutting width is about 46 in. It's fun to use, but it's definitely home-built. My wife won't go outside while I'm using it because someone might see her." Slaney used 3/4-in. sq. tubing to make a tongue and 4-ft. long cross bar that pulls the two front mowers via scrap iron hitches. He used strips of flat steel to make a diamond-shaped brace between the tongue and crossbar to keep all three mowers turning together. Slaney used weights made out of rail-road track and steel rollers to keep the mower cage assemblies from flipping forward. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Pat Slaney, RR 1, Lone Rock, Wis. 53556 (ph 608 583-4941).

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