Converting riding mower to ATV?

[homesteader824]

Has anyone here seen or heard of converting a riding lawn mower to an ATV? I was thinking if you took the mower deck off, it might give it the clearance needed. The reason I ask, my dad and I have 30 acres, mostly wooded, that is pretty level, but it is hard to get out and walk it all. I would like a UTV or ATV, but they are a bit pricey. We don't need something to hot rod through creeks and over rocks, just something to putter around on. Drawbacks I can think of are problems with clearance, and I don't think the mowers have any springs/shocks on them, so you would feel every bump. But you can get a used mower for about $150, versus about a thousand for a used (abused?) ATV. So, is this a bad idea, or would it work?

[vicker]

A neighbor in WV did this, just removed the deck on a couple of riding mowers. He and his common law wife puttered all over the mountain on them. He made a couple of little, low profile trailers and hauled in a lot of firewood too.

[Harry Chickpea]

Just be ready to patch the tires from the staubs.

[Pinetop Hunting]

Just swap tires out for atv tires of a similar size. It oughtta do what you need. My advice would be to pack a long rope and a come-along. The power to weight to traction ratio ain't the greatest. Lol

[Pinetop Hunting]

Better yet why not just buy a 500-600 dollar old honda atv? I see em all the time dirt cheap

[Conhntr]

I found a old honda rancher for 500. Its slow and dosnt fly off jumps like in the commercials but gets me around fine. Go on craigslist and look especially now at the end of the season

[farminghandyman]

When I blew out my knee a number of years ago, I converted a lawn/yard tractor to a nearly go any where, wheel chair, I put a steel milk crate on it and a place for my crutches and converted the clutch for had use, used it for about 3 months.

I could check electric fence and even built some off of it, go get the mail and check things.

I would not have called it a ATV but it did get me to where I need to go on the farm.

[Stephen in SOKY]

An old Gravely with the motor mounted between the rear wheels would be a great candidate. It's amazing what the old Gravely's can pull with good tires.

[Rectifier]

I do a bit of this with my old JD 214 yard tractor (with the mower deck on, sometimes with the blades spinning when the PTO clutch jams). It does great on flats. It does terrible on any kind of potholes, rocks or wheel ruts. If you get one drive wheel in a pothole it will spin and spin until you shove it off. I have used it to skid timbers around and fenceposts and stuff, and want to make a little trailer for it. I like it for that sort of "around the yard" work.
It's also pretty slow, the variator is tired, and when you do manage to work the variator to get up to full speed it really romps over the little bumps and feels like it's going to chuck you off. It really is a "tractor" and not a "vehicle" IMO.

Also in my opinion, 30 acres is not huge, and you will get in rugged woodsman shape walking it regularly. You also don't realize how many logs and rocks and junk are in there until you try to drive a low-clearance vehicle around in a forest! You will see a lot you would miss on wheels, when you are on foot. I walk 320 acres regularly, and I always find it a joy to roam the hills in silence without wheels and engines. In our area, the native grass grows best if you keep wheels off of it. You get to notice the wild plants, the deer, small wildlife etc... Just don't step in gopher holes and twist your ankle, and always check for ticks

They invented quads for a reason, and it wasn't jumping rocks and splashing lots of water around like in the ads!

[jwal10]

They work great for what they are, IF you are careful and slow. AND you can reinstall the mower deck when you are done cleaning up and keep the trails mowed. Remember they are top heavy (even more so with the deck removed). Be very careful on slopes and around stumps and logs. They don't have great brakes either....James

[Troy]

My neighbor used one for years. He was handicapped , but loved to hunt and get outside. He couldn't afford an ATV of any kind , but had a yard full of old mowers.

He used ATV tires , took off the deck and converted the exhaust to use a small tractor muffler. He would literally drive to within 15 feet of deer. They would stand there and look at him trying to figure out what he was I guess.

It was surprisingly quite and with the ATV tire rode a lot better than I figured it would. It was no Rancher , Etc. , but hey he had less than $300 in it. He drove it all over the hills and hollers here in central Mo.

I've thought about doing one myself. Since I do most of my walking in the winter doing the trapping thing and it would be nice to ride and check them instead of walking and carrying everything.

[travis91]

I've seen front wheel drive geo hatchbacks with atv tires installed that would go near about anywhere

[IMFoghorn]

If you don't go with the ATV tires you might consider putting snow chains on the drive wheels.

[MichaelZ]

For just getting around (which is all the rider mower will do for you), you can probably get a smaller engine ATV NEW for a little over $1000. The rider mower is slow, and won't go up any kind of steep grade or over a log - at least mine will not. You don't need 400 or 500 CC for just getting around in the way you describe.