Front end loader riding mower lift.

[Retired LE]

Greetings,

Those of you who have riding lawn mowers know it can be somewhat difficult to clean the underside of the mower decks unless of course you have one of the new fangled quick detach drive-over units. This is for those who aren't blessed with the drive-over types.

A lot of us use car ramps to get access to the underside but that can be a problem because the ramps are usually in your way and block access. Not to mention you pretty much have to lie on the ground to get limited access. So after mulling the problem over, I came up with a gizmo to make life easier.

I used some steel channel and fabricated a frame that fits on my Rankin bucket forks.


I had to fabricate some cross pieces because the mower deck bottomed out when I tried to drive over the sections of channel. I made the cross pieces removable to facilitate access to the mower deck.


When finished, I simply re install the cross pieces and drive the tractor off. I would caution anyone trying this method to ensure the hydraulics on your particular tractor are strong enough to lift your riding mower as well as not bleed down while the mower is lifted. Also, as depicted in the photo, when cleaning the deck, I would recommend staying to the side and avoid being directly under the mower in case something did fail and the mower came down.

 

[Fawken]

Pretty cool. Now you need an I-beam 'T' to prop under the loader for safety.

 

[Retired LE]

Pretty cool. Now you need an I-beam 'T' to prop under the loader for safety.

You are right. The tractor came with a support strut to support the loader when removed from the tractor.



I simply used a longer pipe of the same diameter.



I use a board under it for now to prevent it from sinking into the ground. I will eventually weld a section of flat plate to the bottom.