EddieWalker said:
One of my great learning experiences was the time and money that I wasted modifying vehicles when I was younger. I would replace a perfectly good part with another with the idea that it would be better. Heck, it might have been, but it wasn't something that I could actually notice. Engine mods, sususpension mods, I even got rid of almost brand new tires for more expensive ones on a jeep that rarely went off road. When it did, it was on dry dirt roads. Heck, I could have drove my moms car on most of the dirt roads that I spent over a thousand dollars on those tires and not noticed the difference. In hindsite, I wasted thousands and thousands of dollars, untold hours of labor, only to make a reliable, affordable vehicle into a money pit that didn't work as well as it did before my changes.
I don't modify anything that I want to use on a regular basis anymore. I know the engineers who built it are smarter then I am, and they have allot more experience in what they built then I ever will. Sometimes things need beefing up, but rarely do they need a total change.
I would never change the pully size. You just don't know what you are doing to the rest of the components. Will the gear box handle the increased speeds? Will the spindles hold up to the increase heat generated by that speed? What happens when you hit something? Gopher holes, ant hills and whatever that appears in a field that wasn't there last month all add to the stress and strain on a mower.
Replace broken parts with what is supposed to be there and run it like it's supposed to be run. Modifying it just leads to more headaches and expenses down the road. If you want to buy a cheap anything, look for what somebody else has modified. Sooner or later, they will get tired of dumping money into it and refuse to go back to original. This is especially true with off road vehicles like jeeps and trucks, but it applies to just about anything.
If it doesn't work the way you want it to in factory condition, then you have the wrong mower.
Good luck,
Eddie
Eddie, don't discredit yourself so much. Design engineers start somewhere, and many designs end up being "flops". Many changes that I made to my ASV RC-100 are now available from the factory.
As far as changing to the 12" drive pulley, there will be no increased speed on the gearbox. The gearbox will turn the pulley, not the pulley turning the gearbox. So the pulley will even be turning at the same speed. The idler, tension pulley will turn faster, as will the blade spindle/bearing/pulley assembly. BUT, Blade will increase from approximately 46 RPS to approx. 50 RPS. I don't see a real issue with this, but the biggest advantage for me would be that I could decrease the tractor by 200+ RPM's while still maintaining the same blade speed. It's not as much decrease as JD's 540e, but it's a start.
As far as increased speed, my father built his Farmall H so that the PTO turns 600 rpm's. We have ran it for years and years with not problems. I have even heard of people running a 540 cutter on 1000 RPM, but that is something even I would not try. It may try to take off like a helicopter!
Eddie, how's that 12 item list coming for '08?
On a different but similiar note, I think a feature on my Microwave hood oven should be different. Engineers figure it one way, but I figure it another. When I put food in the Microwave to cook, heat, defrost, or whatever, it runs for the selected time and ends with 4 beeps which notifies me that the food is ready. If I don't open the Microwave door, it will beep 4 more times in approx. 30 seconds, constantly displaying "FOOD IS READY".
Compare that to the timer on my Microwave. Let's say you are baking a cake for your wife's suprise B'day party. Once the cake is prepared, you stick it in the oven and set the Microwave timer for the appropriate time. I don't bake cakes, so I'll just say it takes 60 minutes. Well, you clean the kitchen and go to the living room for a little TV while the cake is baking. Flip a few channels, go to the bathroom, answer the phone, and before you know it the smoke detector is now saying your cake is done. What happened? Well, about 25 minutes ago when you stepped to the back for just a second to relieve your bladder, the timer went off with it's regular 4 beeps. Too bad you did not hear it, because that is all you get.
Now it may be just me, but I think the beeping methods between the microwave and the timer should be reversed. If I don't hear the beeper go off for my food, sooner or later my stomach will remind me about it. If it has been a while, the worse case is it may need a little more reheating. Now you return from the back after the timer went off for your wife's cake, and just as you sit down it starts to beep 4 times again. Well now you are only 30 seconds late, versus waiting on the smoke detector to notify you.
I have several more ideas, but I'll share another one quickly. If a man is sitting on a toilet, there's a real good chance that we all know what he is doing. WHEEEWWW!, What a smell! And if that smell is coming from right up under you, who in the world wants the ceiling exhaust fan to suck that odor from under you to the ceiling. It can't help but travel right by your nose, and with the nose opening on the bottom you are going to ingest about as much odor as that ceiling exhaust fan. Terrible design for the immediate user, but I guess it benefits whomever follows. EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF, try sealing up that space under you as much as possible, keep the fan off, and save some of you for the next user. No need in unnecessary suffering.
