I’ve got my whole yard turned into a skating rink. Sand and gravel aren’t autistic enough, they just slide around on top of the ice and end up in piles. I’m thinking of making a rear attachment for my AWD Husqvarna rider that cuts when I’m reversing. Forward motion would be free-rolling and not digging at all.Basic idea is a hinged cutter plate / spike bar:>Reverse = mower pushes it down and loads weight onto it, so it scratches / grooves the ice>Forward = geometry makes it release and trail, so it can’t biteHas anyone built a one-way drag or scraper or something like this before?
One probably I see is if your drive wheels are in the rear you'll be taking weight off them when your scraper engages and you'll lose traction. It might take a lot of fine tuning, or not even be possible, to get the geometry you need for it to be low enough to engage without lifting the tractor.
>>2972506And I just noticed you said it's AWD. Depending on how much differential action there is front to rear the lifting might not be so much of a problem.
>>2972506Mower is AWD. But you’ve got a point, if i don’t misremember it just puts power to the spinning wheels if one is in the air. I need to verify.
>>2972505>one-way drag or scraper or something like thisI've seen hillbilly contraptions in the ozarks work such that using a winch, either electric or hand, attached to a tree, big rock, truck, whatever, is then attached to a sled of some sort with claws in the ground as you describe. the reason being is that unless you have a tank track mod for your lawnmower and at least 2 amerifats worth of mass on it, all you will be doing is making pretty scratches.if you get some 1" cold rolled steel bar from your nearest cheap steel supply shop, cut it on a miter saw at 60 degrees or so, making spikes about 12" or more longer. then use some 4x4 lumber, drill some angled holes such that you are making a giant claw scraper as you describe. you can set the height of each claw by welding a nut/washer/drilledplate that slips over the bar once you figure out something like 6" is the right depth.make a cheap 4x4 timber sled using carriage bolts, hammer, chisel, drill, and an afternoon. load it up with whatever heavy stuff you have, including your lawnmower, then drag it with a winch from an anchor point.the upshot is that in the summertime when you want to scrape a patch of yard the size of a garden, you can use those same claws and just drag it all out to a pile for the cost of a $200 scraper sled. when you are done with it, design it such that the good timber is used somewhere else, or also designing it such that the spikes can be removed and make it a proper wheel-less drag sled not for spike dragging, also useful. you also might need to add some reinforcement to the 4x4 where you make the spike penetration, or use 6x6 in that spot, either way.probably the same cost as taking a risky design for a mower attachment which none of the manufacturers make already which you would've/could've looked at and copy the design from, thus negating the entire post.
>>2972505>>2972513picrel.blue are some sort of depth setting collar. that could be a cheap hex nut large enough to slip over the 1" spike. using a cheap stick welder to run a nasty bead is good enough. drilling a 1" hole in plate would be a pain, and if you can find 1" heavy washers, splaff on a stick welder and that can be the depth stop. if you goof it, slice it off, weld in another one. use your judgement.the sled timbers are drawn as 4x4, therefore 3.5" actual. it looks like enough is still in the wood for strength. I drew 4 spikes, but it really is just the options you have. you can use 4, or just 2, and if they are more on the tail end, a heavier mass will cause it to skip over things which would otherwise cause it to stall out, no matter how strong the winch and anchor point is. or, you also have the option of having the spikes more towards the center of the sled, allowing less of the skipping action.bolt it all together with lag bolts, include a cross brace, and cut angle notches on the front of the drag skids.
>>2972513>cut it on a miter saw at 60 degrees or soI also forgot to mention that any steel shop will gladly make those miter cuts for you on their machines for something like a $5 upcharge if you don't have a miter saw with a blade for metal cutting. you could do it with an angle grinder, but just pay the tweaker at the steel shop so he can get his fix.also at that same shop, you will most likely be able to slip them $20 to weld on those depth stop collars if you don't have a welder. if not that, you will also find someone there with a welder on their truck who will gladly do it for a few bucks in cash right there.also, adding a 3rd or 4th spine to the skid can be done too. blah blah blah, the reason I sperged out here is because I am doing exactly this with my 3-tier backyard. the upper level has to be scraped free of kudzu, poison ivy, and some mysterious thorny thing which makes me bleed way too much. a tiller won't do it, a backhoe won't fit up the retaining wall, and a winch with a spiked drag sled can rip off the top 12" of roots into a tangled mess by using a winch on my xterra. after that, virgin topsoil clean of all the tanglefuck roots. there isn't an engine machine short of an earth mover which can do that.I will be making mine from 2x2 angle iron and using clamp collars to set the depth. using hardened and tempered 1" driveshaft rod for the spikes. cheap water pump and 4 blue rain barrels is all the mass I need, not having to actually do any work on it.all for about $200. it worked for the pyramids.
>>2972505Can't you get a snow plough for the Rider?
>>2972681Also can't you take the deck off easily (like on a Park) to us the deck attachment point?
There is no way you are going to make a land icebreaker with your lawn tractor.
>go outside>branches sagging powerlines off the side of the house in two places>blast them down with shotgun>works pretty goodyou guys should go outside and double check your lines.full choke and birdshot if anyones wondering.
>>2972856When I lived out in the country, shotgun was our preferred method for harvesting mistletoe. >>2972505A completely different direction to consider: mount some type of cutting instrument to break up with surface of the ice. Once fractured, gravel and sand can be effective. A metal pole mounted vertically that stabs the ice would be the most humorous solution but cutting disks probably would be more effective.
>>2972505i understand where you are coming from, but this is never going to work in reality. Sorry. It will never get the traction to scrape ice.Put a little salt on the ice, or pay someone to come with an actual machine to scrape it. or just get the right stuff, which is a mix of salt and gravel.
