Brakes Are A Good Thing!

So I was driving my mower with my neighbor who was on his big 8n tractor his 8n goes about 18 MPH and my mower will do about 40 (havent checked it yet) anyways we were cruising down the road and i was following him to a mud hole that was about 3 miles down the road, we get to this spot where we go down a hill and across a bridge over a creek and its a pretty big hill so i can get a little extra speed up, so im flying down the hill and i go to pass my neighbor and i see that all this rain that has flooded the creek several times has washed the bridge out. so im trying desperately to stop and remember that since this is the second test run i still havent hooked any breaks up so i jam the heel of my sneaker between the tire and the frame and hope for the best i slow down allot then my foot gets caught on the tire my foot is now stuck under the axle and im still going about 15 mph towards the bridge that is no longer there and for the last 30 feet my leg has been rubbing against the tire i finally got it to stop by jamming the tranny into reverse and flooring it which made a hideous grinding noise but it stopped me. so now my leg is bleeding pretty bad and my foot is swollen up. i tie my shirt around my leg to stop the bleeding and start my mower up i go to put it in gear and the shifter wont budge i tried reverse and it made a grinding noise but didnt move. so we hooked it to the 8n with a tow rope and drug it back. my leg still hurts like hell too. so before i ride this thing again im installing a kill switch and breaks. im probably gonna have to rebuild the tranny too

Brakes are always good.

Turning the engine off might have helped stop. Otherwise you could have turned and just leaned in really far.

It has a 6.5 hp push mower motor and i haven't wired up a kill switch for it yet

dylansrockinrigs wrote:

my mower will do about 40... this is the second test run i still havent hooked any breaks up ...before i ride this thing again im installing a kill switch and breaks.

I'm sorry if I sound like a condescending jerk here, but I need to say something. Call it a PSA.

This is your second run of a mower you claim will do 40MPH, and you STILL had no brakes or kill switch. That is just pure stupidity. This is something you should have seen to, long before your second test run! It's one thing to putt-putt in the driveway without these essentials while you tweak other things, but it's a whole other stack of crapjacks to go flying down a road at full bore into the unknown with no regard for life and limb.

Don't get me wrong- I am VERY glad you were not seriously injured- because you could easily have been. But what you did is a primo example of what NOT to do. I do hope that future readers of this will leave with an important lesson- use your head for more than a hat rack!

Have a great time! But please, PLEASE play safe. Nothing kills a good time faster than a trip to the emergency room.

I'm not sure if it goes 40 or not but it sure feels like it, I did have the stock breaks hooked up but the shoes are completely worn out and my neighbor wanted to go romping so I couldn't resist thanks for expressing concern and if it makes you feel better I was wearing a DOT approved motorcycle helmet.

I did a stupid the other day. I have brakes, upgraded ones, that will lock the tires on pavement. So I go out for a long pavement drive(about 10 miles), cruising at 25-30mph. Halfway through, I remember the brake pads are shot... No accidents or problems, just a duh. Slowed down and took it easy on the way back. And new pads are sitting on the bench.

We all do stupid things periodically. Distraction, forgetfulness, or excitement sometimes take over.

The other day, I completely reworked the frontend of my go kart, after having installed a new engine just before. Brakes were great, kill switch was great... I went out to test out the new frontend geometry at speed. Burning up my pothole-infested gravel road at a shade under 45MPH (still have some carb tuning to do).

The shakedown run went very well. As I pulled back into the driveway and parked, I spotted a nut on the ground... From my left kingpin. The right one was about to fall off, too. I'd forgotten to tighten them down after I worked out the new steering arrangement.

I'm lucky the kingpin didn't bounce out. That would have seriously frickin' hurt. The lesson? Doublecheck your work before that first test run!!!

I'm going to tractor supply to get new pulleys and more bolts

Can you get me a 4" v belt pully? Hahaha. Does your store only have 1/2" belts?

Haha tractor supply didn't have the right size, they have 1/2 inch and 3/4 inch v belts and flat belts they told me to go to western auto (yes they still exist) but western auto was closed so iI'm heading back tomorrow