What do you do if people talk crap about your mower?

You guys make some pretty valid points about "haters" just not understanding. And I'll tell you why I say this:

I'm not new to wrenching. I been fixing and modifying stuff for a VERY long time. I'm also into go karts. Go karts are pretty striaghtforward. Small, nimble, fast- pretty easy to see the fun in them, even if you've never tried one. BUT-

MULE is the first lawn tractor that I have modified in this way. I built it to be a tool, not a toy. I quickly discovereed that it makes a great toy, too! The FUN aspect hit me here- https://www.atltf.com/t2218-i-get-it-now

So yeah- If you don't get it, you don't get it...

if anyone bashes my build (besides me) i kick em in the nuts.. LOL

i stll think the best way to show em up is to let Your Build go against Their Build then see where it stands

I usually don't have to worry about it. Tractors=babes and babes=popularity, nuff said.   But seriously, most people I know are used to it by now and accept it.

I havent personally had anyone talk crap about the stuff I build then again... my hands are the size of most peoples faces lol but I had a buddy in school who raced mowers and people always made fun of him he didnt say anything he would just pull out his wallet and hold out the picture of him with all the hooters chicks laying on his mower from the local joint and that my friends is why I never made fun of him :p on the redneck thing: redneck isnt anything to be proud of and kids these days arent rednecks. rednecks were people that followed the harvest back in the depression they worked all day and got pretty sun burnt it is a testament to our heritage as americans that the word has lasted however it is a grave disappointment that some child can go out buy a can of dip and a lifted f350 slap some stars and bars on it and fake a southern accent "Imma raidnawk" I will warn anyone once if you think your a redneck just because you haven't worked a day in your life and have a f350 Ill assist you on the extrication of your teeth to help you look like one. I came from a family of rednecks farmers well drillers loggers and soldiers but I will not call myself a redneck because I know I havent earned that title some day when I am old and grey skin leathery as hell hands scared and chapped then and only then can I say I earned that title. >.> kinda ranted there for a minute or two... if anything I think lawren is a redneck :p

+1 on the post Moose! Thanks for the background info on the meaning. I agree 100%. I'm not a redneck, never will be. Up in the norhteast, I think our equivalent would be a Mountain Man. I have some friends up in the mountains of Vermont who farm 24-7, 'shine, hunt, and have lifted 4x4's because they need them to get up their driveways, not because they look cool.   

yeah if you need a 4x4 thats different if you have a 4x4 just to waste gas and be like "I got a 4x4" 8B makes me twitchy... one of the lost qualities of our ancestors :/ the hard work gene dont really wanna get into that rant but I will say this it does give me hope for the future when I see the kids on here that are willing to swing a hammer and bend some iron to build something epic in the fashion of our forefathers!

if they talk crap i just rev it up and cant here them or if im not driving it i wil just say when your walking and i come screamin buy dont ask for a ride.

Wow some really good points have been made in this forum. For the last couple of years I have been planning on taking on a build and have finally got around to it. And from the very beginning I have received a lot of crap from family mostly my wife. She does not have a problem with me doing it as long as I finish the project and it does not sit in the garage the next ten years unfinished. However she like others just do not understand why. Like many of you mentioned its about the build not about the mower. I explained to my wife and the other haters that in the end I will only have a few hundred dollars into the initial configuration and it will do what ever it is that I want it to. I don't know where everyone else is financially but I have a family and can not afford expensive toys anymore so this provides me an outlet to get creative and work on something with a motor. So in the end I say let the haters hate, and wrench, wheel, wreck, repeat.

"Oh, my projects are silly? Let's wee what YOU'VE built"-Doc Sprocket

"We can do 90 percent of what an ATV can, but at a 10 percent cost. That's good enough for me."-Stretch44875

These two quotes in particular sum it up well for me. Doc's quote was told to me , in a slightly different variation, when I was doing radio control tank combat. Specifically, we would have 'rivet counters' come by and tell us everything "wrong" with our tank. We would nod and "mmhmm" and "ah I see" politely until they were done. Then we would ask "Well let me see how YOU did it better?" and they would walk away. Why? They were plastic modelers. Their crap didnt move. Not even good for paperweights. Our stuff moved, would shoot, take hits, with all the sounds to go along with it. There is always someone who wants to try to poke holes in what someone else is doing because it makes THEM feel better about themselves. It takes creavity to do whats being done here. A trait that is disappearing in todays culture of 'automatic' everything.

Stretches quote hit the nail on the head. Its an Apples and Oranges comparison. *If* I break the $400 spent line on my mower, it still will be better in my mind than a $4000 2wd atv. So maybe you can get a 2wd atv used for less, but not one for $400 that will do what mine can. Cost is a huge thing for me, and it comes before the Capability factor.

Like a couple of other people here, Im limited on time and money. Im building mine outside in front of my garage atm. Still, after a few test runs so far? Im so hookedI This project is the first thing in a LONG time that had me happy to be turning wrenches, grinding, cutting, welding etc; for 9 hours this past Saturday. I felt such a feeling of accomplishment when I had finished for the day! I'm the one building this thing, Im the one deciding what gets done and how it goes together. If anyone one wants to trash talk it, well so what! Ill offer to take his ride apart and see how long it will take him to put it back together. Ive all but memorized mine

Pictures coming soon BTW. Not a lot of them, but enough to gauge the process. Long list of "to do" as well.

Looking forward to Trail Riding and Romping with you all soon!

I just offer to let them drive it, usually changes their mind.

I have *really* tall ATV tires on mine. when someone inevitably asks "Why are the tires so big" Ill sarcastically reply "I have really tall grass."

This isn't really a problem that i have faced due to the fact that 3 of the guys in my class also do this sorta thing. its amazing. Here's my story.... I wanted something with 4 wheels and an engine. i had already had a dirt bike but it couldn't offroad or crawl like something with 4 wheels. I had 2 chinese atvs lying around, 2 lawn mowers, and a 6.5 engine. i decided i wanted a go kart so i started mocking stuff up using the mower we had with a blown engine. i then looked at my dads old grass cutter and decided to ask him if i could build something with that. Thats where this all began for me. once i got the deck off i started adding some stuff. i youtubed "off road mower" for laugh and giggles and discovered a whole bunch of videos. i found atltf.com after some vids. since then ive just looked at my mower more and more and change things up to make it more "efficient" at what it does. since ive wanted to be an auto mechanic since i was like 5   this is a great way to practice welding, body work, and fixing things in general. if you told me a 1.5 years ago how much fun a lawn tractor could be, i would of just laughed. but now its one of my favorite things to do in my free time:cheers:

I do what I want. I pay my bills and support my family. If someone don't like it. Tough. I want something like Doc. Gets work done, but still fun. Most people that talk crap are "posers" anyway. I just walk away and laugh at them. Not work my talking.

MoMower wrote:

I do what I want. If someone don't like it. Tough. Most people that talk crap are "posers" anyway. I just walk away and laugh at them. Not work my talking.

I agree with this statement.

ha i like when i can prov that my lawn mower is better than there hondas like when i go trail riding and there always like why didnt you bring your atv that lawn mower crap wont hold up and i say this is my atv/ and whats funny is last month i was trail riding my lawn mower a honda 90 and a kawasaki bayo the bayos motor over heated and shut off and the hondas axle snaped in half all i had was my winch wasnt working thats my story but anyone how has got crap from people just walk away or prov to them your lawn mower is better but dont let what they say get to you where we dont see you anymore becuase your imbaresed of playing with lawn mowers i have goten bet up from some kid because i said atv are boring

A lot of kids at my school really don't understand what I do, All they know is that I am 15 and I drive tractors all the time and own a few of them. They don't know the " love and affection " that I put into my toys, They would rather sit inside on a xbox all day than go out and do something fun. Walking thru the school halls, I get called " redneck" or told I drive my tractor to school (I dont). When People found out that is what I did, I kind of knew it was coming because well, I live in a town of 60,000 people and everyone freaks out when they see an ATV or a Dirt bike, Or even anything with a motor. My dad understood me and would come out and help me in the yard once and while but those days are gone since the divorce, My mom just kind of lets me do my thing as long as I come back in at the end of the night and dont have the cops with me. My sister doesnt understand what I do, She thinks its funny of me to be riding a mower down the street. My brother sits on his computer and calls me a redneck. I know I am a youngin but I can tell, Kids these days are screwed when they have any issue with a car. They will be paying the bill at a shop to change a tire, Or change the oil.

They would rather sit inside on a xbox all day than go out( AMEN ABOUT TIME SOMBODY KNOWS SOMTHING RIGHT )

Amen one teen! I think you've got engineering in your future.

T-Dub13 wrote:

Amen one teen!  I think you've got engineering in your future.

Nope, Just want to work on cars

T-Dub13 wrote:

 I have some friends up in the mountains of Vermont who farm 24-7, 'shine, hunt, and have lifted 4x4's because they need them to get up their driveways, not because they look cool.    

i don't live in Vermont but i know the feeling.

Theres only 758 people in my town and everybody knows me as the guy that rides around on that fast lawn mower. Ha i love it who cares what everybody thinks. Im a hick and i know it. My mower has done things and been places my buddys have had hard times getting there atvs us. Thay just say wow. When me and my buddys go ride an im on da murray people all are lookin at my mower not the atvs. So that tels me whats cooler. No problems here.

I have had if easy. My last year of high school we got a $10,000 budget to build a rock bouncer from the school board. The 2 years before that in auto shop me and 2 of the 28 people built a racing mower and fixed a teachers sons little doodle bug motorcycle. But when we got both going, everyone in the class went to the parking lot to see us drive them around. When it comes to talking crap, its usually my dad and we have a ATV, I just think to myself "which one is still running". I don't say it, because I still live at home and don't want to get a big fush a going.

I live in a pretty rual town where the atv is a common sight. Now when I come screamin down the road doin 40 on my dual straight piped craftsman everyone turns their head and looks. Most of the time I get crap about it from the schools idiot stoners who want to find someone to pick on. I then show them the price of a new atv and the whole whopping 100$ I have into my craftsman, usaually they then think it is cool. That or doing donuts in the middle of the school parking lot after bringing it into my small engine repair class and doing an oil change or something of the sort. Basically an excuse to ride my mower around during class lol.