Project Long Travel

This is what I started with, a mostly stock 2004 Troy-Bilt Pony

An explanation of project Long Travel-

The Goal:
The goal is to take my 2004 Troy-Bilt Pony (I bought new) and add double A-arm independent suspension to all 4 corners and to drastically increase it’s top speed, and off-road capabilities and to improve it’s overall performance, usefulness and fun factor.

The Details:
*The engine is a 17.5 hp Intec single, this will likely remain the same.

*Power transfer- The mower’s current Vari-drive system will be scraped. The plan is to use a Comet 40/44 Series Torque Converter System (or equivalent) from the motor to a jack-shaft where the driven clutch will mount. From the jack-shaft a chain will lead to the input shaft of a Peerless 700 5-speed. From the output shaft of the 5-speed a chain will lead to a 1 inch live axle.

*Front suspension- I just finished grafting the front suspension from an old China made 4 wheeler I have onto the mower.

*Rear suspension & axle- This will be somewhat typical of this style double A-arm. A non-adjustable, bearing mounted center carrier (drive chain adjusted via a chain tensioner.) the center carrier (made of 1” shaft material) will carry the drive sprocket and disc brake rotor and will be book ended by 1” universal joints. Then, suspended by the A-arms (which I will make) will be more 1” shaft leading to another U-joint and a hub carrier and hub. Coil-overs again for the shocks. This is fairly standard stuff for off-road buggies and should work well for an off-road mower.

*Brakes & steering- Special attention will be paid to these 2. The brake will be rear hydraulic disc… a juice brake… the front are mechanical drum. The steering will be reworked for strength and reliability. You absolutely never want your steering or brakes to fail at speed, no one wants to be an unwitting passenger of a greased pig tied to a lightning bolt…

I will post updates as progress is made...... but this will take some time


They say that in any great endeavor half the struggle is just showing up… so here I am.

Big build ahead, I wanna wish ya luck and I'll be watching this build closely. Big task means great opportunities for learning!

gonna be watching this!

Here is what I have done so far-


Welded up this sub frame out of 1x2x1/8 tube


I whittled these front suspension mounts out of plate steel.



Stripped the front/rear ends off and got the sub frame in position. The sub frame will be bolted into position and the suspensions will be mounted to it.





Got the front suspension sorted and tacked into place.

nice wide stance to handle the lift well

Thanks guys! I guess the steering is next. My thinking right now is to use this steering rack I made a couple years ago for another project but I never used. Works like a rack & pinion. I really have no choice but to use a rack to eliminate 'bump steer'.

some great design and machining skills goin on there! ingenious use of the roller chain and sprockets... I'm assuming a third sprocket gets connected to the steering wheel?

Holy moley dude! all that fab work looking great    Nice work so far!!

Thanks Lawren, Redline.... yes a third sprocket is used. Originally The third sprocket was on the steering column but on this I'm thinking it will be mounted on its own bearing supported shaft which will in turn be linked to the steering column by a rod.

Looks pretty dang good so far. Please tell me you're going to engineer some droop into the front end. All too often, I see people setting these up so that ride height is at full rise. Just wrong, it is.

very interesting build that thing should be unstoppable when it's done.

looks pretty badass. i'll be watching this one   

Doc, yes there will be droop, I have to do some figuring on the rear suspension. I have to determine everything based from the full droop of the rear suspension. The universals (pictured) have a max operating angle, I need to stay a few degrees away from that at full droop. I would guess maybe 30% of suspension travel will be droop but I've never done this before on a mower so nothings carved in stone.

the u-joints on the left will be used on the rear axle. (sorry about blurry pic)

Lots else to figure, I have to check ackermann, it may be close enough to leave alone. The shocks are also a complicated item that can make or break the ride, and  they're pricey. Air shocks are the best as far as adjustability but expensive. So expensive that I started modifying truck air shocks for off road buggy duty with good results.

This is a air shock for a ford ranger. I fab expansion chambers to increase volume, you can change the volume with filler plates mounted on a threaded rod inside the chamber. You can also control compression and rebound with inline metering valves. If I could find very small car air shocks I might could use them on this project......maybe....

That sounds pretty good to me. 30-50% seems reasonable, I'd call 30% a minimum. I'm no suspension engineer, but have lots of notes. Just be sure to set spring preload with weight on it to simulate the engine, driver, etc.

Ya, on motorcycle powered buggies I shot for 40-45% droop which was a recommendation for actual 'dune' buggies that can see a lot of air time.

Makes sense. Do you have the operating angle specs for your U-joints?

Had to check again on McMaster/Carr, 45 degrees.

Doc Sprocket wrote:

Looks pretty dang good so far. Please tell me you're going to engineer some droop into the front end. All too often, I see people setting these up so that ride height is at full rise. Just wrong, it is.

For those out there watching this thread with interest that may not get Doc's point....

If you set up a sprung suspension so that the ride height is all the way at the top, every time you hit a bump, the springs hammer the suspension back to the top, after the bump passes. Aside from making for an uncomfortable ride, it's hard on the parts, and may as well not be sprung at all

Right, most important if your suspension is at full droop (or near it) when loaded and stationary your wheels will spend a lot more time in the air and not on the trail where you need them. Just taking a sharp turn at speed will lift a front wheel off the ground.

Looks really cool! My pony I had was a beast man.

WOW i am definitely going to follow this one

TroyBilt, ya they are real brutes. I put those big tires on the back first to pull ground engaging equipment and I can't believe the things it's done and never broke!

Ok, I believe I've decided on the steering setup. 1st I'm leaning towards using handlebars instead of a steering wheel. Lots of hand wringing over this. I like the idea of using an ATV thumb control for the throttle and operating the front brakes from the stock lever simplifies things as well. Based on this decision I came up with this as the general strategy.



Not sure this makes sense to anyone but me. Basically a bracket welded to the steering shaft, a link from that to a bracket mounted to a bearing supported shaft. The shaft will go down thru the frame where another bracket will be mounted. A link from that leads to the rack. Links will have heim joints. I think I have everything I need to do this so I might get to it this weekend.

If you see any issues with this please let me know.

Oh, and yes I got rid of the roller chain on the rack and will modify it for a link mount.

Had a little time tonight so I fired up the shop's heater and went to work. I think I have the steering rack in position. Will know tomorrow when I will try and complete the new steering.

I'm thinking it might be hard to turn. Guess we'll see. Been lookin forward to some more progress on this!