Designing my new mower stand

Hellnbak

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Been designing a stand to make working on my riding mower easier, and thought I would post it here and see what you think. Comments, criticisms and suggestions are more than welcome. I have thick skin, so don’t hold back.

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I have a 2007 MTD 13AN771H729 46 inch, and, while I generally like it a lot, doing maintenance on it can be a real pain. Removing the deck on this thing is anything but straight forward, and I’m a long way from being a spring chicken (whatever that means) and getting down on the ground (and back up) can be very difficult. So I’m going to build this to get the mower up where I can work on it at a comfortable level. I had built a similar stand many years ago, but let’s just say I didn’t really plan that one very well. More on that later. Keep in mind that this is designed for my particular situation. I live in an old farmhouse, and it has a small barn and workshop with a large concrete slab in front of them. While I do use a grass texture in some of the photos, that is just to give it a base (and I’m too lazy to develop a decent concrete texture). It would not be suitable for use on the ground. The slab is large enough that I can leave it up all summer without it being in the way, so I will assemble it in the Spring and disassemble and store it when the mowing season is over. I could maybe/sort of use it in the barn, but it would be tight, to the point that actually working on the mower would be too much of a pain (the barn, like the other buildings, including the house, was designed by children and built by fools).

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The center sections can be easily removed to facilitate working underneath the mower, and for removal and installation of the deck. Ramps can also be quickly removed to make working around the mower easier.

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I have an old garden wagon, from which I have removed everything on top and attached a slab of ¾” plywood. I’ve been using it to haul things around, and I will just attach the “box” (with piano hinges inside to let it fold flat for storage) with wing nuts on lag bolts. The top will have lips to set it on the box.

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I don’t want the actual stand to be in constant contact with the concrete so I will use “sacrificial” wooden blocks, separated by a number of washers on the lag bolts. Easy to replace and I will just make an extra set or two when I make them. I will just use lag bolts to lift the “outriggers” away from the concrete. This is the same setup that I used on the original stand and it worked well.

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I am also considering the use of some type of hard rubber blocks, but I’m moving away from that for now due to some concerns about it’s suitability.

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While the original had wooden ramps, I’ve decided to go with aluminum for this one. There are any number of them available online, but I have narrowed it down to a select few. Reading the reviews it’s not too surprising that the main problem with this type of ramp is the area where the two sections join/fold. That is obviously the weak point, so I plan to add a support of some type (possibly a swing-down support)to take care of that. The design of that support and how the ramps will connect with the stand will have to wait until I have decided which ramps to order.

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An exploded view, probably more confusing than informative. The majority of the cuts are simple straight cuts, and the few exceptions aren’t anything that difficult. I actually bought all the treated lumber maybe six or seven years ago (after visiting stores all over the area to make sure I got the best I could find) and have had them stored so that they dried without warping. So they are more than ready for a suitable protective finish to be applied to each piece before it is assembled. I have done a lot of research on protecting treated lumber, and am aware that whenever you make a cut you are exposing untreated lumber. There are products specifically designed to take care of that. I actually photographed some of my lumber and used the photos to make the wood textures seen in the model. I also found a good supplier for all of the stainless steel hardware needed, and it’s been waiting and ready to go also.

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The whole thing can be quickly broken down for storage, taking up very little space, just by removing a number of wing nuts (gonna buy a wing nut attachment for a drill to simplify this, just haven’t decided on which one yet. Might just make my own)
(The guy is just a 3D figure I found online. I did not model him, just modified him a bit and scaled to 6 foot height to add a scale reference.)

Anyhow, I am having some difficulty in figuring out how to correctly configure this post, and whenever I select "Preview Post" it does provide the preview, but the actual post that I am previewing simply goes away, and I have to start from scratch. So I'm just gonna hit "Submit" and see how it goes before I post the rest of the photos and whatnot.
 

bertsmobile1

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Lots of work but looks nice.
Congratulations.
The one thing I did not see was a latch of some sort to keep the ramps from falling off.
Nice job on the ramps too good spacing on the cross straps for mower wheels.
 

Hellnbak

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Lots of work but looks nice.
Congratulations.
The one thing I did not see was a latch of some sort to keep the ramps from falling off.
Nice job on the ramps too good spacing on the cross straps for mower wheels.

Thanks for the comments
.
As far as the ramps go, I did mention that figuring out how the ramps will connect with the stand will have to wait until I have decided which ramps to order. And, yes, the spacing of the cross straps is probably overkill for mower wheels, but my selection of a possible ramp was based mainly on it's specs and reviews, with safety and durability being the main factors. It seemed that the better ramps did indeed have closer spacing of the cross straps. But as I said, I have a number of possible candidates for the ramps, and I won't have to decide on one before I begin building the stand.

Thanks again, your input is much appreciated.
 

bertsmobile1

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Because of the difference in wheel diameters front to back the front wheels tend to drop in between the straps and jamb.
All of the rams I use for mowers have flat tops.
However for service work I use a yard crane .
Prior to that I used an engine hoist ( still do some times ).
The problem with the set up you have shown is it takes up a lot of real estate if left fully assembled.
And if disassembled then it take a long time to set up.
That is why the Mow Jack type of set up is so popular.

The engine hoist set up also allows free access to the wheels & underside.
 

Hellnbak

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Well, it looks like it posted ok, except for the double thumbnails at first, and some of the photos came out a bit smaller that intended. But close enuf.

So, a little background on this project. As I had mentioned I had built a stand similar to this probably about 17 years ago, and while it did indeed made working on my mower at the time (can’t remember what model or year it was) much easier, unfortunately I sort of “designed” it as I went. It got the job done and I used it countless times, but it was clunky and took up a lot of room in the barn when disassembled and stored. But worst of all, for whatever reason, I did not use treated lumber. I did apply two coats of a gray paint that was supposed to seal it and protect it from the elements, but after about maybe six or seven years or so it started getting soft in places and it just wasn’t safe to use anymore. (If I was concerned enough about it being out in the weather to go all that trouble why the hell didn’t I just use treated lumber???).
I did manage to find some photos of it, but they are of poor quality (digital cameras of the time weren’t all that great, mine actually stored the photos on floppy disks).

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They were taken the day I first got the nerve to drive the mower up on it, before I decided to add the sacrificial wood blocks under it to keep it up off the concrete, and then disassemble and paint it.

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With ramp and center sections removed (the ramps were foldable). Had a lot of people stop and ask me about this, how the heck I got the mower up there. Should have charged admission.

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I used the photos to jog my memory enough to build a model of it (not sure why). I do remember that I had countersunk all of the lag bolts. Dumb decision and completely unnecessary . I ended up having to fill all the holes around the bolt heads with caulking to keep them from filling with water and soaking into the wood. (I didn’t bother countersinking the bolts in the model).

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The removable center sections were indeed clunky and over-thought.

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But, back to the new stand. I used simple stand-in tires of correct size and spacing to ensure everything would work with my mower (everything was modeled on a one-to-one scale, full size).

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And then I sorta went a little crazy with it

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Not sure why I bothered with this, it wasn't necessary for modeling the stand, but when I'm having fun with a model I just can't seem to back off. And I did learn a LOT about my mower while researching everything. Lots of parts and pieces missing, obviously, probably more than are actually there, and I'm not sure I'll ever finish it. But maybe after I get the stand finished and get it up where I can see and measure everything easier.

Anyhow, thanks for looking.
 

4getgto

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Very nice thought out design and if "I" had many tractors or was in business working on 10 a day great.
But not what "I" consider ideal... They do look nice but what monsters...
 

Hellnbak

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My apologies for taking so long to reply. Things here at the old homestead have gotten very...interesting. With only two active brain cells (and one of them is on life support), concentrating on more than one thing at a time is pretty much a thing of the past for me.

Ok, first, please understand that I had no illusion that anybody here would want to build a stand like this. I did point out at the beginning of this post that this stand was designed for my unique situation. I have a large concrete slab in front of my barn and workshop, and, even with the larger footprint of that first stand it was never in the way from the time I assembled it in the Spring until I disassembled it in the Fall. During that time I used it countless times, and, as clunky as it was, it served my purpose perfectly. The new version will do so even better. I'm an old fart (retired from Air Force in '89), and need a stand like this, something that greatly simplifies working on my mower without breaking my back or requiring that I get down on the ground, breaks down easily to small parts and stores in a very small space.

But just for arguments sake, I'll make some comments about your comments -

However for service work I use a yard crane .
Prior to that I used an engine hoist ( still do some times ).

I'm no expert on either yard cranes or engine hoists, or much of anything really. Far from it, especially compared to the people here on the forums.
And I understand that these are options that appeal to many of the forum members here, especially those who find such things useful for many other things besides lifting mowers. But I personally would have no other uses for a yard crane or engine hoist, and wouldn't want to try to store them in the very limited space in my barn. For my situation, this stand is the answer.

The problem with the set up you have shown is it takes up a lot of real estate if left fully assembled.

It really doesn't. For me, this was "real estate" that I didn't need for anything else, and this new version will take up even less space. And unless I was only going to keep the mower up there for a quick whatever, I removed the ramps.
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And if disassembled then it take a long time to set up.

Gotta strongly disagree with you on this one. It assembles easily and quickly using nothing but wing nuts, disassembles just as easily and quickly. But this is not really a factor for me, because I only do each once a year. I like the fact that it's there when I need it, just attach the ramps and it's good to go.

The engine hoist set up also allows free access to the wheels & underside.

Yes, I'm sure it would. But, for me, safety is a priority, and working under something that might weigh 500 lbs or more while it's suspended above me wouldn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling. Plus, wouldn't it have a tendancy to move about while you are working on it?

When I need to access the underside, I can just move the cross brace as needed, or remove it completely if necessary. Same goes for the rear cross brace.
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And if I need to remove a wheel, I'm thinking about cutting slots as shown below, then I can just insert a plank to use a scissor jack.
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Again, I have no experience with yard cranes, and I haven't used an engine hoist in probably fourty years, so maybe I'm speaking about things that I shouldn't.

Sorry I didn't make it clearer that I wasn't suggesting that it would be something that anyone here would want to build. I posted it here merely to maybe get some comments and/or suggestions as to how I might improve the design, before I began the actual build.
 

Hellnbak

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Very nice thought out design and if "I" had many tractors or was in business working on 10 a day great.
But not what "I" consider ideal... They do look nice but what monsters...

Your comments are much appreciated.

It is ideal for me, and it's not really the monster it seems. Building it will be pretty straightforward, and will be made easier by using the 3D model to lay out the cuts (it was modeled full scale). Turns out I will have a lot of extra lumber (especially considering that I had bought enough to build wooden ramps, which is no longer in the plan).
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The layout of the parts is arbitrary at this point, until the design is finalized (I'm still tweaking it).
 
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