ghetto winch idea

tossin around ideas for a winch on a tight budget, my buddies and i came up with this:

pick up a used push lawnmower with a minimum 6 hp engine, build a frame to get it up off the ground, and replace the blade with a big spool of rope. anchor it to a tree and then ride. wouldn't be the prettiest, but it'd be cheap and portable if it'd work. n e thoughts

'but it'd be cheap and portable if it'd work'

Therein lies the caveat. Are any of you engineers or have mechanical backgrounds? Some of my initial thoughts - no, no and no.

Some of my other thoughts -
power - how do you know that 6hp is enough?
speed - will the mower (sorry, 'winch') turn at the right speed?
acceleration - is it going to give a suitable acceleration profile even if it does have enough power and speed?
spooling out - how you going to get the rope off the spool after a pull?
is it April 1st already?

I could see someone being in the water ready to be pulled, someone else firing her up, the mower breaking off the tree then hurtling along the ground at 22.7mph until it hits the water, whereupon it ingests water, gets hydrolocked and sinks. Cue a couple of people looking at each other saying 'well that sucks'.

I'd invest in the real deal if I were you.

haha, yeah, good points. thanks peter!

How about a Geo Metro?

You can pick those things up for like 2-300 dollars.

Pull the tire off the spare rim, jack the front end up. put the spare rim on. Set the E-Brake (for the hell of it). Then the driver would have to watch the skier to see what the right speed is.. And, You have reverse, which is 'unwind' mode.

Get done, throw the rubber tire back on, wakeboards in the back, and hit the Taco Bell Drive through on your $300 Winch.

I say it jokingly, but it just might work.

I've thought about that before craig...it'd probably work...lol

I have seen a set-up similar to your geo idea using a 4 wheeler.

Lance you are needing to board pretty bad arent you. I told you that I would take you out but tried to go last night and the water is so low that I was afraid to put the boat in (no 4x4). A good rain will get the water back up to a safe spot but at this time of the year it is going to get cold fast.
I think I have your phone # or email address or something. I will let you know if we go again.

dang, is it that obvious? if you don't get a chance to bring me along, don't sweat it. i'm gonna try and hit the kc cable park before it closes in october to get my fix (if you want to hitch a ride, let me know, fort scott's right on the way). at the same time though, i've got my wetsuit down here, so i'm not afraid of cold water if you need a third when it starts getting chilly out.

Let me know if\when you guys come up to the Cable Park, Jon and Lance. I'll see if I can meet you there. The hours suck right now - open only on Sat and Sun until 6 iirc.
Hope everything's being going good, Jon. Have you ran into that cool tuber again?

I saw a video on the web where someone backed a truck up to the water's edge, jacked up the back wheel , replaced the wheel with a empty rim, wrapped the rope around it, driver dumps the clutch and the rider was off!

Definately redneck wakeboarding.

The lawnmower idea can be made to work. Actually, think go cart. All the parts you need are pretty much standard on a gocart.

You will need to gear it down a bunch. If the rope spool was 12 inch diameter then it would need to turn at 644 rev/minute to pull you along at 23 MPH.

The engine will need to turn about 3000 RPM to produce rated horsepower, so the gear ratio will need to be ~4.6:1. The engine will need a centrifugal clutch anyway so incorporate it in the gear reduction. Here is a suitable one;

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-HILLIARD-EXTREME-DUTY-CENTRIFUGAL-CLUTCH-GO-KART_W0QQitemZ330027809350QQihZ014QQcategoryZ11704 QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


Set up a second shaft to hold the rope spool. The above clutch has a chain sproket with 10 teeth, so to get a 4.6 ratio the spool shaft will need a chain sprocket with 46 teeth.

Rod is that specs for a 6 hp motor or ????

www.winchskating.com has all the info, you would more then likley have to gear it and factor in the spool. it would be fun to watch and to say you wake board off your lawn mower

we do the Geo idea with a go kart all the time. its really a lot more affordable. A guy that skates down here in Louisiana was using an electric golf cart for a while. thats even better than a go kart or 4wheeler because its almost silent. great for night riding in dug out pond in your neighborhood!