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Homemade Rope Tow

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milk_man
Posts: 5252 - Karma: 5,975
I've seen some videos of people making backyard rope tows with old riding lawnmowers or just an engine with a pulley system. I was wondering--who has tried to do this? I really want to try to make one for my friends house so we can shred his backyard setup all day everyday, but i want to get some advice from people who know more.

(I put this in NSG for a reason)
9 years ago
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Shoey-Ski
Posts: 1649 - Karma: 6,199
my friends and I have been wanting to do this for a while, I feel like it would not be hard to make, but could be a little pricey, I've seen some people who just tie a four wheeler to a tree and dig under the tires and run the rope on a tire but that is pretty ghetto haha, jobs for cribs had one in one of their videos that looked very legit but I feel like they made it themselves
9 years ago
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milk_man
Posts: 5252 - Karma: 5,975
Shoey-Skimy friends and I have been wanting to do this for a while, I feel like it would not be hard to make, but could be a little pricey, I've seen some people who just tie a four wheeler to a tree and dig under the tires and run the rope on a tire but that is pretty ghetto haha, jobs for cribs had one in one of their videos that looked very legit but I feel like they made it themselves


A fourwheeler would work great! As long as you can keep enough tension so that the rope stays on the wheel. That's why you need some sort of a ghetto pulley system, which is very doable. I think you could do it for a couple hundred bucks if you had to buy an old riding lawnmower or engine, but if you already have sometime to power it you could do it for less. I think you guys should try it! If you have a bit of skill with making stuff work. I'll post a link on here of a system I absolutely loved if I remember.
9 years ago
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JeremyClarkson
Posts: 1600 - Karma: 1,932
Me and a buddy made a 300ft rope tow out of an old weed whacker once.


we welded an aluminum pulley onto the bottom end for the rope. we also rigged up a 10:1 shaft-mounted gear reducer behind the pulley to give it enough torque.

It was loud, slow and could only pull up one person at a time. also the rope came off the end terminal pulley a lot. But we loved it! We were a lot less sweaty and tired because if it.

It worked for a whole month until the little 2 stroke blew up one day =(
9 years ago
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milk_man
Posts: 5252 - Karma: 5,975
UPDATE.. I made it and it works!!! I used an 18hp riding lawnmower that I bought for $100 on Craigslist. Check out my junky video of it. I'm going to make a real video of it later on. But super stoked that it works!! It's pretty fast too..

847715
8 years ago
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theabortionator
Posts: 52421 - Karma: 171,783
milk_manUPDATE.. I made it and it works!!! I used an 18hp riding lawnmower that I bought for $100 on Craigslist. Check out my junky video of it. I'm going to make a real video of it later on. But super stoked that it works!! It's pretty fast too..

847715


I feel like I did a bunch of ketamine while watching this. Holy shit.
8 years ago
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milk_man
Posts: 5252 - Karma: 5,975
theabortionatorI feel like I did a bunch of ketamine while watching this. Holy shit.


Are you watching on the desktop site? It does look really weird since it was recorded on a phone. I would rather have a tiny skinny picture than feeling like I'm in another world haha
8 years ago
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theabortionator
Posts: 52421 - Karma: 171,783
milk_manAre you watching on the desktop site? It does look really weird since it was recorded on a phone. I would rather have a tiny skinny picture than feeling like I'm in another world haha


Yeah my. Like Idk if I could pass a drug test after watching that.
8 years ago
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Slush
Posts: 1916 - Karma: 12,961
milk_manUPDATE.. I made it and it works!!! I used an 18hp riding lawnmower that I bought for $100 on Craigslist. Check out my junky video of it. I'm going to make a real video of it later on. But super stoked that it works!! It's pretty fast too..

847715

That's awesome dude!
8 years ago
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spacelunch
Posts: 67 - Karma: 145
I tried using an 18v battery and it wasn't powerful enough
8 years ago
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Shoey-Ski
Posts: 1649 - Karma: 6,199
spacelunchI tried using an 18v battery and it wasn't powerful enough


Man AA's are the way to go
8 years ago
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oxiclean
Posts: 615 - Karma: 691
milk_manUPDATE.. I made it and it works!!! I used an 18hp riding lawnmower that I bought for $100 on Craigslist. Check out my junky video of it. I'm going to make a real video of it later on. But super stoked that it works!! It's pretty fast too..

847715


You weren't kidding when you said shitty. The rope tow's really cool though. Thumbs up. How much fuel does it burn?
8 years ago
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milk_man
Posts: 5252 - Karma: 5,975
oxicleanYou weren't kidding when you said shitty. The rope tow's really cool though. Thumbs up. How much fuel does it burn?


Yeah I'm gonna take a video with my Gopro as soon as I can :) Thanks man!! I am not totally sure. We haven't had much snow so we haven't had it going a whole lot but it doesn't seem to be too bad. I'll try to take measurements at some point to estimate gallons per hour, because that would be really interesting
8 years ago
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omIV
Posts: 1950 - Karma: 306
Are you worried about higher grade slopes? You'll probably pick up a lot of performance if you can improve the purchase between rope and bullwheel (rather than just using a tire). Let us know how it goes!
8 years ago
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Rmurphy
Posts: 25 - Karma: 27
Last year I bought a 6 horse power engine. This is apparently enough to pull the average person on snow fast enough for any rail or jump.

I have steel all cut ready to weld
I have a a winch guide and everything I just need a welder and a spool and then its ready to go. There is a lot of guides online that I used in order to get dimensions for cutting the metal. If you are just going to be hitting rails I recommend you make a bungee instead. I went on Amazon and bought a bungee and then a simple wake boarding handle. Cut and braid the bungee and then throw a carabiner on the end and it works great I highly recommend you try it and its only like 30 bucks.

https://www.amazon.com/Black-Shock-Bungee-Rubber-Rope/dp/B00EYQHLMQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1481045238&sr=8-3&keywords=100+ft+long+bungee
8 years ago
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milk_man
Posts: 5252 - Karma: 5,975
So at the beginning of winter the starter (or something) went out on the lawn mower. The towrope was halted temporarily.. but this summer I'm going to fix it up and get it going better than ever for next winter!! But hey it was crazy fun for the few days we got to ride it!
8 years ago
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skiznuts
Posts: 462 - Karma: 785
This is so sick. do you have to put something at both ends?
8 years ago
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milk_man
Posts: 5252 - Karma: 5,975
skiznutsThis is so sick. do you have to put something at both ends?


Yessir. There's a bike at the bottom strapped to a tree with the tire off one wheel so the rope can run on it. You have to have quite a bit of tension on the rope for it to work so I have a ratchet strap attaching the bike to a tree
8 years ago
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clorox
Posts: 1728 - Karma: 4,867
I'm thinking of trying this with a harbor freight engine. They're pretty cheap for the power you can get out of them.
8 years ago
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milk_man
Posts: 5252 - Karma: 5,975
GREEN_BASTARDI'm thinking of trying this with a harbor freight engine. They're pretty cheap for the power you can get out of them.


Go for it man! I have of those engines on a gocart (6.5hp) and it works great. The only complication would be figuring out how to connect a drive wheel to the engine. Do you have some ideas for that? Also where are you from?
8 years ago
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clorox
Posts: 1728 - Karma: 4,867
milk_manGo for it man! I have of those engines on a gocart (6.5hp) and it works great. The only complication would be figuring out how to connect a drive wheel to the engine. Do you have some ideas for that? Also where are you from?


Yeah I was thinking about running it on a 6.5 but have been considering using the 13hp just so I could run it at higher speeds or on a steeper pitch. Probably gonna use a 3 to to or 1 reduction with maybe a 1 foot bull wheel.
8 years ago
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