| Click to Post a New Message!
Page [ 1 ] |
|
|
|
ATV with Mower
This is mostly some theory of which I have an amateur grasp. Some interesting things to think about I hope. I believe that's true about air-cooled engines. When I bought our Honda generator, I looked at a 2-cylinder water-cooled model. It had similar electrical ratings as the 6500 I bought for considerable less money. What's the difference I asked the dealer? The dealer says that contractors buy the water-cooled model because they have longer service lives. I'd guess it's the water cooling rather than the 2-cylinders that makes the difference.
I think that water-cooled engines operate in a narrower range of normal operating temperatures. An engine is built to fit together at one temperature in an ideal sense (Pistons are actually cylinders that fit the rings, valve heads fit valve seats etc. at one temperature). Wear on an engine is minimal at the ideal temperature, and wear increases as the operating temperature goes away from the ideal temperature. I'm pretty sure that an engine that is engineered to operate over a wider temperature range is going to wear faster. The wear is likely to be even faster when operated near the extremes of its normal temperature range.
I don't know if there's a blower on the ATV but I do know that passive air cooling on motorcycles depends on motion. There's more cooling when you're going faster. An assumption in the motorcycle engine design is that prolonged high engine load is accompanied by high speed.
An ATV used for mowing is going to have perhaps a higher load than is anticipated by the design and also moving at slower speeds. The engine RPM may be high if it's 'geared down' and then a blower would help the cooling. The engine may still run hotter than normal but higher RPM also adds to wear. Either way, I suspect that an ATV engine isn't designed for this type of work and using it for mowing is likely to require engine work sooner or result in the problems treeman mentioned.
|
|
 Add Photo
Bookmarks: |
|
| |
|
ATV with Mower
Didn't know that about Russian air cooled tractor diesels, but a design shouldn't be too difficult. I'm not sure, but I imagine that the engines used on WWII B-29's (and later on DC-7's I think) also were air-cooled and would have to operate reliably over an extremely wide range of loads and air temperatures. Their problem may have been excessive cooling. Perhaps exhaust was used for engine heat when necessary.
Lots of possible designs. I think some engines were even cooled with steam rather than liquid. Guess I'm mostly just throwing info around here. Probably everybody agrees that there is an ideal temperature for an engine and wear is least if the engine temperature is maintained in a narrow range around that point. There also probably general agreement that the cooling system of ATV engines are unlikely to be designed for geared-down high-load uses.
Maybe a conclusion relevant to tractors is that an engine that doesn't come up into the normal operating range may need about as much attention as one that runs hot.
|
|
Add Photo
Bookmarks: |
|
| |
|
ATV with Mower
Didn't know that about ATV's, but I should have guessed. Now that I think about it, I helped a neighbour recover his ATV that had gone off a snowmobile trail. He probably should have waited a few weeks to gel the ATV out of the shed.
We just carried my steel loading ramps to the ATV, lifted up the front wheels and put the ramps under the front wheels. The ATV pulled itself right up the ramps and back onto the trail. Now that I think about it both rear wheels were throwing snow as it pulled itself up the ramps.
|
|
Add Photo
Bookmarks: |
|
| |
|
ATV with Mower
Seems like a perfectly good idea. Mule things are another version of a compromise between work and recreation.
Most ATV's wouldn't have a PTO but Mules do. Mules are limited for recreational purposes since they have lower speeds, less stability and greater tailoring requirements than ATV's. An ATV likely would need a ground driven mower and a hitch may have to be fabricated.
Ground driven mowers do exist and I think they are preferred by golf courses so they must cut pretty well. I think the ones used by golf courses are ganged together so a rig suitable for the power and torque of an ATV should be able to put together. However, ATV engines and TX's aren't designed for draft work and that may requiring a pretty small mower rig. In that case, grass cutting time may end up cutting into recreational time in the bush and the compromise might get a bit cranky. Same thing for ATV's with snowplow blades. They work but the blades are small. People around here who use them get a bit cranky after heavy snows.
|
|
Add Photo
Bookmarks: |
|
| |
|
Page [ 1 ] | Thread 40907 Filter by Poster:
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
|
()
Picture of the Day
candoarms
Unanswered Questions
Active Subjects
Hot Topics
Featured Suppliers
|
Gas Generator Weather Protecti
08-19-2002, 08:14 
Digg It 
Del.icio.us