Constructing Toddler Tow

At what seemed like the last minute - we decided to build a toddler tow in front of the house.  I had gotten some free rope from a friend.  Not to mention that we had an old riding lawnmower that was just begging to be used in the winter.

Using extra rough cut lumber we had hanging around, we started by building a little shed for the mower.  Here is Galen and I getting started.

Tappy was quite helpful too.  She keptlosing  her tennis ball under the platform.

We found an old idle wheel at Gates Salvage yard up in Hardwick, VT.  The wheel was originally from Killington's first gondola.  It's solid aluminum and wasn't too difficult to drill into.  The wheel has a nice rubber groove that should make for a perfect drive wheel when attached to the mower.

Daylight hours are shrinking fast this time of the year so working on the shed after dinner got tricky.

I eventually had to bring out some flood lights.  The full moon helped too.

Just in time.  After getting the roof on the shed we got our first snowfall of the year.

I worked on the idle wheel setup in the garage.  We had old pillow blocks from Kricket's grandfather that worked perfectly.  I did end up buying 2 wheelbarrow rims and a couple 5/8th threaded bars along with a few nuts and lawnmower parts (lawnmower needed a new o-ring to stop an oil leak along with a new carburetor, ignition key and battery).  In all I probably spent $110 total.

The snow melted and I took advantage of  the warmer weather by putting the siding up.

I also parked the lawnmower inside the shed.  Blocks were used to jack the lawnmower up.  The idle wheel was also attached to the shed.

The drive wheel was bolted onto the lawnmower wheel.  I flipped the lawnmower wheel first so that we could still inflate the tires if need be.  We used a piece of sheet metal to act as one large washer.

I secured the mower by chaining down the front of the mower to rods in the ground.  I also strapped the mower down too.  Should help keep it from wobbling around in the shed. It's great to put old equipment and parts to good use.  The mower was originally from Galen's great grandfathers, Richard Fellows.

Ted helped me build a stand for the bottom return wheel.  We used an old fork and wheel from a dirt bike.

Works pretty well as it's fairly easy to spin the the wheels by hand using the rope.

With November came the cold and snow.  Unfortunatelty the rope still needed to be spliced.  Ted praticed on a piece inside and was able to splice it rather easily.  His hands did get pretty cold though..

November also brought our newest family addition - a boy named Elet!

Maybe he'll like the toddler tow someday?  If not that's ok too as there is always a lot of fun things to do outside.

When we had enough snow to test the tow out on skis I had trouble starting the mower.  Turns out it needs a new pinion gear.  The old one was pretty mashed.  I also changed out the oil to use synthetic 5w-30 which should make it start a bit better in cold temps.

Jay (the oversized toddler) came up one night and gave it a whirl.

It worked quite well and it was only a matter of time before we got significant snow to ski on.

I fired up the beast (old skidoo wide track snow machine) and packed it down.  Only got stuck a half a dozen times.

Eventually the snow set up enough and I was able to drag the groomer around on the hill.  Looks pretty good with all thatcorduroy  snow..

Pete, Melissa and Jackson came up to ski on Saturday.

Jackson picked it up fairly quickly.

I was impressed given that he's only 3 years old.

Those smiles say it all.