Rat Rod Riding Lawn Mower

I've been scouring the internet for ideas and I'm kind of surprised I haven't seen more of these, but..

I got this riding lawnmower as a hand-me-down from my dad. It's a Huskee 17hp with 42" deck. When he got it about 7 years ago it didn't have a hood & he ended up replacing it with a freebie off of a Ranch King (I like the looks of it better than the original!). He was planning on "pimping it out" but never got around to it. Now that it's mine, I've decided to go with a ratrod theme since it's a pretty ratty mower anyway.

Here's a couple before pics to get started.. I'm open to any suggestions anyone might have. As of right now I'm planning on a Rustoleum rattle can Satin Black with some white scallops or maybe the red scallops with white pinstriping. Wheels will also be red/white and we're working on some custom exhaust.

Interesting, I`ll be watching this to see how it comes out.

It needs a blower scoop, and a zoomie(think old motorcycle muffler).

This is a cool idea!
Do you want to keep it functional?
If not, you could REALLY rat this puppy out! If not, just some simple things, like you've already mentioned, would work nicely.

Make a t bucket body for it with flat glass

Johnson said:

Interesting, I`ll be watching this to see how it comes out.

It needs a blower scoop, and a zoomie(think old motorcycle muffler).

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Yeah, I like the Zoomie idea too but our funds and fabrication abilities are pretty limited... maybe I'll check the motorcycle junkyard here in town to see if we can scrounge something up. My dad said his neighbor has some old black horns (maybe from a model T or something) that we might be able to use.

We might even use some threaded gas pipe fittings if we can't find someone to bend pipe for us.

As of right now I'm looking at just coming out of the right side with a 2 1/2" turndown tip pointed sideways.. maybe even some tan or white fiberglass header wrap.

Hopefully it will get warm enough tomorrow & Saturday to lay down some paint.. more pics to come soon!

jmlcolorado said:

This is a cool idea!
Do you want to keep it functional?
If not, you could REALLY rat this puppy out! If not, just some simple things, like you've already mentioned, would work nicely.

Make a t bucket body for it with flat glass

Click to expand...

Thanks man! Wish I could do a real ratrod but this will have to do for now. We're definintely gonna' keep it functional - it'll be my "daily driver" heh heh.

You're right though, ya' know, if I wasn't gonna mow with it we could scrap the deck & really make a pretty cool ratrod. I'm surprised that ya' don't already see a lot of people building mini ratrods out of these.

teddytedted said:

Thanks man! Wish I could do a real ratrod but this will have to do for now. We're definintely gonna' keep it functional - it'll be my "daily driver" heh heh.

You're right though, ya' know, if I wasn't gonna mow with it we could scrap the deck & really make a pretty cool ratrod. I'm surprised that ya' don't already see a lot of people building mini ratrods out of these.

Click to expand...

The wifey told me not long ago that she would actually mow the lawn if I got a riding mover now you got my gears-a-turnin!!

"sure honey........I'll get you a riding mower






OH!!!! I see a bomber seat and a long, twisted shifter on that too with a big fat Rat Fink knob too!

This USED to be a lawn mower

Haha, i've been seriously considering painting mine satin black with blood red wheels for a while now. Maybe I should do it and throw it in the bed for car shows.

jmlcolorado said:

This USED to be a lawn mower

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That's funny but I love it. [cl

Beercan

Yeah, I'd definitely mow with a "Rat Mower" [cl[cl

[P[P[P

A couple of crazy guys I used to live with and a ride-on mower

http://youtu.be/TSZRgQsSQnQ

Ratrod Mowin tractors ..cool but i ain't got the time ,,.or the vision !.but still cool !!

Well it is too cold and humid to lay down paint today so there has been minimal progress. I got the exhaust mocked up & played around with the chalk to get an idea how the scallops will look. Hope to finish the exhaust & sanding tonight.. maybe primer tomorrow.[

Edit; not sure how much the neighbors are gonna like the custom exhaust.. it might get loud! [ddd

I was thinking a lakes style header (cone type), but that's cool! Might I suggest round headlights with a chrome grill of some type in between - old school style?

these might help

Damn busch that's gotta be a blast to drive! [cl We liked the cone or megaphone exhaust idea but this was just the best option in terms of time & money. Maybe more hotrod than ratrod but whatcha gonna do eh?

I just finished polishing the headlight lens and I'm actually really impressed with this turtle wax headlight lens restorer. I've always been kind of skeptical of this stuff but it works like a charm!

8 bucks at Walmart.

Minor progress.. looks like it will be too cold to paint again until at least Wednesday

Wheels & tires done. Got primer on a couple tins.. she's coming along! Time to finish sanding down the chassis & shoot some more primer, rinse & repeat...

teddytedted said:

Wheels & tires done. Got primer on a couple tins.. she's coming along! Time to finish sanding down the chassis & shoot some more primer, rinse & repeat...

Click to expand...

Lookin pretty sweet! [cl

teddytedted said:

Edit; not sure how much the neighbors are gonna like the custom exhaust.. it might get loud! [ddd

Click to expand...

YOU'RE not gonna like the custom exhaust! It will get old pretty quick mowing with a open exhaust like that. I have a B&S twin that the muffler rotted off, so I decided to leave it off, bad decision! After about 30 minutes, your ears will ring so bad you can't hear!

If you decide to leave it like that, at least get yourself some earplugs to save your hearing. If it was me, I'd had a torpedo muffler in the pipe so it would still look good, but have the exhaust at a reasonable level.

I know, if it's too loud, you're too old, but I'm old and still don't need a hearing aid!