I wonder about using a towed mower with a hitch offset. There are a few brush mowers made for ATV use with tow bars that can be angled to allow the mower to track off significantly to either side. If you don't want to use an IC engine, then maybe rig an electric version. But a sickle bar would be better yet because there would be no weight on the ground from the mower blade so the undercut banks would be no threat. I have never seen an ET with a sickle bar, but I do still have an old horse drawn version (with a metal tractor seat) that powers the bar with a geared wheel - never tried it behind an ET - a bit big for my needs From: Steve & Carol Welch [mailto:welches dejazzd com] Charlie, if I'm understanding what you want to accomplish, I'd do a sickle bar. The front mount poses too many risks & not enough benefits for this purpose, IMHO. Chris, I have my Alltrax in my E20 on a foot-pedal control, with forward/reverse handled by a toggle switch on the dash (where your hand control would be). Nice thing is, you can switch directions with a flick of the toggle, and if your foot is still on the "gas", the controller automatically ramps down & back up again. I've found that sometimes if I find myself needing to stop quickly it's almost faster to flip to reverse than to hit the brake. Also, with the speed controller's plug braking, if you take your foot off the throttle, and then flip the switch to reverse, it will stop you just as fast as the brake does. ('course with the open differential, fast braking on grass always results in a slide - anybody have a Peerless 2317 for sale?) Steve On Nov 7, 2011, at 6:45 PM, Chris Tromley wrote: On Mon, Nov 7, 2011 at 3:46 PM, Charlie <medievalist gmail com> wrote: What are the limitations on how far the Elec-trak front mower deck My Spidey-sense is tingling. I think all the large-frame ETs (maybe the small-frame too?) use a similar hand-lever-forward-reverse-multi-speed control. There has been the rare occasion where I've been moving in one direction, brought the lever to the off position and it slipped beyond into the opposite direction slot. A couple times it was surprising how far the tractor moved in the unintended direction, and I'm generally in pretty good control of my body. If you're zig-zagging along as you repeatedly ease up to the stream bank and your mind wanders, I'm thinking there's a greater chance than I'm comfortable with that some time your tractor might take a shortcut into the stream. It's not the greatest control arrangement, but I've never really thought it was a hazard. Until now. When an ET is equipped with an Altrax electronic control, is the forward-reverse function more ergonomically separate from the go function? Chris _______________________________________________ |