Leaf Vac & Cart Performance Upgrades

[wantedinct]

Hi all, well it's leaf time again, and i was wondering if anyone knows any good modifications that i can do to the deck/vac/or cart to get a little more leaf suckin power. Thanks, Eric

[Kent]

You can use a slightly smaller pulley on the impeller of the vacuum... but do NOT make drastic changes. Should that impeller fail by "over-revving" it, it could be deadly...

[wantedinct]

I was thinking more along the lines of maybe a larger vent in the door of the cart or maybe something that hangs down in front of the mower deck, like a baffel to increase the vaccum. Anyone ever try any of these? Thanks, Eric

[Brent_Baumer]

Kent, or anyone else, the vac setup I picked up a few weeks back looks to have been heavily cut on and modified. I have it all hooked up and working now, but you have me wondering, what size is the drive pulley supposed to be on the vacuum? Pretty sure this one isn't factory because it takes an "A" or "4L" width belt and the rest of the idlers as well as the BGB use a "B" or "5L" width belt. Don't want to over-rev it and kill myself. Brent

[Kent]

Brent, What type blower is it? The old style with the idler clutch, or the new style without a clutching mechanism (meant for use on cone clutch PTOs)... I traded my old style for the newer style when I traded my 42" mower deck for a 48" mower deck...

[Brent_Baumer]

Don't know if it is old or new style. Can't find any like it on here. It does not have a clutch. Don't know if it did at one time. I had to add my own spring-loaded idler to keep the belt tight. The belt that came with is was way too long. I think it was a tiller belt as it came with the double idlers like the tillers use. I also had to cut a 3/4" rod to use in place of the rear lift to hitch it too as the rear lift gets in the way. There is no cart, just the collection bin mounted to the same frame as the blower. Here's a not very good pic: [img]http://www.simpletractors.com/club2/uploaded/Brent_Baumer/vac.jpg[/img]

[Kent]

Brent, That vacuum looks like mine, with the plastic intake chute on it, though I have a different cart setup. I measured mine today. The impeller pulley on mine is 5" and the pulleys on each end of the cross-shaft are 6"... I'm driving it from the 4" cone clutch PTO... Hope this helps.

[lsenus]

If you take a look at the engine driven collectors and walk behind leaf blowers, the impeller speed should never exceed the engine RPMs. In other words, drive pulley diameter should equal in=mpeller pulley diameter.