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Leaf Vacuum


rocko

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Are any of you who own a pto driven vac cart satisfied with it's performance? I have a massive amount of leaves to pick up in the fall and was wondering how one would perform vs. an engine driven one which I currently use. Thanks Mark
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I have a few and a number of friends saw it & got them. The 'good' thing is there's one less engine to maintain or 'feed'. Some say you need to be sure all the pets & kids are in the house, or they'll end up in the cart! (LOL) JP
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I have the "bin" style that pins to the back of a 3400/7000/7100 series and is driven like a tiller off the gearbox PTO. I was going to sell it, but decided to try it out. After giving it a try, I decided to keep it. It works great. Brent [img]http://www.simpletractors.com/club2/uploaded/Brent_Baumer/vac.jpg[/img]
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I have the pto driven vac and it works great. The only problem I have is in extremely heavy leaves. I sometimes wind up "dozing" the leaves with my mower deck. Sometimes I have to go over those areas twice, other times just reducing ground speed solves the problem. In any event, you would have this problem regardless of whether it was an engine driven or pto driven unit. Pat
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Mark: I have 18, 60' Sugar Maple trees on an acre just west of Ann Arbor. The first eight years we were here we tried just about everything, includeing a comercial walk behind vacume which died in three years. No matter what we tried it was overwelmed. I then on the advice of my local Allis Dealer (Duible Equipment) bought a 1920H with a 60" deck, and a turbo that mounts on the deck outlet, and is belt driven off of the deck. He said that blowing the leaves up the shute works much better than trying to suck them up. Boy was he ever right!! I now collect, with my 55 bushel trailer, between 450 and 500 bushells in about 3 hours I have to do this at least 3 week ends in a row each fall. I thought at the time it was an expensive solution. But after 11 maintenance free years with this set up it was worth every penny and then some. I can't emagine anything working as well for us with this volume of leaves.
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I have one and am very pleased with it, though I can't compare it to the engine driven type, since I've never owned one of them. May I also suggest you try Gator Blades with the vac... They reduce the leaves to a fraction of the size that normal blades do, and reduce clogging....
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I have one and I agree with the above. It not only picks up leaves, but also sticks, pine needles, nuts, and toilet paper (if you have that problem). I strongly recommend one! DaveM
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I have a Snapper LT16 tht I use primarily for mulching. It uses the 38" mower (single blade) to mulch and blow the leaves into the bags behind the tractor. I empty those into my Simplicity Trailer and then empty the trailer as needed. There is no extra engine nor extra blower, just the tubes. In many places, all I do is mulch the leaves and let nature take its course.
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I have a pto driven vac cart on my Simplicity 7116H with 48" mower deck.It picks up the leaves and small branches,even small stones.;) I'am very pleased with this unit. Karl
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http://www.simpletractors.com/club2//uploaded/ambler/101_01691.jpg This a link to my system. My cart holds 40 bushels. I use gator blades. It turns leaves etc. to dust. It took me just over three hours to do the job it used to take me 2-3 weekends. Of course thats with 20 hp and a 48" deck.
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The one I have is PTO driven on a 60" mower deck. <You can see it in my picture gallery in my profile>Works great but like Pat said if the leaves are real thick it will push in front of the deck :(so I do have to slow down. We have used both^ mowers a few times. We mow around the pieces when they are big enough. The 9020 without the vac mows so the clippings are thrown into the next round & the 720 comes and mows and sucks up both passes:D. The trailer holds allot of stuff and it packs in pretty solid if we fill it up. We have to forkB) it out of the trailer because the floor is a little rusty and the lips on the sides for the end gate protrude in about 3/4 inch on both sides. It would be better if the dump angle was a lot more. The trailer should sit higher or the axle was farther back but not to far or it will get front heavy and not dump by itself. Going to do some improvising to the trailer so it will dump better or build^ a different trailer. PTO driven means you only have one engine to maintain and keep full of expensive B)gas! The trailer and vac came with the 720 when I purchased it. The 720 & 60" mower deck will be FOR SALE soon;)
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I've got about 3 acres. Lots of trees. Is there any formula to show how many cart loads of leaves I would have to empty. Would I be better off using a "gator" mulching blade?
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quote:
Originally posted by rocko
Are any of you who own a pto driven vac cart satisfied with it's performance? I have a massive amount of leaves to pick up in the fall and was wondering how one would perform vs. an engine driven one which I currently use. Thanks Mark
i have 3 of these units .i had a motor power 1 i used until i try these vac .i like these better .some are made for left or right discharge decks.
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i have 3 of these vacuum units.pto driven. also have a motor driven vac and trailer. i like the pto driven one better . if hose get stop up you just push pto lever out of gear. on motor driven vac you should stop motor. some vacuum are for left hand discharge some for right.
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Thank you you all for your valuable input. I'm gonna have to keep my eye out for one before fall. Mark
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