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lawn sweepers


landlord2110

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Has anybody used these? I would like to use to pick up some leaves and small sticks for my 1/2 acres lawn(to lazy to rake). Are the Sears or Tractor Supply Company ones any good?
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I bought one off of Ebay a few years ago. It was a Murry and it did work well. The biggest thing is, your lawn has to be flat. My lawn has too many holes and pitches. The sweeper keep ed digging in and tipping over frontwards. Also, they don't hold that much, and fill up quick. I would make one pass, then have to go dump. It was worse with leaves. If you want to trail it wile mowing, don't bother. You deck shoots it out to the side, and the sweeper is right behind you. Don't let my problems discourage you, they do a decent job. My sweeper had two casters at the rear. I have seen one that don't. I would try to get one that does, it give it a little more support, and your bag will not rub on the ground.
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I have a sears that I picked up cheap because the who paid new price for it had Elons problem and just wanted it gone. I mainly wantted it for spruce tree cones, which it does alright on. I leave my clipping on the lawn all summer but use it for leaves and spring clean-up and it does beat a hand rake. Not sure I'd pay the 350 some bucks sears want for it but I am pretty cheap.sm01
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I have an Agri-Fab lawn sweeper. Got it used for $50. It works ok when the basket is only 1/2 full, after that it doesn't pick up very good, and yes one or two passes across my yard and its just about full. These are easier to use with a gear-drive tractor so you have a free hand to hold the trip rope for the basket. Mine would work better if I adjusted it, I didn't have the manual for it so I never bothered to work on it. It definitely has helped to keep my lawn looking its best but it gives me more incentive to keep it cut more often so I can avoid needing to sweep.
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I have an Agri-Fab sweeper also and wouldn't live without it. Yes they do fill up fast, but I found if you mow your lawn first and chop up the leaves some, they tend to pack in the basket better. In the spring, I pull it behind a spring tine thatcher. (Double towing) This setup does a great job at pulling up the dead grass and other junk in the lawn and then sweeping it up in one pass. It also picks up dried dog turds quite well!!!
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quote:
Originally posted by swede It also picks up dried dog turds quite well!!!
I forgot about that one:D Yes they do.
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I have an Ingersoll 38" sweeper that works great. Has 2 brushes and throws back to toward the tractor and holds quite a bit, 11 bushel I think. It is adjustable for the grass height you are sweeping in and it picks up just about everything, twigs, pine cones and dog piles. Just don't go too fast as the heavier stuff will hit you in the back some times. I saw it in the paper and bought for $75. Don't think I would buy it new, they are as much as used vacuum set ups.
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Surprised yours doesn't have an adjusting lever on it Chris. My Sears does, only problem with it is if I set it too low the wheels will slide along when it's empty, about half full it works ok. My brother used to have an ingersol, he still kicks himself for selling it because his mower vac won't pick up the twigs off his cottonwood trees.
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I also have an Agri-Fab I bought about 9 years ago from TSC. It gets used several times a year and it works great!
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I had a John DeereB)that I got cheep and it really worked super. The bag wore out and I wouldn't pay the long GREEN price C for a new one so I sold it. But with the Simplicity vac set up anything the deck will chop it will suck up. JW
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I had a John Deere with a large basket worked great if you ajust the hight so it just flicks the grass. Set it to deep and the wheels slide. I got tired dumping it so I sold it. I have to dump my lawn vac three times,so you can imagen how many time I had to dump the sweeper.
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I have an Agri Fab and it works fine, a tip though, wait a few hours before trying to mow grass clippings, they sweep better if they have some time to dry out. And if you chop your leaves first they take up less space and sweep better.
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If you have some cash you'd be better off with a vacuum with a 5 hp and a small leaf trailer for the debris. You may have to do some mods to get it on your machine and deck for a shute if you can't find a simplicity one, but it's worth it.
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Ah, the dump rake. The rust on that stupid thing was worse than I thought and stripped the first few nuts trying to take it apart. They can't be cut because they are in these little recesses. Moisture must have collected in there. It is in one of my trailers now. I've soaked them in liquid wrench, pb blaster and finally kroil. I've managed to get two off so far after getting them cherry red. Someday I will tackle that thing. I also wanted to get that giant 1" steel plate off the mounting to cut down on weight, but that looks like it was gas welded on. If I remeber correctly it was modified to fit a Bolens. I still say the tines are too flimsy to rake ice. I don't think it could rake hay.
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Probably not, but I think it's a matter of hitting the bolts w/ oil for a few consecutive days before I go at it, rather than work on it, get nowhere, throw the wrench, swear a lot, then spray it down and not get to it for another week or two, and the oil is dried out. These are only like 1/2" bolts too--you'd think I could just snap them with the wrench and punch them out. As for that plate, it's heavy, but at least it's flat. This thing is ridiculous. I don't know what purpose it served, except as a spacer or shim or something to adapt it to another machine. If that were the case a few correct sized bushings on the bolts would have handled any clearance problems. The steel plate is the same size as the factory mounting plate it is welded to, with holes drilled out that match those on the original piece, so it would have fit just as well without the additional plate welded on.
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Maybe just take some detailed pics of the frame, fit to build a new frame by and cut the tines free then junk the frame iron out.
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