Jump to content

Unofficial Home of Old Simplicity & Allis-Chalmers Garden Tractors

HARD WORKING B10 W/ LEAF VACUUM


RonHatch

Recommended Posts

After a few modifications to the deck, collector and blower drive, I finally tried out my tractor driven leaf vacuum system for the first time. It worked pretty well except it really made the 10 HP B&S engine work hard. In the heavier areas I had to use 1 st gear,but I the plus side, it never plugged up. For the sake of simplification, I removed the jack shaft on the blower and now drive it off the right side of the gear box, which I think is what the early models did. I installed a heavy 4' length of vinyl baseboard to the front lower edge of the deck to keep the grass and leaves from blowing out the front and headed into the collector. Because I had a problem this summer with the grass blowing out of the deck in small 'clumps' I opened up the exit opening of the deck which helped eliminate the clumping problem. Of course the collector had to be modified to fit the new opening. For the pipe leading from the collector to the blower, I'm using a 7" dia. stove pipe with a rubber boot made out of an old inner tube to connect it to the collector. It provides a very smooth flow to the blower. The trailer is all homemade using gold cart wheels. It holds about 60 bushels, so it get pretty heavy for the little B10 to hall around. Finally, what I found the works the best to pull out the leaves is the bent tine rake that is in the pictures. What I would really like to do is replace the 10 HP with a 12 or 14 HP Kohler.












Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very nice setup. They do require power though. I know my Magnum 18 has no problem providing enough power for both the deck and vac, but it does seem to be awfully thirsty when running both.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice looking tractor. My B-110 never labored with the vac collector, seemed to have plenty of power to spare, but then I wasn't going through especially deep grass. I guess I'm having a brain fart. My vac collector runs off the left hand side, and I can't picture how its different from your right hand powered unit.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ahh, responded earlier without reading the whole post, now I see you mentioned removing the jackshaft to drive off the r.h. side.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Chris, I have several large Oak trees, so the leaves can get deep. Oak leaves are pretty tough to chop up too. So when the leaves get too thick, I get out heavy equipment. The blower on my 4016 is hydraulically driven off the tractor.


Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm looking at one of those 4016's from the local guy with to many mowers in his front yard. I've heard pretty good things about them and this new addiction needs feeding.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
Ron, Very nice setup! Looks super close to what I was thinking for our yard here too. Can I ask where you sourced the blower portion from? Is that the stock setup from AC or did you source that elsewhere and fab up the rest? I was considering a similar setup that mounts to the back of the B10, but running an Aux engine to power the blower to alleviate the power issues you mentioned. A detailed shot of that vinyl baseboard mod would be great too when you get time. Thanks, JD
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jason, There's a small frame Simplicity vac unit down this way on CL. Same vac for a different machine. It would make a great base for your project. Has a nice Briggs on it. You'd have to fab the hitching to fit a large frame, but that would be easy.
[img]http://images.craigslist.org/5L95G75E93E63Ff3Ndca7b48293f255b417b6.jpg[/img]
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jason. The blower is a AC/Simplicity unit that I found on CL for $75.00. I built one years ago using a blower from work and a 3 HP motor for my 8 HP 728 Simplicity. It worked very well. Just make sure the inlet and outlet pipes are at least 6" in dia.






Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:
Originally posted by Talntedmrgreen
Jason, There's a small frame Simplicity vac unit down this way on CL. Same vac for a different machine. It would make a great base for your project. Has a nice Briggs on it. You'd have to fab the hitching to fit a large frame, but that would be easy.
[img]http://images.craigslist.org/5L95G75E93E63Ff3Ndca7b48293f255b417b6.jpg[/img]

Just noticed that... appears to be a fairly complete setup too. Thanks for the heads up!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awesome pics and information Ron - thank you! Very nice B10 by the way. Question - do you run the vinyl on the front of the deck throughout the summer as well? If so have you seen any improvements?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...