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Leaf/grass Collecter


Bruker

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I'm in the early stages of building a custom vac collector system for my Prestige. I have an engine powered vac and a ~2 yard covered trailer but I'm not sure what would be the best way to mount the vac unit. Do I mount it to the tractor so the hose to the trailer has to move or mount it to the trailer tongue so the hose from the deck has to move? What's your opinion?

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I would mount it on the trailer tongue that way the only connection is to hook the hose to the deck and attached the trailer. If you mount the engine on the tractor you will have to attach the motor to the tractor, attached the deck hose to the motor, hitch up the trailer, and then attach the motor hose to the trailer.

In other words placing the motor on the trailer means less things need to be removed to remove the collector from the tractor. And you could use the collector on multiple tractors and only have to modify the hose that attached to the deck.

Good luck.

Rick.........

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I can see the benefits of mounting it to the trailer but I also use the trailer for other things throughout the summer. I'll probably only use the set-up a couple of times in the fall for leaves.

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Then you have to do like us guys with factory units. When you want to collect the leaves and grass you have to hook up the cart to the tractor, install the turbo, and put the tube on between cart and tractor. If you use the tractor all the time mount the items to the trailer with connections that can be removed.

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I also vote to put the blower on the tractor as 1st that's the way simplicity does it on the factory bagger/cart setup and second it's the same way on my Peco Vac and lastly that's how cyclone rake mounts there's also. And if 3 mfg do it that way that's good enough R & D for me.

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You can pickup turbos for the deck and wide body carts fairly reasonable on craigslist for the Prestige. I own both types and the wide body carts and turbos are the way to go. I definitely would sell my Peco and cart system to who was interested.

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The turbo and wide body carts are great for grass and pure leaves but for running commercial use I prefer the separate fan cart as I don't have to heat and straighten fan blades and patch up holes in plastic fan housings from sticks/ landscape stones and such. Having owned both I believe the rear fan and cart system is more HD plus if you have it already .........

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I vote for a tractor mounted motor/fan (pump), and here's why:

Putting the pump on the tractor will allow you to build solid and smooth tubing on the vacuum side. That way the articulated portion will be on the pressurized side of the pump. The vacuum side is where you'll experience clogs, and having a smooth inside tube will help prevent that.

I believe this setup acts very similarly to a centrifugal water pump. Following the same dynamics, you want the pump as close to the source as possible. In the total tube length, you want more pressurized length and less vacuum length. Granted, moving it to the tractor only betters the situation by a foot or two. I do believe the ideal spot for pushing grass clippings is to have the pump is right at the deck exit. It's just not very convenient.

Admittedly, this is only my theory, and completely not based on experience or practice. But I have been thinking about it a lot lately.

On the other hand, a benefit of putting the pump on the trailer and flex tube between the pump and the deck is that you could create a "quick disconnect" at the deck and use the tube to vacuum areas the deck can't reach. And as proven by many commercially available units, this is a very viable setup.

-Kevin

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I have a 3416 with the pto driven vacuum, a conquest with the deck driven turbo and my father runs a cyclone rake and depending on what the end result is each have their pros and cons.

The deck driven turbo is tough to beat since it's a big blower and doesn't need to keep a vacuum on anything. The deck just cuts and the fan pushes it up and into the collector. It's downside is that there is no roving nozzle or acreage rake like on the older style or cyclone rake.

A cyclone rake and the rear pto vacuum on a large frame are very similar except that the cyclone rake has one important distinction and that is it's a two point trailer. It does not pivot, it's solid and turns on pony wheels at the back. That distinction eliminates any of the flex in the tubing and allows for a more rigid (smooth) design.

If a two-point trailer isn't in the cards, I would mount it on the tongue of the trailer. Beyond that, I would suggest taking a page from the cyclone rake and mount the engine to a substructure that can be installed and removed from the trailer tongue easily.

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My neighbor has the Agra Fab setup with the trailer tongue mounted engine/fan, rigid tube to the cart and long flexible hose down to 60" mower deck.

As it was wet this yr here and he was having so much trouble with pluging and jams that he paid us to do his leaves with the Toro GM346 with the Peco bagger as with a riged hose from boot 3' to fan we had no issues.

Like I said before there are 3 mfg that mount the fan rigid to the machine and only the cheaper designs mount to the trailer. Yes it makes a longer system but your cart is never compromised and you can run a smooth tube to the fan.

Turbo fans and carts are good also but you can plug them, if you don't have one then is $$$$ to get and do scout the yard for sticks and other debris as they are not thicker steel housing 1/4" thick fan of the rear pto units.

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  • 11 months later...
  • 1 year later...
quote:Originally posted by shallowwatersailor

Here is a picture of my Cyclone Rake XL that is pulled by one of my "Red" 5xi. It is 13 feet in length.

Cyclone Rake Length.jpg


id="quote">
id="quote">That is a pretty good design. i wonder how it would hook up on the back of a Prestige because the back plate is not flat.
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quote:Originally posted by drbrian722

...one important distinction and that is it's a two point trailer. It does not pivot, it's solid and turns on pony wheels at the back. That distinction eliminates any of the flex in the tubing and allows for a more rigid (smooth) design.


id="quote">
id="quote">This is how the OEM wide body cart is designed, as Ray mentions above. I think it's the best design, if your terrain allows it. I used this style on both Legacy and Sovereign turbo setups, but my lawn is sloped, has dips and tight turns, and I was frequently bending the hitch and breaking the large casters when backup, downhill, and into a slope change. On a good mow, when something didn't bend or break, the casters would simply be overwhelmed, refuse to rotate and gouge my turf badly. I got tired of replacing sod and fixing the cart, and went to a tractor mounted bagger. Bagger and turbo was the way to go, but requires more frequent stops to empty, and requires I run front weights.
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