Looking for a lawn sweeper

   / Looking for a lawn sweeper #1  
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Jul 5, 2011
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I'm looking for a lawn sweeper, to pull behind my 42" JD lawn tractor. Can anyone recommend something that works well, and will last ? I pressume, I shouldn't go any larger than the deck of the tractor, so 42" or less is what I'm looking for.
Thanks.
 
   / Looking for a lawn sweeper
  • Thread Starter
#2  
I just found this used one on line (used but never used apparently, due to unfortunate death of the owner) I can have it for $100.00. It was purchased at Sears, and the brand name is Agri-Fab.
It's only a 32" wide, but I only have a half acre lot with only 3 trees on it.
Is it worth it ?
LawnSweeper32.jpg
 
   / Looking for a lawn sweeper #3  
It's not cheap, but I have a Cyclone Rake made by a company in Connecticut. Excellent product. Tons of suction for grass clippings, awesome sucking up leaves in the fall, attachments to allow cleaning up around shrubbery. No complaints, easy breakdown and storage for the winter - i've been running mine about 5 years now and am completely satisfied.
 
   / Looking for a lawn sweeper #4  
Will does that cyclone machine help dethatch also?
 
   / Looking for a lawn sweeper
  • Thread Starter
#5  
It's not cheap, but I have a Cyclone Rake made by a company in Connecticut. Excellent product. Tons of suction for grass clippings, awesome sucking up leaves in the fall, attachments to allow cleaning up around shrubbery. No complaints, easy breakdown and storage for the winter - i've been running mine about 5 years now and am completely satisfied.

That's a heck of lot more expensive than a 100 dollar lawn sweeper....If I were cutting a property the size of a football field, I might be able to see your reasoning for buying a cyclone, but for the life of me, there is no way I would spend (or can afford) to have such a machine for my humble half acre lot.
 
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   / Looking for a lawn sweeper #6  
Looks like a good deal. Just make sure your JD is up to towing it. Towing one of those loaded down on a base model type JD (the kind you would pick up at Home Depot) can be hard on the transmission. Ask me how I know :D.

I love my Brinly lawn sweeper. Picks up grass, leaves, pine cones, sticks, rocks, everything! It's the same one that is made for JD that costs about $100 more with a coat of green paint.
 
   / Looking for a lawn sweeper #7  
the fat kid said:
Will does that cyclone machine help dethatch also?

It "helps" by doing a good enough job picking up clippings that there's not much left to add to the thatch. It does not actually do any dethatching.

I have a 1 acre front yard with about 10 objects (trees, decretive stones, bird houses, etc.).

They have many ways to adapt it to mounting to different tractors, but all are rigid, in that the machine mounts in two places to the tractor - it does not pivot on a single mounting point like a trailer. This makes it super easy to maneuver, since you can go forward or backward without any possibility of jackknifing. The rear pivots on a pair of pneumatic tires. (I recommend the "dualie" tire option - damp grass gets very heavy.)

Its collection bin is large enough that I only dump it once for the whole acre (assuming I'm not behind in my mowing.
 
   / Looking for a lawn sweeper #8  
I'm looking for a lawn sweeper, to pull behind my 42" JD lawn tractor. Can anyone recommend something that works well, and will last ? I pressume, I shouldn't go any larger than the deck of the tractor, so 42" or less is what I'm looking for.
Thanks.

The generic lawn sweeper which turns up on sale at TSC and even Princess Auto is made by Brinley (sp?) and does a surprisingly useful job when towed by a riding lawn mower. The challenge with the sweeper is planning a series of dump zones to reduce the amount of driving, as the gears don't disengage.

My Simplicity 18 hp hydro with the foot shift makes backing up pretty easy, so it now gets more hours on the sweeper than on the mower deck. I prefer to use the Bolens G174 diesel for actual mowing.

But the sweeper works several days in the fall to collect and relocate the maple leaves on the two acres we keep mowed. In spring it's equally effective at reviving the grass. After about four years of this I have replaced the babbit bearings in the wheels. They were shipped from Delaware, Ontario, at a cost of about 30 dollars for the pair.

So the sweeper looks flimsy, but has done a solid job over time. Width is not a big issue. I have discovered that a 3/8" braided rope looped around the tractor seat and tied to the basket makes a good tipping "lever". A normal hour's work involves a lot of driving with loads of leaves, but no dismounting from the machine.
 
   / Looking for a lawn sweeper
  • Thread Starter
#9  
After further research, as well as some of the comments in here, I've decided to buy it, it' s only $100, and if it turns out to be a piece of crap, so be it. I have no concerns about my JD being able to pull it when full, becaue I pull my 5 x 8 utility trailer with it on my property, and it doesn't fiz it a bit.
I was at TSC just the other day, and around here their generic brand is Agri-fab, and their 42" sweeper sells for $350.00.
I was just concerned that a 32" would mean it would fill up quicker, having a smaller hopper. It's too bad they don't make these things to disengage when you want (e.g. if you have to cross a gravel path etc). For the price they sell these sweepers, you'd think they would do that....how complicated would it have been to design it that way ?!
 
 
 
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