I have modified a JD hitch rack for a bagger to also be used as a receiver hitch for a material collection cart. I have also modified the rack to be used as a ballast rack. Versatile setup. I think so anyway.
It works extremely well. I have never clogged with it. I have the 54" deck. I would imagine the 62" deck might make it work a little harder since more material is being processed. The cart is basically the large agri-fab cart with a cap that I made for it. The cap has 3 solid sides and a framed screen foldaway top that allows for good air-flow and easy access to the material. At some point, I will take pictures of the cart.
I think it is better to not require a pony motor. Those TRAC-VAC motors eventually die of oil starvation when working the hills. The TRAC-VAC pto unit claims to have an adapter kit to mount it to the rear pto. Bunk. It is as if they never actually tried to fit one on the 2210. The dealer stuck me with a hefty restocking fee and TRAC-VAC was pretty unsympathetic (another story)...
The unit is the high performance power flow typically used on the X series tractors. Since the deck is the same for the 2210 and the X series, the power flow mounts nicely on it. Leaves are very easy to pick up with it. I have picked up sticky wet grass with it. I use the cart for my leaf removal because it gives me ample storage capacity. The cart is actually quite maneuverable because the hitchpoint is about 8 inches back from the link arms on the 3pt. I bought the cart for squat at home depot and made a nice screen framed cap for it. I will look up the pricing on the power flow unit itself.
If you go with the cart, the cart is inexpensive and easy to build a cap for it. You will just need some thermo-plastic duct. Unless your cart has a very long tongue to clear the draft link arms, you will need to set up a hitch on your draft link arms. From a maneuverability standpoint, I highly recommend this approach.
The additional 3 bag system including the bagger frame was $755 I modified the bagger frame for $75 to take a receiver hitch.
Note that there are other powerflow units on the market. I bet they will top the $428 cost of the power flow. The other vendor that I know of is:
I guess they would sell just the power flow?? Their power flow may very well out perform the JD one. But in my opinion the JD one is quite sufficient especially if your main concern is leaves. It would be interesting to see how the protero one compares to the JD one in price and performance specs. I will see if I can get some more info on the protero one. What I know about it is that their entire set up will run you around $2275. That includes the powerflow and a fully mounted, high capacity collection container.
