POWER BROOM

[TRUKFXR]

Living here in Illinois, I have been doing a lot of snow plowing lately. I use my pickup truck to do my gravel driveway and now I have a yard full of stones that have been thrown by the plow. It is worse this year because of the number of times I have had to plow. In the past I have used a power rake (looks like a weed whip with a rubber drum)
and it works ok, but because my drive is over 1500 feet long, it takes quite a bit of time to do both sides.
I keep thinking about a power broom, like the 48'' one that Power Trac has and mount it to my Gehl Al20dx, but its a lot of money and if it doesn't work well, I will own a piece of equipment that has no other use. No matter how well it works, it is still a lot of money to rake the yard once a year. Finding anything used that isn't a piece of junk or needs too much work to adapt seems impossible.
Not sure what my question is. I guess, does anybody have any experience with a broom for this purpose? Any inexpensive units out there that I can adapt?? Anyone own the 48'' Power Trac unit?

 

[KentT]

I have no first hand experience with them, but you may keep an eye out for a used Sweepster brand of broom. Or, they're available, hydraulically-driven new but I have no idea of the price.

Paladin Light Construction Group

They're also made with a variety of front-drive systems, either belt or PTO shaft, in a wide range of sizes. The actual broom itself is chain-driven from the side, similar to a tiller.

Here's a pic of a used one on a big Simp garden tractor:

 

[3238dpw]

I have been eyeing this up for a while. It would have to be cheap enough to also buy a hyd. motor to adapt. Anyone know what these cost new?

Accessories for garden tractors and lawn, snowblower for ATV and UTV

So many attachments to make, so little time

 

[DHS]

I don't have the PT sweeper but I converted a sweeper to work with my PT. I use it after I roto-till the garden to sweep the dirt along the edges. I also use it to sweep small rocks from the side of my driveway. Mine is suspended by a heavy spring and when I use it on my lawn the brush easily pulls into the grass and stops spinning. It requires constant leveling making it hard to do large areas.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/power-trac/81678-red-green-sweeper-project.html

In the future, I intend to attach wheels that will allow height adjustment and hopefully prevent the brush from being pulled into the turf. I assume adjustable wheels would allow turf work such as dethatching and sweeping gravel from grass.

Dale

 

[RegL]

It's fun to have your own equipment but for one job per year, I would recommend renting a sweeper. I think they go for about $100 per day for a walk behind. And you must be one tough guy. I have one of those hand held power brooms and I can't imagine cleaning up a 1500ft driveway with it.

 

[ldabe]

Dale, I probably missed it, but what kind of driveway do you have (material)
In this pic:

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...red-green-sweeper-project-907489-img_0050.jpg

It almost looks like asphalt. If it is not, what materials did you use to make such an impressive and neat looking drive?

I too have a long gravel drive, it looks no where near what yours looks like.

Thanks for the pics, they look great.

 

[DHS]

My driveway is recycled asphalt. I live on a township road. About five years ago we convinced the township that considering the amout of property tax we paid in relation to farm land tax we deserved a paved road. The county paved it with recycled asphalt and the company doing the work offered to do mine for about $2,000. My drive is 300 feet long.

Within six months, I needed to replace my septic tank. The large backhoe was not kind to my driveway. In the near future I intend to have a 3 inch asphalt mat laid on top.

Dale

 

[ponytug]

Having grown up with a gravel driveway, I don't know know of anything that can plow it without moving the stones.

You can get leaf vacuums; you do one pass at low speed to get leaves, and then a second pass at high power to suck up the loose gravel.

Off topic a little: Dale-
When you put the new asphalt down, try to specify that they use a heavy duty geotextile between the two layers. This will prevent cracks from directly through your new asphalt. It works wonders.

Asphalt takes some time to cure, so if you can stay off it for awhile after it is laid, especially with anything heavy, you will get a longer life out of it. (As you have learned the hard way...)

All the best,

Peter

My driveway is recycled asphalt. I live on a township road. About five years ago we convinced the township that considering the amout of property tax we paid in relation to farm land tax we deserved a paved road. The county paved it with recycled asphalt and the company doing the work offered to do mine for about $2,000. My drive is 300 feet long.

Within six months, I needed to replace my septic tank. The large backhoe was not kind to my driveway. In the near future I intend to have a 3 inch asphalt mat laid on top.

Dale

 

[DHS]

Peter,

Thanks for the advice. I will investigate heavy duty geotextile.

Dale

 

[TRUKFXR]

RegL,
Since you have used one of those brooms (mine is a Stihl with a 22'' rubber drum)
then you can understand why I am trying to find another method to clean up the mess.
I am actually doing about 1600 ft. and as you know, when you use the broom you have to overlap some and really don't clean all the stones with just one pass. One thing I did do was make a set of wheels to help support the unit and that makes it a little easier. I am not sure you have to be tough to do it but being "dull'' helps.