Tow Behind Leaf Mulcher/Vacumm

[pmsmechanic]

I bought a 6' Lawn Genie for $200. Works awesome for leaves.

 

[kevinwak]

I have the middle model DR and I use it behind my John Deere 2520 with the 62D mid mount mower. I love the thing. Some days it can be a pain to use and I still love it. I bought it for sucking up grass as I mow because I am kinda in a swamp and the thick grass never dries out so I have to pick it up. I will regularly mow seven acres of lawn with it attached to pick up the grass. I also use it to remove leaves on my parents five acre yard in the fall.

It is trailer style. I will probably convert it to be carried on the 3pt hitch in the future. My biggest issue with it is the hose. To have the hose long enough to turn left it is way to long to turn right. I eventually after two summers of use have worn through the hose for the amount of flexing it does between left and right turns. That is the only reason I want to 3pt it. To get rid of the hose flex in turning.
Other things to note:
The engine is super easy to start, I have the pull start version. A single half hearted pull will get it going even after sitting over winter.
It burns lots of gas, but it works hard. When it is grunting and sucking leaves and grass full bore I think it is close to a gallon an hour.
Sticks get stuck in the hose. Usually not an issue, but a couple poplar trees at my parents have tons of short sticks that always jam it.
It is very loud, I wear double hearing protege using it. Can’t even hear the mower I am riding on when it is running
Can be hard to dump if overfilled.
Very easy to back up and tracks around trees well due to its fairly long wheelbase.
You have to pull out one engine mounting bolt to drain the oil. Was annoying the first time.

Over all the thing is annoying to use, has its quirks with the hose, likes to fall off etc. (but wrapping the connection with duct tape on top of the hose clamp helped a ton)
But I love love love the thing and would never consider being without it for my yard.

 

[pmsmechanic]

Kevinwak Would you be able to remount the motor 90 degrees so that the hose goes into the center of the motor instead of one side. It would also let you remodel the oil change bolt problems.

 

[kevinwak]

Kevinwak Would you be able to remount the motor 90 degrees so that the hose goes into the center of the motor instead of one side. It would also let you remodel the oil change bolt problems.

I don’t think so, but I should look. Part of me wants to 3pt Mount it, but another part doesn’t because then I have to worry about tail swing. Right now it follows so nice behind the tractor... if I add four feet fixed to the back of the tractor i will really have to watch the tail swing.

 

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

Since I just purchased one of these about 2 years ago, in case it's helpful, here's why I chose the DR over the Cyclone Rake.

1. DR has a toothed metal impeller that also mulches. So if you're using it with your mower, everything gets mulched twice. However, I also need to remove leaves in many areas where you can't really mow, like from landscaped beds, from under bushes, from ditches, or on rough trails. With the Cyclone you can vacuum them up, but they won't be mulched. This was probably the biggest and most important factor for me.

2. I liked that the path from the mower discharge to the impeller was level, whereas the CR it curves up. Figured less chance for clogs.

3. Overall sturdiness, the DR seems miles above the CR. Size of wheels, the construction of the collector, ease of dumping, etc.

4. Price is about the same.

5. Cyclone had a rigid hitch that won't articulate. Eliminates jackknifing but increases the turning radius.

Pics below show DR on the left; Cyclone on the right.



I wouldn't use a DR with a z-turn. It is HEAVY when full of mulched leaves or grass. The lighter Cyclone might be okay. Either way, much better than not having one.

 

[kevinwak]

I agree, much better than not having one.
I think lots of my hose issues come from using it during my weeklymowing. If I was just doing it for falls leaves I would probably not have worn through the hose already.

 

[aczlan]

We just bought a used cyclone to use on the B7500, we use it to knock down the hayfield and feed it as "green-chop" this time of year. So far, we have been happy with it (other than some issues with it clogging, need to work on that).

Aaron Z

 

[RoyJackson]

The DR is my preference for couple reasons,,,
They're local, in Vermont...about 50 miles from home. They have "scratch and dent" sales as well as refurbished equipment. They also have (or had) pretty decent post season sales.

For my purposes, the unit wouldn't be used much, except for leaf removal and the occasional time I miss mowing weekly.

 

[RalphVa]

I'm thinking about buying a tow-behind leaf vacumm mulcher.
I'd be rigging this to a Z920 Deere Zero-Turn mower.

I've looked into the DR and Cyclone brands...any body have real world experience they'd care to share?

I never have understood the need for such unless you want to collect the stuff for your compost. I ran a zero turn mower on 5 acres of church property with lots of trees in Whippany, NJ. It wasn't even a mulcher (a Scag). I'd just run it around and discharge inward until it almost choked up. Then I'd turn around and run it the other way for another round or two before discharging back inward again.

If you had a good mulching zero turn, you wouldn't need to do this. My walkbehind self propel mowers are good mulchers and chop the leaves up great. Better to put the leaves back where there were created from. Good for the grass and the trees.

On my own property, I don't get enough leaves to save them for compost. I go collect about 100 bags of leaves that the silly town people collect and just leave at the curb (A local outfit called Panorama Paydirt collects them and then sells it as mulch, compost or soil.)

Ralph

 

[4570Man]

I never have understood the need for such unless you want to collect the stuff for your compost. I ran a zero turn mower on 5 acres of church property with lots of trees in Whippany, NJ. It wasn't even a mulcher (a Scag). I'd just run it around and discharge inward until it almost choked up. Then I'd turn around and run it the other way for another round or two before discharging back inward again.

If you had a good mulching zero turn, you wouldn't need to do this. My walkbehind self propel mowers are good mulchers and chop the leaves up great. Better to put the leaves back where there were created from. Good for the grass and the trees.

On my own property, I don't get enough leaves to save them for compost. I go collect about 100 bags of leaves that the silly town people collect and just leave at the curb (A local outfit called Panorama Paydirt collects them and then sells it as mulch, compost or soil.)

Ralph

I find this approach works good if you keep up with the leaves. If you want to do it once at the end of the year the mower can’t mulch heavy oak leafs very well. Maple leafs are delicate and mulch much better.