Rake Cyclone Rake Anyone?

[Wildbill34]

I use a 854 Trac Vac and it picks up anything that isn't nailed down. I have to be careful what I am driving over. I have picked up more than one or two rocks before. However, if I drive too fast over a large pile of leaves the hose will get clogged. Either I shake the hose or I have to shut down the tractor and get off and pull the hose to clear it. Can be a pain once in a while.

 

[CHDinCT]

Looks like you made up your mind already, but if not, I agree with the other posters. The cyclone rake is well designed and made and greatly reduced my fall leaf clean up - 2 acres of trees. Mine is 5 years old and came with the 7" hose and a Tecumseh engine. They're now all 8" hose and Briggs Vanguard engines - nice improvements. On the hose, I've never had a problem with the stock hose material and I suck up acorns, hickory nuts, sticks of all sorts, rocks, and small brush. Only time it clogs is if a stick get stuck sideways, which is seldom.

I bought the 17" extension for doing beds, etc. I have some landscaped natural areas I can't get into with the tractor, so I use my back back blower to blow everything into a pile, then lay the hose extension down at the edge of the pile and use a rake to keep feeding material into the hose. Works great.

Oh, they are loud and can be dusty if the material being vac'd is dry. If the leaves are real wet, they won't mulch as much since the wetness seems to make them slide past the impeller more easily.

 

[bialecki]

I now had my CR for two years, I compared it to DR Power's vacuum. Dr's seemed a bit heavier duty, however, I could not store it nearly as neatly and compact as the CR. Both are very loud, you will need hearing protection, this is a must. The CR creates a lot of dust, so what I did was I went to Home Depot and bought the cheap blue furnace filters, sized to fit the air vent opening on the top of the CR bag and I wire tired the filter in the corners to the CR bag, this greatly improved the dust situation. The vacuum really performs as shown in their video and makes short work out of picking up the leaves and grass clippings. The thing that sold me aside from the performance was the way the unit folds down and the motor lifts off the unit for compact storage.

Bottom line, would I recommend this to a friend? Yes.

 

[akadave]

I posted this question over 15 years ago and since I know new searchers stumble across these old threads while researching I decided to update.

I did buy a CR and while pleased with the quality and function I was not pleased with the results. It did suck up the leaves but filled so quickly it took forever to make any progress. I also had problems with the lawn mower riding up on the leaves and losing steering ability. Both of these issues were probably more specific to my situation and the amount of leaves I was dealing with.

I quit using the CR after a couple years and started burning huge piles of leaves all around the yard. That's how I do it to this day. The CR hasn't left my shed in over 10 years. It was a failure in my experience and a waste of money for my application.

Again, the quality of the machine was fine and I give most of the blame to my particular situation. Just want guys to consider this before spending that much money.

 

[iptman]

What mower were you using? My CR has given me 10 years of flawless service and I have tons of leaves. I have experienced some of your issues but are all avoidable by slowing down or using it more often. I do find it's more effective behind my 42" Craftsman than my 61" Scag.

 

[texas42]

I've had a Cyclone Rake for over 10 years - pull it behind a 24 HP CUT with mid mount mower. Very good machine, it does what they say it will do, excellent customer service. But it is dusty and loud

 

[ultrarunner]

I’ve looked at CR thinking the extended vacuum hose would be a real time saver but each year I manage without taking the plunge.

It’s the protected oak tree leaves that depending on time of year require daily blow and go if not collecting to dispose.

 

[Racer4]

I had a CR for several years on my Wheel Horse 314-8. It worked very well. I made a bracket to support the hitch and distribute the forces to the factory bolt on snow plow mounts, in addition to the tongue mount. I upgraded to the urethane hose, which was good quality. Getting the leaves out was a bit of a challenge if they weren’t completely dry.

Mice got into the folded up unit when I hung it on my shed wall and ate some holes in the fabric.

Ended up selling it when I bought my Timecutter HD with the powered bagger. Much more maneuverable and easier to dump. Even if I have to dump every few minutes.

 

[RjCorazza]

My excuse for not getting the short listed Cyclone Rake over the years has been no storage space. I now have space, so I'll have to read up on the subject again.
Currently I have (2) large oaks in my fenced yard, and I mulch the leaves in place every day or two in the fall. I want to try a relatively new flail mower on leaves this year, particularly on several customer's lawns with a lot of leaves.

 

[iptman]

I have 2 and half acres of yard surrounded by oaks, poplars and maples. I get pummeled with leaves every year. 10 years ago I was quoted $2000 to have a yard company do my leaves that season so the CR has more than made up for its cost. I've had a couple holes in the bag that I've patches using their patch kits and they've held up. With how well the mower and CR mulch the leaves they get super compacted in the bag. I have the bigger unit and when that thing is full it's a tail wagging the dog situation when using the 42" Craftsman LT1000. It's just too light. This doesn't happen when using the Scag. When the bag gets full it's impossible to just tilt and dump. The leaves are packed in there, especially when they're wet. My method is to back up where I want to dump, open it up and use a hard rake to pull out about a third of the leaves, then tilt the bag up and whip-tail the mower and sling the rest of the leaves out. It's not ideal but I can't figure a better way and haven't seen a better option on the market. There's no great way to tell how full the bag is getting until it's so full the leaves are spitting out the bypasses above the impeller but once you do it a couple times you get the feeling for when the bag is getting there and just keep a look behind you. If you can reach your hand back you can feel for higher velocity and volume of air coming out of them which tells you the bag is getting full. The smaller the volume of the mower deck the more suction you'll get and the better it'll pick up the leaves. I get 100% of the leaves up with the LT1000 and probably 95% of them with the Scag. And really what's left with the Scag are chopped up leaves from the mower blades. Not terrible but not a super clean look like I like. My LT1000 is on its last leg so I'm considering looking for a JD X5xx to replace it. I think the heavier mowers with a 48-54" deck would be the sweet spot for the CR, especially if it has a locking rear diff. My problem is spending $2-3k on a used mower that'll only get half a dozen uses every year.