sloppydogdrool
New member
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2009
- Messages
- 5
I bought the top of the line DR professional lawn vac over a couple seasons ago. I would absolutely buy one again and I highly recommend this over the other options. However like anything it has some flaws.
Emptying the unit with the dump feature is worthless. The leverage on the dump arm is bad. You have to strain like a mad man to lift the dump bed. Once it's dumped, well it the debris does not dump out. So you have to put the dump bed back down, pull forward, dump again and so on. Putting the dump bed back down with a load in it it nearly impossible. I'm over 250lbs and have difficulty putting it back down. You can also just drive forward and drag it. Eventually you have you get in there with a rake to remove the debris. They really need to work on the dump feature. If you could back up to a pit and dump it would be perfect.
When I got the vac the battery was charged and unit started right up. Pull starting the beast after it's been sitting for months will wear you out. The battery kept dying. One use was about all you could get out of it. I would hook up a trickle charger after the first use but it would not charge saying the battery was bad. I assumed the initial battery was just cheap Chinese crap.
The unit would get clogged easy. I called DR about this. They reminded me that a 60" deck is not optimal for their unit. They were correct and did tell me that when I bought it.
The wing bolt mounting the box kept wiggling out and I constantly lost them. Fortunately shiny new bolts sparkled in the grass and I was able to retrieve them. Eventually though my luck ran out. I even tried blue loctite.
The metal strap holding the battery in place broke at the mounting bolt.
The motor and vac unit are horribly loud. So loud in fact I can not hear my BX 23 tractor engine and deck over the DR noise level.
The vac mounting bracket broke so it was just flopping around. This was the the final straw and I was VERY unhappy with my purchase!
Resolution to my issues....
I calmly called DR and spent some time on the phone with DR and a very helpful tech worked through all my concerns. I explained the history of the unit and what my experiences were. It was decided the impeller was out of balance. The vibration was killing the battery and causing the other issues as well. They asked if I would like the parts sent to me or I could remove the motor assembly and take to a dealer. I choose to take it to a dealer. The motor assembly is removed with two thumb screws and is mounted on wheels.
I took it to the dealer. DR shipped in the parts. Some of the parts took over 2 weeks. They replaced the battery strap, mounting bracket, impeller, wing bolts and battery. According to the warranty they were not required to replace the battery (third time and out of warranty) but were decent enough to do so.
At no cost to me they fixed the unit under warranty. Noise levels have dropped substantially, vibration is reasonable, no more lost bolts, battery stays charged, no more clogging (unless a stick gets caught).
The only problem that is not resolved is the dumping. This is a manufacturers design issue. Unless you have a cliff or pit you can back up to dumping the unit sucks. You have to pull the debris out with a rake. I use a three prong rake that has about 6" long tines. Yeah, I don't know the proper name for it.
My ground is rough to say the least. Cutting is about a 4 - 5 hour chore without bagging. After a day on the Kubota my back and sides and even shoulders ache from being beat up from the rough ground. The DR stands up to this abuse without issue.
There are a fare # of baron spots I have to drive over. The DR shoots dust out the top and looks like a steam locomotive. Their separation design doesn't do ****. Maybe if you just had a small bare spot it might be OK.
Overall I would buy this unit again. I have over 5 acres, some wooded with LOTS of leaves. I can cut grass or leaves and only dump about 3 - 4 times. The mulching feature works EXCELLENT. In comparison when we raked the leaves we (my 3 kids and my wife) spent multiple weekends raking and wind falling leaves. We hauled out over 8 long bed pickup trucks full of leaves. And this was doing a mediocre job. With the DR doing a really good job it takes maybe 6 hours to collect the leaves with one person and produces maybe 1 pickup truck of leaves.
I no longer have a clogging issue with my 60" deck. It chews up everything I throw at it.
Aside from my BX23 this is the best thing I have ever bought. Although flawed, it saves me countless hours and other than the dump feature is relatively easy to use.
Emptying the unit with the dump feature is worthless. The leverage on the dump arm is bad. You have to strain like a mad man to lift the dump bed. Once it's dumped, well it the debris does not dump out. So you have to put the dump bed back down, pull forward, dump again and so on. Putting the dump bed back down with a load in it it nearly impossible. I'm over 250lbs and have difficulty putting it back down. You can also just drive forward and drag it. Eventually you have you get in there with a rake to remove the debris. They really need to work on the dump feature. If you could back up to a pit and dump it would be perfect.
When I got the vac the battery was charged and unit started right up. Pull starting the beast after it's been sitting for months will wear you out. The battery kept dying. One use was about all you could get out of it. I would hook up a trickle charger after the first use but it would not charge saying the battery was bad. I assumed the initial battery was just cheap Chinese crap.
The unit would get clogged easy. I called DR about this. They reminded me that a 60" deck is not optimal for their unit. They were correct and did tell me that when I bought it.
The wing bolt mounting the box kept wiggling out and I constantly lost them. Fortunately shiny new bolts sparkled in the grass and I was able to retrieve them. Eventually though my luck ran out. I even tried blue loctite.
The metal strap holding the battery in place broke at the mounting bolt.
The motor and vac unit are horribly loud. So loud in fact I can not hear my BX 23 tractor engine and deck over the DR noise level.
The vac mounting bracket broke so it was just flopping around. This was the the final straw and I was VERY unhappy with my purchase!
Resolution to my issues....
I calmly called DR and spent some time on the phone with DR and a very helpful tech worked through all my concerns. I explained the history of the unit and what my experiences were. It was decided the impeller was out of balance. The vibration was killing the battery and causing the other issues as well. They asked if I would like the parts sent to me or I could remove the motor assembly and take to a dealer. I choose to take it to a dealer. The motor assembly is removed with two thumb screws and is mounted on wheels.
I took it to the dealer. DR shipped in the parts. Some of the parts took over 2 weeks. They replaced the battery strap, mounting bracket, impeller, wing bolts and battery. According to the warranty they were not required to replace the battery (third time and out of warranty) but were decent enough to do so.
At no cost to me they fixed the unit under warranty. Noise levels have dropped substantially, vibration is reasonable, no more lost bolts, battery stays charged, no more clogging (unless a stick gets caught).
The only problem that is not resolved is the dumping. This is a manufacturers design issue. Unless you have a cliff or pit you can back up to dumping the unit sucks. You have to pull the debris out with a rake. I use a three prong rake that has about 6" long tines. Yeah, I don't know the proper name for it.
My ground is rough to say the least. Cutting is about a 4 - 5 hour chore without bagging. After a day on the Kubota my back and sides and even shoulders ache from being beat up from the rough ground. The DR stands up to this abuse without issue.
There are a fare # of baron spots I have to drive over. The DR shoots dust out the top and looks like a steam locomotive. Their separation design doesn't do ****. Maybe if you just had a small bare spot it might be OK.
Overall I would buy this unit again. I have over 5 acres, some wooded with LOTS of leaves. I can cut grass or leaves and only dump about 3 - 4 times. The mulching feature works EXCELLENT. In comparison when we raked the leaves we (my 3 kids and my wife) spent multiple weekends raking and wind falling leaves. We hauled out over 8 long bed pickup trucks full of leaves. And this was doing a mediocre job. With the DR doing a really good job it takes maybe 6 hours to collect the leaves with one person and produces maybe 1 pickup truck of leaves.
I no longer have a clogging issue with my 60" deck. It chews up everything I throw at it.
Aside from my BX23 this is the best thing I have ever bought. Although flawed, it saves me countless hours and other than the dump feature is relatively easy to use.
