Dr or Cyclone lawn vacuum

[dennis103]

Ok guys, I'm looking at getting a lawn vacuum The DR and Cyclone seem to be the most popular. I have a small lot but a LOT of leaves. I use a power flow bagger on my JD on all areas that the tractor will navigate. I also have about 400 ft of deep (3 to 4 ft) ditches, I have to take a fork and shovel the leaves out of the ditches or it will plug one of my 3 culverts. I'm hoping with a lawn vac I will be able to vac up most of the leaves in the ditch. Anyone with experience with lawn vac's or maybe a new (easier) approach to ditch leaves.

Thanks

 

[TerryR]

I have a Trac-Vac PTO leaf vac, with a 20ft. hose that works great for clearing ditches. Only issue I've found is if there are stones in the ditch you have to keep the hose end off the ground a bit or it will vacuum up stones larger than I'm comfortable putting through the blower.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

I have a Trac-Vac PTO leaf vac, with a 20ft. hose that works great for clearing ditches. Only issue I've found is if there are stones in the ditch you have to keep the hose end off the ground a bit or it will vacuum up stones larger than I'm comfortable putting through the blower.

How big a stone are you comfortable with putting through that blower?

Asking for a friend.

 

[TerryR]

I don't like the sound of anything over a quarter inch, but it will pick up stones several times that size.

 

[texas42]

I have a Cyclone Rake with a 35 foot pickup hose
Works good but, it will pickup stones and gravel.
Can’t say enough good about Cyclone Rake.
Great customer service, very helpful, reasonable parts prices

 

[MasseyFerg231]

Have an Agrifab chip vac.
The chipper is useless. The vac works well. The deck adapter takes a bit to get setup correctly.
I have it on a zero turn and had to rig up support for hose.

 

[Fxfymn413]

I use a DR vacuum. It works as it should, but will clog up if you use the attachment to blow the leaves directly from the mower deck, especially if the grass/leaves are the least bit wet.

It is also a bit of a PIA to empty as the "box" is quite flimsy and you need to stand it on end to get the leaves to dump out or you have to hand rake/pull them out.

I also use it a super powered vacuum to suck up the wood chips from my planer if I am planing a large number of boards. It saves me from emptying out the wood shop's dust collector frequently which fills pretty quickly if you are planing a lot of lumber.

 

[KennyG]

Cyclone Rake. Great design, great company. I've had mine for 10 years now. The only issue has been a bent side frame rail (backed into a tree - don't do that) which was replaced quickly at a reasonable cost. This year I did a second repair on the unit - patched an inner tube that developed a leak.

The criticisms you will see about the CR is that it has a cloth bag. Mine is in great shape after 10 years and that allows the whole unit (minus the engine/blower) to be folded up and hung on the wall. It has replaceable wear patches on the inside, but I haven't had to replace any yet. Also, it is a solid mount to the tractor/mower instead of a trailer, which means you have to be careful about it swinging out when you turn.

On the plus side, the solid mount makes it easy to back into tight spots and allows the vacuum hose to be shorter. No supports are required to keep it from dragging like the trailer models.

I have the long pickup tube and it works well for cleaning up flower beds and places you can't mow. It has the power to pick up small rocks so you have to be careful, but I've picked up a lot of rocks and few aluminum cans, etc with no damage to the unit. I got the optional hardened liner for the blower because I pick up millions of acorns.

I have the Commercial Pro model and I would recommend getting a unit with at least an 8" vacuum tube. That pretty much eliminates clogs.

I have a lot of trees and compost the leaves every year.

 

[TMGT]

Get the Cyclone, the DR works but doesn't age well, have had a lot of problems with it over the years, 2 impellers, 2housings, 3 engines(2 due to the impeller), hopper blows appart pretty easy once it gets older(not fun to clean up!) appears the newer models might have fixed some of the shortcomings but I wouldn't invest in one.

I have a few friends with the cyclone and they have no complaints, some get used hard and have held up well. I liked operating them when I've had to opportunity to use them.

I will say both have good customer/product support.

I made my own about 10 years ago so haven't had a need to buy a Cyclone, but if I ever feel the need to replace mine it'll be the Cyclone, my dad owns the DR and complains about it every fall.

I modeled mine after the Cyclone (without the soft collector bag)

Sent from my SM-G715U1 using TractorByNet mobile app

 

[oldballs]

Don't know anything about the DR products.......but .......I can corroborate what KennyG says. I have the Z-10 model with six seasons on it now.....pulled behind my Kubota B2620. My unit is stored outdoors under a heavy canvas tarp....sure would be nice to get it inside....but...

Happy shopping dennis
Mike