Home built Leaf Vac

[warburtonplayer]

Does anyone know where I can find the parts to make a pull behind leaf vac? I need the part that hooks onto the motor. I have the engine and the cart just need the tubes and the suction device.

 

[joes_427_vette]

Thats the heartbeat of the machine. I plan to build a 16-20" impeller with 3" guides. I will belt drive it off a counter shaft for the correct rpm. The reason for the extra vacuum is I have tons of pine needles to pickup and this will provide the added suction to remove them. I have tried smaller factory units and they don't work as good as I would like. Haven't figured out where to get it ballanced as of yet. Good winter project. Keeps the bandsaw and mig tuned up.

 

[MJPetersen]

Haven't figured out where to get it ballanced as of yet.

This is an idea that a guy building a wood chipper used. He used a frame with roller blade bearings to support the shaft. It worked for him. Steve Bedair and horizontal wood chipper.

Mike

 

[Wis Bang]

Thats the heartbeat of the machine. I plan to build a 16-20" impeller with 3" guides. I will belt drive it off a counter shaft for the correct rpm. The reason for the extra vacuum is I have tons of pine needles to pickup and this will provide the added suction to remove them. I have tried smaller factory units and they don't work as good as I would like. Haven't figured out where to get it ballanced as of yet. Good winter project. Keeps the bandsaw and mig tuned up.

We had blowers to dry cleaned chemical tanks. When we needed to repair an impeller we were wondering how to have it balanced when one of our drivers, a stock car fan, mentioned a local shop used by the local stock car owners called 'Raceweld'...try to find out where the local engine builders get things balanced...

 

[jnelson]

I built mine from an old Billy Goat vacuum that I purchased from E-Bay. The whole project was easier as the engine, fan housing/impeller, and chassis are already there, leaving only intake and discharge fabrication and a few details to attend to. For details and pics see http://www.mytractorforum.com/showthread.php?t=87432.

Good luck!

JN

 

[GE222]

A had a Trac Vac factory tow behind unit about 10 years ago. It did work great on my abundance of oak leaves, but it did have one frustrating short coming. It would quite often ingest small sticks which would get stuck in the hose. As long as they made it through the hose it was not an issue.

 

[Dan W]

Does anyone know where I can find the parts to make a pull behind leaf vac? I need the part that hooks onto the motor. I have the engine and the cart just need the tubes and the suction device.

Hello Mr. Warburtonplayer ...
Interesting, I finally find someone else who wants to build one of these.
I built mine about 8 years ago. It was originally designed to mount to the the rear of my Cub old 982. I actually had it sitting for a few years and this last summer (having moved to a new property (75ac) I modified the mower deck scoop to fit my new B7800. The compartment itself measure 4' x4' x 36" wide, and has 2 large caster wheels mounted dead centre of the body. So what I did was attach the frame of the trailer to the 3pt hitch (with no top link attached) and I let the weight of the trailer ride on the caster wheels. This provideds a verticle uncoupling (so you can ride up & down over bumps in the lawn and yet keep the trailer tracking straight behind the tractor.
I manufactured the impeller of 1/4" material, (mostly so I could mash-up twigs & pine cones), welded 6 paddles to a 1/4" plate and then used 1/8materials for the impeller housing. I had originally wanted to power the unit an 8HP engine, but settled for a 6HP, all I had at the time. The hoses tubes from the mower deck to the blower and blower to container are 6" dia.
I had originally built this contraption because I was sick of raking pine needles for a 3 weeks and then poplar leaves for another 2 weeks. It works very nicely on grass and will chew-up small branches too I hope this helps
Best of the season to you ...

Dan


I値l attach a few photos.

 

[keeney]

I built mine using individual parts such as the impeller and housing from agri-fab.
I purchased the mower deck boot from John Deere. Everything else I built myself.

See this thread:
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/68938-leaf-vac.html#post765969