Lawn Vac Attachment on CC Bagger

[kruss77]

Is anyone using an air assist (lawn vac squirrel cage type blower) on their CC bagger? I continue to struggle with clogged chutes in heavy grass on my 1864 bagger when attempting to propel grass up the chute and into the grass catcher using just the lift generated by the mower deck blades. I know other brands have 'air assist' blowers but I've never seen one on a CC. I'm thinking about "inventing" one for my tractor to be possibly run off a rear PTO or hydraulic motor tied into the hydraulic system. I don't want to use a towage system because I have what seems like a hundred trees that I have to mow around which requires a lot of backing up -making a towable system somewhat unattractive.

Any ideas or comments would be appreciated.

 

[micman32]

Yes, I wish CC had something like John Deere does with their baggers. They have a fan that works off the third blade next to the discharge side.
I use high lift blades and that seems to improve the airflow but adding a fan to the discharge would be a significant improvement.

I have learned you can't cut too short or the chute will plug up especially in the spring.
You might wanna check out Cyclone Rake. I have a neighbor that has one and it works great.

Michael

 

[kruss77]

I'm giving some thought to one of these deck-mount blowers. They mount directly over the mower deck discarge aperture and run off the outboard-most drive belt pulley on the deck. A friend of mine owns a landscaping company and has these on all of his zero turn machines. He loves them. The steel impeller also serves to reduce (mulch) everything that passes through it so grass and leave collection is more efficient. This is one of the features that attracted me to the DR leaf vac (steel mulching impeller). I'm going to price one out before the grass turns greene here in Michigan.

Protero Inc Lawn Baggers

 

[kruss77]

After considerable research, I finally broke down and simply bought some replacement 'high-lift' blades to replace my original CC blades (which had been sharpened many, many times and were starting to look deficient). When the new blades arrived I was surprised to see just how different they were from the original blades. After some additional research I found that my original blades weren't high lift blades at-all but were the standard blades that came with the mower deck from the factory. Obviously, the reason for the constant clogging of the grass catcher chute was that the prior owner hadn't switched to high-lift blades when he added the grass catcher. Once installed, the new blades COMPLETELY resolved the problem. I've not had a single problem with clogging since (even in very deep, wet springtime grass).