Eldo!
This has been a source of much thought on my part. I've had some threads in the past that investigated the use of a bagging accessory for the PT. I've also spoken to the factory. Frankly, there are not a lot of options currently. Here are some of the options I've found:
* Turn the PT's deck into a rear-discharge 'bagger', by custom-fabricating a rear-chute that attaches to a tube, and then closing off the front of the deck and hooking the whole works up to a tow-behind bagger assembly, probably from Cyclone Rake or Trac-Vac, etc. Fairly expensive (i.e. about $1000++), and requires some sheet metal work and some expertise in fabrication.
* Get a side-discharge deck, and hook a bagger up to it. This requires both a new deck and a tow-behind bagger. This is several thousands, and requires fabrication of a mounting attachment for the deck, since PT doesn't make a side-discharge.
* Get a tow-behind bagger with an external pick-up, and just use it without the deck for leaf pickup only. If you get a unit that does reduction in addition to picking up the leaves, this will reduce the bulk significantly. This requires no customization, but is limited to material pick-up - i.e. it doesn't really address bagging grass. Also, you don't get to sit during the operation, you'll be walking around and bagging leaves, so it's better exercise, but if you have a large property with a lot of leaves, this might not be such a good idea.
* Adapt a bagger from another manufacturer - the most likely candidate is from Ingersoll, as their blower unit is hydraulic. I believe someone is looking into this, no data yet.
* Adapt a bagger-vacuum to front-mount. Would require custom fabrication, and would limited in capacity, and can't be used for bagging grass. I've gotten mixed reviews for the dedicated vacuum-baggers as well. Some people say it doesn't work well.
* Buy a mower just for bagging and leaf-pick-up, and call it a day. This would make this a dedicated machine that would do just this, but it would work well. This requires a separate machine, with separate maintenance.
What am I doing? Well - I have a JD318 that I purchased well before I bought the PT. It has a Power-Flo bagger and a slip-loader. It bags and cuts well, although it is not much use as a heavy-duty loader, sweeper, heavy-lifter, fork-lift, back-hoe (you get the idea), which is why I purchased the PT. Although this will be the first year for the JD to do leaf pick-up, I believe it will do really well at this. I'll let you know in another few weeks! Therefore, I have a separate machine, which at first blush seems like overkill (I'd like to sell it, quite frankly, if I can come up with a suitable substitute for bagging and vacuuming) but it's paid for, and it works - that counts for a lot around my house. I also investigated the use of a Snapper Single-Blade Hi-Vac Rear-Engine-Rider (I actually purchased one for under $200 for an experiment). It bags INCREDIBLY well, but is limited in capacity (unless you get their 'baggin' wagon) and does NOT do well on sloped surfaces (the Rear-Engine makes is light in the front, and it tends to do wheelies going uphill. This is further exascerbated if a bagger is attached and full of grass). Lastly, the Snapper is not too great at trimming as it doesn't have a hydrostatic transmission, so fine trimming requires a lot of shifting and clutch work - not too pleasant on my sloped property. On a flat property, this would be a great solution.
Let me know what you figure out.
Sincerely,
Rob /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
