PTO Leaf Vac / Blowers - Show us what ya got.....

[B7510]

In the past I have seen posts regarding some very nice pto driven leaf blowers and vacs that were either off the shelf or home made rigs. I know you guys (and gals?) have some toys you are proud of. Lets see what ya got. Looking for photos and details.

 

[rswyan]

Attached is an image of our current setup. So far I've picked up about a dozen loads of leaves and it looks like after all the wind and rain yesterday there are a couple more out there this morning. I'm probably getting at least a 10:1 reduction with the chopping action of the mower and the vacuum.

The vacuum unit (impeller, housing) came off an old TracVac unit that mounted to the rear of a Cub Cadet 782. The catcher on it was pretty small - about 2' x 2' x 4' high - so it wasn't really all that useful (we have about 4 or 5 acres of lawn) I later upgraded the catcher to a unit I built using a Sears dump cart and plywood. That was eventually replaced with the larger TracVac cart seen in the picture - dunno the capacity exactly but the cart is 4' long x 3' wide x better than 3' high I'd say.

The original BS 5 HP motor has been replaced with a newer model of the same HP. The Cub 782 is currently out of service awaiting a major overhaul so I needed to adapt the system to either our Simplicity ZTR or the Kubota with the 72 MMM. Decided to go with the Simplicity because the vac would probably be marginal for use with the 72 MMM on the Kubota - the diameter is only 6" (the 72 MMM should have a minimum of 8" with an 8 HP motor) I built the suspension arm for the hose out of some 1" square tube and 3/4" solid rod, the boot that fits the mower deck was made from the inlet off the original TracVac catcher box and some 16 gauge hot roll. I still need to finish it out and paint it once we get all the leaves picked up which should be within the next week since they are almost all down now.

 

[DannyD]

I would love to see or know of anyone that has successfully used a leave collector on a BX. The one from Bota is expensive and I just cant see it for what I have to do, but I can not see me raking them either. For now I just cut them up and leave them lay.

thanks in advance

 

[PineRidge]

Years ago when I lived in the city and my kids were young I had a John Deere with the attached rig. It did a good job of picking up both grass and leaves and deposited them into a zippered canvas bag on the back of the tractor. This was store bought, not home made, and it was powered by an independent gas engine. It wasn't cheap as I recall.

This type of rig could be adapted to most any tractor.

 

[lrunge]

I have a Cyclone Rake that works very well. I first had it on a Cub but the last couple of years I used it with the BX23. It does a good job of mulching and compacting the leaves and the towing unit holds a lot. However, I still wind up having to dump them 10 to 15 times when picking up. I leave them sit for a year and the following year I till the old leaves into the garden.

 

[rswyan]

Doh !!

I just noticed that this thread was supposed to be PTO driven equipment - sorry about that.

 

[PineRidge]

Hmmm looks like I'm guilty of following the lead. Mine wasn't PTO powered either, call out the TBN firing squad. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[dariusr]

I have been looking into making something along these lines. Anyone know of a source for the impeller housing? Seems that with an impeller you could craft your own motor or PTO drive, hoses and cart/hopper/bag.

 

[rswyan]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Anyone know of a source for the impeller housing? )</font>
You can order parts for the housing and impeller from any TracVac dealer - I would however expect them to be pricey. FWIW, I was quoted $150 for the vacuum boot that attaches to the mower deck - definitely not cheap (considering I maybe have $10 in materials in mine) - figure probably $300 retail after dealer markup for the impeller and housing.

If you weld you could make both items fairly easily - although the impeller itself should probably be balanced - at least if you want your motor/bearings to last any length of time.

 

[BXRICK]

I guess it's technically PTO powered.

On my relatively small (1.5-2 acre) lawn, three out of the four sides border unimproved woodland. Therefore, it's easy enough to simply drive back and forth mowing, using the mower to chop and blow the leaves to the edge of the lawn. Once there, they are in the woods, and rot away. They've been chopped enough that there's no real pile.
I only bring this up as it's free (assuming the mower already exists), which, compared to several thousand for a vacuum system, isn't that bad. Though I'm sure it's not for everybody.
It really doesn't take any longer than mowing the same lawn. And besides, seat time is good.