Tow Behind Leaf Mulcher/Vacumm

[RoyJackson]

I'm thinking about buying a tow-behind leaf vacumm mulcher.
I'd be rigging this to a Z920 Deere Zero-Turn mower.

I've looked into the DR and Cyclone brands...any body have real world experience they'd care to share?

 

[jones6780]

I don't have first hand experience but just my .02 cents worth. The Cyclone with swivel wheels may work much better on a zero turn.

 

[4570Man]

I can’t imagine either works well for a ZTR. I haven’t had a chance to use it yet, but I recently bought this unit. I think it’ll work much better then my old cyclone. I hated that thing.

 

[oldballs]

Hi Roy,

It's been a long time since reading a post from you. Cheers....

Maybe the size of the vacuum unit would have something to do with using it on a zero turn. I really like my Z-10 Cyclone Rake, but pull it with a Kubot B2620. Customer service and advice at CR is really good in my experience.

Mike

 

[plowhog]

I have the cyclone rake commander xl behind a Husqvarna riding mower. 44 bushel bag. Works great has saved me a lot of effort with leaves and clippings.

 

[SJay]

I have a Cyclone Rake that I used on my Husqvarna zero turn - works very well. I have found that you want to pick up leaves multiple times. Do not wait for all the leaves to be down - that method was a real pain. I do my leaves about 4 times in the fall and trust me I have a lot of them:thumbdown:

 

[zzvyb6]

I've used both castor type vacs and a trailer unit. I prefer the trailer unit because when the catch box is full of leaves, nuts and twigs, its very heavy. This adds a LOT of rotating inertia to the combined unit and that takes a lot of steering force to maneuver. This means large loads on a front steered lawn tractor (because of the inertia, and likely a lot of torn up grass from the Z-turn method of steering. The only advantage I found was the length of hose from the deck to the vac is a fixed constant.

For the trailer unit, I like a long hitch on the mower so I can make very sharp turns. Yes, the hose length changes as you turn left and right. My trailer vac also holds quite a bit more content than the canvas bag units. Since it has a separate motor, I have all the power it takes to suck, shred and blast the clippings, leaves and nuts that I want removed from my lawn. I have a 72" deck on my F-935 and it takes a 10" hose to handle the volume per second that the mower can produce.

 

[Stimw]

I have a DR that I have had for about 4 years. I bought it for use at my last house with a lot of trees.
It worked great and even picked up leaves from the year before that I blew into a pile with mower!
I used it with my 52" Grasshopper ZRT. I didn't buy the hose extension so I could only make right turns.
It has the 8 hp engine and with walk around hose I paid $1800.
I have tried to sell it for $1200. on CL but the low ballers wanted me to give it away.
I have kept it under cover and only used it for about 4 hours.
Now they have the 6 hp engine and the price came down.
I guess I will get tired of looking at it and cut it up for scrap someday. ??

 

[Stimw]

I have a DR that I have had for about 4 years. I bought it for use at my last house with a lot of trees.
It worked great and even picked up leaves from the year before that I blew into a pile with mower!
I used it with my 52" Grasshopper ZRT. I didn't buy the hose extension so I could only make right turns.
It has the 8 hp engine and with walk around hose I paid $1800.
I have tried to sell it for $1200. on CL but the low ballers wanted me to give it away.
I have kept it under cover and only used it for about 4 hours.
Now they have the 6 hp engine and the price came down.
I guess I will get tired of looking at it and cut it up for scrap someday. ??

 

[texas42]

I've had a Cyclone Rake for about 8 years. Use it with my JD 2320 with 62D MMM.
Works very good for me. Sure saves a lot of time getting up the fall leaves.
CR has great customer service.