Rake Trac Vac or Cyclone Rake??

[itainme]

Does anyone out there have a cyclone rake on your CUT? I am wondering if it can be attached to the 3pt. The company claims it can, but I'ld rather hear from someone who has actually tried this.

Also wondering if the trac vac is a better unit. They have a PTO model which I might prefer over having yet another small engine to maintain.

 

[MacMan]

I have a Trac Vac 3PH collection unit. Same reason, I did not want to maintain another engine. It works excellent for me.

I use it not only to collect grass and leaves from my mower, but I use it to pick up raked piles of leaves in the fall, for areas that the mower will not reach. It is a wonderful tool!

 

[jfhall]

Do you have a PTO powered model and if so, which one? I'm also in the market for something, just not sure what direction to go in.

Thanks

 

[jfhall]

Also, does anybody know where the Trac-Vac units can be quoted/purchased from?

Thanks again...

 

[lrunge]

I have a Cyclone rake and have used it for 4 years. I have 5 acres of what used to be a nursery and it has lots of trees. The Cyclone Rake has done an excellent job every year of picking up and mulching all of the leaves. Even though it mulches them up I still fill it up 10-12 times when clearing the leaves and I only do my front & side yard (~1 Acre) with it. I had it hooked to a small tractor but now have it hooked to the BX22 with a 3PH. I am very satisfied with it.

 

[LGinIA]

I usually hook my cyclone rake up to the JD 445 with the collector hose attached to the deck. I did hook up to the 3-pt arms on my Kubota 2410 last weekend, attached to a bar between the arms. Used the hook up this way to run the Cyclone Rake with suction hose only and not from the mower deck. Works great for cleaning out flower beds, shrubs and other tight areas. Thats the one of the advantages of the Cyclone Rake it can be multi-purpose.

 

[itainme]

Thanks for the reply. Can you use the trac vac as a trailer for hauling, or is it too fragile? Is backing up to mow or unload a problem? That is one thing that I liked about the cyclone... looks easy for my kids to back up when mowing/dumping.

 

[Junkman]

The Cyclone can pack the grass clippings into the container so tightly that you will have to pull some of them out before you will be able to dump them. The machine is like a gorrilla when it come to picking up and packing the container, almost to a fault. I would suggest that if you are going to purchase one, that you purchase the largest one available. I made the mistake and purchased the "residential" unit instead of the "commercial" unit and have to empty mine more often than I like. Being an older model, it doesn't have all the improvements that the newer models have. The company tests new ideas by installing them on new units. They are field tested by the end user and when the "new idea" doesn't work out, the end user has to purchase the "improved" idea. This has soured me on Cyclone Rake as a company, but not as a product. My collection bag has failed attachments, but the bag itself is still good. I have to spring for almost $100 to purchase their "improved" model bag that resolves the defects in the original design. I believe that they should give the original users a better deal for replacement parts that fail because of design, rather than use or age. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[JackIL]

Two of my neighbors have Cyclone Rakes and like them a lot. With regard to backing up, it is much easier than trying to back up a standard 2 wheel towed trailer. But because it is rigidly attached to the tractor, when steering around a wall, trees, or other objects, the unit swings out in the opposite direction of the turn. It takes some getting used to. If you don't carefully watch what you are doing, you can slam the Rake sideways into something you didn't want to hit, e.g. a building, a car fender, a fence, a tree, etc. So even though kids can drive it, you need to carefully coach them about not making sharp turns near solid objects and to always look to the rear when making any turn.


JackIL