From the videos I have watched,,, tow behind!! :good2:

 

DITTO - Tow behind! :thumbup1gif:

I think that your bagger will fill up very quickly.

Even though I have the largest CR I sometime think that even that fills up too quickly.

 

Or I guess another option is a tow behind sweeper. I have ALOT of acorns too. I know the bagger and vac wont pick those up. I've raked and filled my 10p cart 5x already with just acorns. Lol

Sent from my LGL52VL using Tapatalk

 

Two options for acorns,,,
1) a BR600 Stihl blower
2) a herd of deer,,, :flag_of_truce:




I have option 1),,, but,,,
I use option 2),,

:lol:

 

I use my D160 with the Deere bagger and it works ok. The disadvantage of this setup is that it doesn't really shred the leaves very well so the bags fill up fairly quick. I park my utility trailer in the yard, bag the leaves and dump the bags into that so I don't have to run back and forth so often. If I do run into a bunch of wet leaves it will plug up sometimes - not a big deal to clear.

The single biggest issue I have with this setup is that Deere, in their infinite wisdom, put the stupid gas fill cap smack in the center of the machine in the back there so it's impossible to fill the thing with the bagger on without doing some super-human gymnastics or rigging up some funky contraption. I ended up buying 2' of clear plastic tubing that I can connect to my gas can spout to reach the filler neck.

And yeah, the bagger will leave 90% of the acorns behind. I rake those up after the leaves are cleared.

 

Doc,

We had tons of leaves on the lawn, on the driveways and on the paths in the wooded areas of our last small acreage in the Portland, OR area. We used a bagger on the X304 that had a 42 inch deck, a mulching deck on the 322 and later on the x495 for the pathways which already had cedar chips, and for the wide open spaces and the gravel driveways we used the MC519 and Power flow on the other 322 and before that on the 318, although the x304 did a lot of that as well.

Baggers without power flow assist on the Deere decks work but are somewhat marginal for some kinds of leaves/needles. Although it was a much less quality mower, the deck on the Husqvarna riding mower seemed to have more "lift" when collecting and bagging needles and broken leaves from being driven on by the vehicle traffic.

Emptying the bags on any mower is much more tedious than the larger bins in the tow-able collection systems or even the MC 519 so be sure to consider that aspect as well...

Chuck

 

I had the same dilemma, or at least a similar one. I used my LA135 and bagger, but could only get 1 or 2 laps around the yard before I had to go dump the bags. Then I bought the Cyclone Rake XL. It makes a world of difference. For example, today I had to dump it twice, where with just the bagger I would have had to dump at least 6 times. Not to mention clogging. My bagger would have clogged multiple times, today not once. I did my 1 acre lawn, and my buddy's 1 acre lawn next door in 4 hours today. Trust me, you want a Cyclone Rake (or similar).

 

I used to have a 345 with 54" deck and the mc519 material collection system. It did a great job pulling the leaves off the lawn. I was cutting about 4 acres of lawn on a 6 acre property. The lawn was surrounded with mature trees and I also had a magnificent Sycamore in the yard that dropped dinner plate sized leaves. The system digested everything well, but I took many trips to the mulch pile to dump the full cart. I would speculate the cart held the equivalent of what the two bag systems would. The tow behind systems all seem to hold a very good volume and I'm certain they pull significantly more vacuum.

I have lots of leaves also now and have been blowing my money on so many other things that I cant afford a collection system right now. Stuck blowing them with a back pack and stuffing them in my 18 cart for another season.

 

Xcopterdoc: my lawn is 1.5 acres of maple, oak, pine and cottonwood trees. The cotton wood trees are gigantic. I use an Agri-fab leaf vac with built in wood chipper. I absolutely LOVE it, it's hands down the best money I've spent for yard maintenance (used $600). I have a fenced in area and I use my BR600 to blow all the fenced in area out into the open so I can get at it. I would HIGHLY recommend the Agri-fab unit to anyone. The only down side is it's long and I have to make wide circles around my trees. Otherwise, it sucks up 99% of the leaves.

I prefer to suck leaves in the morning while there is still a slight dew on them, this nearly eliminates dust. Also, you will need a tractor with a heavy duty hydro drive because after 1.5 hours of pulling the leaf vac around, my Cubby (LTX1050) is not happy and the hydro drive is louder than normal.
Before:

After:

NOTE: 5 loads sucked up all the leaves above...
Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

Made my own.

 

Where or do you vent the air in the cart? I built my own too and found it works better once I added another vent to mine to the original too small vent. Thanks

 

I used to use a pull behind sweeper, but got real tired of all the trips out back to dump it. I picked this used one up for about 1/2 of new price on CL last season:

works very well!

 

Agreed, tow behind is the only way to go. :good2:

 

What tractor will you be using to pull/mount the MCS on??

Depending on the tractor, whether you have hills, and do you haul your leaves off your property or do you pile them somewhere to rot up, will depend on what you use!!

If you have a large enough tractor, and considering you have a "large amount" of leaves to pick up, it really comes down to how many times do you want to empty the system. With any "hang on the back of the tractor" bagger system or even the hydraulic lift MCS that I use, they just do not hold that many leaves, even after the are chopped up with the mmm and blower impeller. You will empty these types of systems often when picking up leaves.

The MCS that use bags, you have to physically remove the bags and dump them. This can get pretty tiring after a while.

So, we are down to pull behind systems. I do not have one of these systems, although my neighbor does.
I believe the most important thing to look at with these systems is, how effect does the dump work, and is the final place for the leaves at a location where they will be left to rot up. In other words, when dumping the trailer, do the leaves actually come out without you actually pulling them out and will the leaves be left there. When dumping leaves, the dump does not pile them, they slide out of the trailer and you have to pull forward to windrow them.

So, do you have to haul the leaves off your property to finally get rid of them or do you have a place that you can dump them and leave them to rot up?

Personally, I do not have a place on my property where I want to pile/windrow leaves to let them rot up over time. So, I haul my leaves to the township grass/leave/tree limb recycling site. I have had the rear mount bagger MCS over the years and have learned to know, them bags get pretty heavy after about the 10th time of emptying them.

I also have to get my leaves into my trailer to haul them. So, I chose the hydraulic lift MCS that JD made. I GTT member actually has one of these for sale on craigslist and on this forum.
Yes, I sacrifice volume, but I do not have to get out of the seat to dump it and I can dump them right into my trailer. With a 1 series tractor, you do need front weight on the tractor with this MCS. I use the Heavy Hitch front weight bar with 8 - 40 lb suitcase weights.
I haul three 14" long trailer loads of leaves off my property every fall. The hardest part of doing this is unloading the leaves off the trailer.

 

Two options for acorns,,,
1) a BR600 Stihl blower
2) a herd of deer,,, :flag_of_truce:

I have option 1),,, but,,,
I use option 2),,

:lol:

12 little oak and hickory trees? I have that many along one part of my driveway!!! I have dozens and dozens, not to mention the acre of sassafras, the groves of aspen and a scattered couple huge maples.

I too have a BR600 and a herd of deer and I still have to cleanup leaves weekly between mid October and mid May if they're not covered in snow.

 

Thanks for all the replies. After reading the replies and reading reviews, I'm leaning towards the cyclone rake. I like the idea that it folds up for storage. Also that it's mounted directly to the rear if the tractor. I have plenty of open space so tail swing isnt a big deal. Flat property so my 16 yr old Scotts shouldn't have any problem towing it. All my leaves get dumped on site and will be shredded again into compost.

Sent from my LGL52VL using Tapatalk

 

I use a walk behind BillyGoat Vacuum. It sucks up everything. It grinds it and compresses it. It can do pop cans, sticks, nuts, etc. I can easily clean the flower beds out with the hand hose kit. I really like it for more smaller yard that has only one large maple tree. It can get in tight spaces. My neighbors next to me have several large maple trees. They are to the west of me. They have 7 kids. Kids that have no idea what a rake looks like. They usually wait to the winds blow the leaves in my yard. They are so surprised how they seem to disappear. They enjoy fall days at sporting events while I try to get their leaves out of my yard and flower beds during the few daylight hours we have. Do I sound bitter?, if not, believe me, I am. I would much rather be on the Harley. The BillyGoat helps me not to take hostages.

Down side to the BillyGoat. It's loud. It's thirsty for fuel. It's like trying to pull start a 747 Boeing Jet. No clutch on the massive fan. It is a 6.5 Honda engine that proves they are not all easy to start. In fact, it cannot be done without starting fluid. It's dusty. You need to wear a good dust mask. It takes up space in the garage.

isaac

 

I like that silver deck! I have one also. A 14SB. Got it for free. Cleaned carb and she fired right up.

Sent from my LGL52VL using Tapatalk

 

Leaves gone, right now

Here's one solution: https://www.google.com/search?q=wil...Ozvec_pTQAhVn54MKHSKtBGEQyjcINg&ei=wpQfWI7lAufOjwSi2pKIBg#imgrc=qY7T1xVqtDzaDM:

Probably not a good solution but the leaves would be gone. My grandfather would rake leaves into long piles and light them off. They weren't very wide so the fire didn't get real hot but he might have 100' of burning leaves at a time. I guess those days are gone.

Treefarmer

 

I used to do all sorts of stuff to get rid of my leaves but found that $60 worth of Gator Blades + time to mow leaves about every week = disintegrated little leaf bits....

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk

 

I pulled a 32 inch Parker sweeper for many years. Worked fine for grass clippings. Really stunk for leaves. We had to mow/mulch them with the mowers with the discharge chute blocked off, then three plumb full sweepers equaled one full small cart full, cart is 42" x 32" x 12". Then I'd hurry off to the burn pile and dump them, and SON would be waiting for me to return before I even got to the pile. Son and I worked on leaves SIX weekends in a row one fall, at least one day per weekend and most times two days per weekend. If we let all the leaves fall, under the huge maple trees you could maybe make it 20 feet before the sweeper was full.

Then one fall SON pulled the sweeper in two, tubes that supported the hamper broke. The bushings in the wheels and drive gears for the brushes were just about wore completely out. Time to build a yard vac! I patterned it after a Trac-Vac with some changes. Vac unit is semi-mounted on the back of the tractor, cart had a top and sides and flip up rear door made for it. Lots of expanded metal to let air escape. Took a year or two to get all the bugs worked out. The leaves in the new bigger cart settle and compress, bet I get 700-800# per load now! At least 15-20 times what the sweeper held. They form a pretty solid CUBE 42" long by 32" wide by 36" high. The pivot point of the hitch on the back of the vac unit is the same distance behind the tractor's rear axle as the distance from the hitch point to the cart's axle, means the cart tracks exactly in the same tracks as the rear of the tractor. Makes trimming around trees, bushes, anything easy. Just always trim with the left side of the mower and don't ever turn right until the cart is past whatever your trimming around. Took many many running changes to get it to work to my expectations. The last change I'd like to make is put a "Live Floor" in my cart, a chain on each side with slats between them to unload the cart without having to dig the Stuff out with a pitch fork. Takes almost as long to unload as it takes to load it. I've also thought of adding top & sides to my Pronovost P-503 cart thats 70" long X 50" wide by 36" tall, or 2.7 times bigger than my little cart, also has hyd. Dump!

Trac-Vac makes a bigger cart for one series of their VAC's, think it's a 48" long cart, and wider than my cart. If you have many large trees, a big tow behind with a bigger cart is a REAL time and labor saver! Big trees only get bigger which means more leaves!

 

:thumbup1gif: Tow-behind.

I have a couple of acres of large mature trees - oaks, maples, pines, hickory, and so on. The smaller agri-fab I had resulted in dumping far too frequently, but was far better than blowers and tarps.

I bought a larger used DR vac and am so happy I did. The only issue I have is that it's easy to overpower it with the Deere 60" high capacity deck. I have to run the mower at a lower speed to balance the mower and vac.

My neighbor has the newer DR vac and is very happy with it. He's running it on a 48" Husky mower. It dumps a lot easier than mine, but I can carry a larger load. There's always a tradeoff.

I smile everytime I make a pass and have results like this:

 

I'm thinking about making one as well now. We live completely in the woods. Cut a bout 40 trees down where we built. And we get a lot of leaves.

Thinking a. Lower that blows them into a wagon like this would be just the ticket.

Just would have to build the box for it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I'd think at least twice about using a 4-wheel wagon with a yard vacuum, maybe think THREE times! When they turn the inside rear wheel of the wagon runs inside the track of the pulling vehicle. That would make trimming around trees, stationary items a challenge in tight quarters. Emptying a wagon like that could be a real chore! Those leaves in the front may have to be dug out. The leaves pack into the cart/wagon into a tight bale, a higher pile in a taller wagon/cart will have a LOT more leaves than a longer lower wagon/cart.

The Trac-Vac cart is tapered, wider at the back than at the front, supposed to make dumping much easier. Should be an easy feature to duplicate.

I've never seen a factory built vacuum use a four wheel wagon for collection. I suspect there's a good reason for that!

 

I had a la140 with the mulch set up and it would just plow, don't know how the bagger would do. Even discharging to the side it would plow the leaves

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

I fashioned a yard vac out of a craftsman mower and tow behind cart. I used the plastic tube from the craftsman bagger and just extended it to the cart. I built a box for the cart out of plywood and 2x4's. Once it filled up I took to my dump site and then went back at it. It worked well but was definitely a low rent solution.

If budget is a concern then I would do something similar. You can still get the all metal yard carts for not a terrible price. I suggest the metal ones because they are square and it is easier to build a box on them.

Sears.com

I had one like this. They definitely are not cheap anymore so maybe troll craigslist for a used one.

Here is a cheap one from Harbor Freight.

Heavy Duty Trailer Cart

Good luck with your project.

 

I have used a Cyclone Rake (Z-10) for 3 years now and it has worked exactly as advertised. I use it along with a large Stihl backpack blower.

I also use mulching blades and get good shredding of the leaves.

I'm sure other brands can also provide good results (and the home made versions, too), but I think this general approach is the way to go.

 

After last Sunday (daughters) and Monday (home/girlfriends) leaf removal escapes I'm ready to go all in on a vacuum. Any brand I priced were all around $2,000 unfortunately.

 

Craigslist search: agri-fab, agri fab, agrifab, cyclone, or leaf

I bought my agri-fab leaf vac with chipper used for $500. Changed oil, fresh gas and new air filter, ran/runs great!

http://meadville.craigslist.org/grd/5859627493.html


Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

I have a friend who had an extraordinary amount of leaves to deal with. Good plan or not, he attacked it by blowing the leaves into rows, and baling them. Leaves don't pick up like grass does, so they would rake the leaves into the intake as he slowly inched forward. A MASSIVE amount of leaves could be packed into one square bale- well more than a pickup truck load of leaves per bale. It would take about half a day, and he would wind up with 70-80 square bales- which he would then save for himself and friends to put on gardens. Those bales weighed well over 100 pounds each.

 

That's a pretty crazy idea. If I had any leaves I'd try it.