Dr or Cyclone lawn vacuum

[dennis103]

Ok guys, I'm looking at getting a lawn vacuum The DR and Cyclone seem to be the most popular. I have a small lot but a LOT of leaves. I use a power flow bagger on my JD on all areas that the tractor will navigate. I also have about 400 ft of deep (3 to 4 ft) ditches, I have to take a fork and shovel the leaves out of the ditches or it will plug one of my 3 culverts. I'm hoping with a lawn vac I will be able to vac up most of the leaves in the ditch. Anyone with experience with lawn vac's or maybe a new (easier) approach to ditch leaves.

Thanks

 

[TerryR]

I have a Trac-Vac PTO leaf vac, with a 20ft. hose that works great for clearing ditches. Only issue I've found is if there are stones in the ditch you have to keep the hose end off the ground a bit or it will vacuum up stones larger than I'm comfortable putting through the blower.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

I have a Trac-Vac PTO leaf vac, with a 20ft. hose that works great for clearing ditches. Only issue I've found is if there are stones in the ditch you have to keep the hose end off the ground a bit or it will vacuum up stones larger than I'm comfortable putting through the blower.

How big a stone are you comfortable with putting through that blower?

Asking for a friend.

 

[TerryR]

I don't like the sound of anything over a quarter inch, but it will pick up stones several times that size.

 

[texas42]

I have a Cyclone Rake with a 35 foot pickup hose
Works good but, it will pickup stones and gravel.
Can’t say enough good about Cyclone Rake.
Great customer service, very helpful, reasonable parts prices

 

[MasseyFerg231]

Have an Agrifab chip vac.
The chipper is useless. The vac works well. The deck adapter takes a bit to get setup correctly.
I have it on a zero turn and had to rig up support for hose.

 

[Fxfymn413]

I use a DR vacuum. It works as it should, but will clog up if you use the attachment to blow the leaves directly from the mower deck, especially if the grass/leaves are the least bit wet.

It is also a bit of a PIA to empty as the "box" is quite flimsy and you need to stand it on end to get the leaves to dump out or you have to hand rake/pull them out.

I also use it a super powered vacuum to suck up the wood chips from my planer if I am planing a large number of boards. It saves me from emptying out the wood shop's dust collector frequently which fills pretty quickly if you are planing a lot of lumber.

 

[KennyG]

Cyclone Rake. Great design, great company. I've had mine for 10 years now. The only issue has been a bent side frame rail (backed into a tree - don't do that) which was replaced quickly at a reasonable cost. This year I did a second repair on the unit - patched an inner tube that developed a leak.

The criticisms you will see about the CR is that it has a cloth bag. Mine is in great shape after 10 years and that allows the whole unit (minus the engine/blower) to be folded up and hung on the wall. It has replaceable wear patches on the inside, but I haven't had to replace any yet. Also, it is a solid mount to the tractor/mower instead of a trailer, which means you have to be careful about it swinging out when you turn.

On the plus side, the solid mount makes it easy to back into tight spots and allows the vacuum hose to be shorter. No supports are required to keep it from dragging like the trailer models.

I have the long pickup tube and it works well for cleaning up flower beds and places you can't mow. It has the power to pick up small rocks so you have to be careful, but I've picked up a lot of rocks and few aluminum cans, etc with no damage to the unit. I got the optional hardened liner for the blower because I pick up millions of acorns.

I have the Commercial Pro model and I would recommend getting a unit with at least an 8" vacuum tube. That pretty much eliminates clogs.

I have a lot of trees and compost the leaves every year.

 

[TMGT]

Get the Cyclone, the DR works but doesn't age well, have had a lot of problems with it over the years, 2 impellers, 2housings, 3 engines(2 due to the impeller), hopper blows appart pretty easy once it gets older(not fun to clean up!) appears the newer models might have fixed some of the shortcomings but I wouldn't invest in one.

I have a few friends with the cyclone and they have no complaints, some get used hard and have held up well. I liked operating them when I've had to opportunity to use them.

I will say both have good customer/product support.

I made my own about 10 years ago so haven't had a need to buy a Cyclone, but if I ever feel the need to replace mine it'll be the Cyclone, my dad owns the DR and complains about it every fall.

I modeled mine after the Cyclone (without the soft collector bag)

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[oldballs]

Don't know anything about the DR products.......but .......I can corroborate what KennyG says. I have the Z-10 model with six seasons on it now.....pulled behind my Kubota B2620. My unit is stored outdoors under a heavy canvas tarp....sure would be nice to get it inside....but...

Happy shopping dennis
Mike

 

[ttener]

CR all the way. I’ve had mine for 10 years and frequently think about ordering another one to deep-store in the box, just in case they change the design or go out of business or something. I love the thing and it saves me days of raking or blowing. I’ve got multiple compost mountains that eventually become small piles and are like gold for the garden.

 

[two_bit_score]

CR all the way. I’ve had mine for 10 years and frequently think about ordering another one to deep-store in the box, just in case they change the design or go out of business or something. I love the thing and it saves me days of raking or blowing. I’ve got multiple compost mountains that eventually become small piles and are like gold for the garden.

That is an impressive recommendation!

 

[dlctcg]

Agree with what KennyG & others have said... We have had a Cyclone Rake XL for at least 10yrs.... We have run ours behind two different zero-turn's & after owning it, I would not be without it. It is easy to connect & disconnect & breaks down easily for off season storage. Very little clogging issues, maybe once a season & usually caused by a stick... but again rare occurrence. Ours does run the 8" Diameter tube & a 9hp engine. We have 30' (I think) of additional pickup hose & as others said it will pickup rocks. We use it on part of the driveway, gardens, & culverts; I just throttle down the engine to create the correct amount of suction for the task with out pulling the majority of the rock off the ground.

Also their customer service & support has been outstanding, when we needed to swap the XL to the new mower they were super responsive & it was not crazy money.

 

[dennis103]

Thanks for all the replays. I'm leaning towards the Cyclone, it has some features I like solid mount to the rear of zero turn and hoses to pick up and discharge into a trailer. I'm deciding between the XL and the Z-10 there is only about $300 difference. The Z-10 has a 10" intake hose and a 10 HP motor. The XL has a 8" intake hose and 8 HP motor. Would that make much difference? For $300 I'm thinking of getting the bigger/ better as long as it is better.

 

[TMGT]

Thanks for all the replays. I'm leaning towards the Cyclone, it has some features I like solid mount to the rear of zero turn and hoses to pick up and discharge into a trailer. I'm deciding between the XL and the Z-10 there is only about $300 difference. The Z-10 has a 10" intake hose and a 10 HP motor. The XL has a 8" intake hose and 8 HP motor. Would that make much difference? For $300 I'm thinking of getting the bigger/ better as long as it is better.

What size deck and mower type? Most of the homeowner type z-turns with 60 and under deck sizes would be fine with the 8in hose. Even most commercial z's with 60in deck would be fine with the 8in hose. The larger size won't hurt but depending on what you're using might not be necessary. I used 8in hose on mine and the choke point if I get a clog (which is rare) is typically the deck discharge area, not the hose.

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[KennyG]

Bigger never hurts, but I'm getting along fine with my Commercial Pro with 8" hose and 6.5 HP Briggs engine. I have a JD 2320 with a 62 inch deck. As TMGT notes, the deck discharge is more likely to plug (generally with wet leaves) than the hose. I don't think I've ever plugged the deck to blower tube. I have plugged the 25 foot pickup hose by getting into sticks but that is a rare occurrence.

 

[dennis103]

The mower deck is a 52". My biggest use and need for this is the almost 400' of steep ditches I have that collect leaves. My mower w/bagger can't get into the ditch. I'm going to get the estate 32' vacuum hose to do the ditches. Which do you think would work better with the vacuum hose the XT or the Z-10?

 

[KennyG]

The larger unit will always work a little faster, i.e. pull more material through. However, the 8" hose, 8 HP unit will do everything you need to do.

 

[ttener]

Seriously? You’re going to risk the horrible “ I shoulda got the bigger one” for $300?! That isn’t even a close call. Always go bigger if it’s under $1000.

 

[ttener]

What’s your address? I’ll send you the $300 bucks. Lol!