Trac-Vac Rehab/Refit

[toolslinger]

I need some thoughts folks.
We've entered the fall leaf hell now. It's way too late to be starting this, but really, this is as soon as I could really get to it.

I really need a better way to collect leaves around the house I've just inherited. It's built up on piers, tucked in the woods. Oak, Birch, Sassafras, Maple mostly. It's dense, and the leaf bed gets crazy thick. I don't actually care about the leaves, except that I have to remove them so when the exterminator sprays, it gets to the ground, and actually works. There's no way to avoid the need for the exterminator unfortunately.
For years, my folks would spend crazy amounts of time raking the leaves out, and then running over them with the Walker. The compost pile is almost 1/4 mile away, and my father would happily run back and forth on the Walker. Apart from that being flat out insane, I'm not retired with nothing better to do.
I've done it a couple times with a Stihl backpack blower, and then rake them in the 5/8 yard loader bucket to run back and forth. That's fractionally better, but not good.

So what I've got at this point...

5 or so horse blower from the system that came with my father's JD 140. That used to blow in to a canvas cover on the JD 80 cart. Still have the cart, frame, and remains of the cover, but there's no way I'm fixing that fabric. It was a pain when I was a kid, and I'm not revisiting that hell. Blower runs ok. Had it going a year ago just to decide if I should keep it, or unload it at the estate sale. Runs with 6" intake, and outlet hose.

Still got the 140, deck, and hoses. Haven't touched the deck, and hoses in over 20 years. Obviously they'll need some help, so not thinking the deck will be much help this year. The 140 is fine if I need something to haul the blower around with.

Just bought the remains of a Trac Vac 1080. The cart, and enclosure is a little rough, but not bad (probably just have to replace the mickey mouse wheels the PO slapped on it). The blower housing, blower fan, pulley, and bearings are present, and fine. 8" Steel outlet pipe is shot. Engine is gone. Was an 11 HP Briggs with electric start. The 8" intake hose is there, and I believe it's ok.

My intention is to use the vac as a loader rather than have it running to a deck. I know running through a deck will chop up the leaves, and pack them in better. While that would be better, it certainly isn't going to happen this season. I still have to blow the leaves out from the house due to the piers, so I'm really dealing with piles, or rows of leaves rather than an even bed. I suspect that might be too much for the deck to handle.

So... Now the real question... (Finally)
Am I going to be miserable trying to use a 6" 5 horse blower after spending time adapting it to the 8" cart. I'm pretty sure the answer is yes. I'm flat out positive that a bigger engine on an 8" blower would be way better. I'm really just arguing with myself if I should expect another year of hauling leaves with the loader, and expect to repower the 1080 over the next year.

Parts to fix the 1080, including a new Honda engine run right around $1000-$1200 (3/4 of that is engine). At that point I've got the equivalent of a $5000 machine. For that same figure, I could also build it out as a PTO powered unit, which is extremely tempting if it's just working as a loader. One less engine to maintain is a very attractive idea, and the PTO tractors have at least double the HP available, so I could even overspeed the blower a bit to get a little more CFM...

The 1080 is setup for a left discharge deck, and the 140 deck is right side. I could probably get a left discharge deck for my Case 444 if I go that route, but that wasn't really the intention.

I can also just stop now, sell the 1080 project as is after a quick pressure wash, and figure something else out, and not be out any money. (There's a Brouwer unit that's PTO powered that would be ideal, but that's double what I'd have in this thing, before I get to any repairs that needs, plus it's huge)

Kinda halfway expecting to blow the rows this year, and then run over them with the Mott flail to reduce them somewhat. Then shovel/rake to the bucket, and run back and forth... Think it's time to get the GF up to speed on the loader tractor...

 

[Carl_NH]

I've got the Trac Vac 580 (15+ years now) and 5.5 HP B&S with 6" I modified to 7" intake with an inexpensive agrifab plastic boot, and same 6" output for more air flow on my Ferris ZT - it works well.

For time and cost, why not put your current 6" setup on the 1080 and update the hoses maybe $100? Just neck the pipe down from 8" to 6" with stove pipe reduction sleeve or plate at the 8" cart opening? Then decide which machine the 140 or the 444 deck would be less time to fit up and get working.

 

[MossRoad]

I'd use the blower to get the leaves away from the house and into windrows, and then use the bucket as a leaf plow, or get an actual leaf plow on the front of the tractor, and push the leaves down the windrow to the pile. That would get you through this season and you can get on making an actual leaf vac over the winter or next spring.

 

[TerryR]

I have a Trac Vac model 854 pto leaf vac, which is generally used with a mower deck. But I've never used it that way, only with a pickup hose. It was supplied with two sections of 8" black hose, joined with a short section of pipe. The joint was a regular problem because twigs caught there and plugged the hose.

I replaced it with a 20 or 25' length of "clear" hose, which is much better. Not only does it not have the catch spot at the joint, but with the semi-clear hose I can see where the occasional clog is and generally dislodge it by moving that area of the hose around.

I find that when the leaves are very dry that running then through the blower does a fair job of breaking them up. If they are damp, not so much.

 

[KennyG]

If you can put this together without too much effort, it would be worth trying with the 5 hp engine. My Cyclone Rake has a 6.5 HP Briggs and 8" tubes and pulls like crazy. It will pick up rocks big enough I have to be careful. Before you invest too much time and money in the project, remember that a new system will only be $2000 to $2500 and is guaranteed to work.

 

[Carl_NH]

TerryR - I find the same with mine - damp not good and I use clear hose too.

I have gator blades which chop them then windrow the leaves when they are dry then vac them up - like a 5-1 reduction in volume and they compost better too. I make a 15-18 yard pile which in one year composts down to about 6.

 

[toolslinger]

Great, sounds like it will be worth giving the 5 horse unit a shot. Easy enough to neck down at the top of the trailer.
Damp is always an issue for me unless I go out daily. Apart from being pushed in to the woods, we're backed up on a mountain stream. Water never stops, and the damp air just flows down the mountain. It works ok to be damp for the loader as it packs a little better. Will have to see how things go with a hose.
I do like the idea of a longer, clear hose for intake. I've got perhaps a 10' heavy black hose currently. I'll see how it goes with that to start.

 

[nyone]

Why not mulch them in? If done correctly its quick and in the spring you wont even see them. Moving whole leafs with anything but a leaf blower is wasting time.

For years I only used a backpack blower until this year i got a cheap used little wonder 10hp walk behind blower. Anything that i dont mulch in (mostly pine needles and stuff on my driveway) is extremely quick to move to a place i can mulch in.

 

[toolslinger]

Why not mulch them in? If done correctly its quick and in the spring you wont even see them.

Have to remove them to get down to dirt for insecticide treatment. Grass in the area is too sparse to handle moving them away from the house and mulching. Way too much volume. All of the leaves go over to a compost pile. No point in wasting the organic matter, just can't have it where it starts out. Once I get out away from the house, I don't touch the leaves. Mower does a good job breaking them up to compost in to the fields.

 

[toolslinger]

Because I hate when people don't ever report back on their thread with results...

I got the blower going again... Had a stuck valve giving me fits...4 Horse K91 Kohler... Lots of sound and furry from that vintage iron.
It is still mounted on the frame that hooks on the back of the 140. I got lucky, and that whole frame dropped on the mounting pad for the 8" blower and motor. 2 bolts, and I was in business. I had ordered the 6" adapter, and quick disconnect parts from Trac Vac, so that went well.
The 50 year old hose from the top of the blower to the hopper was a touch long, so I cut that, and it held up for today... I'll get a new hose for that.
The long hose my father got a couple decades ago was in fine shape amazingly...
So, I blew the leaves in to long piles with a backpack unit, and then we fed the leaves in with a rake.
The 6" blower worked great. I'm sure the 8" would be better, but this works fine, and I've no reason to upgrade at this point...
Unloading kinda sucks as the trailer is so low to the ground tipping it doesn't really do much. I just ended up hooking the leaves out with a hoe, which is fine...
We did two loads today, and then ran out of light. Other plans for tomorrow, but next time I'm out here, I think it'll be another half day, and it'll be done... Trees are basically done apart from those few oaks that seem to hang on to them all winter.

 

[KennyG]

Depending on where you are dumping, you might try reconnecting the hoses to suction them out of the trailer.

 

[toolslinger]

That could be interesting... Could even throw the output in to the input of the MacKissic shredder...
Probably too much business though unless I really need to shred them.
The hoeing works fine. I'll just be pushing the pile up once I'm done with the loader. In a season, they'll be completely composted.

 

[Carl_NH]

Never had issues emptying my Trac Vac - the trailer is tapered front to back like 3" (smaller front to larger back) and dumps a brick of leaves in 30 seconds. You can see the piles in the background in this pic - this was a day later - the piles had settled a bit

Vaccing leaves with the wand is very time consuming - for heavy wet leaves I take small 1-2' wide passes with the mower/vac when they are in a thick pile - it works well.

 

[TerryR]

I think the tapered design is relatively new. Mine is the old design, which doesn't have that.

I've never had much of an issue dumping even so. Driving a short while to the dump site on a gravel road settles the leaves into more of a brick. Then I open the rear, dump, and then bounce the front up and down a bit by hand, then drive away with the trailer up. Most of the load come right out, and the rest falls out pretty well. Of course it helps if the leaves are pretty dry.

 

[Carl_NH]

TerryR -My unit is 18 yrs old I think - this is exactly as I do. I made a number of mods, replaced the 1/4" top mesh screen with 1/2" expanded metal mesh allows more air flow and packs leaves in a lot better - i would say added 10-15% more capacity due to more/better air flow vs clogging of the smaller screen.

Then during dumping I tilt it back pretty hard which does move the "brick" of leaves out somewhat, then drive away in dump position and the brick comes out. But this resulted in the bottom rear door angle iron to bend due to weight/force so I straightened it out and added a 2x4 PT under the angle iron so when dumping it, the 2x absorbs the force.

 

[toolslinger]

Well... That's good to hear. Currently, they're not dumping, but it gives me hope. There's a ton of rust, to the point of rust through in a few spots on the trailer. Could be that's giving me enough friction that the leaves are holding on. Now that the system is working, I plan to address the rust for the sake of longevity, and if it gets me to the point of dumping easily, then all the better. Good info about the rear bending. I'll incorporate that to the repairs, and reinforce it at the time.

Also had to tie the dump lever in place as it vibrated open a couple times so far. Again, it needs some time/maintenance, so that will happen over the next year.

Next season, the JD 140 will have the deck working hopefully. That should help with pickup and mulching. Until then, feeding the hose really isn't all that bad.

Two more loads today. Off to the salt mines tomorrow so I can pay for the repairs to the toys...

 

[Carl_NH]

Toolslinger,

There is supposed to be a spring on the dump lever that must be missing on yours. It's shown in the attached manual - but any spring should work.

Also on the rear 2x4 I just drilled through the bottom of the bed and used 1.5" screws to attach the 2x4 - 24" long - this way when you dump with some force about a 1/3 of the leaves come out. Then drive away. Another trick is to dump on a slope which will increase the dump angle.

Also if you need a new mower deck boot, the agrifab plastic boot $50 is easy to modify and attach to your 140 deck if you dont have the boot on yours. https://www.jackssmallengines.com/j...mis8qviput-wivga7ich1-nqloeaqyasabegihfvd_bwe

 

[toolslinger]

Fortunately, I still have the boot for the 140's EZ Rake that the blower came with. Still in good shape, and already color coordinates...
No slope to dump on in this case... Compost heap is in the one almost flat field on the property...
My unit must be older than a lot of the Trac Vac parts manuals available... The 1080 parts cut sheet reflects the latch setup I have (mostly). No spring indicated, but, that's a simple solution I'm sure I can add once I dig in to the maintenance. Certainly well worth some engineering if I can get the brick to actually come out the back... Once I treat the rust, I'm thinking I'll likely wax the heck out of the inside... Apart from the protection it affords, the low friction has to help.