davesisk
Platinum Member
Hey folks:
I've got a late model 17.5 HP Murray (rebranded as a Stanley) lawn tractor. It has a 42" mowing deck (two blades) and the bagger deal with two plastic bins. My biggest challenge is picking up leaves moreso than mowing. Even in the summer, tree-related stuff ends up in the yard, so mowing's actually the easy part.
Anyway, I snagged a John Deere power-flo blower assembly off Ebay pretty cheap. It's just the blower assembly that mounts to the deck and the belt, nothing else. My plan was to adapt it to the Murray mower. There's a couple challenges...it's output chute is 4" square while my current tube is 6" round (but I think I can rig some sort of reducer there). I'll have to replace the right mower deck pulley with a double-pulley and rig some sort of pulley guard for safety. The power-flo blower is for a 38" deck, but I believe I can rig some sort of adapter plate that I attach to my deck, then attach the blower to the adapter plate. (I'd rather not permamently modify either item.)
Anyway, it's a bit of work, but I think it can be done satisfactorily. Has anyone attempted this already? If so, post up some thoughts on how you did it.
But, my main question is this: will there be enough improvement to go to the trouble of adapting this? The mower/bagger picks up leaves and stuff OK, but I just feel like it could do considerably better. Will adding the power-flo blower into the mix create a drastic improvement, or will it just be a marginal improvement? What do you think?
One area I'm wondering about in the adaptation...there's a gap between the lid of the bagger and the plastic bins to allow air to escape. A little bit of stuff blows our this gap currently, but it's mostly just dust. Will adding the blower cause substantial stuff to start blowing out of that air gap?
Thanks for any thoughts!
Dave
I've got a late model 17.5 HP Murray (rebranded as a Stanley) lawn tractor. It has a 42" mowing deck (two blades) and the bagger deal with two plastic bins. My biggest challenge is picking up leaves moreso than mowing. Even in the summer, tree-related stuff ends up in the yard, so mowing's actually the easy part.
Anyway, I snagged a John Deere power-flo blower assembly off Ebay pretty cheap. It's just the blower assembly that mounts to the deck and the belt, nothing else. My plan was to adapt it to the Murray mower. There's a couple challenges...it's output chute is 4" square while my current tube is 6" round (but I think I can rig some sort of reducer there). I'll have to replace the right mower deck pulley with a double-pulley and rig some sort of pulley guard for safety. The power-flo blower is for a 38" deck, but I believe I can rig some sort of adapter plate that I attach to my deck, then attach the blower to the adapter plate. (I'd rather not permamently modify either item.)
Anyway, it's a bit of work, but I think it can be done satisfactorily. Has anyone attempted this already? If so, post up some thoughts on how you did it.
But, my main question is this: will there be enough improvement to go to the trouble of adapting this? The mower/bagger picks up leaves and stuff OK, but I just feel like it could do considerably better. Will adding the power-flo blower into the mix create a drastic improvement, or will it just be a marginal improvement? What do you think?
One area I'm wondering about in the adaptation...there's a gap between the lid of the bagger and the plastic bins to allow air to escape. A little bit of stuff blows our this gap currently, but it's mostly just dust. Will adding the blower cause substantial stuff to start blowing out of that air gap?
Thanks for any thoughts!
Dave